In 2019, the WD Black SN750 was released, and we've already tested it here. Now in 2021, WD is releasing another SSD with a similar name, namely the SN750 SE. How is it different from the old one?
The difference between the SN750 and SN750 SE is in the interface used. Both are PCIe indeed, but the SN750 uses PCIe 3.0 while the SN750 SE uses the newer PCIe 4.0.
This new interface actually provides a large increase in bandwidth, which is twice as large as each lane (lane). If PCIe 3.0 has a bandwidth of 1GB/s per line, PCIe 4.0 has a bandwidth of 2GB/s per line, and this SSD interface uses four lines or x4.
With greater bandwidth, SSD manufacturers can maximize the speed of the NAND chips they use in their SSDs.
Returning to the SN750 SE, WD positioned this SSD as an entry-level PCIe 4.0 product, because their flagship product in this class is the SN850. So of course the speed will not be as impressive as the flagship product, but it's still fast, really.
This SSD sales package is fairly minimalist. Only the sales box, SSD and warranty instructions. In the market, this SSD comes in several capacity options, 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB. The review unit received by us is the 1TB capacity.
Oh yes, WD also includes the WD Black SSD Dashboard software and Acronis True Image WD Edition which can be downloaded on the WD website. This dashboard has the option to run the SSD in gaming mode to increase its performance.
WD claims the SN750 SE's read speed is up to 3,600 MB/s, while the write speed is 2,830 MB/s. The specifications include using a Phison PS5019-E19T and a PCIe 4x4 interface. The NAND Flash used is SanDisk 64-layer 3D TLC.
This claim to read speed is slightly higher than the SN750 output 2 years ago, which is 3,470 MB/s and write speeds of 2,600 MB/s. And in our tests, the SN750 SE's speed claim is true.
Tested using CrystalDiskMark, the read speed reached 3,629 MB/s, while the write speed was 2,939 MB/s. Meanwhile, when used to move files measuring about 10GB, the speed ranges from 2 GB / s.
About the price, for an NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD, the price is relatively cheap. . Adrift quite far from the SN850, although indeed the speed is also quite far apart.
So we think the SN750 SE is suitable for users who want to experience a PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD but with a limited budget and don't need too high speeds.