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Review, WD Blue SN550 1TB Is Not Bullshit | Droidcops

Maybe you want to upgrade a narrow SSD in your ultra-light notebook. Or maybe you just want a reliable and affordable NVMe SSD for your new gaming laptop.

In either case, Western Digital’s mainstream NVMe SSD could be a good choice. With performance figures peaking at 2.4 GBps and a very low MSRP, the Blue SN550 offers great value.

We’ve tasted the pleasures of the WD Blue SN500 before, but we’re a little disappointed that this version isn’t offered in 1TB capacity. We thought it might be possible to increase sales on the 1TB and 2TB versions of the WD Black SN750.

Now it’s time to taste the canal version with the latest WD Blue SN550 code with a maximum capacity of 1TB. In addition to more capacity, the Blue SN550 has several improvements such as a faster controller and some of the latest 96-layer TLC NAND flash available.

wd sn500

The Blue SN550 WD itself is actually available in several capacities, namely, 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB which we will discuss this time.

From our research, the WD SN550 Blue 1TB provides sequential read speeds of up to 2,400 MBps and write speeds of up to 1,750 MBps.

In terms of random performance, the company claims it rates the SN550 at 410,000/405,000 IOPS read/write.

This model supports the Trim feature and SMART data reporting. The presence of a multi-gear ECC scheme as well as various other standard flash management technologies helps it to last and last.

The SSD is rated to be able to withstand up to 600 TB of writes at the largest capacity. Looking further, this product is guaranteed with a five year warranty.

Software and Accessories

wd ssd dashboard software

This time, we took advantage of the default software from WD, namely the WD SSD Dashboard. The interface that is presented is very attractive and smart with a wealth of features displayed.

This software allows you to monitor and analyze SSD health and performance, as well as update the firmware in case of future updates.

Not only that, Acronis True Image WD Edition is a clone program or program to make it easier to migrate your data from your old drive to your new WD SSD faster.

It can also be used to create a system for backup. It certainly helps a lot when Windows decides to take a break after a system update.

WD Blue SN550 Specifications

wd sn550

As the name implies, the WD Blue SN550 comes with a blue PCB. It’s a single-sided M.2 2280 shape, so it can fit into even the thinnest of devices.

WD designs the controllers and firmware that power the SSD. NVMe WD Blue SN550 1.4 is equipped with PCIe3.0 x4 link. The existence of this feature is able to provide a slightly larger performance bang.

Architecturally, WD seems to be closer to WD’s 28nm tri-core NVMe form on the SN750. The only difference is the change from 8-channel to 4-channel.

Specification WD Blue SN550 1TB
Capacity (user/raw) 1000GB / 1024GB
Form factor M.2 2280
Interface / Protocol PCIe 3.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4
controller WD . Architecture
DRAM No DRAM
Storage SanDisk 96L TLC
Read sequentially 2,400 MBps
Write in sequence 1,750 MBps
Random Read 410,000 IOPS
Random Writing 405,000 IOPS
Security N/A
Endurance (TBW) 600TB
Part number WDS100T2B0C
Guarantee 5 years

This means the peak performance is slightly reduced, but the power efficiency is better. Plus, a simpler design could be the reason for lower production costs.

Most other SSDs use DRAM or take advantage of the NVMe Host Memory Buffer (HMB) feature to help speed up Flash Translation Layer (FTL) tasks to ensure responsive performance.

The Blue SN550 from WD doesn’t seem to take advantage of it, but instead it has a bit of SRAM for the task and does a great job.

On our 1TB model, there is only one NAND package, filled with sixteen 512Gb, located at the end of the PCB. This is WD’s way of enhancing the Blue thermal design for maximum performance.

Benchmark

Final Fantasy XIV

Final Fantasy XIV StormBlood and Stormbringer, these two free game benchmarks, are indeed quite easy and accurate, especially for comparing WD’s in certain calculations.

The Blue SN550 WD ranks well overall here, scoring third and fourth places in the Stormblood and Shadowbringer benchmarks.

