SSD costs might have been falling over latest months, however including a brilliant quick NVMe SSD to your PC continues to be one heck of an costly improve, particularly in the event you’re after one thing like our best gaming SSD champion, the Samsung 970 Evo. A 250GB stick of Evo goodness will set you again round £80 / $85 today, with costs just about doubling if you wish to transfer as much as 500GB. There are cheaper NVMe SSDs round, in fact, such because the aggressive Adata XPG SX6000 Pro, which presently goes for £54 / $57 for 256GB, however you’re nonetheless taking a look at round $85 / $100 in the event you’d want the additional leeway of a 512GB stick.
Enter the WD Blue SN500, Western Digital’s new entry-level NVMe SSD that begins at simply £47 / $55 for the 250GB mannequin, and a mere £69 / $78 for the highest 500GB model. On paper, it’s nowhere close to as quick as its dearer competitors, however in observe the Blue SN500 places up a surprisingly good battle, providing wonderful worth for cash for budget-conscious consumers.
I used to be despatched the 500GB WD Blue SN500 for evaluation, whose sequential learn and write speeds prime out at a fairly modest 1700MB/s and 1450MB/s respectively. The 250GB mannequin, in the meantime, has the identical sequential learn velocity however a barely slower sequential write velocity of 1300MB/s. Regardless of which capability you go for, although, each units of figures are a far cry from the high-2000 / low-mid 3000MB/s figures you’ll see quoted on the packing containers of different rival NVMe SSDs. For as soon as, nevertheless, they’re truly moderately correct.
When I put the 500GB Blue SN500 by way of AS SSD’s 1GB sequential take a look at, for instance, it returned a learn velocity of 1288MB/s and a virtually bang-on write velocity of 1424MB/s. Other SSDs, together with WD’s personal Black SN750 mannequin, are often no less than 1000MB/s quick once I’ve put their sequential learn velocity to the take a look at, and a superb 500MB/s behind their quoted sequential write velocity, too.
Already, then, the Blue SN500 seems like a extra trustworthy purchase than different NVMe SSDs on the market, and it continued to impress once I put it by way of AS SSD’s random velocity exams as effectively. After all, sequential speeds aren’t actually an excellent indicator of how an SSD will carry out in each day use, as they not often learn and write knowledge in good adjoining blocks. Instead, they’re fetching bits from right here, there and in every single place, which is why having a superb random learn and write velocity is so necessary.
Indeed, the Blue SN500’s random learn velocity of 44.5MB/s is true up there with the easiest NVMe SSDs round, placing it neck and neck with WD’s Black SN750 and barely older Black 3D NVMe SSD and solely 10MB/s or so behind Samsung’s 970 Evo. That’s spectacular for an SSD of this worth and miles higher than the 25MB/s random learn velocity of Adata’s XPG SX6000 Pro.
Admittedly, the Blue SN500 drops the ball a bit in terms of random write velocity, however I’d argue its rating of 131MB/s continues to be completely acceptable given its low price. Sure, you’ll get nearer to 145MB/s on the Adata, and nearly 170MB/s on the Samsung or WD Black SN750, however are these additional seconds / minutes actually value paying nearly double the cash? I’m not satisfied.
Moreover, you’re nonetheless getting a big leg-up over conventional SATA SSDs as effectively, such because the similarly-priced Samsung 860 Evo, whose 250GB mannequin can presently be had for £53 / $58, and 500GB stick for £78 / $78. This produced random learn and write speeds of 40MB/s and 98MB/s once I examined it final 12 months, making the WD Blue SN500 a lot better worth for cash general.
In truth, so long as you’ve bought a motherboard that helps NVMe SSDs, you then’d nearly be foolish not to get the WD Blue SN500 at this worth (£47 / $55 for 250GB and £69 / $78 for 500GB), particularly in the event you’ve been eyeing up one thing just like the 860 Evo as effectively. The Blue SN500 isn’t simply sooner than a SATA SSD, in any case – it’s additionally simpler to put in, slotting straight into your motherboard with out the necessity for any pesky cables. Throw in a pleasant 5 12 months guarantee as effectively and also you’re laughing. It’s my new best gaming SSD winner.
