Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD Review

Sabrent has long provided consumers with economical yet competitive storage alternatives, but their all-new “Rocket 4 Plus 2TB M.2 NVMe” has changed the game. This time, we’ll be focusing our attention on Sabrent DDR5 Kit‘s 2TB Rocket 4 Plus SSD, which boasts fantastic speeds but can the performance back up their promises? To answer all of these questions, we’ve prepared the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2TB NVMe Testing.

The Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus M.2 NVMe is based on PCIe Gen 4.0 x4. The Rocket 4 Plus is now available in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities, with an 8TB variant on the way. The Rocket 4 Plus has insane transfer rates, reaching up to 7000MB/s while reading and 6600MB/s while writing.

Of course, the new Rocket 4 Plus is backward compatible with PCIe Gen 3.0, albeit at decreased speeds, as we all know. Under 4K random QD32 read/writes, the new Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus is rated to offer up to 650,000/700,000 random IOPS.

When compared to competitors such as the WD Black SN850 or Samsung’s 980 Pro, the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus is a better choice for Gen 4.0 SSDs. Apart from the features, the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2TB M.2 NVMe is compatible with the PlayStation 5. The new Rocket 4 Plus has been designed to fit perfectly inside your PlayStation 5, making it a suitable PS5 storage option.

Apart from this review, we’ll be providing a PS5 installation guide alongside the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Review, so stay tuned. Furthermore, we if you want even more performance, check our review of the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus G 2TB NVMe.

Specifications

Product	Rocket 4 Plus 1TB	Rocket 4 Plus 2TB	Rocket 4 Plus 4TB
Pricing	$199.99	$399.99	$799.99
Capacity (User / Raw)	1000GB / 1024GB	2000GB / 2048GB	4000GB / 4096GB
Form Factor	M.2 2280	M.2 2280	M.2 2280
Interface / Protocol	PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4	PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4	PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4
Controller	Phison PS5018-E18	Phison PS5018-E18	Phison PS5018-E18
DRAM	DDR4	DDR4	DDR4
Memory	Micron 96L TLC	Micron 96L TLC	Micron 96L TLC
Sequential Read	7,000 MBps	7,100 MBps	7,100 MBps
Sequential Write	5,300 MBps	6,600 MBps	6,600 MBps
Random Read	350,000 IOPS	650,000 IOPS	650,000 IOPS
Random Write	700,000 IOPS	700,000 IOPS	700,000 IOPS
Security	N/A	N/A	N/A
Endurance (TBW)	700 TB	1,400 TB	2,800 TB
Part Number	SB-RKT4P-1TB	SB-RKT4P-2TB	SB-RKT4P-4TB
Warranty	5-Years	5-Years	5-Years

Packaging and Unboxing

Sabrent is right on the money when it comes to the presentation of their products. There is a picture of the heatsink for PS5 and the SSD itself on the front. This is a 2TB variant.

On the rear, we notice the SABRENT logo, as well as a detailed explanation of the PS5 heatsink. We also perceive the contents of the package as;

• PlayStation 5 Heatsink
• Screwdriver
• Rocket 4 PKUS NVMe SSD
• Installation guide

Some of the Rocket 4 PLUS’s distinctive traits are also described.

• NVMe M.2 PCIe Gen4 x4 Interface
• PCIe 4.0 Compliant/ NVMe 1.3 Compliant
• Power Management Support for APST/ ASPM/ L1.2
• Supports SMART and TRIM commands
• Supports ONFI 2.3, ONFI 3.0, ONFI 3.2, and ONFI 4.0 interface
• Advanced Wear Levelling, BadBlock Management, Error Correction Code, and Over-Provision
• Upgradable Firmware

On one side of the package, there are several taglines like Upgrading your PS5 and Revolutionary Cooling, which are explained further.

The SABRENT ROCKET 4 PLUS NVMe with PS5 Heatsink branding is on the other side.

