WD Black P40 Game Drive 500GB External SSD

1. Introduction2. WD Black P40 Game Drive 500GB3. ATTO/CrystalDiskMark/AS SSD4. Throughput 5. PCMark 10 Data Drive Benchmark6. Real Life File Transfers7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

The latest drive to join WD's Black Game clan of external SSDs is the P40 which marries an NVMe Gen3 SSD with a USB Gen 2 x2 (20Gbps) interface, oh and it has RGB lighting as well. The Black P40 Game line-up consists of the same lower capacities as the previous Black P50 Game; 500GB, 1TB and 2TB but at launch, it tops out at the 2TB capacity whereas the Black P50 has a 4TB flagship model.

Looking identical in appearance to the previous Black P50 Game drive, the P40 is actually smaller and lighter than the P50, measuring 106.98 x 50.82 x 13mm and weighing in at 78.5g, compared to the 118 x 65 x 14mm and 115g of the Black P50 Game.

Apart from being smaller and lighter than the previous drive, the Black P40 Game has another trick up its sleeve – RGB lighting. The LEDs are housed under two very thin plastic strips on each side of the base of the enclosure which run for around three-quarters of the enclosure's length. The thirteen lighting effects are controlled via the WD SSD Dashboard management software.

Internally, the drive uses one of WD's own Black SN560E M.2 NVMe SSDs which has an in-house controller and 3D TLC NAND and there is an ASMedia ASM2364 controller handing the USB 3.2 Gen2 x2 bridge. All three drives in the range have the same up to 2,000MB/s read performance rating. The two largest drives in the range are rated up to 2,000MB/s for writes while the 500GB drive has to make do with up to 1,950MB/s.

When tested with the ATTO benchmark we couldn't hit either of those official maximum figures for the 500GB Black P40 Game (2,000MB/s reads, 1,950MB/s writes) but got pretty close with a read result of 1,930MB/s and writes at 1,720MB/s. However, using the CrystalDiskBench v8 benchmark we could confirm both official figures. The fastest test result of 2,081MB/s came when we used the Peak Performance profile test (using compressible data). When it came to writes, the best result, 1,951MB/s came from the default CrystalDiskBench test.

Overall, WD's Black P40 Game Drive is fast performing external drive but as with all USB 3.2 Gen 2 x2 devices, the trickier part of the equation is to find a device which supports the interface.

We found the 500GB WD Black P40 Game Drive SSD on the WD Digital store for £93.99 (inc VAT) HERE.

Pros

• Sequential performance.
• Design.
• 5-year warranty.

Cons

• Needs a USB 3.2 Gen 2 x2 interface to get the best out of it.

KitGuru says: Another fast-performing external SSD from WD's Black Game Drive stable. Smaller in stature than the Black P50 Game Drive, the Black P40 has an additional feature in the shape of RGB lighting. On the downside, you need to find a USB 3.2 Gen 2 x2 supporting motherboard or add-in card to tap into its full potential.

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