WD Black AN1500 2TB AIC SSD Review

Rating: 8.0.

The latest addition to WD's Black performance/gaming range is the AN1500, an AIC (add-in card) drive using two NVMe SSD drives built into a RAID 0 array together with a PCIe Gen 3.0 x8 interface and customisable RGB lighting.

WD's Black AN1500 comes in three capacities; 1TB, 2TB (the drive we are reviewing here) and the flagship 4TB model. Internally the AN1500 uses a pair of WD PC SN730 NVMe SSDs built-in a RAID 0 array, the hardware array is controlled by a Marvell 88NR2241 IC.

Officially all three drives have same the same Sequential read/write figures of up to 6,500MB/s and 4,100MB/s respectively. Random 4K performance is stated as up to 760,000 IOPs for reads and up to 690,000 IOPS writes for the 1TB drive, the 2TB and 4TB drive have an up to 780,000 IOPS rating for reads with writes at up to 700,000 IOPS for the 2TB model and up to 710,000 IOPS for the 4TB drive.

Power consumption is stated as up to 15.7W active for reads and up to 12.8W for writes with an 8.5W figure when the drive is idle.

There are no endurance figures for the AN1500 on the spec sheet but the 1TB model of the SN730 drive that is inside it has a rating of 400TBW. WD back the AN1500 with a 5-year warranty.

Physical Specifications:
Usable Capacities: 2TB.
NAND Components: SanDisk 96-Layer 3D TLC.
NAND Controller: 2 x WD in-house.
RAID Controller: Marvell 88NR2241-BWW2.
Interface: PCIe Gen3.0 x8.
Form Factor: HHHL (Half-Height, Half Length) AIC (Add-in-card).
Dimensions: 13 x 72 x 176mm.
Drive Weight: 210g.

Firmware Version: 10271043.

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