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SN520 NVMe WDC 256GB

▲ 501 ▼

Release date ≈ Q4 2018.

Average Bench: 137% (180th of 1080)

Based on 4,380 user benchmarks.  Model: PC SN520 NVMe WDC 256GB
Poor: 82%Average: 137% Great: 184%

Popular builds with this SSD

Outstanding average bench

The PC SN520 NVMe WDC 256GB averaged 36.7% higher than the peak scores attained by the group leaders. This is an excellent result which ranks the PC SN520 NVMe WDC 256GB near the top of the comparison list.

Strengths

Avg. 4K-64Thread Mixed IO Speed 530MB/s
Avg. 4K-64Thread Read Speed 654MB/s

Terrible consistency

The range of scores (95th - 5th percentile) for the PC SN520 NVMe WDC 256GB is 102%. This is a particularly wide range which indicates that the PC SN520 NVMe WDC 256GB performs inconsistently under varying real world conditions.

Weaknesses

Avg. Sustained Write Speed 321MB/s
Avg. 4K Random Write Speed 100MB/s
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Average Bench

(Based on 4,380 samples)
Rank 180137%
Min Avg Max
486 Read 896 1,199
224 Write 805 1,187
334 Mixed 687 1,014
163 SusWrite 321 441
152% 677 MB/s
Min Avg Max
20.7 4K Read 41.5 47.2
33.8 4K Write 100 156
23.9 4K Mixed 50.8 68.7
181% 64.2 MB/s
Min Avg Max
178 DQ Read 654 857
94.8 DQ Write 504 967
144 DQ Mixed 530 731
410% 563 MB/s
User Benchmarks BenchSequentialRandom 4kDeep queue 4k
The fastest SSD (mainstream) averages a speed of 100%
123GB free (System drive)
Firmware: 20220012 Max speed: PCIe 16,000 MB/s
SusWrite @10s intervals: 463 395 333 303 304 303 MB/s
133% Outstanding
Read 888
Write 940
Mixed 687
SusWrite 350
161% 716 MB/s
4K Read 31.5
4K Write 104
4K Mixed 35.6
149% 57.2 MB/s
DQ Read 808
DQ Write 580
DQ Mixed 671
507% 686 MB/s
197GB free (System drive)
Firmware: 20220012 Max speed: PCIe 16,000 MB/s
SusWrite @10s intervals: 501 399 404 402 402 403 MB/s
121% Outstanding
Read 738
Write 983
Mixed 843
SusWrite 418
168% 746 MB/s
4K Read 25.6
4K Write 98.4
4K Mixed 33.2
133% 52.4 MB/s
DQ Read 658
DQ Write 481
DQ Mixed 517
400% 552 MB/s
146GB free (System drive)
Firmware: 20220012 Max speed: PCIe 16,000 MB/s
SusWrite @10s intervals: 382 335 308 324 330 333 MB/s
117% Outstanding
Read 753
Write 695
Mixed 781
SusWrite 335
144% 641 MB/s
4K Read 36.4
4K Write 79.1
4K Mixed 49.3
160% 54.9 MB/s
DQ Read 521
DQ Write 232
DQ Mixed 352
267% 368 MB/s
195GB free (System drive)
Firmware: 20220012 Max speed: PCIe 16,000 MB/s
SusWrite @10s intervals: 428 399 390 338 347 338 MB/s
115% Outstanding
Read 496
Write 420
Mixed 338
SusWrite 373
91% 407 MB/s
4K Read 33.4
4K Write 99.7
4K Mixed 48.7
166% 60.6 MB/s
DQ Read 679
DQ Write 256
DQ Mixed 442
333% 459 MB/s
205GB free (System drive)
Firmware: 20220012 Max speed: PCIe 16,000 MB/s
SusWrite @10s intervals: 425 406 421 406 409 400 MB/s
101% Outstanding
Read 780
Write 701
Mixed 741
SusWrite 411
148% 658 MB/s
4K Read 17.1
4K Write 43
4K Mixed 18.6
72% 26.2 MB/s
DQ Read 565
DQ Write 448
DQ Mixed 480
366% 498 MB/s
108GB free (System drive)
Firmware: 20240012 Max speed: PCIe 16,000 MB/s
SusWrite @10s intervals: 364 286 283 292 274 282 MB/s
94.5% Outstanding
Read 782
Write 900
Mixed 871
SusWrite 297
160% 712 MB/s
4K Read 26.1
4K Write 56.4
4K Mixed 27.5
105% 36.7 MB/s
DQ Read 359
DQ Write 233
DQ Mixed 256
202% 283 MB/s
4,380 MORE »

 Market Share (See Leaders)

The number of benchmark samples for this model as a percentage of all 76,508,541 SSDs tested

Custom PC Builder (Start a new build) Build your perfect PC: compare component prices, popularity, speed and value for money

CHOOSE A COMPONENT:

CPU GPU SSD HDD RAM MBD
Typical SN520 NVMe WDC 256GB Builds (Compare 2,221 builds) See popular component choices, score breakdowns and rankings
Gaming
Gaming 7%
Tree trunk
Desktop
Desktop 58%
Gunboat
Workstation
Workstation 7%
Tree trunk

System: Dell Latitude 5400

CPU
Core i5-8365UIntelBench 57%, 8,737 samples962x
Core i7-8665UIntelBench 60%, 10,156 samples732x
Core i5-8265UIntelBench 53%, 87,841 samples427x
GPU
UHD Graphics 620IntelBench 5%, 178,291 samples2,121x
UHD Graphics 620 (Mobile Kaby Lake R)IntelBench 5%, 420,154 samples91x
GTX 1660-TiNvidia  $143Bench 76%, 318,562 samples2x
SSD
SN520 NVMe WDC 256GBPCBench 137%, 4,380 samples119x
RAM
HMA81GS6JJR8N-VK 1x8GBUnknownBench 40%, 7,726 samples203x
HMA82GS6JJR8N-VK 1x16GBUnknownBench 43%, 5,210 samples203x
HMA82GS6DJR8N-VK 1x16GBUnknownBench 42%, 1,772 samples189x
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Popular SN520 NVMe WDC 256GB systems:

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  • Best user rated - User sentiment trumps benchmarks for this comparison.
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  • Fastest real world speed - Real World Speed measures performance for typical consumers.

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Speed Comparisons

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1080 Drives (Compared) Thousands of user benchmarks compiled into one comparison list

See how consistently different SSDs perform with varying real world conditions. The charts also illustrate overall performance, popularity and rank.

 Frequently Asked Questions

Storage Devices FAQ
What is sustained sequential write speed?
What’s the difference between SLC, MLC and TLC?
What is 3D XPoint and how fast is it?
What’s the difference between SATA, PCIe and NVMe?
What’s the difference between NAND and V-NAND?
What is sequential write speed?
What is sequential read speed?
What is incompressible data?
What is queue depth?
Solid State Drives
What is the SSD value for money rating?
What is 4K 64 thread write speed?
Can CPU power saving states (C1,C2,C3) impact SSD speed?
What is the effective SSD speed index?
How is the AS SSD write score calculated?
How is the AS SSD read score calculated?
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The Best
CPUGPUSSD
Intel Core i5-12600K $175Nvidia RTX 4060 $293WD Black SN850X M.2 2TB $145
Intel Core i5-12400F $110Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $389WD Black SN850X M.2 1TB $85
Intel Core i5-13600K $235Nvidia RTX 4070 $499Crucial T700 M.2 4TB $342
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