With the exterior packaging removed, we can now see two separate boxes for the actual SSD and the PS5 Heatsink. The PS5 Heatsink box features a white backdrop with the real heatsink on the front, whereas the Rocket 4 PLUS SSD is shown on a fully black box.

Both boxes have a black backside with the actual items under evaluation.

SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS NVMe 

Unboxing the actual SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS NVMe is a lovely experience; we discover an incredibly elegant and hardtop box with a tag labeling the SSD in an image with the 2TB brand.

The rear contains the same black label with the 2TB tag and other model information.

Opening the packaging, we can see that SABRENT made an effort to package the 2TB Rocket 4 PLUS NVMe. In a cover with foam cushioning, we discover the SSD beside a manual.

Closer Look

The Rocket 4 PLUS is substantially different from the Rocket Q in terms of; the Rocket Q benefits from QLC enabling, which allows the Q-series to attain capacities of up to 8TB and is aimed at budget consumers. The Rocket 4 PLUS, on the other hand, is intended for high-end consumers who desire additional performance. The Rocket 4 PLUS uses 3D TLC NAND Flash, which stores three bits per cell as compared to regular NAND flash.

The SSD’s dimensions are roughly 80x22x3.65mm (LxWxH), and it weighs 2.4 ounces. Because the SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS uses the operating system’s NVMe drivers, no additional software is required to access the SSD.

The SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS NVMe 4×4 2TB SSD features an M.2 form factor of 2280 size, making it an M Key type SSD that can be used in a variety of M.2 slots. Because it’s a PCIe Gen 4 SSD, it’s also backward compatible with PCIe Gen 3 (although at slower rates).

The physical SSD has a black PCB with a thin copper heatsink on top. With the ROCKET 4 PLUS label, we can also see the 2TB drive capacity.

When running at PCIe GEN 4.0, the SSD is rated for sequential read rates of up to 7000MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 6850MB/s, according to the technical specifications. Other figures include:

• 650K IOPS in random 4K Read
• 750K IOPS in random 4K Write

If you comprehend these figures, they are excellent in their class.

The SSD has a temperature range of 0°C to 70°C, whereas the storage temperatures range from -40°C to 85°C. It is estimated that the Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) is 1,600,000 hours. There’s also a 1500G shock-resistant rating.

The Terrabytes Written (TBW) is stated to be 1400TB, which equates to about 280TB of data every year. Do the arithmetic and you’ll see that it’s not bad for the warranty period. The SSD comes with a one-year international warranty that may be upgraded to five years by registering it.

On the backside of the Drive, we can see a white sticker. Along with the power ratings and branding, we locate the QR code. The SSD is rated for up to 7.3W of reading power and 8.2W of writing power. The voltage rating is around 3.3 volts.

Because the SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS is a dual-sided SSD, we can see DRAM, NAND Flash, and other hardware on both sides. Both the 2TB and 4TB versions of the SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS include double-sided circuitry, but the 1TB has a single-sided form factor.

The SSD is powered by the PS5018-E18 from Phison. The E18 is a beast since it’s present in the bulk of high-end NVMe drives and is designed for PCIe Gen 4.0×4. The Phison18-E18 is made with TSMC’s 12nm manufacturing technology and a 32-bit ARM Cortex R5 microcontroller in a Triple-CPU architecture with up to 8 channels; all of this contributes to improved efficiency and support for Dynamic SLC Cache and 1600MT per channel in DDR4 DRAM. All this technology makes the PS5018-E18 36% faster than the previous PS5015-E16. 

The SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS has 8x 3D TLC NAND chips from Micron, with each chip having a capacity of 250GB.

SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS PS5 Heatsink

The PS5 Heatsink is found within foam packaging, together with a Philips head screwdriver and a PlayStation 5 HEATSINK manual.

