Benchmarks III
Yet normal tests don't precisely answer the question of why the Heatsink Edition ought to be a better bet, other than the obvious good looks.
In a couple of final tests, we run both WD 1TB drives. The evaluation revolves around writing a 386GB, 88K-file folder back onto itself, thus hammering most facets of the drive's performance credentials.
The HE model is a bit quicker but that doesn't tell the whole story. Over the course of the six-minute test, the heatsink-clad version peaks a considerable 19°C lower in our test system that's optimised for quiet airflow.
Such temperatures have keener ramifications in small-form-factor systems that, by their nature, have restricted airflow. The counterargument is that most enthusiast motherboards have specific M.2 cooling these days, which is true enough, though those opting for a high-performance M.2 drive on older chipsets may well do without them.
It's also worth understanding that the bare drive doesn't throttle on benchmarks of a relatively short duration, and such is the speed of the SN750 that no operation, given its 1TB capacity, is likely to take more than 15 minutes, yet in the interests of longevity we'd recommend having some form of M.2 cooling in place.