WD Red vs Blue

When it comes to building a PC, whether that be for gaming or any other reason, there comes a time where you have to start thinking about Solid State Drives (SSD). SSDs will give your computer a huge boost of speed, which is, of course, a much desired component of a computer being used for the purpose of gaming or other intense activity.

SSDs can really ramp up your overall gaming experience, and so they are without a doubt an important inclusion. Ever experienced that much dreaded gaming lag? It’s OK, we’ve all had it! It is just the worst especially in those super intense FPS games where every millisecond counts!

PC gaming is possibly even more susceptible to lagging than console gaming when you consider the fact that gamers often have other stuff going on in the background. Anyone else guilty of trying to run music streaming services or receive emails at the same time as their game?

We sure have been! Having a high quality SSD means that your gaming PC/laptop will be able to cope with these multiple applications with ease without having to worry about your laptop freezing, lagging, overheating, or the fans making a super loud whirring noise that makes it sound like the whole machine is about to take off to the sky. 

Deciding to use an SSD is easy – in fact, all it involves is a little research into why an SSD would be a good buy. Spoiler Alert: We think every PC gamer needs one! It’s finding the right SSD that can prove a little tougher.

There are so many manufacturers you can choose from when it comes to SSD, and then each manufacturer is likely to have more than one choice. This can make the task of choosing one seem impossible. To help you, we have decided to put up two of the best performing SSDs from one company together in one article.

Western Digital (WD) is a company that provides a number of different SSD choices, among many other PC components. The two SSDs that we will be comparing are the WD Red and the WD Blue. the two products may seem very alike on the surface, even in the specifications. However, it is when you look at the features and the performance of each of them that you start to see real differences.

You will see that although the WD Red and the WD Blue are two different products, the similarities between the specifications on them are very close. There is one very subtle difference but the rest are identical.

Nevertheless, we have placed each of the SSDs in their own section so you can see the specifications for each of them separately. It is also with noting that the specifications will differ depending on the size SSD you choose.

For the purpose of this article, we will focus on the 1TB SSD for both WD Red and WD Blue. This size is the perfect match for most computing needs, and your gaming computer will run perfectly with it.

WD Red 

Capacity – 1 TB 

Form Factor – 2.5”/7mm cased, M.2 2280

Interface – SATA 6 Gb/s

Sequential read – 560 MB/s

Sequential write – 530 MB/s

Random read – 95k IOPS

Random write – 85k IOPS 

WD Blue 

Capacity –  1 TB 

Form Factor – 2.5″/7mm cased, M.2 2280

Interface – SATA III 6 Gb/s

Sequential read – 560 MB/s 

Sequential write – 530 MB/s 

Random read – 95k IOPS

Random write – 84k IOPS 

The features of each differ slightly, even though there are still some similarities. Depending on your reason for use (which we think may be gaming if you are reading this article) you may find one a better fit than the other.

The WD Blue is designed to cope with multiple applications with a little more ease than the WD Red, and it is the one that is most often recommended for the purposes of gaming.

Keep on reading for a little snapshot of the features of each of them to see which you think will be more compatible with your gaming PC. 

WD Blue 

• The WD Blue gets tested rigorously to ensure compatibility on hundreds of systems and platforms, giving you the reassurance that this SSD will be a good fit in their systems. 
• Should you already have a drive and you are merely upgrading to WD Blue, migrating your current system is made seamless. You can migrate all of your existing systems onto the WD Blue with ease thanks to the Acronis True Image WD Edition cloning software that you get access to on the WD website. 
• The WD Blue has low power consumption thanks to its seeking algorithms and advanced power management capabilities. 
• To protect your data the WD Blue features NoTouch Ramp Load Technology which positions the recording head safely off the disk itself 
• It has superior performance for the most demanding of applications to be run at the same time such as gaming and music playback, which is perfect as it is mostly recommended for use for personal PCs and laptops. 

WD Red 

• It has high quality endurance for computers that will need round the clock usage capabilities 
• Like the WD Blue, it has undergone rigorous testing to ensure that it is compatible with a variety of different systems and platforms
• It has improved responsiveness which is particularly important for demanding applications such as 4K and 8K video editing. It can read and write heavy loads with ease, without you worrying that it won’t be able to cope 
• It is this SSD that is recommended for multi-user environments and photo rendering and is good for home NAS environments from medium to large
• It can also be used as an upgrade for your current system as you can transfer it across seamlessly to your new WD Red.

