Sabrent is expanding its Rocket Q series of SSDs with a very high density model. The new Rocket Q 8TB should be the largest M.2 SSD to grace the storage world once it's officially available for purchase.
The Rocket Q 8TB is a M.2 2280 SSD that'll happily live inside a standard PCIe 3.0 x4 interface. Sabrent bakes the 8TB model with the same ingredients as any other Rocket Q drive. The SSD utilizes the Sabrent RKT 303 controller, which is very likely Sabrent's fancy name for the Phison E12S SSD controller we first saw at CES in January.
On the NAND side, the Rocket Q relies on Micron's 3D QLC (quad-level cell) chips. The company doesn't mention what type, but we expect that they're the 96-layered packages.
One of the features inside the Phison E12S controller is the ability to function with just half the DRAM capacity of the original E12. This allows Sabrent to use 256MB of DRAM for every 1TB of storage. Assuming that the manufacturer sticks to this ratio, the 8TB drive could end up with a 2TB DRAM chip.
Sabrent Rocket Q SSD Specs
| Model | Part Number | Sequential Read (MBps) | Sequential Write (MBps) | Random Read (IOPS) | Random Write (IOPS) | Endurance (TBW) | Warranty | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rocket Q 8TB | SB-RKTQ-8TB | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 5 years | ? |
| Rocket Q 4TB | SB-RKTQ-4TB | 3,400 | 3,000 | 490,000 | 680,000 | 940 | 5 years | $759.99 |
| Rocket Q 2TB | SB-RKTQ-2TB | 3,200 | 3,000 | 255,000 | 670,000 | 530 | 5 years | $299.99 |
| Rocket Q 1TB | SB-RKTQ-1TB | 3,200 | 2,000 | 125,000 | 500,000 | 260 | 5 years | $189.99 |
| Rocket Q 500GB | SB-RKTQ-500 | 2,000 | 1,000 | 95,000 | 250,000 | 120 | 5 years | $79.99 |
Sabrent hasn't listed the specifications for the 8TB drive. However, Sabrent's general Rocket Q page notes that the line can hit up to 3,400 MBps sequential read speeds and 3,000 MBps sequential write speeds, and the 4TB model meets these specs. Random performance for the 4TB variant is estimated at 490,000 IOPS reads and 680,000 IOPS writes. It's reasonable to expect that the 8TB model will match, if not exceed, the 4TB drive's random performance.
The Rocket Q SSDs are on QLC NAND flash memory, so it's important to keep endurance expectations in check. Although not stellar, the endurance on the drives are pretty decent for daily use. The Rocket Q 4TB, which used to be the largest model, is rated for 940 TBW (terabytes written). We expect the 8TB to boast a figure north of that number. Sabrent backs the Rocket Q drives with a limited one-year warranty, but, if you register your drive within 90 days, the warranty period extends to five years.
Sabrent has yet to reveal the pricing or availability for its 8TB M.2 drive. Given that the 4TB model has an MSRP of $759.99, the 8TB drive could easily cost twice as much.
