With the increase in the areas of electronic game worlds, the sizes of their stages and the high accuracy of their graphics, it has become necessary to use high-speed storage units, which can transfer information to the central processor or graphics unit at huge speeds, so that the fast pace of gameplay does not stop.
Among the latest of these units are the “Western Digital Black SN 850X” WD_Black SN850X and “WD Black B40”. Asharq Al-Awsat tested the two units, and we mention a summary of the experience.
Ultra-fast transfer speeds
The Western Digital Black SN 850X is a M2 2280 NVMe SSD that uses PCIe 4.0 technology on laptops or desktops to transfer data at high speeds over 4 PCIe channels (motherboard must be used). and a processor that supports this technology).
The unit can read data at speeds of up to 7300 MB per second (7.3 GB per second) and write data at speeds of 6600 MB per second (6.6 GB per second), making it the ideal choice for gamers. And due to the high transmission speed it supports, heat will result from its prolonged use, which made the developer add a high-performance Heatsink heat sink unit.
The unit uses high-performance 2GB DDR4 memory to quickly locate files and prepare files for transfer to the main memory or the GPU at breakneck speeds. It can write and read data on it up to 1200 terabytes (about one million and 200 thousand gigabytes) during its life, and it can store data through 112 embedded layers. The data is stored on one side of the unit, with the aim of reducing its thickness in different devices, and allowing the heat sink to be easily added. This unit supports Microsoft Direct Storage technology, which transfers data at high speeds directly from the storage unit to the graphics processing unit, without the need to pass through the main processor or main memory, which would greatly increase performance levels.
Among the technologies offered by this unit on the personal computer is “Game Mode 2.0”, which is a special program that allows the unit to identify the places where games are stored and raise their performance through 3 functions; They are: prediction of coils, management of temperature levels and pressure distribution. The file prediction function allows the game to know and prepare the files that will be requested by the game in order to speed up data transfer. As for the heat management function, it distributes the file reading load to become moderate without a large increase in temperature, while the pressure distribution function allows to raise the performance of file reading and writing operations according to priority. This unit has outperformed other competitive gaming consoles, such as the Kingston KC3000, Sabrent Rocket, Crucial P5 Plus, HP FX900 and Samsung 980 Pro. It is worth noting that this unit can be used to play on a personal computer, or it can be added to “PlayStation 5” devices that require specific speeds for the storage units that support it (5500 MB per second reading as a minimum), and it is available in capacities of 1, 2, 4 TB, and at prices of 180, 310 and 700. dollar.
Portable Storage
And if you’re looking for high-speed storage and easy to carry, the WD BlackB40 allows you to store and carry your games with you wherever you go, in a very small size and light weight and resistant to drops or shocks from a height of two meters, as well as offering dual RGB lighting built into the The bottom side of it allows the player to choose any color the player wants.
The unit works with USB 3.2 generation 2 x 2 technology, which connects to the computer through the USB port, and allows reading and writing data at a speed of 2000 megabytes per second (2 gigabytes per second), and it is of the “NVMES SD” category. » NVMe SSD. The unit uses its aluminum enclosure to dissipate heat during prolonged use sessions.
The unit contains a special program that works on the Windows operating system to control color settings, identify its temperature, update its internal programming, and other useful functions. The unit’s colors can be synchronized with specialized gaming software such as Asus, Gigabyte, MSI and Razer to control its brightness and the brightness of other components of the computer smoothly.
The unit is available in capacities of 500 GB, 1 and 2 TB, priced at 120, 180 and 330 dollars, and it weighs 78.5 grams, and its thickness is only 1.3 centimeters, and it can be used on personal computers with the operating systems “Windows” and “Mac OS” and electronic game consoles, so that it can be used On all game consoles of the current or previous generation, but it supports storing (not playing) the games of the “PlayStation 5”, “Xbox Series S”, and “Xbox Series X”.