WD Blue SN580 NVMe SSD Review: Solid Performance Meets Sweet Affordability

The WD Blue SN580 NVMe SSD, first announced on June 28, is the PCIe 4.0 upgrade of the SN570 that came out in October 2021.

Considering PCIe 5.0 drives are now available—such as the Crucial T700—the new NVMe SSD seems a bit dated. It won’t and can’t be the fastest SSD on the market.

But the SN580 proved speedy in my trial, and most importantly, it continues the value tradition of WD’s Blue series with excellent pricing, starting at just $27.99, to be one of the most affordable PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs you can find.

If you’re looking for a reliable, plenty-fast SSD that won’t break the bank, the WD Blue SN580 would be it. Consider one today.

WD Blue SN580: An excellent combo of performance and cost

The support for PCIe 4.0 is the biggest thing that sets the new SN580 apart from the previous SN570. Other than that, the two look almost identical.

The new SSD, too, is a single-sided M.2 2280 NVMe SSD. It’s thin and will fit in any application that needs a 2280 drive. The table below shows how the Blue series has progressed.

Hardware specifications: The evolution of the WD Blue series

The SN580 is the latest in the WD Blue series. It’s the fastest drive yet, with the lowest suggested retail price at launch.

	WD Blue SN580	WD Blue SN570	WD Blue SN550
Capacity / Part Number	250GB / WDS250G3B0E 500GB / WDS500G3B0E 1TB / WDS100T3B0E 2TB / WDS200T3B0E	250GB / WDS250G3B0C 500GB / WDS500G3B0C 1TB / WDS100T3B0C	250GB / WDS250G2B0C 500GB / WDS500G2B0C 1TB / WDS100T2B0C
Form Factors	M.2 2280 (80mm x 22mm x 2.38mm)
Interface	PCIe Gen 4 x4, NVMe 1.4	PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe v1.4	PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe v1.3
Endurance  (Terabytes Written)	250GB: 150 TBW 500GB: 300TBW 1TB: 600TBW 2TB: 1200TBW	250GB: 150 TBW 500GB: 300TBW 1TB: 600TBW	250GB: 150 TBW 500GB: 300TBW 1TB: 600TBW
Seq. Read  (up to)	250GB/500GB: 4,000MB/s 1TB/2TB: 4,150MB/s	3,500MB/s	2,400 MB/s
Seq. Write  (up to)	250GB/500GB: 3,600MB/s 1TB/2TB: 4,150MB/s	250GB: 1200MB/s 500GB: 2300MB/s 1TB: 3000MB/s	950 MB/s
Warranty	5 Years
Release Date	June 28, 2023	October 4, 2021	December 2019
US Pricing (at launch)	250GB: $27.99 500GB: $31.99 1TB: $49.99 2TB: $109.99	250GB: $49.99 500GB: $59.99 1TB: $109.99	250GB: $54.99 500GB: $64.99 1TB: $99.99

Frill-free SSD, standard endurance

Like previous versions, the WD Blue SN580 is a frill-free SSD. It has no DRAM cache, nor does it have any special features, such as encryption.

Additionally, it has the same endurance rating as the previous model, which is relatively modest.

Specifically, the SN580 carries a 0.3 DWPD endurance rating and a five-year warranty. That means you can continuously write up to a third of the drive’s total capacity per day and every day for five years before it becomes unreliable.

The total number of data written varies depending on the capacity—the higher, the more you can write. If you take the 1TB capacity, for example, it has a total endurance of 600 terabytes written, which is generally many times more than one can write during the life of a computer.

Comparatively, this endurance rating is rather standard. It’s the same as most PCIe 4.0 SSDs, such as the Crucial P5 or the Samsung 980 PRO.

Familiar and useful Dashboard software

The new WD Blue SN580 shares the same downloadable SSD Dashboard software as other WD SSDs. The application allows users access and control over the drive’s performance, longevity, firmware update, and more.

The software worked well in my trial and resembled that of Samsung’s Magician or Crucial Storage Executive counterparts. Still, considering the new SSD has no user-accessible feature, it’s only good for monitoring the drive’s condition and managing its firmware in most cases.

WD Blue SN580: Excellent overall performance

I used a 1TB WD Blue SN580 for over a week for this review and was generally happy with its performance.

The new SSD wasn’t the fastest and slower than my existing PCIe 5.0 Crucial T700, but it was among the fastest PCIe 4.0 SSD in sequential (copy) performance.

On this front, it’s worth noting that, like the case of the SN570, the SN580 did slow down in an extended file-transferring job. However, its threshold was much higher than its older cousin.

Specifically, while the SN570 would slow down to around 500MB/s after some 15GB of data, the SN580 would do that after about 300GB. In other words, if you copy 300GB of data or less in a single job, you will enjoy its top performance throughout, as shown in the chart.

Most of us don’t copy more than 100GB in a sitting. As a matter of fact, I only found out this performance throttling phenomenal in anecdotal tests where I clone a large system of over 500GB onto it.

The SN580’s random access performance wasn’t as impressive as its raw copy speeds but was faster than most PCIe 3.0 drives.

In real-world usage, the lackluster random access performance means the drive will “feel” slower in certain tasks, which was the case in my trial. But, as mentioned, I moved to it from the Crucial T700. Generally, chances are you won’t notice compared to a PCIe 3.0 or 4.0 drive.

The SN580 ran cool in my testing. It did get warm, but never to the point of causing concern. On this heat front, it was a nice break from my experience with the Crucial T700.

Conclusion

As a PCIe 4.0 SSD, the WD Blue SN580 has nothing new. It’s a bit subduce, in fact. However, considering its super-friendly cost and top-notch sequential performance, it’s an excellent NVMe option for anyone looking to upgrade or replace a failing drive.

Get one or two today!