Western Digital unveils a trio of new WD_BLACK NVMe SSD gaming products

Western Digital makes damn good storage products, and its WD_BLACK line is probably its most intriguing. While primarily designed for gamers, WD_BLACK is also a great choice for enthusiasts that crave high performance and elegant designs.

Today, Western Digital unveils a trio of new WD_BLACK gaming NVMe SSD products, and all three look incredible. There is the SN850 which is a PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD, the AN1500 PCIe Gen 3 NVMe SSD Add-in card, and the drop-dead gorgeous D50 Game Dock NVMe SSD -- a Thunderbolt 3 docking station with integrated NVMe SSD.

"Designed to feature the unprecedented performance of PCIe Gen4 technology, this future-ready product will deliver fast read/write speeds up to 7000/5300MB/s (1TB model). Built with the WD_BLACK G2 controller and optimized for top-tier and high-intensive gaming (not intended for NAS or server environments), the WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD will help gamers achieve supreme PC performance. It reduces game load times and transfers files faster than its predecessor while using brand new cache technology," says Western Digital.

Speaking of the AN1500 NVMe SSD Add-in card, the company explains, "Powered by two internal SSDs in RAID 0 and PCIe Gen3 x8 technology, gamers can experience read speeds up to 6500 MB/s and write speeds up to 4100MB/s (2TB and 4TB models), giving them lightning fast gameplay so they can spend less time waiting and more time playing. Customizable RGB lighting (Windows only) complements your current rig while an integrated heatsink combats thermal throttling to help maintain peak performance."

While the two SSDs are certainly impressive, it is the the WD_BLACK D50 Game Dock NVMe SSD that has me truly excited. It is essentially a Thunderbolt 3 docking station with integrated NVMe SSD. It has customizable RGB lighting and a beautiful industrial design that gamers should love. For connectivity, it provides 2x Thunderbolt 3 (one for the host), 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 2x USB-C 10Gb/s, 3x USB-A 10Gb/s, 1x Audio In/Out, and 1x Gigabit Ethernet.

The WD_BLACK D50 Game Dock NVMe SSD can be pre-ordered here. The 1TB variant is $499.99, while the 2TB model is $679.99. The WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD can be bought here (with or without a heatsink) in 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB versions, with pricing starting at $149.99. The WD_BLACK AN1500 NVMe SSD Add-in card is available here in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB sizes, with a starting price of $299.99.