Western Digital Redefines Next-Gen Gaming Experience with Expanded WD_Black Portfolio

Western Digital Redefines Next-Gen Gaming Experience with Expanded WD_Black Portfolio

Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ: WDC) is helping gamers enhance their setups and adapt to the evolving gaming landscape heralded by the next generation of games with its three new and upcoming products for its WD_BLACK portfolio of storage solutions.

These include: its first NVMe solid-state drive (SSD) with next-gen PCIe Gen4 technology, a fully bootable Gen 3×8 add-in-card and a Thunderbolt 3-powered NVMe SSD gaming dock, each offering eye-catching RGB lighting options.

The Senior Vice President, Consumer Solutions, Western Digital, Jim Welsh, said “As game developers move towards creating immersive titles that require higher performance, consumers need to equip themselves with the best tools to stay up-to-speed.”

He argued that innovative, high-performance storage solutions are essential to keep up with this ever-changing landscape.

“Our latest WD_BLACK products have been purpose-built to allow gamers to meet the increasingly high standards of future games and gaming platforms. We have optimised these products to not only provide more storage for gamers but to elevate the gaming experience as a whole.

The latest and upcoming WD_BLACK gaming portfolio includes: WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD. It is designed to feature the unprecedented performance of PCIe Gen4 technology, a future-ready product that will deliver fast read and write speeds up to 7000/5300MB/s (1TB model).

In the words of Welsh, it is built with the WD_BLACK G2 controller and optimised 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 the senior VP.

In addition to high performance, the senior VP emphasised that the WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD also delivers improved low queue-depth performance over its predecessor, allowing both gaming and everyday users to experience smoother loading of applications.

And, for the ultimate in aesthetics and customisation, there will be an optional RGB-enabled heatsink model that cuts down on thermal throttling. The WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD non-heatsink version will be available in 500GB, 1TB and 2TB capacities starting at $129.99 (MSRP USD).

For WD_BLACK AN1500 NVMe SSD Add-in-Card, Welsh said this fully bootable plug and play add-in card is one of the fastest PCIe Gen3 x8 solutions on the market gamers looking to achieve next-gen performance in a current-gen setup.

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.

He continued: “Customizable RGB lighting (Windows only) complements your current rig while an integrated heatsink combats thermal throttling to help maintain peak performance.

The WD_BLACK AN1500 NVMe SSD Add-in-Card is available in 1TB, 2TB and 4TB capacities starting at $299.99 (MSRP USD).

According to Welsh, WD_BLACK D50 Game Dock NVMe SSD is a high-performance gaming dock SSD, with heatsink design, transforms a thunderbolt 3-compatible laptop into an integrated and immersive gaming station.

He outlined that an optimal solution for gamers looking to streamline their setup, the dock offers superfast speeds with NVMe technology, more capacity for games, and multiple ports for accessories – all powered by a single Thunderbolt three cord.

While the WD_BLACK D50 Game Dock NVMe SSD is complete with customisable RGB lighting controlled through the WD_BLACK Dashboard (Windows only), it is available in a 1TB capacity2 starting at $499.99 (MSRP USD).

A non-SSD option, the WD_BLACK D50 Game Dock, is also available for purchase for $319.99 (MSRP USD).

The WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD standard non-heatsink model is expected to be available for purchase before the end of October this year.

Described as an heat-sink model, the firm says it expected to be available for purchase in the first calendar quarter of next year.

The WD_BLACK AN1500 NVMe SSD Add-in-Card is now available for purchase at select Western Digital retailers, e-tailers, resellers, system integrators and the Western Digital store.

Welsh announced: “The WD_BLACK D50 Game Dock and WD_BLACK D50 Game Dock NVMe SSD is now available for pre-order at select Western Digital retailers, e-tailers, resellers, system integrators and the Western Digital store

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