How to install setup and test WD Black SN850x and install windows too

Prawn here and in this video I'm showing you how to setup, install and test the WD Black SN850x gen 4 NVMe SSD. I'm using a ASUS TUF Gaming Z790-BTF WiFi motherboard for this PC, which supports gen 4 NVMe SSDs and that's important to know when installing your drive i.e. making sure you're using a compatible motherboard and the right port for it.

See my other related videos on this to find out more about why it matters and other things you should know:

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Unlike most NVMe SSDs, this one does come with M2 screws in the box! If you lose it or find you don't have one then there's good news as you can buy them from Amazon*:

Once you've installed your drive, you might want to ensure it's running at the right speed. So I'd recommend downloading these bits of software to check:

Also see my other related videos:

Specs of the PC seen in this video:

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timestamps
00:00 Hello
00:29 Motherboard installation
01:35 Peel stickers
03:36 Installing Windows
06:43 Just getting Windows to recognise it
08:49 Checking drive speeds
11:07 Firmware updates
11:48 Gaming Mode

[TheBeastieBoy]

This needs all the bumping in popularity because it could not have been better explained. Just got 2 2TB NVMe SSD and this helped me set them up after not finding the correct information anywhere else.

Bravo to you, sir, you're a gentleman and a wizard. You've saved me so much trouble!

[BlackNomad]

Thank you so much for this. I picked up one of these drives in the Amazon prime sale and was my first time installing one of these modern NVME drives. It seemed to fit and work almost immediately but your benchmark and software suggestions have certainly helped me to really see the details. I may even have followed your NVME installation tutorial video when doing it too 😅

[ThtsDirty]

Love these guys, got 4 4TBs of em in my system

[willzulu]

Literally just bought this yesterday 😂

So question, would you recommend the stock heat sink that motherboards come with for these drives or something welded?

[mrb]

HI Thanks for the VIdeo, I just got the 4TB WD Black SN850X WD Black For Christmas, I have Choice of using it for my PC or My PS5 👍

[ZomgZomg]

When installing Wondows 11. Select World, as the language, this removes 100% of all the garbage MS installs, eg instagram/etc/etc. Once you finish installing, then just change it to what language you want.
After that run Chris's script to remove all telemetary

[ornatas]

great video straight and to the point!

[How-qcsj]

The Gaming Mode option seems to be missing on my end, any ideas to this?

[michaelsmith]

I bought one, are they reliable ? Nice video !!! Thanks

[Mrbenbarbie]

Updated to windows 11, cant get my two sn850x drives to show when they previously did in windows 10. They show in bios, but on in windows disk management or device manager. What can I do to update the firmware of them to show?

[thomasmachado]

That motherboard for AM5 exist? The tuf gaming with the cables backwards ;)

[Brother-Luke]

I brought two of these drives. One for WIn 11 OS and one for games and media. The OS drive is only getting 6200 Mbps but the 2nd drive is getting over 7000 Mbps. They are both in Gen 4 slots and this has been confirmed in HWINFO and WD software. Any ideas? Thanks

[stealthhunter]

I have 2 very simple (I hope) questions

Q1. So Ik PCIe 5 SSDs r just not worth it when it comes to loading up a game, but I never hear anyone talk about if it helps traversal stutter from loading into new areas within an open world (world streaming I thibk its called), and general smoothness of games that stutter when going into a new zone of a map. Also in games like satisfactory where u will literally freeze when the autosave happens if u have a massive game world u have been building in (and similar games, city skylines 1/2, factorio ect).

Q2. Does having ur OS/programs drive seperate to the drive ur games run on help with what I mentioned above? Lets say u r recording with nvidia shadowplay and its saving that info/recording to the ssd, doesnt that affect game performance if its running on the same drive and on top of having stuff like spotify, windows OS, web browser open ect ect all stack up? Is it better to have them seperated so background running stuff including the OS doesnt interfere with the game loading, aka a drive that sole job is to load the game and only the game seperated from everything else?

Sry probably overexplained but wanted to be clear haha.

[MichaelHenkleC]

Not helpful, show when the bios says not compatible and the steps to update the bios. I hate these POS M.2 Drives.

[Rohitrps]

Hi, I have a question i just purchase wd sn850x, and i have inserted this nvme in pcie gen 4 slot in the motherboard, my motherboard is gigabyte auros pro B550M, on cristal diskmark software i am getting 7300 read 6300 write speed, but when i actully coping any file in this nvme i am getting only 530 to 550mbps why?

[ItssRapzz]

My PC doesnt even recognise the new SSD when i go to disk management :(

[Ed.Mantle]

Bought 2 x 8TB sn850x last week - one works fine in any of my 4 slots, the other immediately causes system freezes. Anyone else experience similar? Am assuming faulty - can't even open CrystalDiskInfo before it crashes. Will try in another machine at the weekend but feels like a faulty stick.

[KanoTransformations]

Can I move all my computer desk stuff and my rig and stuff to your place and then we can build and tinker together and just be nerdy jk