Western Digital launches WD_BLACK gaming series NVMe SSDs in India

Western Digital has launched its Black series of gaming SSDs in India. These include the WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD,WD_BLACK AN1500 NVMe SSD Add-in-Card, WD_BLACK P10, P10 for Xbox and P50.

WD's new SSDs is aimed at the growing population of gamers in India, which received a further boost over the past six to eight months of lockdown necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The company also announced that it will be introducing Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War-themed SSDs in January.

WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD,WD_BLACK AN1500 NVMe SSD Add-in-Card, WD_BLACK P10, P10 for Xbox and P50 are now available for purchase on leading IT retailers and eCommerce platforms in India.

WD_BLACK series: Specs and features

The WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD comes with PCIe Gen4 technology, and delivers read/write speeds up to 7000/5300MB/s2 (1TB model). It is built with the WD_BLACK G2 controller and optimized for gaming (not intended for NAS or server environments). It apparently reduces game load times and transfers files faster than its predecessor while using a new cache technology.

In addition to high performance, the WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD also promises to deliver improved low queue-depth performance over its predecessor, allowing both gaming and everyday users to experience smoother loading of applications. And, for aesthetics and customization, it has an optional RGB-enabled (Windows only) heatsink model that cuts down on thermal throttling. The WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD non-heatsink version is available in 500GB3, 1TB3, and 2TB3 capacities starting at Rs 14,490.

The WD_BLACK AN1500 NVMe SSD Add-in-Card is a fully bootable plug and play PCIe Gen3 x8 add-in card. It is powered by two internal SSDs in RAID 0 and PCIe Gen3 x8 technology, users get read speeds up to 6500 MB/s2 and write speeds up to 4100MB/s2 (2TB3 and 4TB3 models). It also comes with customizable RGB lighting (Windows only) and an integrated heatsink. The WD_BLACK AN1500 NVMe SSD Add-in-Card is available in 1TB3, 2TB3, and 4TB3 capacities starting at Rs 30,990.

The portable gaming drives include the WD_BLACK P10 Game Drive, P10 Game Drive for Xbox and P50 Game Drive SSD. The WD_Black P50 Game Drive SSD offers read speeds of up to 2000MB/s2 and up to 2TB3 of storage. It features a SuperSpeed USB (20Gb/s) interface to be fully compatible with new gaming components released with the same connectivity.

The WD_BLACK P10 Game Drive is compatible with console and PC. Its an external HDD in capacities up to 5TB3 in an on-the-go form factor. The WD_BLACK P10 Game Drive for Xbox is built specifically for Xbox and comes in capacities up to 5TB to save up to 125 games.