Compare Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB and WD_BLACK SN7100 4TB: prices, speeds, $/TB. Which to buy in May 2026? Full spec breakdown.
Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB vs WD_BLACK SN7100 4TB pits two different generations against each other at 4 TB. The question isn't which is faster on paper — that's settled — it's whether the bandwidth gap shows up in your specific workload.
Hardware-wise, the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB runs on Samsung's Piccolo controller — DRAM-less with PCIe 4.0/5.0 dual-mode support. The WD_BLACK SN7100 4TB pairs SanDisk's A101 controller, used in newer WD_BLACK SKUs after the SanDisk spinoff.
There's a modest pricing advantage for the WD_BLACK SN7100 4TB: $79.75/TB compared with $104.75/TB. For typical gaming and productivity, this becomes the deciding factor when specs are close.
Heading to a PlayStation 5? Both drives drop into the console's M.2 bay and report identical real-world benchmarks since the PS5 caps storage at PCIe 4.0 speeds. The WD_BLACK SN7100 4TB wins this matchup on $/TB. The leap from Gen 4 to Gen 5 doubles peak throughput on paper but produces single-digit-percent improvements in game load times, OS boot, and most productivity benchmarks. The WD_BLACK SN7100 4TB is the better default unless you have a specific workload that needs the extra lanes. Both drives use the 2280 form factor, which is too long for Steam Deck or ROG Ally — you'd need a 2230 variant if either manufacturer offers one, or a dedicated handheld-format drive instead.
The 990 EVO Plus uniquely supports both PCIe 4.0 x4 and PCIe 5.0 x2 modes — useful flexibility if you might upgrade motherboard generations.
Pick the WD_BLACK SN7100 4TB if you value the lower retail price ($319 vs $419), and better $/TB economics ($79.75/TB).