Sabrent Rocket NVMe 4.0 M.2 SSD Review: A High-Performance Value (Update)

Sabrent’s Rocket NVMe 4.0 offers unparalleled speed and endurance for the price.

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Sabrent Rocket NVMe 4.0 - 500GB
(Image: © Tom's Hardware)

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Sabrent wasn’t a big name in SSDs until recent years. With the company’s SSDs packing Phison’s latest controllers, they score top regards by enthusiasts and gamers alike. Launched alongside the release of AMD’s Ryzen 3000 series, Sabrent’s Rocket NVMe 4.0 has been the company’s fastest drive yet. After months of sales, it has soared to the top as one of the best-value Gen4 SSDs available, with its low cost compared to the competition.

(Image credit: Sabrent)

Offering up some incredible performance with the Phison E16 powering it, the Rocket NVMe 4.0 is a rocket for sure. Capable of delivering up to 5.0/4.4 GBps read/write in sequential transfers and peaking at almost 600,000/550,000 IOPS read/write, it is one of the fastest SSDs you can buy. It’s so fast, it even outperforms Samsung’s 970 EVO Plus and 970 Pro in various real-world and application testing, while being quite efficient.   

Sabrent’s drive has the looks to match its performance, too. With a black PCB and well designed, sleek black and copper label, it's one of the most aesthetically pleasing M.2 SSDs we have seen without a heatsink on top of it. And, with it being so slim, the Rocket NVMe 4.0 can easily fit underneath your motherboards built-in heatsink, if equipped. Also, with the amount of power the 2TB model can draw, we recommend doing so to keep temps tamed if you are going to be utilizing the drive for professional workflows.

With class-leading endurance ratings, Sabrent’s Rocket NVMe 4.0 isn’t going to wear out on you any time soon, either. Constantly moving around large video files or running various virtual machines, or even into benchmarking your hardware to death, the Rocket NVMe 4.0 will keep on going. Our main complaint against it is that you must register your SSD with Sabrent to receive the longer 5-year warranty, but that's not exactly a huge hassle. Otherwise, Sabrent’s Rocket NVMe 4.0 is well worth your consideration if you are on the hunt for a new high-performance PCIe Gen4 SSD for a new build.

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Sean Webster
Sean Webster
Storage Reviewer

Sean is a Contributing Editor at Tom’s Hardware US, covering storage hardware.

18 Comments Comment from the forums
  • croc
    PCI-E speeds are supposed to double every generation. The top of the line Gen 3 SSDs are hitting around 3500 seq. read and 2500 seq. writes. The Phison controller used in almost every "Gen 4" SSD benchmarked to date limits their performance to no better than "Gen 3.5" And, even in that grouping, the Sabrent is not at the top. Shame on Tom's for making this an Editor's Choice. People that trust Tom's will learn the hard way.
    Reply
  • seanwebster
    croc said:
    PCI-E speeds are supposed to double every generation. The top of the line Gen 3 SSDs are hitting around 3500 seq. read and 2500 seq. writes. The Phison controller used in almost every "Gen 4" SSD benchmarked to date limits their performance to no better than "Gen 3.5" And, even in that grouping, the Sabrent is not at the top. Shame on Tom's for making this an Editor's Choice. People that trust Tom's will learn the hard way.
    Which Gen4 drive beats it in value? Have you looked at the benchmarks page? The test results speak for themselves...
    Reply
  • Makaveli
    seanwebster said:
    Which Gen4 drive beats it in value? Have you looked at the benchmarks page? The test results speak for themselves...

    As someone that owns a Corsair MP 600 which is based on the same controller these drivers are great. He is just another person that doesn't own the drive that complains. The next revision of this controller should have drives hitting 7000 MB/s and those should be released later this year.
    Reply
  • croc
    @Makaveli... You are quite correct - I don't own a pcie gen 4 drive yet, primarily because I choose not to waste my money. As you yourself said... "The next revision of this controller should have drives hitting 7000 MB/s and those should be released later this year. " And, of course, Samsung will debut their new 980 PRO and EVO soonish. I can afford to wait.
    Reply
  • mac_angel
    I miss the days of actual editors instead of people relying on an app for spell check.
    Reply
  • toadhammer
    Unless I missed something, there's no mention of the testbed here. And it requires a PCI gen 4 motherboard to actually get highest speeds.
    Reply
  • seanwebster
    toadhammer said:
    Unless I missed something, there's no mention of the testbed here. And it requires a PCI gen 4 motherboard to actually get highest speeds.
    Yes, that is correct. Hence the supporting test system.
    ASRock X570 Taichi
    AMD R5 3600X @4.3GHz
    Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3600MHz CL18
    Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 570 4GB
    SSD tested as OS drive + 50% full
    Reply
  • mahfud
    Hi can you please explain this dillema, why M.2 nvme PCIe 4.0 SSD (it's using x4 lane slot) is not fast as PCIe 4.0 speed with x4 lane?

    The speed of PCIe 4.0 x4 = 64 GB/s
    M.2 NVME 4.0 SSD (x4 lane) = just +- 5/4,5 GB/s Read/Write
    Reply
  • Sabrent
    Can i change my ssd card to sdd 2tb sabrent my laptop is rog asus scar 2
    Reply
  • seanwebster
    Sabrent said:
    Can i change my ssd card to sdd 2tb sabrent my laptop is rog asus scar 2
    It looks like you can. From what I can tell, your laptop has an M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 x4 slot.
    Reply