Western Digital Unveils Xbox Series X|S Expansion Cards

Ever since Microsoft launched its Xbox Sequence X/S recreation consoles in late 2020, Seagate has been solely promoting storage growth playing cards for these methods. However to the chagrin of players in all places, these single-supplier drives have maintained their excessive costs at the same time as the worth of NAND and industry-standard SSDs has plummeted within the final 12 months. However this may lastly be altering, as Western Digital on Tuesday launched its first WD_Black-branded storage growth playing cards for Microsoft’s newest Xbox consoles.

Western Digital’s WD_Black C50 lineup of growth playing cards for Microsoft’s Xbox Sequence X|S consoles contains 500 GB and 1 TB fashions. The WD_Black C50 growth playing cards are designed to supply related efficiency and options (e.g., Fast Resume) as built-in Xbox Sequence X|S inner storage so to supply seamless expertise regardless of the place the video games are put in bodily: on the inner SSD or on an growth card.

Western Digital’s WD_Black C50 500 GB is priced at $80, whereas the 1 TB model prices $150. In contrast, Seagate presently has 512 GB ($110), 1 TB ($150), and a couple of TB ($280) choices. It’s noteworthy that Seagate is now providing its growth drives with a 30% low cost within the U.S., presumably in response to Western Digital’s choices.

The storage growth models for Microsoft’s latest Xbox Sequence X|S gaming methods are proprietary and solely designed for use with these consoles. Technically, these storage models resemble the CFexpress 1.0 Sort-B design, but they function with a PCIe 4.0 x2 interface, whereas the CFexpress 1.0 Sort-B specification mandates utilization of a PCIe 3.0 x2 interface.

Microsoft is believed to cost a licensing charge from makers of Xbox Sequence X|S storage growth playing cards, and apparently Seagate was the one firm to agreed to the software program big’s phrases, which is why it was the unique provider of such storage models for over two years.

It’s noteworthy that it’s doable to DIY a storage growth card for the newest Xbox consoles by utilizing a CFexpress-to-M.2-2230 adapter, initially developed to extend storage capability in cameras utilizing an M.2-2230 SSD. Presently, these adapters might be bought from Amazon for $30. Nevertheless, solely a few hard-to-find 2230 drives are literally suitable with this technique, leaving the official growth playing cards as the one sure-fire and dependable approach so as to add storage to Microsoft’s consoles.