TEST
YOUR HDD
ADD TO PC
BUILD

WD WD5003AZEX

Black 500GB (2012)

▲ 505 ▼

Release date ≤ Q4 2013.

Average Bench: 76% (99th of 1015)

more Based on 20,548 user benchmarks.  Models: WDC WD5003AZEX-00K1GA0, WDC WD50 03AZEX-00K1GA0, WDC WD5003AZEX-0, WDC WD5003AZEX-00RKKA0, WDC WD50 03AZEX-00K1G, WDC WD50 03AZEX-00RLF, WD5003AZ EX-00RKKA0, WDC WD5003AZEX-00RLF, WDC WD5003AZEX-00JDH, WDC WD5003AZEX-00JDHA0, WDC WD50 03AZEX-00RKK, WD5003AZEX-00RKKA0, WDC WD5003AZEX-01WERA1, WDC WD5003AZEX-00MK2, WDC WD50 03AZEX-00K3C, WD5003AZEX-00RKKA, WDC WD50 03AZEX-00RKKA0, WDC WD5003AZEX-00K1G, WDC WD5003AZEX-00MK2A0, WDC WD50 03AZEX-00S3DA0, WDC WD50 03AZEX-00MK2, WDC WD5003AZEX-00RKK, WDC WD5003AZEX-00K3CA0, WDC WD5003AZEX-00RLFA0, WDC WD50 03AZEX-00K3CA0, WDC WD50 03AZEX-00MK2A0, WDC WD50 03AZEX-00RLFA0, WDC WD5003AZEX-0053CA0, WDC WD5003AZEX-00S3DA0, WDC WD5003AZEX-00K3C
Poor: 43%Average: 76% Great: 105%

Popular builds with this HDD

Good average bench

The WD Black 500GB (2012) averaged 23.9% lower than the peak scores attained by the group leaders. This is an excellent result which ranks the WD Black 500GB (2012) near the top of the comparison list.

Strengths

Avg. 4K Random Mixed IO Speed 1.02MB/s
Avg. 4K Random Write Speed 2.52MB/s

Poor consistency

The range of scores (95th - 5th percentile) for the WD Black 500GB (2012) is 62.5%. This is a particularly wide range which indicates that the WD Black 500GB (2012) performs inconsistently under varying real world conditions.

Weaknesses

Avg. Sequential Mixed IO Speed 80.8MB/s
Avg. Sustained Write Speed 125MB/s
ADVERTISEMENT

Average Bench

(Based on 20,548 samples)
Rank 9976%
Min Avg Max
71.4 Read 140 193
65.9 Write 131 177
48.6 Mixed 80.8 111
50.9 SusWrite 125 179
87.6% 119 MB/s
Min Avg Max
0.4 4K Read 1.12 1.5
0.8 4K Write 2.52 3.12
0.5 4K Mixed 1.02 1.2
207% 1.56 MB/s
User Benchmarks BenchSequentialRandom 4kDeep queue 4k
The fastest HDD (mainstream) averages a speed of 100%
311GB free
Firmware: 80.00A80
SusWrite @10s intervals: 157 157 158 157 157 157 MB/s
92.5% Outstanding
Read 165
Write 144
Mixed 73.1
SusWrite 157
98% 135 MB/s
4K Read 1
4K Write 2.9
4K Mixed 1
206% 1.63 MB/s
91GB free
Firmware: 01.01A01
SusWrite @10s intervals: 171 174 173 172 173 172 MB/s
91.7% Outstanding
Read 147
Write 154
Mixed 88.2
SusWrite 172
103% 140 MB/s
4K Read 1.1
4K Write 2.4
4K Mixed 1.2
224% 1.57 MB/s
211GB free
Firmware: 01.01A01
SusWrite @10s intervals: 139 140 138 141 141 141 MB/s
89% Excellent
Read 170
Write 153
Mixed 103
SusWrite 140
104% 142 MB/s
4K Read 1.2
4K Write 2.9
4K Mixed 1.1
226% 1.73 MB/s
81GB free
Firmware: 80.00A80
SusWrite @10s intervals: 131 133 134 133 132 132 MB/s
82.6% Excellent
Read 155
Write 161
Mixed 97.2
SusWrite 132
100% 136 MB/s
4K Read 1.3
4K Write 2.8
4K Mixed 1
217% 1.7 MB/s
26GB free
Firmware: 80.00A80
SusWrite @10s intervals: 120 121 122 117 115 112 MB/s
73% Very good
Read 136
Write 122
Mixed 60
SusWrite 118
80% 109 MB/s
4K Read 1.1
4K Write 2.5
4K Mixed 1.1
214% 1.57 MB/s
170GB free
Firmware: 80.00A80
SusWrite @10s intervals: 128 130 129 131 131 137 MB/s
69.5% Good
Read 110
Write 108
Mixed 77.5
SusWrite 131
79% 107 MB/s
4K Read 1.1
4K Write 2.8
4K Mixed 1
209% 1.63 MB/s
89GB free
Firmware: 01.01A01
SusWrite @10s intervals: 100 100 100 100 108 109 MB/s
58% Above average
Read 98.7
Write 96.6
Mixed 80.3
SusWrite 103
70% 94.6 MB/s
4K Read 1
4K Write 2.3
4K Mixed 1
195% 1.43 MB/s
28GB free (System drive)
Firmware: 01.01A01
SusWrite @10s intervals: 46 47 49 79 82 94 MB/s
52.5% Above average
Read 117
Write 106
Mixed 69.7
SusWrite 66.2
66% 89.6 MB/s
4K Read 0.4
4K Write 1.7
4K Mixed 1
159% 1.03 MB/s
20,548 MORE »