The PS5’s original heatsink is replaced by a high-quality Aluminum black cover with SABRENT branding. Some heatsinks tend to retain heat, making your drive hotter rather than cooler. That is not the case with the Rocket 4 PLUS’s MS5 Heatsink, which is composed of high-quality Aluminum with fine machining and milling. Heat is transported considerably faster than normal, and installation is simple.

The actual heatsink is quite simple to install; simply remove the PS5’s existing heatsink with a provided Philips head screwdriver and replace the drive with the SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS NVMe, making sure the drive is exactly in position.

Once the M.2 is in position, remove the plastic cover from the rear, and the Heatsink will precisely lay in place. Tighten the single screw in place using the supplied screwdriver.

Several online testing has demonstrated that the SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS PS5 Heatsink is worth the temperature decreases. If you acquire the SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS NVMe SSD for your PS5, we recommend getting the heatsink.

Software

SABRENT gives a copy of Acronis True Image to its Rocket 4 PLUS users as free and easy cloning software. We also receive a download for the SABRENT Rocket Control Panel, which allows us to monitor and upgrade the drive as needed.

The SABRENT Sector Size Converter is also included, which allows users to switch between 512-byte and 4K-byte sector sizes.

Testing & Benchmarks

We used the following test bench for the SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS 2TB SSD

• Intel i7 12700k [Stock, Auto]
• GIGABYTE Z690 AERO G Motherboard
• XPG Lancer RGB 6000 32GB DDR5 Kit
• PCCOOLER GI-56UB Cooler
• Sabrent Rocket Q 500GB NVMe PCIe 3 SSD [OS Drive]
• be quiet! Straight Power 11 1000W Platinum PSU
• Thermaltake Core P6 TG Snow Edition in an open-frame layout

Microsoft Windows 10 x64 21H1 is used for the testing.

The following software were used to test the drive;

• AS SSD
• Anvil’s Storage Utility
• ATTO Disk Benchmark
• CrystalDiskMark
• 3DMARK SSD Benchmark

CrystalDiskMark Results

We tested the SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS on both versions 6.0.0 and 8.0.4 of CrystalDiskMark and the following results were obtained;

For the many users who still use earlier versions such as 6.0.0, we decided to test the SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS on it first. We got impressive results with the SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS SSD on CrystalDiskMark 6.0.0, with the 4K Q32 results being extraordinary as well. The SSD did live up to its rating of 7000MB/s read and 6600 MB/s write speeds. 

Next, we tested the same SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS on the CrystalDiskMark 8.0.4 to see if any differences were noticed.

The result is impressive. 

3DMARK Storage Test

Only the gaming performance of the drive will be tested with 3DMARK. It will allow us to compare the load times of various games, as well as load times for recording gameplay, saving games, and transferring games. We’ll get an overall score and times in the end.

The SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS did an average of 506.51 MB/s and 61µs. 

AS SSD

AS SSD is another benchmarking tool used for testing SSDs. All tests were run with the default 1GB test set.

The Rocket 4 PLUS did impress us with a total score of 12834. 

Next, AS SSD 4K 64 Thread Operations (IOPS) were recorded.

Once again the scores are self-explanatory with the total score being 13079. 

ATTO 

Sequential Read and Write speeds were tested with the ATTO Disk Benchmark tool. The maximum sequential read speed of 7000MB/s was recorded with an average being more than 6.5GB/s. The average write speeds were recorded at around 6.6GB/s. 

Anvil

We will now run the Anvil Storage Utilities benchmark to test the SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS’s performance. 

The default test size of 1GB was utilized, the speed score for read was 9484.77 whilst the write speed score was 16782.75. This took the SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS to an overall score of 26267.52.

Real-World Data Copy

We copied a compressed file of 100GB size on the Source folder in the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2TB PCIe 4 NVMe SSD and copy it to the destination folder on the same drive. The compressed file contains multiple folders and files of varying sizes including more compressed folders. The average data transfer rate was 2.36GB/s and it took roughly 43 seconds to copy the complete file to the destination.

