WD Black SN7100 vs WD Black SN770: Which One to Choose?

Just search for the Best Gen 4.0 SSD anywhere, and you’ll see the WD Black SN7100 at the top. However, you can also see the SN770 nearby, as both are top competitors in the mid-range NVMe category. In terms of performance, the SN7100 outperforms the SN770, although the prices are similar across all storage capacities. Most people can see the SN7100 as a better option in all terms, but the SN770 will help you save some money.

So, which one of these is the best SSD for you? Well, it depends on your budget and requirements. The SN7100 claims a theoretical read speed of 7,250 MB/s and write speed of 6,900 MB/s. On the other hand, the SN770 can go up to 5,150 MB/s sequential read and 4,850 MB/s sequential write speed. In the random IOPS numbers, the difference is even bigger, and we are going to discuss that in the upcoming section of our article.

Both these drives are DRAM-less and target a budget-conscious audience and lighter usage. This makes them much efficient and cooler. There are differences in the NAND flash, controller, and SLC-Cache, which we are going to cover in this article.

In fact, I’ll provide you with an in-depth comparison of specifications, technical features, benchmarks, and reliability numbers so that you can make your decision confidently. So, let’s get started.

Theoretical Specifications

From this table, we can see that the WD Black SN7100 is a high-performance, next-gen SSD released in late 2024, offering significantly faster speeds and newer NAND (218-layer BiCS8 TLC) than the older WD Black SN770, which came out in early 2022 with 112-layer TLC. Both use PCIe Gen 4.0 and are DRAM-less with HMB, but the SN7100 features improved controller tech (Polaris 3) and delivers much higher sequential and random performance across all capacities. So, if you’re looking for top-tier speed and future-ready storage, especially at 1TB or 2TB, the SN7100 is the right choice. The SN770 remains a solid, budget-friendly choice for everyday gaming or general use.

Benchmark Scores Comparison

These drives compete in the 2TB performance category. So, we’ll compare the benchmark scores of the 2TB variants only.

PCMark 10 Storage Benchmark

The PCMark 10 Storage Benchmark software is a test designed to evaluate the real-world performance of a storage device (like an SSD or HDD) using scenarios that reflect everyday tasks and professional workloads. You can perform either a full drive benchmark or a quick benchmark, and both will take your SSD/HDD through different test scenarios. The Full Drive Benchmark (which we are comparing here) tests your drive as the primary OS drive. It includes running tests like loading the operating system, running apps, loading games, and other tasks that a primary drive does. The quick drive benchmark is more about testing a drive’s capabilities as a secondary drive. This may include tests like file copying and pasting.

Compared with the WD Black SN770, the WD Black SN7100 delivers roughly 32.5 % higher overall score and about 32.5 % more bandwidth, while latency drops by around 24.5 %. For end users, these gains mean noticeably quicker file transfers, faster game and application load times, and smoother responsiveness during heavy workloads, making the SN7100 the stronger pick for performance‑hungry tasks such as high‑resolution content creation, intensive gaming, or large‑scale multitasking.

3DMark Storage Test for Gamers

The 3DMark Storage Test for Gamers, as the name suggests, is designed to test an SSD/HDD’s capabilities in gaming scenarios. This may include, but is not limited to, installing games, loading games, saving games, quitting games, and streaming games.

The WD Black SN7100 outperforms the SN770 with a 7.9% higher overall score, 9.1% greater bandwidth, and 6.25% lower latency. This means the SN7100 is a comparatively better option for gaming builds. However, the difference isn’t very high, and the SN770 can still be a viable option if gaming is your main priority.

CrystalDiskMark Peak Sequential Read/Write Performance

CDM is a great synthetic benchmarking software to check a drive’s highest capabilities in raw read/write scenarios. It doesn’t represent any real-world performance numbers except the speed for moving files here and there. However, you can use these numbers to check your SSD or HDD’s capabilities indirectly. Also, it is great to see if your drive can reach those advertised read/write speed numbers.

In sequential performance, the WD Black SN7100 shows clear advantages over the SN770: it’s 11.1% faster in 1MiB QD1 read, 32.1% faster in QD1 write, 36.5% faster in QD8 read, and 49.8% faster in QD8 write. For the end user, this means significantly faster large file transfers and better sustained throughput in demanding tasks like video editing, game installs, or loading large assets, especially noticeable in workflows that rely on high-speed sequential reads and writes.

