When the WD Blue SN500 got here out final yr, it went straight into my best gaming SSD listing because of its low value and nice learn and write speeds. It was the proper SSD for these on a finances, however the one factor it lacked was an inexpensive 1TB mannequin. Thankfully, WD have rectified this for the newest model of its budget-friendly gaming SSD, the Blue SN550.
Available in 250GB, 500GB and 1TB sizes, the Blue SN550 is even higher than its predecessor, enhancing on its already nippy random write speeds and strengthening its capability to cope with heavy workloads. It’s such good worth, in truth, that you simply’re in all probability higher off shopping for this than actually each different SSD on the planet proper now – together with low cost SATA drives. Here’s wot I feel.
Priced at £50 / £67 / £125 within the UK and $55 / $70 / $120 within the US, the WD Blue SN550 isn’t simply sooner than one of the best SATA drives on the market proper now – it’s additionally considerably higher worth. Indeed, its 250GB and 500GB fashions are solely a few quid greater than my present finances SATA advice, the Crucial MX500, they usually’re each considerably cheaper than my high SATA choose, the Samsung 860 Evo, notably as soon as you progress as much as 1TB.
You will, after all, want a motherboard that helps NVMe SSDs to utilize the WD Blue SN550 (see the image under), however most fashionable motherboards include at the very least one M.2 slot, if no more. As a end result, anybody who’s upgraded their PC within the final couple of years must be good to go. Plus, you don’t want to fret about connecting it as much as your PC’s energy provide because it attracts all the ability it wants straight from the motherboard.
NVMe SSDs require an M.2 slot (above) in your motherboard.
Provided you’ve acquired a appropriate motherboard, then, the WD Blue SN550 is a good alternative in your SSD. When I examined the drive utilizing AS SSD’s 1GB random 4K take a look at, for instance, which randomly reads and writes 1GB value of tiny 4K recordsdata to simulate the sort of speeds you’ll be able to count on to see from on a regular basis use of the drive, it returned a rating of 44.6MB/s learn and 157.3MB/s write. Those are incredible scores for an SSD of this value, beating the Crucial MX500’s respective scores of 36.MB/s learn and 72.7MB/s write by fairly a considerable margin. It additionally trumps the dearer Samsung 860 Evo, too, which solely managed 40.3MB/s learn and 98.2MB/s write in the identical take a look at.
In reality, the WD Blue SN550’s random speeds are so spectacular that it truly runs the chance of cannibalising WD’s personal high-end gaming SSD, the Black SN750. The SN750 nonetheless comes out on high for write velocity, all advised, because of its rating of 167.1MB/s, however its learn velocity of 45.0MB/s is successfully similar, displaying you needn’t fork out a great deal of money to get an incredible SSD.
The WD Blue SN550’s random speeds additionally beat different low cost NVMe drives such because the Adata XPG SX6000 Pro and Crucial P1. Admittedly, the Crucial P1 has a barely sooner learn velocity of 55.4MB/s, however that’s actually the drive’s solely advantage. Indeed, once I moved on CrystalDiskMark’s extra intensive random 4K 8-queue-8-thread take a look at, the WD Blue SN550 got here out streaks forward of its finances NVMe rivals, ending the take a look at with a powerful 1413.6MB/s learn velocity and a 1433.8MB/s write velocity. Compare that to the Crucial P1’s 363.1 and 911.4MB/s respective scores, and it’s clear the WD is the superior drive total. As for the way it compares to its finances SATA competitors, let’s simply say that even the Samsung 860 Evo can’t muster rather more than 400MB/s on this take a look at, which simply makes the advantages of transferring as much as an NVMe much more stark.
Yes, the WD Blue SN550 nonetheless has some approach to go earlier than it matches higher-end NVMe drives in this sort of work-heavy take a look at – the WD Black SN750’s scores hover across the 1500MB/s mark whereas the Samsung 970 Evo Plus pushes issues even greater towards the excessive 1600s – however it’s nonetheless fairly rattling quick for the cash.
As a end result, anybody with the best motherboard trying to improve their PC’s storage ought to completely have the WD Blue SN550 on the high of their element listing. There’s merely nothing higher at this finish of the NVMe spectrum, and its aggressive costs of £50 / £67 / £125 within the UK and $55 / $70 / $120 within the US make it significantly better worth for cash than nearly each SATA drive on the market as effectively. If you’ve ever requested your self which SSD you should purchase, that is the reply.
For extra of one of the best costs on right now’s best gaming SSDs – together with the WD Blue SN550 – take a look at our frequently up to date Best SSD deals web page.
