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
ATTO
ATTO's Disk Benchmark is a quick and easy freeware tool to measure drive performance across various transfer sizes.
The WD Blue shows slightly better write speeds on the ATTO test than the SanDisk X400, but both fade a bit in read speed toward the end of the test.
AS-SSD
AS-SSD is another quick and free benchmark tool. It uses incompressible data for all of its tests, making it an easy way to keep an eye on which drives are relying on transparent data compression. The short duration of the test makes it a decent indicator of peak drive performance.
The AS-SSD test seldom shows large differences in performance, and the WD Blue performs almost identically to the X400. The write speed is still a bit on the low side.
Idle Power Consumption
Since the ATSB tests based on real-world usage cut idle times short to 25ms, their power consumption scores paint an inaccurate picture of the relative suitability of drives for mobile use. During real-world client use, a solid state drive will spend far more time idle than actively processing commands. Our testbed doesn't support the deepest DevSlp power saving mode that SATA drives can implement, but we can measure the power usage in the intermediate slumber state where both the host and device ends of the SATA link enter a low-power state and the drive is free to engage its internal power savings measures.
We also report the drive's idle power consumption while the SATA link is active and not in any power saving state. Drives are required to be able to wake from the slumber state in under 10 milliseconds, but that still leaves plenty of room for them to add latency to a burst of I/O. Because of this, many desktops default to either not using SATA Aggressive Link Power Management (ALPM) at all or to only enable it partially without making use of the device-initiated power management (DIPM) capability. Additionally, SATA Hot-Swap is incompatible with the use of DIPM, so our SSD testbed usually has DIPM turned off during performance testing.
The WD Blue uses a few milliwatts more at idle than the X400. In the slumber state this is not a problem and the WD Blue's power draw is about average. The active idle power draw is a bit on the high side given that the MX300 draws about two thirds what the WD Blue draws when both drives use the same controller and DRAM.
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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