Western Digital announces WD Black SN850X NVMe SSD and more gamer-centric storage devices

WD Black SN850X and P40 Game Drive — (Image credit: Western Digital)

Western Digital formally announced new storage drives at the What's Next event, including the WD Black SN850X NVMe SSD and WD Black P40 Game Drive.

The WD Black SN850X Gen 4.0 NVMe SSD is an iteration of the company's flagship storage drive, which is one of the best SSDs for gaming you can get. This new version features sequential read speeds of up to 7,300 MB/s, making it 300 MB/s faster than the standard model. At the time of writing, pricing has only been revealed for the 1TB model, which is slated to retail for $189.99. The WD Black SN850X will also be available in 2TB and 4TB capacities, featuring a heatsink model for PS5 compatibility, too. The drive will be available from major retailers starting in July 2022.

The WD Black SN850X is the first of the company's premiere 4X4 drives to feature what Western Digital has called 'predictive loading' utilizing the onboard DRAM cache for faster in-game loading times. What's more, and likely to appeal to those intending to use the drive as a PS5 SSD, the reported adaptive thermal management is claimed to avoid thermal throttling. This potentially means faster sequential performance when slotted into the console's M.2 drive.

On the external hard drives front, the WD Black P40 Game Drive boasts some substantial improvements over previous models. Utilizing a USB 3.2 interface for sequential speeds of up to 2,000 MB/s, the P40 Game Drive is significantly faster than prior models. Capacities are available in 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB with US pricing starting at $119.99.

Also of note was the announcement of the Western Digital SN740 Gen 4.0 NVMe SSD, which has claimed sequential speeds of up to 5,150 MB/s. While decidedly mid-range in the field of 4x4 drives, the WD SN740 stands out for its capacity range, between 256GB and 4TB. This drive is reportedly 50% faster than the SN730, so ideal for anyone looking for current-gen rates at more aggressive price points.

You can find more from Western Digital in our best Xbox Series X external hard drive and best PS5 external hard drive buying guides. We're hoping to see discounts on its product line in the Prime Day PC deals in July, too.

Aleksha McLoughlin served as the Hardware Editor for GamesRadar from June 2021 until August 2022. Her main area of expertise was the PC gaming platform, which comprised buying guides, features, reviews, and news coverage on components and prebuilt machines. She was also responsible for gaming chairs and storage. She now works on a freelance basis while studying to become a university lecturer specializing in English for foreign territories. Prior to joining GamesRadar, she wrote for the likes of Expert Reviews, The Rory Peck Trust, No Clean Singing, Vinyl Chapters, and Tech Spark while also working with the BBC.