Western Digital has launched a new series of SSDs targeted at mainstream PCs, combining high performance and low cost. The Western Digital PC SN5000S series of DRAM-less drives uses the company’s 3D QLC NAND memory and an in-house developed platform, so the SSD promises to be relatively cheap. At the same time, its sequential read performance reaches 6,000 MB/s.
Western Digital’s PC SN5000S drive is based on the company’s latest in-house controller, supporting the PCIe 4.0 x4 host interface and BICS6 3D QLC NAND memory. The controller fully supports Western Digital’s nCache 4.0 HybridSLC technology, which features durability monitoring to ensure good performance, RSA-3K and SHA-384 encryption, and TCG Opal 2.02 and Pyrite security features.
In terms of capacity, Western Digital’s PC SN5000S hard drive will be available in 512 GB, 1 TB and 2 TB configurations. In terms of performance, the 2TB PC SN5000S is rated for sequential read speeds of up to 6,000 MB/s, sequential write speeds of up to 5,600 MB/s, random read IOPS of up to 750,000, and random write IOPS of up to 900,000. The SSD will be available in M.2-2230 and M.2-2280 form factors.
| Western Digital SN5000S SSD specifications | |||
| capacity | 512GB | 1TB | 2TB |
| controller | Western Digital Proprietary Controller | ||
| flash memory | Western Digital/KioXia BiCS 6 176L 3D QLC NAND | ||
| Overall dimensions, interface | Single-sided M.2-2280, PCIe 4.0 x4, NVMe 2.0 | ||
| sequential reading | 6000MB/sec | ||
| sequential write | 4200MB/sec | 5400MB/sec | 5600MB/sec |
| Random read IOPS | 500000 | 750K | |
| Random write IOPS | 850K | 900K | |
| Peak power | 6.1W | 6.5W | 6.9W |
| SLC cache | Yes | ||
| security capabilities | TCG Opal 2.02 and Pyrite | ||
| Warranty | 5 years | ||
| write endurance | 150TBW | 300TBW | 600TBW |
In terms of durability, Western Digital rates the 2TB PC SN5000S at 600 TB writes, the 1TB version at 300TBW, and the 512GB at 150TBW, which is significantly lower than entry-level SSDs with similar capacities. (But higher compared to WD Green brand drives).
While the Western Digital PC SN5000S’s performance will hardly impress our avid readers who tend to focus on the highest-end SSDs, the 1TB and 2TB versions offer significantly higher performance than most entry-level drives on the market today. Disappointingly, Western Digital’s new SSD has relatively low durability compared to entry-level drives from other manufacturers.
Western Digital sells its PC SN5000S SSDs primarily to OEMs, and they replace the company’s SN740 series. The drives are fast enough for PC manufacturers and, perhaps more importantly, they support advanced encryption and TCG Opal 2.02 and Pyrite security features, which are essential for desktops and laptops sold to various U.S. government agencies important.
Source: Western Digital