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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
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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%
426GB free
Firmware: 80.00A80
SusWrite @10s intervals: 182 180 181 180 182 181 MB/s
105% Outstanding
Read 185
Write 182
Mixed 101
SusWrite 181
119% 162 MB/s
4K Read 1.4
4K Write 3.4
4K Mixed 1
232% 1.93 MB/s
267GB free
Firmware: 01.01A01
SusWrite @10s intervals: 171 171 171 171 171 169 MB/s
97.2% Outstanding
Read 168
Write 167
Mixed 87.7
SusWrite 171
109% 148 MB/s
4K Read 1.4
4K Write 2.8
4K Mixed 1.2
244% 1.8 MB/s
382GB free (System drive)
Firmware: 01.01A01
SusWrite @10s intervals: 128 141 138 150 154 154 MB/s
89.6% Excellent
Read 168
Write 168
Mixed 118
SusWrite 144
110% 149 MB/s
4K Read 1.1
4K Write 2.8
4K Mixed 1.2
231% 1.7 MB/s
465GB free
Firmware: 80.00A80
SusWrite @10s intervals: 152 152 152 151 152 151 MB/s
87.6% Excellent
Read 153
Write 144
Mixed 89.7
SusWrite 152
99% 135 MB/s
4K Read 1.1
4K Write 3.3
4K Mixed 0.9
207% 1.77 MB/s
360GB free
Firmware: 80.00A80
SusWrite @10s intervals: 138 138 139 136 138 138 MB/s
78.1% Very good
Read 134
Write 118
Mixed 80.4
SusWrite 138
86% 118 MB/s
4K Read 0.9
4K Write 2.8
4K Mixed 1
200% 1.57 MB/s
99GB free (System drive)
Firmware: 80.00A80
SusWrite @10s intervals: 86 85 96 98 109 112 MB/s
76.2% Very good
Read 168
Write 161
Mixed 76.4
SusWrite 97.6
92% 126 MB/s
4K Read 1.4
4K Write 2.5
4K Mixed 1
216% 1.63 MB/s
75GB free (System drive)
Firmware: 80.00A80
SusWrite @10s intervals: 101 96 100 106 103 104 MB/s
63.4% Good
Read 119
Write 118
Mixed 79
SusWrite 102
77% 104 MB/s
4K Read 1.2
4K Write 2.8
4K Mixed 1.1
224% 1.7 MB/s
124GB free (System drive)
Firmware: 80.00A80
SusWrite @10s intervals: 90 88 107 109 94 74 MB/s
58.5% Above average
Read 110
Write 107
Mixed 52.2
SusWrite 93.5
66% 90.7 MB/s
4K Read 0.8
4K Write 2.4
4K Mixed 0.8
167% 1.33 MB/s
20,548 MORE »

 Market Share (See Leaders)

The number of benchmark samples for this model as a percentage of all 53,312,603 HDDs tested

 Prices

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AmazonUS $4710 days
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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 24,226 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 samples2,021x
Core i7-2600Intel  $196Bench 67%, 185,630 samples1,564x
Core i5-3470Intel  $59Bench 63%, 223,595 samples932x
GPU
HD 2000 (Desktop 1.1 GHz)IntelBench 1%, 150,891 samples1,322x
SVGA 3DVmwareBench 20%, 11,474 samples1,139x
GTX 1050-TiNvidia  $59Bench 29%, 946,701 samples1,040x
SSD
A400 240GBKingston  $28Bench 66%, 424,288 samples820x
Virtual NVMe Disk 64GBVmwareBench 62%, 2,103 samples455x
A400 480GBKingston  $38Bench 74%, 237,487 samples424x
RAM
2x2GBUnknownBench 20%, 446,702 samples516x
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:

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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.

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 Best User Rated
The Best.
CPUGPUSSD
Intel Core i5-13600K $279Nvidia RTX 4060 $300Crucial MX500 250GB $40
Intel Core i5-12600K $182Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $80
Intel Core i5-12400F $133Nvidia RTX 4070 $409Samsung 860 Evo 250GB $52
HDDRAMUSB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $39Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $40SanDisk Extreme 64GB $72
WD Blue 1TB (2012) $30Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $43SanDisk Extreme 32GB $28
Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016) $51G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $351SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $16
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