The What’s Next Western Digital event back in May 2022 saw the introduction of recent products within the WD_BLACK lineup. On the portable SSD (PSSD) front, the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD augmented the corporate’s strong set of offerings within the gaming market. As a complement to the favored WD_BLACK P50 Game Drive SSD, the brand new PSSD retained the USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20 Gbps) link while adding RGB lighting to the case.
The P40 was launched at a much cheaper price point in comparison with the P50. In an effort to achieve the cheaper price point and make the P40 a mid-range offering, the corporate has cut some corners while still promoting the drive as a 2GBps-class one. The review below presents an in depth evaluation of the WD_BLCK P40 Game Drive SSD and compares it against a number of other PSSDs in the identical capability class. Our evaluation reveals use-cases where the P40 does make sense to make use of without spending way more for the premium-class P50.
Introduction
External bus-powered storage devices have grown each in storage capability in addition to speeds over the past decade. Due to rapid advancements in flash technology (including the arrival of 3D NAND and NVMe) in addition to faster host interfaces (corresponding to Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.x), we now have palm-sized flash-based storage devices able to delivering 3GBps+ speeds. While those speeds will be achieved with Thunderbolt, mass-market devices need to depend on USB. Inside the USB ecosystem, USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) is fast becoming the entry level for thumb drives and portable SSDs. Premium devices sporting the USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20 Gbps) interface have been making it to the market over the past couple of years, with host support in desktops and other computing platforms starting to choose up. Broadly speaking, there are five distinct performance levels on this market:
2GBps+ drives with Thunderbolt 3 or USB4, using NVMe SSDs
2GBps drives with USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, using NVMe SSDs or direct USB flash drive (UFD) controllers
1GBps drives with USB 3.2 Gen 2, using NVMe SSDs or direct UFD controllers
500MBps drives with USB 3.2 Gen 1 (or, Gen 2, in some cases), using SATA SSDs
Sub-400MBps drives with USB 3.2 Gen 1, using UFD controllers
The PSSD we’re taking a look at today – the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive – belongs to the second category within the above list. Western Digital’s WD_BLACK lineup of products targets the gaming market, with give attention to performance numbers in addition to industrial design / RGB lighting. The corporate has also been using the lineup to bring latest technology to the market – corresponding to the WD_BLACK P50 Game Drive SSD back in 2019. It was one in all the primary 20 Gbps PSSDs to hit the market when it was launched. This allowed the corporate to charge a premium for the high-performance product that continues to today. In an try and expand the lineup with a mid-range offering, WD launched the P40 Game Drive SSD with very similar specs (as much as 2000 MBps) earlier this yr at a much cheaper price point.
The WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD retains the commercial design and appearance of its premium sibling, while being barely more compact. Considered one of the important thing updates appreciated by the goal market is the addition of RGB lighting (controllable via WD’s dashboard software) to the case. As a substitute of supplying two separate cables, WD is providing a single Type-C to Type-C cable with an attached Type-C to Type-A adapter.
WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD – Package Contents
The solid aluminum metal casing lends a rugged look to the drive, and lays to rest any potential thermal concerns during operation.
CrystalDiskInfo provides a fast overview of the PSSD as seen by the host system. The P40 support S.M.A.R.T passthrough and TRIM, as shown within the screenshot below. In comparison with the DRAM-equipped SN750E utilized in the P50, WD is using a DRAM-less SN560E within the P40. The price-savings translate to the cheaper price on the P40 in comparison with the P50.
S.M.A.R.T Passthrough – CrystalDiskInfo
WD_BLACK P40 1TBWD_BLACK P50 1TBKingston XS2000 1TBOWC Envoy Pro Elektron 1TBSeagate FireCuda 1TBSilverstone MS12Samsung T7 Touch 1TB
WD_BLACK P50 1TBKingston XS2000 1TBOWC Envoy Pro Elektron 1TBSeagate FireCuda 1TBSilverstone MS12Samsung T7 Touch 1TBWD_BLACK P40 1TB
The table below presents a comparative view of the specifications of the several storage bridges presented on this review.