CrystalDiskMark Peak Random Read/Write Performance

CDM Random Read/Write benchmark is good to test your drive’s capabilities for every tasks like running applications and loading operating systems. Although you get plain numbers in either IOPS or MB/s but they are good to compare two drives as we are going to do here.

In random IOPS performance, the WD Black SN7100 offers major advantages over the SN770: it’s 63.3% faster in 4KB QD1 read, 2.3% faster in QD1 write, 57.0% faster in QD256 read, and 71.9% faster in QD256 write. These improvements are impactful for multitasking, application responsiveness, and workloads involving many small file operations, making the SN7100 a far better choice for demanding desktop or workstation environments.

Transfer Rate

In real-world file transfer tasks, the WD Black SN7100 performs notably better than the SN770, delivering a 35.1% faster copy speed, 18.4% faster write speed, and 20.9% faster read speed. For you, this means quicker file backups, faster installations, and smoother handling of large data sets. If your work includes working with copying or moving large files, the SN7100 is a better pick for you.

Power Consumption and Efficiency

The WD Black SN7100 is 60.2% more power-efficient than the SN770 during a 50GB file copy, with both drives drawing the same average power. It also uses 4.3% less power at idle and has a 16.3% lower peak power draw, making it a more energy-efficient choice overall. For end users, this translates to better performance-per-watt and potentially lower heat output, especially beneficial in laptops or compact builds where power and thermal limits matter.

Thermals

The SN7100 maintained temperatures below 60°C during most workloads and in most benchmarks, peaking at just 64°C, offering ample headroom well below its 90°C throttling point, making it one of the coolest-running high-performance SSDs tested. In contrast, the SN770 idled at around 52°C and peaked at 80°C during sustained writes, getting much closer to thermal limits. All in all, the SN7100 has much better thermal management, and when you combine it with a heatsink, it would run cooler than any other Gen 4.0 SSD out there. However, if you are planning to put the SN770 under heavy load, a heatsink would be compulsory.

Endurance and TBW

For the matching variants, i.e., 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB, the TBW ratings are the exact same and what we traditionally get with most other SSDs. The warranty and DWPD are the same as well. The MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) of the SN770 is 1.8 Million Hours, while this number for the SN7100 is unavailable.

Technical Specifications

In terms of specifications, the WD Black SN7100 has a more advanced hardware foundation compared to the SN770. Both drives are DRAM-less with Host Memory Buffer support and lack encryption or power-loss protection, but the SN7100 uses Kioxia’s newer 218-layer BiCS8 TLC NAND with a much faster 3,600 MT/s interface, while the SN770 uses older 112-layer BiCS5 NAND at 1,200 MT/s.

The SN7100 also features a newer WD Polaris 3 controller, whereas the SN770 runs on an earlier variant (Polaris MP16+). Although both support SMART, TRIM, and PlayStation 5 compatibility, the SN7100’s 650 GB SLC cache (2TB model) is slightly smaller than the SN770’s 740 GB, but the SN7100 compensates with significantly faster NAND and controller architecture, resulting in much higher overall throughput and efficiency.

Price

As we discussed earlier, the SN7100 is expensive compared to the SN770, but it is better to check the price in real-time because they keep changing. The prices may vary heavily in sales seasons.

Which one should you choose: WD Black SN7100 or WD Black SN770?

The SN7100 is a better option in terms of performance at a very minimal price difference. So, if you are looking for a good mid-range or budget Gen 4.0 NVMe, the SN7100 is the right SSD for you. Now, both are DRAM-less SSDs and have no encryption. So you should look at other high-end options like the Samsung 990 Pro or WD Black SN850X.

Here, if I have to choose between these two, I would pay a little extra for the SN7100 and go for it. Also, the 4TB variant is available only with the SN7100.

For a low-end computer or as the secondary drive, you can still go for the SN770, but only when you are getting heavy discounts. The SN7100 is not only packed with the latest hardware but also have good efficiency and thermal performance along with its performance. So, I think it is the right option for most people.

I hope this helps!