Updated July 24, 2022: Updated this article with a new test of the 2TB WD Black SN770 SSD on page 2.
Original review published on February 2, 2022:
WD’s Black SN770 SSD offers up to 5.15GBps throughput and 800,000 random IOPS on the PCIe 4.0 bus, but with aggressive pricing that redefines expectations for 2022 mainstream SSDs. This makes it a top candidate on the WD list. The best SSD.
I recently took a closer look at WD’s Black SN750 SE. This is an amazing performance and suitable for most use cases, but it was clear that it was more focused on the true successor to the Black SN750.
The move to a DRAM-less architecture wasn’t what we expected, but the new SN770 seems to share a similar design. Built with an efficient SSD controller and a single NAND package, the SN770 looks like its predecessor, but at speeds up to 5.15 GBps, it’s clearly a big step forward. It even rethinks the definition of mainstream SSDs in 2022.
WD’s Black SN770 marks the beginning of an era of slow SSDs entering the budget market, with SSDs capable of speeds of 5GBps being the mainstream option. The PCIe 3.0 SSD with an 8-channel controller had some time, but the WD Black SN770 beat it all with a sleeper car with an SSD controller that resembled a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
According to WD, the SN770 delivers up to 40% faster performance and up to 20% higher power efficiency than previous generation SSDs (1TB Black SN750 SE), thanks to the new DRAMless 4-channel SSD controller and TLC flash. .. .. This is a seemingly overwhelming combination of components, but we deliver the product.
specification
| product | 250GB | 500GB | 1TB | 2TB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $ 59.00 | $ 79.00 | $ 129.00 | $ 269.00 |
| Capacity (user / raw) | 250GB / 256GB | 500GB / 512GB | 1000GB / 1024GB | 2000GB / 2048GB |
| Form factor | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 |
| Interface / Protocol | PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4 | PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4 | PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4 | PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4 |
| controller | WDNVMe architecture | WDNVMe architecture | WDNVMe architecture | WDNVMe architecture |
| DRAM | HMB | HMB | HMB | HMB |
| memory | Kioxia BiCS5112LTLC | Kioxia BiCS5112LTLC | Kioxia BiCS5112LTLC | Kioxia BiCS5112LTLC |
| Sequential read | 4,000 MBps | 5,000 MBps | 5,150 MBps | 5,150 MBps |
| Sequential writing | 2,000 MBps | 4,000 MBps | 4,900 MBps | 4,850 MBps |
| Random read | 240,000 IOPS | 460,000 IOPS | 740,000 IOPS | 650,000 IOPS |
| Random write | 470,000 IOPS | 800,000 IOPS | 800,000 IOPS | 800,000 IOPS |
| safety | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Durability (TBW) | 200 TB | 300 TB | 600 TB | 1,200 TB |
| part number | WDS250G3X0E | WDS500G3X0E | WDS100T3X0E | WDS200T3X0E |
| guarantee | 5 years | 5 years | 5 years | 5 years |
The Black SN770 supports read / write up to 5.15 / 4.9GBps and random read / write IOPS sequential speeds up to 740,000 / 800,000. Drives are available in 250GB, 500GB 1TB, and 2TB capacities, and MSRPs range from $ 0.13 to $ 0.24 per gigabyte. The price is a bit aggressive, below the higher bandwidth PCIe 4.0 SSD while remaining competitive with the best PCIe 3.0 models.
WD supports the SN770 with a 5-year warranty and average durability rating. Utilizing RAID ECC, a multi-step LDPC ECC engine, it is over-provisioned by approximately 9.9% at the factory and guarantees write durability of up to 600TB per 1TB of capacity within a 5-year warranty (excluding the 250GB SN770 rating). .. Up to 200TB write).
Software and accessories
The SN770 supports WD SSD dashboards. The software will automatically detect the WD Black SSD and enable the Dark Mode theme within the app. With this software, you can also monitor the capacity of SSDs in use, their remaining durability, and even their performance in real time. Of course, you can also use the software to update the firmware and enable game mode. Game mode improves performance by disabling the SN770’s ability to transition to low power states, reducing latency and helping to win the competition.
look carefully
The WD Black SN770 is offered in M.2 2280 single-sided form factor with few components on top of a gorgeous black PCB. I like the neat component layout, but the labels are a bit busy with the QR code and text. Also, the drive label does not match the design shown in the box. As shown, instead of a label covering all the components, a small one was included between the controller and the NAND package.
Based on its dimensions, the SSD controller looks like a 4-channel design as found on the SN570 and SN750 SE, but the WD sticks to the details. In terms of speed, it definitely outperforms the Phison PS5019-E19T, which powers the SN750SE. In addition, we believe the flash interface is much faster.
According to WD, the SN770 supports advanced power management and can stay cool and efficient during use. It also comes with thermal throttling support that prioritizes data integrity over speed when used in high temperature environments. In addition, it supports secure erasure with Trim, SMART data reports, and Format NVM commands. However, the WD Black SN770 does not support AES 256-bit hardware encryption.
Instead of onboard DRAM, the SN770 utilizes host memory buffer (HMB) technology to access up to 64MB of host system RAM to store parts of the SSD’s mapping table, improving performance. ..
The WD Black SN770 leverages Kioxia’s BiCS5 112 layer TLC. It has a quad-plane architecture that allows twice the write speed of BiCS4, which is a significant upgrade from the previous generation. However, while improving performance, it also increases the load on the wordline and sense amplifiers, resulting in higher peak power consumption under load.
The 1TB sample has 16 512Gb dies, providing twice the write speed of Kioxia’s BiCS4 96-layer TLC. This is especially important given the DRAM-less nature of this SSD. The flash features a circuit underarray (CUA) design that allows Kioxia to scale the flash more easily and distort peak power consumption over time. In addition, the company has introduced a 4KB page reading operation that utilizes an all-bit line sensing method that precharges every 4KB page, reducing power consumption by up to 40%.
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