Western Digital Preps SN850X and Additional PCIe 4.0 Solid State Drives

Western Digital is preparing to refresh its client SSD lineup with a number of new devices, several of which will feature new controllers. The new SSDs are intended to beat the company's existing PCIe 4.0 x4 SSDs, which are currently in use.

PCI-SIG certification was recently granted to Western Digital for a number of previously unreported hard drives. PCI-SIG is in charge of assuring that new hardware is compliant with PCIe specifications and that it can communicate with PCIe platforms. Western Digital SSDs have been added to the PCI-Integrators SIG's List, which means they have passed compatibility tests and are compatible with existing PCIe 4.0 equipment.

Western Digital's upcoming solid-state drive (SSD) range is fairly extensive. Additionally, it includes the new WD Black SN850X drive, which is likely to be built on an entirely new (or redesigned) controller as well as faster and greater capacity 3D NAND memory, as well as the new SN820 SSD for OEMs, which uses the same controller but is aimed specifically at OEMs. WD is also planning to release the WD Black SN770, but we're not sure what the company's positioning strategy will be in this case. However, we have no idea what to expect from the WD Black SN850X, as the standard WD Black SN850 is touted for sequential read and write rates of up to 7000 MB/s and sequential IOPS of up to 1,000,000. We predict that the X version will be substantially faster than the current generation, and that it will surely join the ranks of the best SSDs now available.

Also being developed by Western Digital are two M.2-2230 and M.2-2242 compact form-factor drives — the SN560 and the SN740 — that will be primarily targeted at PC builders. For those who prefer to build it themselves, the same drives will be available in the M.2-2280 form factor.