Western Digital WD_Black SN770 review: Blue is the new black

Page 1: Western Digital WD_Black SN770 review: Blue is the new black

With the WD_Black SN770, Western Digital is expanding its high-end range with a new model that, based on its name, is not intended to compete with the top SSD in the series, the SN850, but rather among the top models It is like a bridge. , Memory Expert combines the features of the previous budget series “Blue” with the top series “Black”. As always, we’ll clarify in our review whether this mix works and for whom the WD_Black SN770 could be an interesting SSD.

To assign products to specific series, manufacturers prefer to use terms that are otherwise in a different context, but bring some mostly positive association with them. That’s why Western Digital has been classifying its storage devices with colors for years. From green to red, purple and gold to blue and black. The latter range is considered to be the leader in the portfolio, at least as far as the high-end segment for the home is concerned. In the solid state drive area, these were popular people’s models. WD_Black SN750The Superb AN1500 either Of course WD_Black SN850 – The latter is still the PCIe4 reference for application benchmarks a year and a half later.

Below is the Classic Blue series of “Blue” models that we For example the SN500 . In form ofbut Exclusively SN550 Tested Extensively to keep. As a rule, modern components were also used here and there was no classic “recycling” of older components, as we usually like to see it from hardware makers, but the Blue model was offered with less PCI lanes. Or had to do without dedicated DRAM. , Western Digital now shares this fate with our current test sample.

Before we delve deeper into the WD_Black SN770’s technology, let’s first take a look at the manufacturer’s data. Western Digital offers a total of four models of the SN770, ranging from 250GB to 2TB. As with practically all current SSDs, this also means different performance specifications in terms of performance. Our sample with 1 TB is the faster version of the WD_Black SN770 with 5,150 MB/s read and 4,900 MB/s write.

Also striking is the lack of a DRAM cache, which would otherwise be expected in an SSD from the WD_Black series. Instead, Western Digital relies on a host memory buffer, which is typically much smaller, at 64MB. In return, the new SSD gets the latest BiCS5 memory for the first time, which is more densely packed than its predecessor in the form of the 112-layer TLC that’s been very popular over the years, and similarly in big footsteps. Its going on.