Western Digital WD Blue SA510 500GB SATA SSD

Here you will find a detailed speed, performance and benchmark test review. Tested was the SATA SSD WD Blue SA510 with 500GB (WDS500G3B0A) from the brand Western Digital.

Performance score 
637
Price/GB
0.26 $
Read
560 MB/s
 Write
510 MB/s
Connector
2.5"
Interface
SATA 6 Gbps
Technical specifications (manufacturer information)
Product image Product image WD Blue SA510
Manufacturer Western Digital  
Model number WDS500G3B0A
Capacity 500 GB (466 GiB)
pSLC cache 54 GB approx.
Read speed 560 MB/s
Write speed 510 MB/s
Interface SATA 6 Gbps
Connector 2.5"
Memory module (NAND) TLC
TBW (Total Bytes Written) 200 terabyte
Warranty 5 Years
Controller n/a
  Current price
~ 130 $
(= 0.26 $ / GB)
Compare product Compared to the test winner*
Read speed
100 %
Write speed
98 %
*) Test result rated by AS SSD score within the same capacity.

We put the Western Digital SATA SSD through a detailed test. You can find the test result / test report here:


AS SSD Benchmark

Standard performance test

The standard test was performed with a 1 GB file. A total score of 637 points was achieved.

AS SSD Benchmark Screenshot: TEST: Western Digital WD Blue SA510 500GB SATA SSD
AS SSD Read: Write:
Seq
in megabytes per second
520.10 MB/s
451.65 MB/s
4K
in megabytes per second
20.08 MB/s
81.49 MB/s
4K-64Thrd
in megabytes per second
144.80 MB/s
178.17 MB/s
Access time
in milliseconds
0.072 ms
0.241 ms
Score
217
305
Total score 
637

Copy performance test

A common everyday scenario is simulated here. Three test folders are created:

  • ISO (folder with two large files)
  • Program (folder with many small files)
  • Game (folder with small and large files)

The three folders are copied using the Windows copy command (cache remains enabled). The real-world test from 07 August 2024 shows performance during simultaneous write and read operations. The lower the duration, the better.

AS SSD TEST: Western Digital WD Blue SA510 500GB SATA SSD
AS SSD Copy Benchmark Transfer rate: Duration:
ISO
two large files
969.36 MB/s
1.11 s
Program
typical program folder with many small files
1,258.46 MB/s
1.12 s
Game
a game folder with small and large files
2,022.45 MB/s
0.68 s

Compression performance test

Here, speed is measured depending on how compressible the data is.

AS SSD TEST: Western Digital WD Blue SA510 500GB SATA SSD

CrystalDiskMark Benchmark

Similar to AS SSD, two sequential and two random performance tests are carried out here and the write and read speed (manufacturer specs: 560 MB/s and 510 MB/s) the Western Digital SATA SSD is measured.

CrystalDiskMark Benchmark Screenshot: TEST: Western Digital WD Blue SA510 500GB SATA SSD
CDM Read [MB/s] Write [MB/s]
SEQ1M
Q8T1
551.35
477.71
SEQ1M
Q1T1
529.34
470.71
RND4K
Q32T16
238.47
190.36
RND4K
Q1T1
34.05
85.76

IOPS (Input/Output operations per second)

CDM Read [IOPS] Write [IOPS]
SEQ1M
Q8T1
525.80
455.60
SEQ1M
Q1T1
504.80
448.90
RND4K
Q32T16
58,219.50
46,473.40
RND4K
Q1T1
8,312.50
20,938.00

Average latency

CDM Read [µs] Write [µs]
SEQ1M
Q8T1
15,185.50
17,498.50
SEQ1M
Q1T1
1,980.56
2,226.19
RND4K
Q32T16
8,774.96
10,998.70
RND4K
Q1T1
120.15
47.64

HD Tune Pro long-term test

A long-term test was performed to fully utilize the storage. You can see at what point the cache (if present) becomes full and write performance drops. A test file of 100 GB was written to the medium. After approx. 54 GB, the cache was full and performance was throttled.
The test file could at least be read with an average read speed of 531 MB/s and written at 287 MB/s.

HD Tune endurance test TEST: Western Digital WD Blue SA510 500GB SATA SSD

HD Tune Pro Benchmark

HD Tune writes a 1 GB file to the Western Digital SATA SSD. The transfer data of the read speed is displayed graphically. The minimum, maximum and average values are also determined. The measured access time and burst rate are also shown.

HD Tune TEST: Western Digital WD Blue SA510 500GB SATA SSD

ATTO Disk Benchmark

Here, a 256 MB file is written to the Western Digital SATA SSD multiple times. The I/O block size varies (from 512 bytes to 64 megabytes). The larger the blocks, the faster writing and reading usually becomes.

ATTO Disk Benchmark TEST: Western Digital WD Blue SA510 500GB SATA SSD

SSD-Z Benchmark

Similar to HD Tune, a 500 MB file is written to the Western Digital SATA SSD here. The transfer data is displayed. The more consistent the line, the better. Unfortunately, the tool no longer works correctly from around 4,000 MB/s and no line is displayed (and sometimes incorrect min/max data is shown).

SSD-Z TEST: Western Digital WD Blue SA510 500GB SATA SSD

Markus
You can find information about the test system at the bottom of the homepage.
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