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Seagate FireCuda 520 PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSD for gamers launched

by Mark Tyson on 13 November 2019, 18:31

Tags: Seagate (NASDAQ:STX)

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Seagate has bulked up it range of storage for gamers with the launch of the new FireCuda 520 PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSD and the 4TB FireCuda Gaming Dock. The first of these products is pretty straightforward, it is a M.2 2280 double-sided PCIe Gen4 ×4 NVMe 1.3 SSD and will be made available in capacities of 500MB, 1TB and 2TB. The 4TB FireCuda Gaming Dock can be summarised as an external 4TB HDD that interfaces to your PC via Thunderbolt 3 - however it includes niceties such as an NVMe M.2 expansion slot, DisplayPort 1.4, RJ45 Ethernet, audio interface and more.

"Next-gen gaming is all about speed, compatibility, and flexibility," said Jeff Fochtman, VP of marketing and consumer solutions for Seagate. "Our FireCuda storage solutions deliver the performance, simplicity, and ingenious design to help gamers realize peak potential."

Seagate FireCuda 520 PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSD

Seagate promises "faster gaming" with its Seagate FireCuda 520 PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSD. It is designed for pro-level gaming, it says, and is nearly 45 per cent faster than previous gen M.2 PCIe devices from Seagate.

Moving onto harder tech information, the FireCuda 520 uses 3D TLC NAND and is capable of sequential read/writes up to 5,000/4,400MB per second. The M.2 2280 NVMe form factor storage stick plugs straight into AMD X570 chipset PCIe 4.0 motherboards for leading performance but is backwards compatible with PCIe 3.0 platforms.

Seagate is offering buyers of the FireCuda 520 PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSD a five year warranty with 1.8M hours MTBF, and up to 2,800 TBW (varies with capacity). In an email to HEXUS, Seagate said that the FireCuda 520 retails for £125.90 (500GB), £234.90 (1TB), and £409.00 (2TB) with immediate availability.

4TB FireCuda Gaming Dock

Docking systems are pretty convenient for people on the go but most are aimed at the professional mobile workforce and similar. Seagate hopes that its new 4TB FireCuda Gaming Dock can have a strong pull on a different demographic - PC gamers. As is obvious from its name, this Thunderbolt 3 connecting device comes with 4TB of storage built-in. However this is HDD storage. Not to fret though, as the dock has a slot for an PCIe Gen3 NVMe M.2 SSD for frequently accessed files - your current favourite games or active projects perhaps.

A Dock wouldn't be a dock without providing a plethora of fixed ports. Once you have plugged in the Thunderbolt 3 cable the new Seagate device will provide a Thunderbolt 3 accessory port, DisplayPort 1.4, RJ45 Ethernet network port, a 3.5mm audio-in/mic port, 3.5mm audio-out port, four USB 3.1 Gen2 ports, and a USB 3.1 Gen2 charge port - as well as the built-in and optional storage. However, please note that this dock doesn't provide power to laptops, whatever power port you might have on your portable.

RGB LEDs take this device deeper into gaming territory. Of course the LED lighting is customisable and software lets you easily choose colours and effects.

Seagate told HEXUS that the Gaming Dock will start to become available later this month for £379.99. Buyers get a three year warranty.



HEXUS Forums :: 6 Comments

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Hmmm… interesting that the firecuda 520 gen4 pcie doesn't seem to have a heatsink on it compared with the likes of corsair etc
OMG FINALLY! My v3 M.2 was doing my head in with how slow it is, and even though this is exactly twice the price of it won't stop me buying it. Nuh uh. That extra speed on top will be just..totes worth it.
You'd think they'd have support for 10GbE, or a second TB port to allow a 10GbE adapter.
Same with my Samsung 970 evo, but my motherboard have something that should act as a heat sink, though i have little faith in it i must admit.
I have been contemplating upon building new case and modding that, maybe i should mod my aorus extreme motherboard too, or at least do away with that heat sink and silly RGB light on the board.
And maybe add some heat sinks to nvme drive ( the 2 i will have if i win one of these suckers )

Really topping it up with the god awful Gigabyte RGB fusion software ( that do not work on my computer anymore ) then i am probably better off with no RGB VS the default rainbow BS i have now.
“capacities of 500MB, 1TB and 2TB” who'd want a 500 meg nvme :P