Phidisk WrathKeeper 960GB SATA SSD review — 3D TLC NAND for everyone!

Introduction

We have already checked out the Phidisk PhantomKnight. So I guess it is only natural to check out the highest-end 2.5″ SATA drive in Phidisk’s lineup for consumers, the Phidisk WrathKeeper. On paper, the Phidisk WrathKeeper is much faster thanks to its 3D TLC NAND while featuring the same Phison controller under the hood. So let’s give the Phidisk WrathKeeper 960GB a whirl.

Unboxing

The packaging of the Phidisk WrathKeeper is just as distinctive as the Phidisk PhantomKnight we previously reviewed. It’s bright, it’s colorful and once again, reminds us of the graphics cards of olden days with its vibrant graphics.

Phidisk printed some basic specifications here on the back.

Truth be told this is probably the most exclusive packaging I have ever seen for an SSD. When you open up the box, the tray holding the Phidisk WrathKeeper raises up, somewhat akin to the ROG Zephyrus’ packaging. While the packaging is cool and all, Phidisk does not bundle anything unnecessary with the Phidisk WrathKeeper, so you only get the SSD in the box.

Appearance

The Phidisk WrathKeeper features even more elaborate graphics than the PhantomKnight, with it covering a large portion of the body. Unfortunately, body here is still plastic despite this being supposedly more premium than the Phidisk WrathKeeper. Not like it will affect anything, but I do love my metal SSDs, regardless of how thin they are.

The back is once again where you will find a really basic sticker listing out some basic specifications and the drive’s serial number.

Specifications

Phidisk WrathKeeper 960GB SATA3 SSD

Capacity	960GB (894GB usable)
Interface	SATA 3
NAND Type	3D TLC NAND
DRAM Cache	32MB SRAM (on controller)
Controller	Phison S11
Rated speed	Sequential: Read: Up to 570 MB/s Write: Up to 540 MB/s
Endurance	N/A
Dimensions	100 mm X 69.85 mm X 6.8 mm
Weight	43 gram
Included accessories	None
Warranty	5 years

The Phidisk WrathKeeper is somewhat of an upgrade to the Phidisk Phantomknight, with a longer warranty enabled by the more durable 3D TLC NAND. It is also rated for higher performance figures, so let’s check that out in the benchmarks.

Pokde Benchrig

CPU	Intel Core i7-5820K @ 4.125 GHz
Motherboard	ASUS X99-Deluxe
GPU	ASUS ROG Strix RX 480 8GB
Memory	4 x 4GB Kingston HyperX Predator 3000 MHz CL15
Storage	Samsung 850 EVO 250GB
Power Supply	Cooler Master V850

Performance

Synthetic

Surprisingly, the Phidisk WrathKeeper 960GB doesn’t deliver up to the rated performance. In fact it is quite a bit slower than what it is rated for. However we do see some massive improvements in 4K performance over the PhantomKnight, so it should contribute to a snappier user experience if used as a system drive.

Here the Phidisk WrathKeeper performs really well in the 4K-64Thrd benchmark, but sequential performance is surprisingly low for some reason.

The trend continues with poor sequential performance in Anvil, but 4K performance figures are looking pretty good.

Real world performance

In our real world transfer test of 16GB files, we see that the Phidisk WrathKeeper manages to uphold its ~500MB/s write speeds for quite a bit before tapering off gradually to around 180MB/s. The above figures were recorded when the drive is no longer enjoying the boosted speeds.

Game loading times are good but we actually see games load a fraction of a second slower. It’s not going to be noticeable in real world use, but it is indeed quite surprising to see considering that this is supposed to be a faster drive.

With greater performance comes a higher cost, and the Phidisk WrathKeeper is about RM0.10 more expensive per GB than its more affordable brethren, the Phidisk PhantomKnight.

Conclusion

The Phidisk WrathKeeper maintains its impressive write speeds for much longer than the Phidisk PhantomKnight we tested earlier, but has some pretty curiously poor sequential read speeds. We can see that the upgrade to 3D TLC NAND gave us a nice boost in 4K speeds though, which should translate to a snappier system.

Would we recommend the Phidisk WrathKeeper over the Phidisk PhantomKnight? Well to be honest, with the Phidisk WrathKeeper 960GB priced at RM699.90, it is quite a no-brainer considering the improvements in random read/write performance. If you are able to foot out the difference, why not? Also there is a longer warranty backing the Phidisk WrathKeeper, so you will have more peace of mind.

Our thanks to Phidisk Malaysia for providing us with the Phidisk WrathKeeper 960GB used in this review.