Specifications & Features
Specifications and features
Much like the Black series SN750 th SN500 is using (Triple-level cell written) written 64-layer NAND flash memory from Sandisk. For those that noticed a similarity, yes this is a rebranded OEM WD SN520 making a move from SATA3 to NVMe, now brought to the consumer market. Western Digital's in-house NVMe SSD controller architecture derives from SanDisk and was cut-down into a more affordable two PCIe lanes no DRAM interface design. This allows them to offer the big storage volume at a lower price point. In 3D NAND, NAND layers, not chips, are stacked in a single IC. The good news is continued cost reduction, smaller die sizes and more capacity per NAND chip. Also, installed NAND toolsets in the wafer fabs can, for the most part, be reused, thereby extending the useful life of the fab equipment. Though the numbers vary per model due to available NAND channels to the controller (big SSDs have more chips and channels to work with) these SSDs will be plenty fast for any regular performance metrics, offering double and even triple times the speed (depending on how you look at it) of the fastest SATA3 class SSD. As mentioned, Western Digital offers the product series in two SKUs, a 250GB and 500GB version (for now).
 | ||
|---|---|---|
| WD Blue SN500 NVMe SSD | 250GB | 500GB |
| Model Number | WDS250G1B0C | WDS500G1B0C |
| Form Factors | M.2 2280 (80mm x 22mm x 2.38mm) | |
| Weight | 6.5 g | |
| Operating Temperature | 32°F to 158°F (0°C to 70°C) | |
| Storage Temperature | -67°F to 185°F (-55°C to 85°C) | |
| Interface | PCIe Gen3 x2 (8 Gbps) | |
| Endurance (Terabytes Written) | 150 TBW | 300 TBW |
| Seq. Read (up to) | 1,700 MB/s | 1,700 MB/s |
| Seq. Write (up to) | 1,300 MB/s | 1,450 MB/s |
| Rand. Read (up to) | 210K IOPS | 275K IOPS |
| Rand. Write (up to) | 170K IOPS | |
| MTTF | 1.75M hours | |
| Supply Voltage | 3.3V ± 5% | |
| Power (Sleep) | 2.5mW | |
| Power (Active) | 75mW | |
| Warranty | 5-year | |
| MSRP | $54.99 | $77.99 |
For 4K random read and write operations the performance differs a bit here and there per model. Basically, the 500 GB version will offer the best numbers. Capacity might be the one potential drawback. At launch, only 250GB and 500GB capacities are being made available, we'd have loved to see a 1 TB version. We test the 250GB model, ergo we'll base our opinion on that one.
