Western Digital has unveiled the upgraded WD Blue SN5000 series, the newest addition to its line of budget-friendly SSDs. These SSDs now offer storage capacities of up to 4TB, delivering a mix of capacity, dependability, and cost-effectiveness. While not specifically designed for high-performance tasks, these solid-state drives present an appealing choice for both casual users and tech enthusiasts seeking affordable storage solutions.

The WD Blue SN5000 NVMe drives are designed in the M.2-2280 form factor and run on a WD PCIe 4.0 controller with a four-channel, DRAMless design. The lineup includes 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB options utilizing WD/Kioxia’s previous generation 112-layer BiCS 5 TLC NAND technology. The latest addition is the 4TB model, featuring the company’s BiCS 6 NAND in QLC configuration. Despite maintaining a consistent controller across all capacities, Western Digital seems to leverage the enhanced performance of BiCS 6 NAND to counterbalance the shift from TLC to QLC.

Performance-wise, the WD Blue SN5000 series showcases impressive read speeds spanning from 5000MB/s to 5500MB/s, while write speeds range between 4000MB/s to 5000MB/s, varying by capacity. Random performance is equally notable, with the 4TB model achieving up to 690K IOPS random read and 900K IOPS random write rates. The 500GB model achieves a commendable 460K/770K random read/write IOPS ratio.

On the endurance front, the standout is the 4TB QLC model, boasting an impressive 1200 TBW (Terabytes Written) figure; followed by 900 TBW, 600 TBW, and 300 TBW for the lower capacity variants. Each WD Blue SN5000 SSD comes with a 5-year warranty and is furnished with a thin graphene heat spreader for efficient heat dissipation. Pricing for the models is as follows: £56.99 for the 500GB, £77.99 for the 1TB, £137.99 for the 2TB, and £275.99 for the 4TB variant.

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