WD Blue SN570 NVMe 1 TB

[Wirko]

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.

Several retailers in EU & UK have the WDS200T3B0C or WDBB9E0020BNC out of stock, which indicates that the 2TB version will see the light of day soon.

https://www.proshop.dk/SSD/WD-Blue-SN570-NVMe-SSD-2TB/3008174
https://www.cyberport.de/?DEEP=3318-03A&APID=14
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09JM8QFVN

 

[MrMilli]

• No DRAM cache, but you'd never notice

I thought it's common knowledge that Sandisk integrates (a small but the exact size is unknown) cache into the controller.

 

[W1zzard]

I thought it's common knowledge that Sandisk integrates (a small but the exact size is unknown) cache into the controller.

So do other players, but this drive is totally different. First chart

WD Blue SN570 NVMe 1 TB Review - A Gem Hidden in Plain Sight

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.

www.techpowerup.com

Do you have an official/reliable source for this claim btw?

 

[Wooden Law - Black]

I thought it's common knowledge that Sandisk integrates (a small but the exact size is unknown) cache into the controller.

Are you talking about the SRAM or the HMB (things that all DRAM-less controllers NVMe have)?

 

[MrMilli]

So do other players, but this drive is totally different. First chart

WD Blue SN570 NVMe 1 TB Review - A Gem Hidden in Plain Sight

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.

www.techpowerup.com

Do you have an official/reliable source for this claim btw?

I would have to search but I'm 100% sure that I read it somewhere. I read it years ago when Sandisk was still independent.

Edit: Found at least one reference on Anandtech:

Western Digital chose not to use the Host Memory Buffer (HMB) feature for the SN500 and SN520, instead opting to include a few MB of memory in the controller itself, but nowhere near the 256MB or 512MB that would be included on drives with discrete DRAM chips.

That controller didn't use HMB, which in my opinion is a dead giveaway that it integrated some cache (considering it's performance).
The SN570, according to your review, uses 64MB HMB so I don't know what to think.
You could run your "DRAM-Less Testing" with single channel DDR4-2133 memory and see if it has a big impact.
Anyhow, if WD applied an efficient compression algorithm, that 64MB could easily behave like 512MB or more.

 

[W1zzard]

I would have to search but I'm 100% sure that I read it somewhere. I read it years ago when Sandisk was still independent.

I googled around a bit and found "sandisk volatile cache". This whitepaper is what you saw I think https://www.thomas-krenn.com/de/wikiDE/images/4/4d/Aup201411211f5.pdf

Volatile cache – SRAM/DRAM volatile memory is part of a SanDisk proprietary,
sophisticated, tiered device cache-management system used mostly to improve endurance
and increase overall SSD performance. The volatile cache also contains the SSD internal
device metadata tables. The volatile cache is either a separated component or part of the
SSD controller. The volatile cache does not retain the data when power is off.

All SanDisk SSD products include the volatile cache component, in varying sizes, using either
SRAM (as part of the SSD controller) or DRAM (as a separated component).

 

[MrMilli]

I googled around a bit and found "sandisk volatile cache". This whitepaper is what you saw I think https://www.thomas-krenn.com/de/wikiDE/images/4/4d/Aup201411211f5.pdf

Yes, that's the one I read. Nice find.

 

[Wooden Law - Black]

I googled around a bit and found "sandisk volatile cache". This whitepaper is what you saw I think https://www.thomas-krenn.com/de/wikiDE/images/4/4d/Aup201411211f5.pdf

Yeah but they are different, SRAM and HMB aren't the same thing. SRAM is an integrated cache that all controllers (MCUs) have, both SATA and NVMe, while the HMB is a technology that few NVMe controllers don't have and "takes advantage of the DMA capabilities of PCI Express to allow SSDs to use some of the DRAM attached to the CPU". Also, SRAM (not 32MB) usually is smaller than HMB (64MB).

 

[W1zzard]

Yeah but they are different, SRAM and HMB aren't the same thing. SRAM is an integrated cache that all controllers (MCUs) have, both SATA and NVMe, while the HMB is a technology that few NVMe controllers don't have and "takes advantage of the DMA capabilities of PCI Express to allow SSDs to use some of the DRAM attached to the CPU". Also, SRAM (not 32MB) usually is smaller than HMB (64MB).

That whitepaper is not for HMB, Figure 1 and 2 are very clear on that

 

[Wooden Law - Black]

That whitepaper is not for HMB, Figure 1 and 2 are very clear on that

I know, but he was talking about the HMB, not the SRAM.

 

[MrMilli]

I know, but he was talking about the HMB, not the SRAM.

No I wasn't

 

[Wooden Law - Black]

No I wasn't

Oh, I thought yes, you mentioned it...

 

[Coool]

Couldn’t find any information in specification:

• WD Blue SN570 - Datasheet (Eng)
• WD Blue SN570 - Datasheet (Rus)

Does WD Blue SN570 SSD NVMe drives support TCG Opal 2.0 and AES 256-bit encryption?

Found on sale 2TB model (WDS200T3B0C), but no any information in datasheet. As Wirko

Reference

 

[Coool]

Thank you for contacting Western Digital Customer Service and Support. My name is Constantine B..

I understand that you want to know about WD Blue SN570 Encryption options.



I must inform you that none of out SN570 models are SED(Self Encrypting Drives) so to answer the question they do not support Encryption or OPAL.

 

[kapone32]

Faster than a EX950 is impressive for that price.

 

[Wooden Law - Black]

Faster than a EX950 is impressive for that price.

Where the EX950 is slower? In what case?

 

[kapone32]

Where the EX950 is slower? In what case?

"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."

 

[Wooden Law - Black]

"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."

In no test proves to be better the SN570 than the EX950.

 

[kapone32]

In no test proves to be better the SN570 than the EX950.

Hi I was qouting Wizzard you can ask him I don't have either to justify anything.

 

[W1zzard]

In no test proves to be better the SN570 than the EX950.

Did you check the review? Ex950 is included

 

[Wooden Law - Black]

Did you check the review? Ex950 is included

Yes, I checked the review and only in the 512KB sequential read test the SN570 was better (but not so much, 2896 MB/s vs 3007 MB/s), in the random tests and SLC cache the EX950 is better. Also, it's better even for the hardware as it has the DRAM cache and a better controller.

 

[Selaya]

you do are aware that synthetics are just a small part of the review yes
and the real-world tests do contribute towards the overall performance scores

 

[W1zzard]

Just to expand on this: _only_ real-world tests contribute to the performance summary scores.

Synthetics are so easy to be cheated, they are completely meaningless and only for marketing

 

[Rumcajs997]

Do you guys know if 2tb has got the same, tiny 12gb SLC cache only?