Side-by-side: WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB ($380) vs Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB ($585). $/TB winner, specs, real-world picks for July 2026.
Both run on Gen 5 hardware but at different capacities: 2 TB for the WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB versus 4 TB for the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB. Whether the larger drive's $/TB advantage justifies the higher upfront cost depends on how much you actually need.
Hardware-wise, the WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB runs on SMI's SM2508 silicon, which became the default Gen 5 controller for power-conscious flagships. The Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB pairs Samsung's Piccolo controller — DRAM-less with PCIe 4.0/5.0 dual-mode support.
Prices favor the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB by $43.75/TB ($146.25/TB versus $190.00/TB). Not a huge gap, but enough to be the tiebreaker if performance is similar.
On sequential reads the WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB pulls ahead by 7,650 MB/s (14,900 MB/s versus 7,250 MB/s). That matters for moving large files but rarely shows up in game loads.
Write speeds skew toward the WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB: 11,000 MB/s sustained against 6,300 MB/s. Content creators feel this; gamers do not.
The DRAM-vs-HMB question divides opinion: WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB's on-board DRAM theoretically helps under sustained workloads, while Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB's HMB approach has matured enough that most users won't see the difference. Pick on price if everything else is similar.
Endurance leans toward the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB at 2,400 TBW (versus 1,200 TBW for the WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB). For most consumers this never becomes a real concern — 600 TBW lasts a decade of normal writes — but heavy daily writers should weight it.
PS5 owners get no measurable benefit from either drive's peak speed because Sony's internal NVMe controller throttles to ~5,500 MB/s; treat WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB and Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB as interchangeable here and let price decide. Video editors will gravitate toward the WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB for its write headroom (11,000 MB/s sustained). Project saves and proxies move faster, which compounds across a workday. Heads-up — these are full-length 2280 drives. Steam Deck and most current handhelds require shorter 2230 modules, so check capacity-specific 2230 variants if that's your target platform.
Market context: the WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB ranks #5 of 11 Gen 5 2 TB drives we track by $/TB, while the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB ranks #1 of 6 Gen 5 4 TB drives. One of them is genuinely among the cheapest options in its class, so this matchup includes a real value pick.
Go with the WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB for the lower retail price ($380 vs $585), meaningfully faster reads (14,900 MB/s), higher sustained writes (11,000 MB/s), and a dedicated DRAM cache chip.
Go with the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB for better $/TB economics ($146.25/TB), and a higher TBW endurance rating (2,400 TBW). 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.