Everything that decides whether the WD Blue SN5100 is the right drive: controller, DRAM, NAND, rated endurance, PS5 and laptop fit, and how it compares with the obvious alternatives. Hardware facts are taken from the reviews and datasheets listed at the bottom; capacities and speeds come from our comparison of 60 drives.
Who it’s for: Everyday desktops and laptops that want near-flagship Gen 4 sequential speed (up to about 6,900 MB/s) at an entry-level tier. Skip it for: Heavy sustained writing: it is QLC at every capacity, unlike the TLC-based SN5000 at 2TB and below.
| Controller | SanDisk in-house (Polaris 3, 4-channel) |
| DRAM cache | No — DRAM-less, uses host memory (HMB) |
| NAND | SanDisk BiCS8 QLC |
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 x4, NVMe, M.2 2280 |
| Heatsink version | Not in our data — sold bare |
| Capacity | Seq. read | Seq. write | Endurance | Warranty |
|---|
Rated endurance is 300 TBW at 500GB, 600 TBW at 1TB, 900 TBW at 2TB, 1,200 TBW at 4TB. Speeds are the manufacturer’s sequential ratings.
Every WD Blue SN5100 capacity in our comparison, smallest first.
Full list of qualifying drives: PS5-compatible SSDs.
WD Blue SN5000: the previous Blue model, TLC up to 2TB.
Crucial P310: another DRAM-less QLC Gen 4 drive.
We show retail prices only while we can refresh them at least every 24 hours. For market context: TrendForce’s 16 Oct 2026 retail sample runs $133–$250 per TB for mainstream 1–2TB drives, and NAND contract prices are forecast +15 to +20% for 4Q26. Check any listing against that range with the price per TB calculator, and see the SSD price chart for the trend.
Hardware facts on this page come from:
Where reviews disagreed (for example on NAND layer counts or a capacity’s endurance rating) we state only what the sources agree on.