Western Digital WD_Black AN1500 in the test: successful PCIe4 alternative
Source: Hardware Luxx added 30th Oct 2020
Page 1: Western Digital WD_Black AN 1500 in the test: successful PCIe4 alternative
As Specialist in mass storage, Western Digital comes with the WD_Black SN 850 already comparatively late for the PCIe4 party. But in addition to the announcement of the SN 730 WD surprised especially with the announcement of the WD_Black AN 1500, an SSC add-in card that wants to provide the greatest possible memory bandwidth to users beyond modern AM4 mainboards by means of RAID and eight PCIe3 lanes. In our review, we clarify how well this works and whether there is actually a PCIe4 alternative.
With the WD_Black AN 1500 Western Digital is fundamentally not breaking new ground. A few months ago we were able to see an example of the calculation “8×3 instead of 4×4” with the Aorus RAID SSD from Gigabyte, when a total of four SSDs with two PCIe3 lanes each are added to the bandwidth of modern PCIe4 SSDs using RAID-0. The result was convincing in some benchmarks with transfer rates that were previously unattainable, even if we were unable to certify that it is not very suitable for everyday use in the overall result. The AN 1500 is the basic idea is the same, but the implementation is different: only two WD_Black SN 730 (each with four lanes connection) promise transfer rates up to 6. 100 MB / s (reading).
In addition, of course, all models (capacities include 1, 2 and 4 TB) should not be missing a corresponding LED feature suitable for the target group of enthusiasts and gamers . This lighting completely surrounds the aluminum housing, which otherwise knows how to please in stylish black.
| Model | Western Digital WD_Black AN 1500 (2 TB) |
| RAID controller | Marvell 87NO2241 |
| Controller (SSD) |
SanDisk 20 – 82 – 00705 – A2 |
| Cache | DRAM (Micron OHE 75) |
| NAND | SanDisk 60082 512 G (BiCS4) |
| Available capacity (total) |
1 TB 2 TB 4 TB |
| sequential read / write rate | Reading: 6. 500 MB / s Writing: 4. 100 MB / s |
| Aluminum casing |
|
| Total Bytes Written (TBW) | No manufacturer information (Info: Die WD SN 730 1 TB is with 400 TBW specified) |
| MTBF | 1,75 million hours |
| Warranty | Five years |
| Price |
Approximately 485 Euro (2 TB) |
Unfortunately, as we have seen several times recently, the manufacturer’s information from Western Digital is rather incomplete. Although the information on TBW and MTBF is mentioned in the small print as a guarantee restriction, we can only determine the specific information via the detour of the SSDs used. The key data of WD_Black AN are 1500 impressive in any case. In addition to the extreme transfer rates, it is noticeable, for example, that all models are specified the same, i.e. even the smallest model with a capacity of 1 TB with 4. MB / s write rate may shine. In addition to the in-house controller from SanDisk (as is well known, in the meantime taken over by Western Digital), our own NAND memory is used, which we as BiCS4 have already welcomed several times in the test system – mostly with a positive result. Lush DRAM equipment should not be missing from a mass storage device of this class anyway.
< > Western Digital WD_Black AN 1500 in the test: successful PCIe4 alternative
The WD_Black AN 1500 in detail (1)