The prices of high-capacity SSDs are plummeting right now, and WD has just closed the gap between 4TB hard drives and SSDs further with its latest drive. The new WD Blue SN5000 4TB has an MSRP of just $279.99, and it’s not just a low-speed SATA drive either.
While WD is aiming the Blue SN5000 at creative professionals, rather than people looking for the best SSD for gaming right now, this M.2 drive still has a decent spec for the price. It uses the PCIe 4.0 interface, and WD claims the 4TB drive can hit a sequential read speed of up to 5,500MB/s.
Of course, that’s not going to set the world alight when PCIe 5.0 drives such as the Crucial T705 are running at 14,100MB/s, but a 4TB T705 currently goes for over $500, and 5,500MB/s is still plenty fast enough for most people’s needs. In fact, it’s quicker than the top 4,150MB/s speed of the WD Blue SN580, which is our current favorite budget option right now. It’s also a fair bit quicker than any PCIe 3.0 drives doing the rounds, such as the Samsung 980.
Meanwhile, WD claims the new 4TB Blue SN5000 has a sequential write speed of 5,000MB/s, which is a little slower than the read speed, while the random read and write speeds are rated at 690K IOPS and 900K IOPS respectively. As a point of comparison, those are only a little slower than the 800K and 1,100K figures for the WD Black SN850X, which is our current recommendation as the best overall SSD.
WD is clearly confident in this SSD’s ability to last as well, with the 4TB drive having an endurance rating of 1,200TBW (terabytes written), which is double the figure for the SN850X, and 300TBW higher than the figure for the SN580. WD is also backing up its claims with a five-year warranty for the drive.
With a price of $279.99 (£275.99) on WD’s website, the 4TB WD Blue SN5000 isn’t the cheapest PCIe 4.0 SSD available right now, as you can find older drives, such as the Crucial P3 Plus, at discounted prices on Amazon.
However, it’s a great starting point as an MSRP for a new SSD, and the drive will hopefully be available for similarly discounted prices in stores such as Amazon in the future. It’s also great to see a budget PCIe 4.0 SSD launching with a 4TB option, as the WD Blue SN580 range tops out at 2TB, plus the SN5000 offers faster speeds than the SN580 as well.
In addition to the 4TB drive, WD has also released the Blue SN5000 in 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacities, prices at $79.99, $89.99, and $149.99 respectively. If you’re thinking of upgrading your storage now, make sure you read our guide on how to install an M.2 SSD, where we take you through every step of the process.