Sandisk WD Blue SN5100 NVMe SSD review

Prices for SSDs are not very stable right now. While not hit anywhere near as bad as memory, we’re seeing price increases on many SSDs on a pretty regular basis. So if the prices here don’t match up when you read this, that’s likely why. We recommend using a price checker tool, such as CamelCamelCamel, to see if you’re still getting a good deal.

It’s been one year since I first reviewed the (now Sandisk) WD Blue SN5000, and boy oh boy, what a year it’s been. That drive, at the time, didn’t have a lot going for it. It was hot. It was slow. It was beaten by cheaper options, and thanks to using aging QLC NAND flash, it didn’t quite deliver on the promises it made in a way that it needed to. Thankfully, the brand spanking new Sandisk WD Blue SN5100 I have here on review remedies practically every single one of my initial complaints.

From a newer, refined controller to far more advanced (though still QLC) NAND flash package with higher densities and better all-around performance, it makes a damn good argument for being one of the best SSDs money can buy, at least if the price is right. So much so that it enjoys a lovely 21% increase in score over the OG SSD.

Now, interestingly, Sandisk isn’t pitching the SN5100 at gamers. It sees it primarily as a creator drive. An SSD designed for those looking for affordable mass storage, to house those pesky 4K video files and gigantic RAW photography archives we’re all secretly hoarding somewhere, probably. In fact, it was a challenge to even get the PR team to send me a sample (Hey Toby!), as they were adamant it wasn’t for gamers. Well, let me tell you, Sandisk, you couldn’t be more wrong. Why am I so convinced of that? Let me explain.

The big change between this and the SN5000 comes in the form of what Sandisk has done with the NAND.

It’s effectively replaced its 162-layer BiCS6 QLC NAND flash with its 218-layer BiCS8 3D QLC setup instead, dramatically reducing the bit size in the process. That’s predominantly been done thanks to stacking more layers vertically, but according to Sandisk, there’s also been improvements in the “lateral scaling” too, where the company’s managed to shrink the cell size horizontally (the bit that holds the 1s and the 0s). This is actually the same tech and number of layers found in the now legendary Sandisk WD Black SN8100 as well (though that’s utilizing TLC instead of QLC flash).

That gives us far better scaling and allows Sandisk to effectively house 4 TB of storage in a single NAND package. Which, in turn, improves power efficiency, lowers latency, and drastically helps speed up the drive. Something that the benchmarks show quite clearly, although more on that in a bit. Otherwise overall design has changed very little. It’s still a single-sided M.2 2280 form factor, giving it broad compatibility with console, laptop, and PC alike; it still has that Sandisk Polaris 3 controller, and you, of course, get all the same warranties and bells and whistles we’ve come to expect from SSDs in the market.

PC Gamer test bench
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9900X | RAM: 64 GB (2x32GB) Team Group T-Create Expert DDR5 @ 6000 C34 | GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Super | Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix X870E-E Gaming WiFi/NZXT N9 X870E | CPU Cooler: Asus ROG Ryujin III 360 ARGB Extreme | PSU: 1200W NZXT C1200 (2024) 80+ Gold | Chassis: Geometric Future Model 5

The good news is that the performance gains from that one change have been outstanding. It’s a semi-budget drive that performs like no other I’ve tested. Sequential read and writes maxed out that PCIe 4.0 bandwidth with 7.3 GB/s on the read and 6.7 GB/s on the write. 3DMark’s SSD benchmark test equally put in a seriously impressive showing, with a score of 3,915, with SSD bandwidth marked at 672.63 and a latency of just 59 ns. That’s actually quite close to being on par with some of the more current PCIe 5.0 SSDs I’ve tested (it’s only 100 MB/s off the Crucial T710, for example, and in fact it even beats a lot of those early PCIe 5.0 drives entirely).

(Image credit: Future)

But it’s the random 4K performance that really shines a light on just how far this drive has come. Simply put, it scored 107 MB/s on the read and 308 MB/s on the write. That read score, arguably the more important for gamers, is the second-highest I’ve ever tested, beaten only by the SN8100. No other drive, PCIe 5.0 or 4.0, can beat it. Write performance is a little slower, admittedly, but still for the tech, it shouldn’t be anywhere near this level.

That then translates into game load times nicely too, and again in our Final Fantasy load time tests, it landed at a comfortable 7.125 seconds, putting it on par with some of Crucial’s best offerings as well. All while achieving a cosy 61 degrees on temperature too, far beyond the realms of what I’d consider “hot” (although do bear in mind it is strapped to a passive motherboard heatsink, aka an aluminum block).

Pricing on this, though, is where things get a little nutty. When I initially tested this way back in October 2025 (before the madness that was Black Friday, and the subsequent slow creep of NAND pricing thanks to our ever-favorite AI bubble blossoming into the gargantuan nightmare it’s become) it came in at a staggeringly low $130. Since then, Sandisk has slapped an additional $50 onto the price. That’s quite the jump.

Although in line with most of the industry at this point, you can also pick up the TLC powered 2 TB SN7100 for the same price. That’s a problem as the SN7100 is naturally better suited to larger file transfers, at least once the pseudo SLC cache has been used up, making it the far better pick of the two. Admittedly, our benchmarks don’t really show that with slower random 4K read speeds and game load times for the SN7100, but you have to bear in mind that the one tested was actually the 1 TB model, rather than the 2 TB SN5100 we have here (which features a smaller pSLC setup).

For a modern-day QLC drive, then, the SN5100 is impressive. It has its limitations; it’s still QLC, so invariably you’re going to hit throttling at some point with those massive file transfers, but if all you’re doing is loading games off this thing, or running the odd program, it’s up there with some of the best TLC SSDs money can buy.

But there’s the catch. Right now with such a turbulent market, with pricing the way it is, if you can find a slightly older TLC drive, for the same or less cash, you’re invariably going to get better performance for the same cost. Especially when it comes to larger transfers (say, downloading and installing a game with Gb+ ethernet). Sadly, until Sandisk and the wider NAND market get a grip on flash demand (or dare I say the AI bubble “stabilizes”), it’s not a situation that’s likely going to resolve any time soon. Is the SN5100 good then? Worth buying? Yes, and also no. It just depends on what the price is and whether some CEO in the big seven needs another yacht or not.