WD Blue SN570 NVMe 1 TB

W1zzard · Dec 10, 2021

The WD Blue SN570 is priced extremely competitively at only $90 for the 1 TB version. While pricing suggests "entry-level," the drive is actually the second-fastest PCIe 3.0 SSD we ever tested, faster than the Kingston KC2500, ADATA SX8200 Pro, and HP EX950.

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dirtyferret · Dec 10, 2021

Nice review, I've liked the price performance of WD's drives the last few years.

RandallFlagg · Dec 10, 2021

Really good price/performance. Unusual controller.

WD also has Acronis which can be downloaded from their site and works if you have a WD drive attached to your system. That's a hefty value if you don't already have such software (backup, partition imaging, full drive imaging).

It's too bad they don't yet have a 2TB version.

stinger608 · Dec 10, 2021

RandallFlagg said:
It's too bad they don't yet have a 2TB version.

I agree. However, at this price point a person can grab 2 of them and run in a RAID 0.........If the motherboard supports it, of course.

dragontamer5788 · Dec 10, 2021

TLC and beats the HP Ex950 for $90 / TB?

Sounds pretty solid. That's practically SATA-level costs, far lower than I'd expect for a PCIe 3.0 drive.

Oooph, okay there's the Achilles heel. What's going on around here?

--------

EDIT: Okay, so I guess that DRAM-free design certainly has its downsides. But still, at this price point, I think I'd rather take TLC + DRAM-less vs QLC.

Solid State Soul ( SSS ) · Dec 11, 2021

Great drive, just recommended it to users on the forms a while ago, they are pleased with it!

On the other hand, its weird Sandisk are using Toshiba nand instead of their own, why is that ?

Another thing is all the marketing materials dont mention TLC nand making potential buyers question the quality of the nand, yet this drive surly does have quality TLC!, so why WD decided not to specify that ?

I have a thoery that WD didnt put TLC in any of its marketing materials for this drive because they plan to silently switch it to QLC some time from now...

AlwaysHope · Dec 11, 2021

Glad you did this review W1zzard, I was thinking only recently about upgrading to PCIe 4.0 drives for my gaming rig, but honestly... when you look at the game level loading charts, it makes bugger all difference compared to the current crop of PCIe 3.0 drives I have now, that is at least with those game engines.

Tetras · Dec 11, 2021

Solid State Soul ( SSS ) said:
Great drive, just recommended it to users on the forms a while ago, they are pleased with it!

On the other hand, its weird Sandisk are using Toshiba nand instead of their own, why is that ?

Another thing is all the marketing materials dont mention TLC nand making potential buyers question the quality of the nand, yet this drive surly does have quality TLC!, so why WD decided not to specify that ?

I have a thoery that WD didnt put TLC in any of its marketing materials for this drive because they plan to silently switch it to QLC some time from now...

I wonder if it was changed recently, because the datasheet of the SN570 and SN350 now specify TLC or QLC and when TLC (only for the SN570, the SN350 has the same endurance regardless), the TBW is comparable to other TLC drives.

Why_Me · Dec 11, 2021

stinger608 said:
I agree. However, at this price point a person can grab 2 of them and run in a RAID 0.........If the motherboard supports it, of course.

What would be the point of that?

Selaya · Dec 11, 2021

Why_Me said:
What would be the point of that?

higher chance of critical data loss failure?

anyways. excellent value, this is the price breaker we've all been waiting for.
one small complaint: wd evidently hates ghettomodders who cut sn550s into 2230s so they decided to put the controller at the end of the pcb for the sn570 instead. assholes.

Mussels · Dec 11, 2021

Why_Me said:
What would be the point of that?

As someone with two SN730's in RAID0:

Because they're silly

R0H1T · Dec 11, 2021

Had this listed for about ~65 USD for 1TB on Amazon, likely P/E & went out of stock fast just as I was about to pull two triggers :shadedshu:

Wirko · Dec 11, 2021

@W1zzard , in case you kept track of that, how much of the total 600 TBW did the whole series of tests eat away?

chrcoluk · Dec 11, 2021

Nice price but wow the SLC is tiny.

