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Blistering-fast Western Digital SSDs hit up to 7,300MB/s

Monica J. White
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Western Digital announced a bunch of new products, and among them, there is a new version of the WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD. It arrives updated with faster speeds, lower latency, predictive loading, and some new cooling tech.

Upon release, the new SSD may swiftly climb the ranks of the best gaming SSDs of the year.

Western Digital Black SN850X NVMe SSD.

The announcement comes from Western Digital’s own event, which is called What’s Next Western Digital. The company showcased a number of new releases for this year, including some truly impressive hard drives and eSSDs aimed at enterprise users, but for most of us, the most exciting reveal lies in the new consumer-level NVMe SSDs.

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The star of the lineup appears to be a new NVMe SSD dubbed the WD_Black SN850X which appears to be a direct follow-up to the already successful WD_Black SN850. The company also unveiled the drive in a quick YouTube video, and what we are seeing here is definitely an SSD made for gaming enthusiasts who want fast speeds and lightning-quick loading screens.

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The WD_Black SN850X is a PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive that delivers a direct upgrade over its predecessor, reaching read speeds of up to 7,300MB/s. Western Digital also promises some less measurable improvements that will contribute to the performance of the SSD.

One such improvement is the adaptive thermal management of the new drive. Beefy SSDs such as this one can run a little hot, so it is good that Western Digital considered this in designing the drive. You’ll be able to pick up the new SSD with or without a heatsink depending on your needs — in a smaller, cramped case, it could certainly be useful.

Western Digital WD_Black SN850X NVMe SSD.

WD_Black SN850X also boasts lower latency and predictive loading. Both of these features rely on learning what you’re currently doing in order to predict what you will do next. This allows them to minimize loading times and cut back on those pesky loading screens even more. If this works as advertised, it could prove to be fantastic for gamers.

Aside from raw upgrades, the SSD comes with Western Digital’s Game Mode 2.0 software that helps you make the most of it, and you can get it in three different sizes: 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB.

As mentioned above, Western Digital also unveiled a host of new products. Among them, you’ll find one more consumer-level SSD, the WD_Black SN740, which seems to be quite similar to the WD_Black SN770. There are also some massive drives that no regular computer user would ever want to (or be able to) own, such as a 22TB conventional magnetic recording (CMR) drive and a 26TB UltraSMR. These products were made for cloud computing, servers, and for other similar uses.

If you’re eager to get your hands on the new Western Digital SSD, hold your horses — the release date has been set for July this year. The new drive will start out with a $190 price tag for the cheapest version, and the pricing will definitely scale up if you choose the bigger models.

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Monica J. White
Monica J. White
Computing Writer
Monica is a UK-based freelance writer and self-proclaimed geek. A firm believer in the "PC building is just like expensive…
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