forum threadDr.W posted Today 07:07 AM
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forum threadDr.W posted Today 07:07 AM
Micro Center Members: WD BLACK SN850X 2TB 112-Layer BiCS5 TLC NAND PCIe Gen 4 x4 NVMe M.2 Internal SSD $299.99
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In that case, the SN7100 is still the better pick for gaming.
Here's why the price tie actually makes the decision easier:
- In the 3DMark gaming benchmark, the SN850X scores about 9.8% higher — but that's without Game Mode 2.0 enabled, so the gap is real but not dramatic in practice.
- The SN7100 comes with the latest DRAM-less controller (Polaris 3), which runs cooler and has better 4K random performance — and 4K random is what actually matters for game load times.
- Gaming performance is mostly unaffected by the lack of DRAM. Games don't hammer SSDs with the kind of deep, sustained queue workloads where DRAM makes a difference.
- The SN7100 rarely throttles, even without a heatsink, under typical gaming workloads — which means more consistent performance over long sessions.
The SN850X's main advantages (DRAM for sustained heavy writes, 8TB option) simply don't matter much for gaming. At the same price, the newer, cooler-running SN7100 is the smarter choice for your build.
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