The WD Black AN1500 SSD is targeted at a very specific audience. It is designed for users who require PCIe 4.0 level performance but are using motherboards with PCIe 3.0 architecture. This is essentially everyone who continues to use Intel and AMD Zen/Zen+ processors. In fact, the only people who can really ignore this drive are those using Zen 2 systems (and AMD Zen 3 chips, which will see the light of day in early November).

When we say PCIe 4.0-level performance, we mean it. With sequential reads and writes of 6,500 MB/s and 4,100 MB/s, it's not far behind the current performance champion, the Samsung 980 Pro, and ahead of many other PCIe 4.0 drives. Of course, sequential peaks are not the whole story, but we will discuss other aspects of performance later. The important thing to note at this stage is that this is very fast storage.

Which raises the question of how Western Digital was able to extract so much performance from the previous generation architecture. As is often the case with our beloved platforms, the answer lies in doubling down on hardware. Essentially, inside this attractive enclosure are two PCIe 3.0 SSDs connected to an enterprise-level RAID controller.

Specifically, two Western Digital SN730s are connected to the M.2 slots and accessed as a striped RAID (aka RAID 0) array. Data is split evenly between the drives, resulting in tremendous throughput. If either drive fails, all data is lost, but this is the price of phenomenal performance.

In fact, the inner workings of the WD Black AN1500 are hidden, and as far as the system is concerned it is just a 2TB drive that delivers some impressive performance numbers. However, it requires a spare PCIe 3.0 x8 slot to plug in the add-in card, and cannot be used on motherboards with only one x16 PCIe port. [WD's site has a list of compatible motherboards. However, this is an incredibly short list and by no means an exhaustive list, as it does not include the motherboards I have benchmarked. Realistically, however, you should have no problem setting this drive as your main boot drive. It is worth checking this as well.

Before we get into the important performance numbers, it is worth talking about the aesthetics of the drive. Obviously, this is not an important point for everyone, but if you like to show off your components and spend hours peering through the side windows of your case, this will be an attractive addition to many builds.

With a total of 13 lighting effects to choose from, the lighting is nicely diffused through the matte white plastic on the edges of the drive. The shell of the shipping container is also easy on the eye.

These lighting effects are configured using Western Digital's Dashboard app, which also covers information about the drive's status, performance, and firmware updates. Everything you need is clearly displayed, but somewhat annoyingly, Western Digital thought this would be a good place to advertise their external hard drives as well. It also comes with Acronis True image 2020 WD Edition, making migration to the drive a breeze.

Western Digital does not provide a TBW (total bytes written) figure for the AN1500, but it still supports a five-year warranty; the SN730s data sheet gives the 1TB version an endurance of 400TBW. Assuming these data are transferred, that would be 168 GB per day for each drive and roughly 336 GB per day for the entire unit (assuming the data is truly 100% evenly distributed), more than enough for normal use during the 5-year warranty period.

There is much to like about the drive's throughput. Western Digital is not exaggerating when it comes to sequential reads and writes, and in a series of benchmarks, it comes close to the Samsung 980 Pro in ATTO and AS SSDs (showing compressible and uncompressible performance). in PCIe 3.0 metrics. Not only is it fast, it is also fast in PCIe 4.0, beating the 1st generation drives by a noticeable margin.

Unfortunately, other benchmark numbers reveal that it is not as cutting edge as you might expect: a 30GB folder transfer takes 2 minutes and 26 seconds, while the Sabrent Rocket PCIe 4.0, for example, shaves 10 seconds off this time.

The AN1500 was also off the pace of the best drives in PCMark's Quick and Full storage tests. Given that this drive is geared toward gamers, the Final Fantasy XI: Shadowbringers benchmark showed a total load time of 9.882 seconds, hardly different from other PCIe 4.0 drives.

The drive can get a bit warm during operation, reaching 65°C under load. None of this is a problem for performance PCs with adequate airflow, but note that it can increase overall system heat generation.

As you have probably already noticed about the WD Black AN1500, it is an expensive drive. This in itself is not the end of the world, but PCIe 4.0 SSDs are currently in a bit of a price war, and there is the small matter of being able to get a drive that is substantially as fast as this one in real world testing, but significantly less expensive. 2TB SSDs like the Sabrent Rocket Gen4 2TB drive, you can generally get one for under $400.

Clearly, one of the main selling points of this drive is that it offers next-generation performance to those using PCIe 3.0 platforms that they cannot get on their own. Whether it is worth the $150 is a question only you can answer, but the performance almost meets expectations. Also, upgrading to a system that natively supports PCIe 4.0 would probably cost significantly more than the premium charged here.

Overall, Western Digital was able to accomplish what it set out to do: a PCIe 3.0 drive that delivers PCIe 4.0-level performance; a PCIe 3.0 drive that delivers PCIe 4.0-level performance; and a PCIe 3.0 drive that delivers PCIe 4.0-level performance. Sure, it's a little more expensive than we're comfortable with, but it's an attractive solution, fast, reliable, and a solution to today's storage woes. Since it is an add-in drive, it is also convenient for upgrades and has a long lifespan since it does not occupy valuable M.2 slots. It's a little too niche to challenge the best SSDs for gaming, but if you need a big chunk of fast storage right now, this product has a lot going for it.