Managed to outperform the more expensive WD Black SN750 as well as the Corsair Force MP600. Twice faster than HDD when loading game files.

DiskBench

wd sn550

We used the DiskBench storage benchmarking tool to test file transfer performance with our own custom data blocks. Our 50GB data set includes 31,227 files of various types, such as images, PDFs and videos.

Our 100GB includes 22,579 files with 50GB of which are large movies. We copied the datasets to a new folder and then followed up with a test reading the newly written 6.5GB zip file, 8GB test file, and 15GB movie file.

If you frequently deal with large file transfers, obviously the Black SN750 from WD is more powerful. However, the WD SN550 Blue was also able to provide adequate performance for these matters.

Its copy performance aligns with most of the alternative rated options and the drive ranks in fifth place in those test results.

WD Blue is ranked fourth with a clear advantage over other competitors’ scores. Its reading performance is impressive almost as fast as the Adata XPG SX8200 Pro.

PCMark 10 test

PCMark 10 is a footprint-based benchmark that uses a broad set of real-world footprints from popular applications and common tasks to measure storage device performance.

Quick benchmarks are more suited to those who use their PC lightly, while full benchmarks are more related to power users.

If you are using the device as a secondary drive, the test data will be very relevant.

Scoring third place in data and quick benchmarks, the WD Blue SN550 is quite responsive. The Crucial P1 delivers very similar performance with higher bandwidth and higher latency.

Overall there is not much difference in performance in the PCMark10 workload test with the previous tests.

Trace Testing – SPECworkstation 3

Like PCMark, SPECworkstation 3 is a trace-based benchmark, but designed to push the system harder by measuring workstation performance in professional applications.

Less idle time to recover and more reads and writes, the SPECworkstation 3 benchmark is also considered a low-end SSD killer.

To our surprise, this WD delivers almost the same performance as the WD SN750 Black, despite its limited bandwidth.

Overall the SN550 is capable of delivering more performance for those who want to use the drive in their new workstation as well as build new games.

Performance

performance wd sn550

The sustained write speeds greatly deliver the workload off-cache and into the “native” TLC or QLC flash. We also log drive temperatures via SMART data to see when thermal throttling kicks in and how it affects performance.

Note that results will vary based on workload and ambient air temperature.

The WD Blue SN550’s write performance is remarkably consistent compared to many SSDs, thanks to its static SLC cache, rather than the dynamic cache of most higher-priced drives today.

WD delivers faster performance than more expensive SSDs. The SN550 was able to write 12GB of data at a rate of 2 GBps and then slowly averaged at an average write speed of 880 MBps for the remainder of the test.

The WD Blue SN550 did a great job of staying cool with static temperatures in a 25 degree Celsius test environment.

WD itself has previously claimed that SSDs will slow down if they exceed the temperature point of 70 degrees Celsius.

Power consumption

power consumption wd sn550

We used Quaarch’s HD Programmable Power Module to gain a deeper understanding of power characteristics.

Power consumption at idle is a very important aspect to consider, especially if you are looking for a new drive for your laptop.

Some SSDs can consume watts of power at idle, while the better SSDs consume only milliwatts. Average workload power consumption and max consumption are two other aspects of power consumption, but performance per watt is more important.

This storage may consume more power during any given workload, but when tasks are completed more quickly it allows the drive to drop into a standby state more quickly, ultimately saving power.

The Blue SN550 scored high WD in our efficiency test. With a score of 220 MBps per watt used. Its low average consumption and maximum power consumption figures are well regulated as well.

Conclusion

wd sn550 1tb

Referring to WD’s claims about low power usage where the SN550 only consumes 5mW, so it is very suitable for laptop use.

Nearly every other SSD we’ve tested recently switched to a lower standby power state on our test platform, while WD consumes less power than the average SSD.

After testing the SSD several times, we just found the composition of the most competitive performance and price on the market as we tested this time, the WD Blue SN550 is the highest score.

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