Comparative Direct-Attached Storage Devices Configuration
Aspect
WD_BLACK P40 1TBWD_BLACK P50 1TBKingston XS2000 1TBOWC Envoy Pro Elektron 1TBSeagate FireCuda 1TBSilverstone MS12Samsung T7 Touch 1TB
WD_BLACK P50 1TBKingston XS2000 1TBOWC Envoy Pro Elektron 1TBSeagate FireCuda 1TBSilverstone MS12Samsung T7 Touch 1TBWD_BLACK P40 1TB
Downstream Port
1x PCIe 3.0 x4 (M.2 NVMe)
1x PCIe 3.0 x4 (M.2 NVMe)
Upstream Port
USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C
USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C
Bridge Chip
ASMedia ASM2364
ASMedia ASM2364
Power
Bus Powered
Bus Powered
Use Case
Mid-range 2GBps-class, compact, and durable portable SSD in a gumstick form-factor targeting the gaming market
Premium 2GBps-class, compact, and durable portable SSD in a gumstick form-factor targeting the gaming market
Physical Dimensions
107 mm x 51 mm x 13 mm
118 mm x 62 mm x 14 mm
Weight
79 grams (without cable)
115 grams (without cable)
Cable
30 cm USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C to Type-C
Attached Type-C female to Type-A male adapter (resultant Type-C to Type-A cable length : 33 cm)
30 cm USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C to Type-C
30 cm USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C to Type-A
S.M.A.R.T Passthrough
Yes
Yes
UASP Support
Yes
Yes
TRIM Passthrough
Yes
Yes
Hardware Encryption
Not Available
Not Available
Evaluated Storage
Western Digital SN560E PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 2280 NVMe SSD
SanDisk / Toshiba BiCS 5 112L 3D TLC
Western Digital SN750E PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 2280 NVMe SSD
SanDisk / Toshiba BiCS 4 96L 3D TLC
Price
USD 130
USD 210
Review Link
WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD 1TB Review
WD_BLACK P50 Game Drive SSD 1TB Review #1 (2020)
WD_BLACK P50 Game Drive SSD 1TB Review #2 (2021)
Prior to taking a look at the benchmark numbers, power consumption, and thermal solution effectiveness, an outline of the testbed setup and evaluation methodology is provided.
Testbed Setup and Evaluation Methodology
Direct-attached storage devices are evaluated using the Quartz Canyon NUC (essentially, the Xeon / ECC version of the Ghost Canyon NUC) configured with 2x 16GB DDR4-2667 ECC SODIMMs and a PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe SSD – the IM2P33E8 1TB from ADATA.
Essentially the most attractive aspect of the Quartz Canyon NUC is the presence of two PCIe slots (electrically, x16 and x4) for add-in cards. Within the absence of a discrete GPU – for which there is no such thing as a need in a DAS testbed – each slots can be found. In reality, we also added a spare SanDisk Extreme PRO M.2 NVMe SSD to the CPU direct-attached M.2 22110 slot within the baseboard with the intention to avoid DMI bottlenecks when evaluating Thunderbolt 3 devices. This still allows for 2 add-in cards operating at x8 (x16 electrical) and x4 (x4 electrical). Because the Quartz Canyon NUC doesn’t have a native USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 port, Silverstone’s SST-ECU06 add-in card was installed within the x4 slot. All non-Thunderbolt devices are tested using the Type-C port enabled by the SST-ECU06.
The specifications of the testbed are summarized within the table below:
The 2021 AnandTech DAS Testbed Configuration
System
Intel Quartz Canyon NUC9vXQNX
CPU
Intel Xeon E-2286M
Memory
ADATA Industrial AD4B3200716G22
32 GB (2x 16GB)
DDR4-3200 ECC @ 22-22-22-52
OS Drive
ADATA Industrial IM2P33E8 NVMe 1TB
Secondary Drive
SanDisk Extreme PRO M.2 NVMe 3D SSD 1TB
Add-on Card
SilverStone Tek SST-ECU06 USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C Host
OS
Windows 10 Enterprise x64 (21H1)
Due to ADATA, Intel, and SilverStone Tek for the construct components
The testbed hardware is barely one segment of the evaluation. Over the previous couple of years, the everyday direct-attached storage workloads for memory cards have also evolved. High bit-rate 4K videos at 60fps have change into quite common, and 8K videos are beginning to make an appearance. Game install sizes have also grown steadily even in portable game consoles, because of high resolution textures and artwork. Keeping these in mind, our evaluation scheme for direct-attached storage devices involves multiple workloads that are described intimately within the corresponding sections.
Synthetic workloads using CrystalDiskMark and ATTO
Real-world access traces using PCMark 10’s storage benchmark
Custom robocopy workloads reflective of typical DAS usage
Sequential write stress test
In the subsequent section, we’ve got an outline of the performance of the WD_BLACK P40 Game Drive SSD in these benchmarks. Prior to providing concluding remarks, we’ve got some observations on the device’s power consumption numbers and thermal solution also.
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