amazon WD BLUE SN550 1TB reviews
The M.2 NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) solid-state drive (SSD) was something every user dreamed of. Its compact size and speed are faster than the traditional hard drive (HDD) and SATA SSD. But the biggest obstacle for NVMe SSDs for users is the expensive price and few high capacity options, while most Today’s systems only have one or more M.2 slots, which makes us forced to choose a SATA SSD if there is a big demand for storage, to reserve NVMe SSD for Windows operating system and daily applications.
Following the launch of the SN750 Black series aiming at gamers and streamers earlier this year, Western Digital continued to launch the SN550 Blue product line for the more popular customer segment. Born to replace the previous SN500 series, the SN550 adds a 1TB for users with large storage needs, while also upgrading the controller faster, using PCIe 3.0 x4 lanes instead of x2 like SN500 and equipped with New 3D memory chip TLC NAND 96-layer of WD.
In this article, we will review the most advanced 1TB version of the SN550. The product is now cheaper than some SATA 3 SSD models with the same capacity currently available on the market, such as Samsung SSD 860 EVO or Crucial MX500, which is very noticeable.
Unboxing and design overview
The name is so designed if SN750 Black has black tones, SN550 is packed in a blue box. Here, besides product design, we can see some key parameters such as read speed (sequential) up to 2,400 MB / s, 1TB capacity, 3D NAND memory chip and 5-year warranty period.
WD SN550 features only single-sided PCB design, DRAM-less to save production costs. The two largest chips on the product are the SanDisk 20-82-01008-A1 controller right next to the contact pins, and the 1TB SanDisk 96-layer 3D TLC NAND memory chip on the other end of the PCB.
With SN750, users can choose the version with a built-in heat sink if required, but SN550 the only option is no heat sink. According to WD, the SN550 has improved thermal design to maintain performance during extended tasks, but at speeds that aren’t as “too fast” as its predecessors, I predict the temperature won’t be a threat to this SSD.
Regarding software, WD has a genuine tool called SSD Dashboard, and of course, SN550 is also supported. However, because it’s not a high-end product like the SN750, the SN550 doesn’t have a dedicated interface, nor does it have a dedicated gaming mode, where users can track the status of the drive including used/ free space, health, temperature, … Although there is no built-in drive “clone” tool (for example, you want to transfer Windows data from an old drive to a new one), you can download it to Acronis True Image WD Edition on the WD homepage.
Performance and practical use
As the most advanced product of the SN550 series, the 1TB version has quite impressive specifications, with a maximum sequential read/ write speed of 2,400/ 1,950 MB/ s, random data respectively 410,000 IOPS and 405,000 IOPS, no too far from the SN750 while the price is only about a third at the time of launch.
The durability, in terms of TeraByte Written (TBW), of SN550 is also 600 similar to its flagship. While this is not the highest number I’ve ever seen, it is more than enough for you to use comfortably for many years. To make it easier for readers to imagine, 600TB is equivalent to you being able to record 320GB per day, equivalent to about 8 Full HD Blu-ray movies, over a period of more than 5 years.
Like SN500, SN550 does not include hardware encryption, so business users will probably need to consider it. But for ordinary users, this is not a problem at all, especially when your computer must support that feature.
Test configuration
– CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
– Mainboard: MSI B450m Mortar Max
– RAM: Corsair Vengeance 2x8GB @ 3200 MHz
– Graphics Card: Colorful GTX 1660 Super
– NVMe: WD Blue SN550 1TB
– PSU: Antec Edge 750W 80 Plus Gold
– Case: Vitra NEFERTITI X9
Operating speed
The first test was the file write speed, I tried copying about 35GB of data including 4K videos, movies, photos, music and a variety of system files of all sizes. In the beginning, SN550 reached a speed of 900MB/ s – 1GB / s, ran out of cache (cache) after 15GB and then returned to 600-700 MB/ s. Switch to experiment with files from 7-10GB, the speed increased to 1.13GB/ s. It can be seen that working with files below 10GB will be at the peak of SN550.
Using the Crystal Disk Mark tool, the sequential read and write speed (top line) of the SN550 is close to the announced maximum speed of WD, 2451 MB/ s and 1988 MB/ s. However, as usual, the speed that we need to consider is 4KiB Q1T1, when data is randomly read and written on data areas with Queues = 1 and Threads = 1. Here, SN550 has speed on par with the flagship SN750, even faster-reading speed.
Next is AS SSD, this benchmark tool uses uncompressed files instead of compressed like Crystal Disk Mark so the results are usually lower and more realistic.
ATTO Disk Benchmark consists of a series of tests to determine the read and write speed of a hard drive with various size data packets. It can be seen that the read/ write speed of SN550 is steadily increasing, stable, a sign of a “good” controller.
AIDA64, a popular computer security tool, also has a hard drive benchmark program, measuring linear and random file read speeds, block sizes from 4KB to 8MB. This program can measure the write speed, but for some reasons, AIDA64 reported an error that prevented me from doing so.
In terms of performance when playing games, the Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringer game has a very useful benchmarking tool, measuring the standard game load time to milliseconds. In total, the SN550 loads all five levels in just 13,323 seconds, about the same as high-end SSDs.
After about a week of experience, I tried to measure the performance of the drive after it was almost full, namely 856 GB out of 931GB available. As a result, the performance of the drive has decreased slightly, by about 3-5%, but with common tasks, users will not be able to recognize the difference. Moreover, this can also be simply a difference in measurement software.
where can you get a WD BLUE SN550 1TB online
WD Blue SN550 1TB NVMe Internal SSD – Gen3 x4 PCIe 8Gb/s, M.2 2280, 3D NAND, Up to 2,400 MB/s – WDS100T2B0C: Buy it now
Thermodynamic when operating
In a closed case with a cooling fan, the room temperature fluctuates between 27 and 28 degrees Celsius, the operating temperature of SN550 when checking through the sensor on SSD Dashboard software is 35 degrees C at rest and 50 degrees C when Bulk data copying. When gaming, the temperature of the case also increased, SN550 continued to operate and reached the maximum threshold of 70 degrees C. With a product without heatsink, this is a completely acceptable heat level.
Conclude
With SN550 Blue, WD has come a long way in its efforts to make NVMe SSDs more and more popular. Impressive performance, large capacity, long service life and a 5-year warranty are great advantages of the product.