 Market Share (See Leaders)

The number of benchmark samples for this model as a percentage of all 53,368,242 HDDs tested

 Prices

If you buy via one of these links, our site may earn a commission

AmazonUS $495 days
Send price feedback
Custom PC Builder (Start a new build) Build your perfect PC: compare component prices, popularity, speed and value for money

CHOOSE A COMPONENT:

CPU GPU SSD HDD RAM MBD
Typical Black 500GB (2012) Builds (Compare 24,312 builds) See popular component choices, score breakdowns and rankings
Gaming
Gaming 2%
Tree trunk
Desktop
Desktop 61%
Destroyer
Workstation
Workstation 2%
Tree trunk

Disqualified System: bin bin

CPU
Core i7-3770Intel  $297Bench 69%, 278,207 samples2,027x
Core i7-2600Intel  $187Bench 67%, 185,630 samples1,573x
Core i5-3470Intel  $59Bench 63%, 223,595 samples936x
GPU
HD 2000 (Desktop 1.1 GHz)IntelBench 1%, 150,891 samples1,322x
SVGA 3DVmwareBench 20%, 11,474 samples1,143x
GTX 1050-TiNvidia  $59Bench 29%, 946,701 samples1,045x
SSD
A400 240GBKingston  $28Bench 66%, 424,288 samples824x
Virtual NVMe Disk 64GBVmwareBench 62%, 2,103 samples457x
A400 480GBKingston  $38Bench 74%, 237,487 samples425x
RAM
2x2GBUnknownBench 20%, 446,702 samples517x
4x2GBUnknownBench 25%, 183,252 samples376x
1x8GBUnknownBench 38%, 168,538 samples297x
EDIT WITH CUSTOM PC BUILDER Value: 64% - Good Total price: $325

Popular Black 500GB (2012) systems:

How Fast Is Your HDD? (Bench your build) Size up your PC in less than a minute

Welcome to our PC speed test tool. UserBenchmark will test your PC and compare the results to other users with the same components. You can quickly size up your PC, identify hardware problems and explore the best value for money upgrades.

UserBenchmark of the month

Gaming Desktop ProGaming

How it works

  • - Download and run UserBenchmark
  • - CPU tests include: integer, floating and string
  • - GPU tests include: six 3D game simulations
  • - Drive tests include: read, write, sustained write and mixed IO
  • - RAM tests include: single/multi core bandwidth and latency
  • - SkillBench (space shooter) tests user input accuracy
  • - Reports are generated and presented on userbenchmark.com
  • - Identify the strongest components in your PC
  • - See speed test results from other users
  • - Compare your components to the current market leaders
  • - Explore your best upgrade options with a virtual PC build
  • - Compare your in-game FPS to other users with your hardware
Hard Drive Rankings (Price vs Performance) May 2024 HDD Rankings

We calculate effective speed which measures performance for typical consumers. Effective speed is adjusted by current cost per GB to yield value for money. Our calculated values are checked against thousands of individual user ratings. The customizable table below combines these factors to bring you the definitive list of top HDDs. [HDrivePro]

ADVERTISEMENT

Group Test Results

  • Best user rated - User sentiment trumps benchmarks for this comparison.
  • Best value for money - Value for money is based on real world performance.
  • Fastest real world speed - Real World Speed measures performance for typical consumers.

 Comments

Added n/a ago.
USA-User
Avatar level
9,842

Liked (edit your comment) Add link

22 months ago.

Your
opinion?
▲Like ▼Dislike
Ready to retire
Age: 10 years

Speed Comparisons

vs Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016)
vs WD Blue 1TB (2012)
vs Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016)
vs Seagate Barracuda 3TB (2016)
vs Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 1TB
vs WD Black 1TB (2013)
vs Seagate Barracuda 4TB (2016)
vs WD Black 2TB (2013)
vs WD Black 6TB (2015)

1015 Drives (Compared) Thousands of user benchmarks compiled into one comparison list

See how consistently different HDDs perform with varying real world conditions. The charts also illustrate overall performance, popularity and rank.

 Frequently Asked Questions

Storage Devices FAQ
What is sustained sequential write speed?
What’s the difference between SLC, MLC and TLC?
What is 3D XPoint and how fast is it?
What’s the difference between SATA, PCIe and NVMe?
What’s the difference between NAND and V-NAND?
What is sequential write speed?
What is sequential read speed?
What is incompressible data?
What is queue depth?
What is 4K random write speed?
What is 4K random read speed?
What is AS SSD real world copy speed?
How big is 16GB?
What does MBps mean?
Hard Drives
What is the Hard Drive value for money rating?
What is effective Hard Drive speed?
ALL FAQs »

 Best User Rated
The Best.
CPUGPUSSD
Intel Core i5-13600K $260Nvidia RTX 4060 $300Crucial MX500 250GB $39
Intel Core i5-12400F $133Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $80
Intel Core i5-12600K $175Nvidia RTX 4070 $539Samsung 860 Evo 250GB $52
HDDRAMUSB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $39Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $45SanDisk Extreme 64GB $72
WD Blue 1TB (2012) $32Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $48SanDisk Extreme 32GB $28
Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016) $51G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $351SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $16
If you make a purchase via one of these links, our site may earn a commission
Today's hottest
Amazon Ebay
deals
CPU GPU SSD HDD USB RAM MBD
Build Test EFps
Can You Run It?
►
YouTube
*NEW*
About  •  User Guide  •  FAQs  •  Email  •  Privacy  •  Developer  •  YouTube Feedback