Chrispy_ · Dec 11, 2021

I've been buying and recommending the SN550 for years. It wasn't the fastest but decent warranty, fast enough, and always competitive pricing.

This SN570 seems to up the game somewhat. Let's just hope WD don't get tempted to bait-and-switch for QLC again like so many other brands. It's really hard to trust that what we buy is the same product as the one that gets reviewed when it comes to budget SSDs

chrcoluk · Dec 11, 2021

Bait and switch is why we need follow up reviews on retail units, if more public noise was made about it, then the practice would change.

Bee9 · Dec 11, 2021

SK hynix p31 consistently priced at $94 per GB is a better choice

Snoop05 · Dec 11, 2021

Consider fixing your spec sheet since 1024 GB is whats actually accessible (converts to 953 GiB)

If it's widely available for that price then its indeed nice improvement in value.
Sadly can't say same for 4TB and bigger SSDs

Wooden Law - Black · Dec 11, 2021

chrcoluk said:
Nice price but wow the SLC is tiny.

Well, it's static, all static SLC caches are very small, way smaller than dynamic SLC caches. On the other hand, using a static SLC design improve the flash's endurance (30-40K PEC) and guarantee better performance post-SLC than dynamic design.

DonKnotts · Dec 11, 2021

Any chance you will have an Acer FA100 coming across your desk soon? I've been a bit interested in them since they have decent specs on paper and have prices of under $85 for 1TB and around $45 for 512GB.

ChaoticAtmosphere · Dec 11, 2021

RandallFlagg said:
Really good price/performance. Unusual controller.

WD also has Acronis which can be downloaded from their site and works if you have a WD drive attached to your system. That's a hefty value if you don't already have such software (backup, partition imaging, full drive imaging).

It's too bad they don't yet have a 2TB versi

stinger608 said:
I agree. However, at this price point a person can grab 2 of them and run in a RAID 0.........If the motherboard supports it, of course.

I have two of the SN550s set up in RAID 0 with a 4 Tb WD My Book external for back up which comes with a 5 year Acronis True Image license. I'm all set. Not bad for $430 CDN.

Why_Me said:
What would be the point of that?

2 x 1 Tb in RAID 0 turns into 2 Tb + performance upgrade. 2 SN570s would most likely see 4000+ MB/s Max read in RAID 0 and you get your 2 Tb. Just make sure you have proper backup.

defaultluser · Dec 13, 2021

definitely on my short list of cheap m.2 drives to purchase the next time I upgrade my system

R-T-B · Dec 14, 2021

RandallFlagg said:
Unusual controller.

I do notice it has it's PSID printed on the drive, which suggests it supports opal encrypted drive standards, something quite rare actually. May be interesting to my business if so (we have strange at-rest data compliance rules)

Palladium · Dec 15, 2021

The PCB is like 80% too big for this drive, lol.

Chrispy_ · Dec 15, 2021

Palladium said:
The PCB is like 80% too big for this drive, lol.

Yeah, makes me wonder why they're not making a 2TB and 4TB model, other than the obvious "to force those buyers to purchase our premium drives".

No matter, I'll just buy larger capactities from WD's competitors, thanks.

Processor	Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory	48 GB
Video Card(s)	RTX 4080
Storage	2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s)	30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software	Windows 10 64-bit

Processor	faster at instructions than yours
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Benchmark Scores	up yours

System Name	Legion
Processor	i7-12700KF
Motherboard	Asus Z690-Plus TUF Gaming WiFi D5
Cooling	Arctic Liquid Freezer 2 240mm AIO
Memory	PNY MAKO DDR5-6000 C36-36-36-76
Video Card(s)	PowerColor Hellhound 6700 XT 12GB
Storage	WD SN770 512GB m.2, Samsung 980 Pro m.2 2TB
Display(s)	Acer K272HUL 1440p / 34" MSI MAG341CQ 3440x1440
Case	Montech Air X
Power Supply	Corsair CX750M
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Keyboard	Logitech MX Keys
Software	Lots

