Hey everyone! I am finally upgrading my setup to a Ryzen 7 5800X on an ASUS B550 motherboard and I really want to take advantage of those PCIe 4.0 speeds. I have been looking at a few options but I am a bit torn between the Samsung 980 Pro and the WD Black SN850.
I mostly do a mix of gaming and some 4K video editing, so I need something that won't throttle under heat during long renders. I have read some mixed reviews about firmware compatibility with certain AMD chipsets lately.
Does anyone have experience with these specific drives on a Zen 3 system? Which one would you recommend for the best stability?
I have been building rigs for years and honestly, the storage choice for a video editing workstation is way more critical than for a gaming-only PC. Since you are on a 5800X/B550 setup, you want a drive that handles heavy sustained writes without choking. I know you mentioned the SN850, but I would strongly suggest looking at the Western Digital WD_BLACK SN850X 2TB NVMe SSD instead. It is basically a refined version of the original that addressed some of those weird stability and firmware issues people saw on Zen 3 early on. Another sleeper pick for reliability is the Seagate FireCuda 530 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD. Tbh, the reason I love this one for 4K editing is the endurance rating. It has a much higher TBW (Terabytes Written) than many other consumer drives, which is huge if you are constantly scratching and rendering large video files. It uses the Phison E18 controller which is super stable on AMD chipsets now. Just a tip tho, since you are worried about heat: PCIe 4.0 drives definitely run hotter than the old Gen 3 ones. Make sure your B550 board has a decent M.2 heatsink or buy the version of the drive that comes with one pre-installed. Throttling usually happens about 10-15 minutes into a long export if the airflow is bad, and thats exactly when you dont want your speeds to drop. Stick with one of these and you will be solid for years.
Jumping in to say I saved a ton by grabbing the Crucial P5 Plus 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD with its Micron NAND. It's handled long 4K renders perfectly without breaking the bank.
Hey! Congrats on the upgrade, the 5800X is still a beast for video work even now. I spent a ton of time researching this exact thing for my own B550 build because I am super paranoid about data loss or crashes during long renders. Honestly, if you want the safest bet for stability, I would go with the Samsung 980 Pro 2TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD. I have been using it as my primary boot drive for a while now and it has been rock solid. The main reason I recommend it over the WD Black SN850 2TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD for your specific case is the software support. Samsung Magician is just miles ahead for checking drive health and managing firmware updates, which is vital since there were those early reports of speed drops on AMD boards that required updates. For 4K editing, you really need to keep an eye on thermals. These gen 4 drives get toasty fast. If your ASUS board doesnt have a great m.2 heatsink, definitely buy the version that comes with one pre-installed. It prevents that thermal throttling that happens halfway through a long export. Tbh the WD drive is slightly faster in some gaming benchmarks, but for a workhorse boot drive that wont give you headaches, the Samsung is my go-to recommendation. Just make sure your BIOS is updated to the latest version to avoid any weird PCIe lane issues.
I just snagged the Lexar NM790 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD during a sale. It runs super cool and saved me a ton compared to the bigger brands without losing any performance.
To add to the point above: EclipseEclair is spot on about the SN850X fixing those early firmware quirks. I have been running a similar Zen 3 setup for a while and honestly finding a drive that doesnt cook itself during 4K exports is the real challenge. I am super satisfied with how the market has opened up lately tho. If you want something that runs incredibly cool while matching those top-tier speeds, you should definitely look at the SK hynix Platinum P41 2TB PCIe NVMe Gen4 M.2 SSD. I have been using it for months and its basically the king of power efficiency. Less power means less heat, which is a lifesaver when you are doing those long renders on a B550 board. It stays snappy even when the drive starts filling up. Another solid shout is the Kingston KC3000 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD. It uses the Phison E18 controller which is rock solid on Ryzen systems. I have put these in several builds and no complaints so far regarding stability. It handles sustained writes like a champ, which is kinda what you need for that 4K footage. Both of these are fantastic alternatives to the usual Samsung/WD debate if you can find them on sale. Let me know if you need help looking at the endurance ratings!
I am actually in the middle of planning a nearly identical build with a 5800X, and these specific thermal concerns are exactly what is holding me up. It is a bit of a nightmare trying to find the right balance between speed and stability for long-term work.