It is a well-known fact among consumers that solid state drive (SSD) triumphs over hard drive when it comes to speed. That being said, not all SSDs are made equal though since they can still be further differentiated by their respective data speed ratings as well.
When it comes to Western Digital SSD offerings for consumers, they are divided into three different series – WD Green, WD Blue, and WD Black – which generally represent the nature of their performances. If you are wondering, yes, in that very sequence as well.
What Is It?
As pointed above, WD Black NVMe is currently the highest performance SSD within Western Digital’s SSD portfolio for consumers. Not only that, it is also the only NVMe-based SSD model from the company at the moment. Available solely as M.2 2280 form factor, it can be obtained in several capacities including 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB which is the version that we used in this review.
With the help of the WD 3D NAND chips, Black NVMe SSDs are able to deliver up to 3400MB/s sequential read speed and 2800MB/s sequential write speed. That means the Black NVMe SSD is around up to six times faster than the SATA-based Blue and Green SSD in terms of sequential read speed which maxed out at 560MB/s and 545MB/s respectively.
As for random read and write speed, it is rated at up to 500,000 and 400,000 IOPS respectively. Not for forget, it also has a Mean Time To Failure rating of 1.75 million hours alongside endurance rating of 600TBW.
Is It Any Good?
Based on our brief experience with it, the Black NVMe SSD definitely able to deliver what WD has promised to consumers. This holds true especially when it comes to the SSD’s sequential read and write speed, as shown by the CrystalDiskMark test below:
Meanwhile, the SSD seems to run much slower when we put it through AS SSD Benchmark. Nevertheless, it still managed to achieve respectful results though:
The WD Black NVMe SSD was tested on the same test system that we used to test out AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X. The SSD was installed as the secondary drive in the system.
The Bad Stuff. Tell Me.
In what seems to be a rather odd move by WD, the company has also released the Black NVMe SSD under another name: the SanDisk Extreme Pro. Not only that this might cause confusion to some users but you also might be able to obtain the SanDisk model at a slightly lower price if you know where to look.
While the Black NVMe SSD performance is rather commendable, it is still not the king of the hill though. It is a well-known fact in the scene that Samsung 970 Pro SSD currently holds the title in general although it does cost significantly higher than WD’s offering.
Should I Buy It?
If you looking for a speedy solution and have the budget for it, the answer is definitely yes. Currently priced at RM 1639 on WD’s Flagship Store on Lazada, the WD Black NVMe SSD might costs RM 360 more than the SATA-based WD Blue 3D NAND SSD but what you would get is a significantly faster storage drive for your PC.
Comes standard with a 5-year warranty, the WD Black NVMe SSD might not be the highest performance NVMe SSD in the market but nevertheless, the SSD is still pretty good for the price that WD has asked for it. Do note that some retailers even offer the SSD at a much lower price, so chances are that you still able to save some money if you put just a little bit of effort to look for such deals.
WD Black NVMe SSD 1TB review loan unit is courtesy of Western Digital Malaysia.
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