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Processor	Intel 4790K/AMD Ryzen 3700X
Motherboard	MSI 1150 Gaming mATX/Gigabyte AORUS ELITE B550
Cooling	Cooler Master Hyper 212 LED/SilverStone AH240 AIO
Memory	16 gigs Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer/16 gigs G.Skill TridentZ NEO DDR4
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte 1660 Super/Gigabyte GTX 1660
Storage	Crucial SSD 256 and 2TB spinner/Dual Samsung 980 Pro M2 NVME 4.0
Display(s)	Overlord 27" 2560 x 1440
Case	Corsair Air 540
Audio Device(s)	On board
Power Supply	Seasonic modular 850 watt Platinum/EVGA T2-850 Titanium
Software	Windows 10 Pro/Windows 10 Pro

System Name	Rainbow Sparkles (Power efficient, <350W gaming load)
Processor	Ryzen R7 5800x3D (Undervolted, 4.45GHz all core)
Motherboard	Asus x570-F (BIOS Modded)
Cooling	Alphacool Apex UV - Alphacool Eisblock XPX Aurora + EK Quantum ARGB 3090 w/ active backplate
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Video Card(s)	Galax RTX 3090 SG 24GB: Underclocked to 1700Mhz 0.750v (375W down to 250W))
Storage	2TB WD SN850 NVME + 1TB Sasmsung 970 Pro NVME + 1TB Intel 6000P NVME USB 3.2
Display(s)	Phillips 32 32M1N5800A (4k144), LG 32" (4K60) \| Gigabyte G32QC (2k165) \| Phillips 328m6fjrmb (2K144)
Case	Fractal Design R6
Audio Device(s)	Logitech G560 \| Corsair Void pro RGB \|Blue Yeti mic
Power Supply	Fractal Ion+ 2 860W (Platinum) (This thing is God-tier. Silent and TINY)
Mouse	Logitech G Pro wireless + Steelseries Prisma XL
Keyboard	Razer Huntsman TE ( Sexy white keycaps)
VR HMD	Oculus Rift S + Quest 2
Software	Windows 11 pro x64 (Yes, it's genuinely a good OS) OpenRGB - ditch the branded bloatware!
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WD Blue SN570 NVMe 1 TB

W1zzard

Administrator

dirtyferret

RandallFlagg

stinger608

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dragontamer5788

Solid State Soul ( SSS )

AlwaysHope

Tetras

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R0H1T

Wirko

chrcoluk

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Wooden Law - Black

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R-T-B

Palladium

Chrispy_

Processor	i5-6600K
Motherboard	Asus Z170A
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Memory	16GB DDR4-2400
Video Card(s)	IGP
Storage	Samsung 850 EVO 250GB
Display(s)	2x Oldell 24" 1920x1200
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Power Supply	Seasonic G-360
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Storage	32GB eMMC and 128GB Sandisk Extreme U3
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Keyboard	Logitech MX Keys (not Cherry MX at all)
VR HMD	Samsung Oddyssey, not that I'd plug it into this though....
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Processor	AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
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Cooling	Arctic Liquid Freezer II 420 rev.5 + Conductonaut
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Video Card(s)	Sapphire RX 6900XT TOXIC Limited Edition
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Audio Device(s)	Creative SoundBlasterX G5
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime Ultra Titanium 850W

Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard	MSI X470 Gaming Plus MAX
Cooling	Stock
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 16GB (2x8) 3600 MT/s 16–18-18-38
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Storage	Crucial MX500 500GB + WD Caviar Green 1TB
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Case	Phanteks Eclipse P400A + P12 rear + P14 on top
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Video Card(s)	Asus RX5700-8G Radeon RX 5700
Storage	2 x WD Blue SN550 1Tb NVMe in RAID 0 Striped Set
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Storage	2x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs
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Video Card(s)	MSI 2060 Super Armor OC / Zotac 3070 Twin Edge
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