When the WD Blue SN500 got here out earlier within the 12 months, it went straight into our best gaming SSD rankings due to its low value and nippy learn and write speeds. The solely factor it was actually missing was a pleasant, low-cost 1TB mannequin. Thankfully, WD are about to rectify that with the introduction of their new Blue SN550 SSD, which not solely provides that aforementioned 1TB dimension capability to the combination, but additionally presents even quicker learn and write speeds.
Alas, there’s no phrase on precise pricing simply but, however supplied WD handle to maintain the SN550’s prices all the way down to the identical kind of stage as their present Blue SN500 stick (£40 / $46 for 250GB and £63 / $65 for 500GB), then it might be one other finances champion for anybody seeking to make the transfer from SATA to NVMe with out emptying their checking account within the course of.
Indeed, with WD claiming a sequential learn velocity of as much as 2400MB/s for the SN550, that makes it 41% quicker than the SN500’s high learn velocity of 1700MB/s, which can be fairly the soar in efficiency if WD handle to get the value down. I think it’s going to find yourself being fairly finances, although, as even 2400MB/s remains to be a great distance off from the easiest NVMe sequential learn speeds on the market, such because the 3740MB/s supplied by WD’s high of the road Black SN750, for instance, and the 3500MB/s of Samsung’s 970 Evo Plus.
Interestingly, WD make no point out of the SN550’s sequential write velocity of their preliminary announcement, however I’d hope to see an analogous sort of increase over the SN500’s high velocity of 1450MB/s. Even if its sequential write velocity doesn’t find yourself being that a lot quicker than the outgoing SN500, although, it ought to nonetheless be fairly a bit quicker than what your customary SATA SSDs can handle, which normally high out at round 500-560MB/s sequential learn and write.
Of course, sequential speeds are solely half the story in relation to an SSD’s on a regular basis efficiency, as your PC not often reads or writes information in good, neat sequential blocks. Instead, it normally chucks them about all around the store, which is why random learn and write assessments are normally a significantly better indicator of the sort of velocity you’ll see everyday. Random speeds are sometimes quite a bit slower than the attractive, 1000+ speeds quoted on the field, although, and there are many NVMe SSDs whose random learn speeds aren’t really that a lot quicker than the most effective SATA SSDs on the market. Their random write speeds are normally quite a bit faster, however and not using a quantity to provide us some thought of how the SN550 goes to carry out on this division, I’ll have to attend till I get one in for testing to see the way it actually stacks up towards its SATA and NVMe rivals.
Still, supplied WD handle to maintain the SN550’s value in test, that is positively one to look at for potential NVMe consumers.
