Western Digital announced the WD Black PCIe SSDs, a consumer grade product at a more friendly price. The M.2 2280 PCIe drives use the NVMe interface and will be available in either 256GB or 512GB.

These drives have a specified maximum sequential read speed of up to 2050 MB/s. The maximum write speed of the 512GB drive is 800 MB/s and that of the 256GB drive is 700 MB/s. Random reads are specified at 170,000 IOPS for both drives. The 256GB performs random reads at a maximum of 130,000 IOPS and the 512GB model at 134,000 IOPS.

The SSDs are backed with a proper 5 year warranty and 80 TBW for the 256GB drive and 160 TBW for the 512GB drive. WD Black PCIe SSDs feature thermal and power management algorithms that are, according to Western Digital, beyond the NVMe specification. This should make sure the drives have consistent performance as well as low power consumption.