Thermal Performance

We have used 3 consecutive runs of the ATTO benchmark utility and noted the maximum temperature on the SSD via HWMonitor software. The maximum temperature was 72°C at an ambient of 38°C.

Conclusion

The SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS is designed for those that want high performance from their storage drives. The Rocket 4 PLUS is now available in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities with an 8TB variant coming along. The drive achieves high speeds by utilizing the PCIe Gen 4.0 x4 technology. The SSD is using Micron 3D TLC NAND.

The SSD is driven by the Phison PS5018-E18. The Phison18-E18 is built using TSMC’s 12nm manufacturing technology and a 32-bit ARM Cortex R5 microcontroller in a Triple-CPU architecture with up to 8 channels; this all adds to better efficiency and support for Dynamic SLC Cache and 1600MT per channel in DDR4 DRAM. This utilizes a dual-sided layout where components are found on both sides of the SSD. With all of this technology, the PS5018-E18 is 36% quicker than the preceding PS5015-E16.

The SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS, being an M-type SSD with the 2280 size, is designed to achieve read speeds of up to 7000MB/s and write rates of up to 6600MB/s. Make sure your motherboard supports PCIe Gen 4.0 x4, as speeds will be slower than with PCIe Gen 3.0. The 4K random writes and read rates are 700K IOPS and 650K IOPS, respectively while utilizing QD32.

The SSD is without a doubt a powerhouse; in our exhaustive testing, the SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS performed admirably. The SSD performed admirably not just in the simulated tests, but also in real-world testing. The PS5 heatsink, on the other hand, is a fantastic investment with the SSD, making installation much easier for PS5 customers.

Overall, the Rocket 4 PLUS’s heatsink reduces temperatures, making the device suitable for both SABRENT users and others. There’s no disputing that the Rocket 4 PLUS is currently one of the fastest SSDs available. The SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS is rated at a TBW of 1400. The SSD is PCIe 4.0 compatible with NVMe 1.3 compliance. Some other features of the SSD include;

• Power Management Support for APST/ ASPM/ L1.2
• Supports SMART and TRIM commands
• Supports ONFI 2.3, ONFI 3.0, ONFI 3.2, and ONFI 4.0 interface
• Advanced Wear Levelling, BadBlock Management, Error Correction Code, and Over-Provision
• Upgradable Firmware

We also get a 1-year international warranty with the drive which can be further upgraded to five years if the drive is registered within 90 days of purchase.

The SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS 2TB NVMe is presently available for roughly 310$ at the time of review. In comparison to other competitors, such as the Samsung 980 Pro, which may be a little slower, the price is a tiny bit higher. Currently, it is aimed at the high-end category who want pure performance out of their drives.

The speeds are only boundless in simulated testing because the SSD is limited in real-world use by other applications, but overall, we recommend acquiring the SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS coupled with the PS5 Heatsink for better temperatures and higher transfer rates.

Is SABRENT Rocket 4 Plus 2TB NVMe Worth Buying?

The SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS 2TB is no doubt a luxury for performance enthusiasts but are the crazy speeds worth it? To answer these questions we went over a ton of real-world and simulated testing in our SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS Review. 

The SABRENT Rocket 4 PLUS 2TB lived up to the promise, with simulated speeds approaching the advertised figures. Though real-world circumstances such as Windows startup time, game boot time, and other data transmission speeds do fluctuate. These speeds are more controlled by the operating system than by the drive itself.

The chrome motif and black Sabrent branding are very appealing. When compared to other rivals such as the Samsung 980 Pro and WD, people may debate over price and speed, but when it comes to real usage, they all fall into the same category, and it is all up to personal preference. The PS5 Heatsink, on the other hand, shows to be a lot more beneficial, as temperatures have been shown to reduce in comparison to the included PS5 own heatsink. The installation is simple, and the performance speaks for itself.