The Western Digital Blue (1TB) SSD Review: WD Returns to SSDs
by Billy Tallis on October 11, 2016 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- SSDs
- Storage
- Western Digital
- SanDisk
AnandTech Storage Bench - The Destroyer
The Destroyer is an extremely long test replicating the access patterns of very IO-intensive desktop usage. A detailed breakdown can be found in this article. Like real-world usage and unlike our Iometer tests, the drives do get the occasional break that allows for some background garbage collection and flushing caches, but those idle times are limited to 25ms so that it doesn't take all week to run the test.
We quantify performance on this test by reporting the drive's average data throughput, a few data points about its latency, and the total energy used by the drive over the course of the test.
The WD Blue fails to keep up with the competition on The Destroyer, trailing behind everything except the Crucial BX200. Where the SanDisk X400 was one of the fastest TLC SSDs, the WD Blue is merely acceptable.
The average service time of the WD Blue is only slightly worse than the SanDisk X400, and still clearly better than the OCZ Trion 150. This suggests that the WD Blue's lower average data rate is due to it being uniformly a bit slower, and that it isn't experiencing any severe stalling.
The WD Blue does not suffer from any more high-latency outliers than other TLC drives at the 100ms threshold, but at the 10ms threshold it is worse than average where the X400 exceeded expectations.
The WD Blue thankfully shows no regression in power efficiency and falls in the second tier of drives with energy usage, on par with the SanDisk X400.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
75 Comments
View All Comments
Lolimaster - Wednesday, October 12, 2016 - link
This article need a "The Rock" picFinally, HDD vendors make it back to consumer hearts, with an SSD.
Lolimaster - Wednesday, October 12, 2016 - link
The Mushkin Reactor is still a champ if you don't wanna go for the 850Pro.Lolimaster - Wednesday, October 12, 2016 - link
I think you only got 3-4 options for SSD's.Samsung 850Pro
Crucial MX300
Mushkin Reactor
*Add Hynix SSD's when they sell the 1TB model.
Lolimaster - Wednesday, October 12, 2016 - link
*Samsung 850Pro/EVO2016, still no edit button...
mapesdhs - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
Sad part is we'll be saying the same thing next year.MrGulio - Wednesday, October 12, 2016 - link
Each time I see a new SSD review it reminds me more and more what a garbage fire the BX200 is.Bulat Ziganshin - Saturday, October 15, 2016 - link
here in russia samsung 750 and sandisk ultra 2 are good competition too, providing prices comparable to trion 150 devices. but on american amazon they are no better than mx300Bullwinkle J Moose - Saturday, October 15, 2016 - link
Extra large premium for the Pro???I require a minimum of 160GB for my Boot Drives in my test Rigs so I need 250 - 256GB SSD's minimum
Lets look at the Huge Premium at Newegg for the 250/256GB EVO & Pro
Oct 15 2016
850 EVO / 250GB $99.99 OUT OF STOCK
850 Pro / 256GB $123 IN STOCK
850 EVO warranty 3 years
850 Pro warranty 10 years
850 EVO TLC Nand
850 Pro MLC Nand (40nm process)
Firmware problems
850 EVO ???
850 Pro None
Would anyone here spend more than the difference in price between these 2 SSD's just for an extended warranty on an EVO?
The better buy is the Pro!
It also has much better compatability with various Operating Systems than PCIe / M.2 SSDs
I'm using mine for Windows XP / Windows 8.1 / Windows 10 and Linux Mint
Try running any OS that is not a DRM Spyware Platform on your precious M.2 drive
TheinsanegamerN - Monday, October 17, 2016 - link
linux mint/ubuntu/arch/ece love the 950 pro.SeanJ76 - Thursday, October 20, 2016 - link
Intel>all other SSD manufactuers