In terms of performance, we think that the WD Blue slightly outweighs the WD Red when it comes to gaming. However, both of them perform very highly at what they are designed to do.

After all, Western Digital (WD) is one of the leading names in the field. To put that to the test, let’s have a closer look at each of them.

We are going to explore each of them separately so you can see for yourself the differences and similarities between them. 

We’re going to let WD Red and WD Blue battle it out head to head to see who wins you the most points…. 

Performance of WD Red 

The WD Red is a super fast and efficient SSD that can supercharge your NAS (this is the abbreviation of Network Attached Storage) like nothing you have ever seen before.

It is not typically the first choice for the purposes of gaming PCs, but that being said, it is certainly a powerful little thing. Typically it is made for the likes of home based cloud services.

However, it is also a great choice for someone who will be using their PC or laptop for the likes of video editing, especially in 4K or 8K, photo rendering, or anyone who has multiple-user environments connected.

You can use the WD Red on your Raid Render Setups too, as they deliver an affordable reliability. Affordability is also a key thing to note here, too, as generally, WD Reds are far more affordable than their Blue counterparts.

We truly think that building a PC or even updating an existing one is not where one should cheap out, and as tempting as affordability can be, it is important not to scrimp on quality. 

Performance of the WD Blue 

The WD Blue was designed with gaming in mind. OK, maybe that is a little bit of an exaggeration because actually WD Blue can be seen as the strong basis in Western Digital’s SSD lineup for the drives that follow it.

The WB Black is actually designed more specifically for gaming, but the WD Blue is certainly one of the other best options. From start to finish, all of the features that help the performance of the WD Blue will be ideal for your gaming PC.

It is made to a very high quality to ensure that all of the sequential reads and writes are at an impressive speed. It has a high capacity for dealing with anything you are running on there, which is particularly important if you are gaming professionally or playing hardcore and intense FPS games.

They tend to be recommended for everyday computing and more mainstream use, but we really do think that these are a perfect choice for any gamer. 

When it comes to the pricing of the WD Red and WD Blue, we checked at many different stores online to see where the best availability and costs were. For us, it just had to be www.amazon.com. 

You can find the WD Red here where there seems to always be consistent availability. Delivery is always super speedy from Amazon too, with the option to buy it today and receive it tomorrow (state dependent of course).

The WD Blue can be found here, also from Amazon. The availability is also always great, and in all the time we have been researching the two products, this has always been in stock. For the features and capabilities, the WD Blue has, we think the price is fantastic value for money!

As you can hopefully see by now Western Digital is a brand that really knows their stuff. Both the WD Red and WD Blue are clearly very high quality SSD products that excel at what they are made to do.

Whilst it is hard to argue which is better than the other per se, it is more simple to look at them from a gaming perspective and be able to choose right away the SSD that is most compatible with a gaming laptop. For us, if the two are going head to head, the WD Blue comes out on top each time. 

Whilst the WD Red is certainly an impressive little thing, especially for running those hardy applications such as video editing software, photo rendering, and much more, the WD Blue just has the edge due to being slightly better at handling multiple demanding pieces of software such as games.

 The basic specifications of each are of course very similar, but upon further research and a more in-depth analysis, you can easily see why the WD Blue may be more suited for your gaming needs.

In terms of affordability, the WD Red 1TB is clearly the cheaper option compared to the WD Blue 1TB. However, remember we said earlier on that we don’t think this is an area of your gaming PC you should cheap out on? We were benign serious there. 

Buying the most compatible one for you, regardless of whether it is more expensive upfront, may work out cheaper in the long run. If you choose an SSD that simply is not up to scratch, you will likely end up forking out more money again to replace it eventually with something more suited.

Bear this in mind when you are choosing between the WD Red and WD Blue. the Red may seem better because it is cheaper, but just remind yourself again of the features and performance comparison and we are sure you will quickly realize that actually, the WD Blue is the better option for you.