At its Digital What’s Next event, Western Digital showcased some new technology that is sure to grab some attention. The two new gaming drives are joined by some great purpose-built spinning platters and SSDs that are really pushing the limits of what’s possible in terms of both speed and storage capacity. Whether it’s their new consumer 22TB and 26 TB SMR drives (that’s shingle magnetic recording – high-density HDDs), their PCIe Gen 4 Enterprise SN650 NVMe, or their two WD_Black gaming drives, there’s a lot on the horizon for this year . Since this is probably most relevant to your interest, let’s get into two gaming drives – the WD_Black SN850X, and the WD_Black P40 Game Drive SSD.
The SN850X is their newest, and fastest, SSD on offer. PCIe Gen4, the drive sports a staggering 7,300 MB/s read speed. It does this with what the team is calling “predictive loading” and a new spin on thermal management with an RGB twist on their 1TB and 2TB models (a 4TB model is also coming, but it looks like it’s built for capacity). Not for the color explosion) ) You won’t even have to wait long for this, the WD_Black SN850X is coming in July this year, starting at $189 for the 1TB model.
The second gaming-focused drive is an update on the P-series portable drives. Dubbed the P40, this portable SSD is coming our way with 2,000 MB/s read speeds, customizable RGB, and a reasonably priced $119.99 for the 500GB model, as well as shipping 1TB and 2TB capacities. No word on a ship date for those who are well beyond “summer” yet, so it’s probably a short wait as well.
WD_Black continues to excel in the gaming space, offering more than just speed and capability, and this update on the 850 line should raise eyebrows for anyone building a new Gen4 system. Pricing Looks like it hits a bullseye for the price to performance ratio as well. We want to get our hands on these drives in the near future, so stay tuned for all those delicious benchmarks.
