Western Digital Updates WD Blue Series with SN570 DRAM-less NVMe SSD
by Ganesh T S on October 4, 2021 8:00 AM EST
Western Digital is unveiling its latest addition to the WD Blue family today - the SN570 NVMe SSD. A DRAM-less PCIe 3.0 x4 drive, it brings in performance improvements over the current lead product in the line - the SN550. In order to better appeal to the content creators market, WD is also bundling a free month of membership to Adobe Creative Cloud.
Similar to the SN550, the SN570 is also available in three capacities - 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB. All drives are single-sided, come with a 5-year warranty, and carry a 0.3 DWPD rating. The key performance improvement over the SN550 is the increase in sequential read speeds from 2400 MBps to 3500 MBps. Though Western Digital wouldn't officially confirm, we believe this is likely due to the move from BiCS 4 96L 3D TLC to BiCS 5 112L 3D TLC. We did obtain confirmation that these drives are set to be equipped with 3D TLC over their complete lifetime, and will not move to QLC.
| Western Digital SN570 SSD Specifications | |||
| Capacity | 250 GB | 500 GB | 1 TB |
| Controller | WD In-House? | ||
| NAND Flash | Western Digital / Kioxia BiCS 5 112L 3D TLC NAND? | ||
| Form-Factor, Interface | Single-Sided M.2-2280, PCIe 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.4 | ||
| Sequential Read | 3300 MB/s | 3500 MB/s | |
| Sequential Write | 1200 MB/s | 2300 MB/s | 3000 MB/s |
| Random Read IOPS | 190K | 360K | 460K |
| Random Write IOPS | 210K | 390K | 450K |
| SLC Caching | Yes | ||
| TCG Opal Encryption | No | ||
| Warranty | 5 years | ||
| Write Endurance | 150 TBW 0.3 DWPD |
300 TBW 0.3 DWPD |
600 TBW 0.3 DWPD |
| MSRP | $50 (20¢/GB) | $60 (12¢/GB) | $110 (11¢/GB) |
The WD Blue series started getting credible competition in the entry-level DRAM-less NVMe SSD space recently from Samsung's 980 series. Using 128L V-NAND technology with higher flash speeds, Samsung was able to advertise better sequential performance numbers that the WD Blue. Our review did find the original SN550 holding up better for heavier workloads, but the advertised numbers are hard to dismiss for the average consumer. The new SN570 should solve that problem for WD. On the other hand, Samsung enables TCG Opal support in the 980, while WD opts not to enable it for the Blue series.
In terms of pricing, the SN570 matches the 980 (at least at the 250GB capacity point). Assuming that the SN570 can match the SN550's performance for real-world workloads, the Adobe Creative Cloud value-add might just tilt the choice in its favor - at least for the content creators market. We are yet to receive the final datasheet, and the table above will be updated once we have additional details.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
21 Comments
View All Comments
ganeshts - Monday, October 4, 2021 - link
Plenty of reasons - why they are introducing the product, what is it going up against in the market, base specs, pricing, how they are able to achieve the performance improvement over the previous generation, etc. - all of which are covered in the article, and you are unlikely to find in other places that just reproduce the PR with modified text.hanselltc - Monday, October 4, 2021 - link
Right after SN550 got component swapped? Huh.Golgatha777 - Monday, October 4, 2021 - link
Oh look, they finally got the SN750 SE name corrected.blanarahul - Tuesday, October 5, 2021 - link
Why would anyone (who is buying for personal use) buy the 50$ 250 GB SSD over the 60$ 500 GB SSD?Wereweeb - Tuesday, October 5, 2021 - link
So, they silently downgrade the SN550 to QLC, and then release an "upgrade" that is just what the SN550 already was? ("Muh new NAND" yes, new tech is slightly better than old tech, what a surprise)WD gets scummier and scummier every day.
Oxford Guy - Thursday, October 7, 2021 - link
Samsung became the standard in SSDs with plenty of that kind of thing, including being caught paying people to astroturf. WD's management sees Samsung get away with fake power consumption numbers, calling TLC and QLC 'MLC', and a bunch of other frauds and follows suit.Similarly, MS sees Apple surpass its valuation by embracing a faster-and-faster planned obsolescence schedule and decides to destroy Windows' main attraction: backward compatibility.
damianrobertjones - Monday, October 18, 2021 - link
"decides to destroy Windows' main attraction: backward compatibility."How/where/when?
EVERY (ish) bit of software that 'we' use still works as intended.
The ish is Avaya Phone Manager Pro. That doesn't work. Probably firewall rules.
LonerPrime - Wednesday, October 6, 2021 - link
Just out of curiosity folks, I'm in need for a SSD upgrade from my 128GB OS Samsung drive and my needs are largely limited to gaming and lightworkstation work. Also I've an M.2 NVME slot on my Intel based B360 motherboard so I was hoping to populate that. Considering the specs as we know it, would the SN570 be an ideal fit if the reviews come back positive or is their an alternative out there that would be better?Wereweeb - Monday, October 11, 2021 - link
If you can afford it, I'd suggest a Hynix P31 Gold.LonerPrime - Monday, October 18, 2021 - link
Unfortunately, issue is more about availability than affordability. Hynix is only available in US and I do not reside there. Thus I'm looking for other alternatives.