At their inaugural virtual gaming event today, Seagate Technology revealed its latest SSD designed specifically for PC gamers, the FireCuda 530.
The data storage titan is bringing the latest PCIe Gen4 NVMe technology to this new solid-state drive later this summer, pushing their lineup to the cutting edge of speed and performance. With sequential read speeds up to 7300 MB/s, the FireCuda 530 works up to two times faster than PCIe Gen3 SSDs, and up to 12 times faster than SATA-based alternatives.
The new drives will also be available with a minimalistic heatsink. This new option was specially designed by liquid cooling pioneer EKWB to have a low-profile while still delivering the same caliber of results—trading cooling fins for a “more massive, high-grade aluminum block with a finely textured finish.”
Rounding out the package is a Seagate-validated E18 controller and the latest 3D TLC NAND flash memory for the sort of advanced speed and durability demanded by PC gaming. The FireCuda 530 come with a three-year Rescue Data Recovery Service plan and a five-year limited warranty—but with long lasting endurance of 1.8M MTBF and up to 5100 TBW, users could comfortably write and delete 70% of the drive capacity every day for 5 years without issue. Seagate’s SeaTools and DiscWizard utilities are included to monitor drive health and performance, and add new drives to the system.
“This is Seagate’s fastest and most powerful gaming SSD and we’re showcasing it at our first-ever virtual gaming event to put a stake in the ground,” said Seagate Senior Vice President of Marketing, Jeff Fochtman. “From the FireCuda 530, to our lineup of partners and guests at SG21, we’re here to take it all to the next level.”
“We had an exciting challenge to design a custom heatsink with the objective of having both form and function – a product that was low profile for tighter builds but also provided thermal management, while maintaining the sleek design that both Seagate’s FireCuda line and EKWB are known for,” said EKWB CEO, Americas, Kat Silberstein. “The open, collaborative spirit of Seagate and EK is what has allowed the FireCuda 530 to really sing.”
The company’s previous generation of gaming SSDs, the FireCuda 520, impressed our reviewer and earned a 9.5 score back in January 2020, so we here at CGM expect great things from this new iteration. When it launches in the next few months, the Seagate FireCuda 530 will be listed for $139.99 (500GB), $239.99 (1TB), $489.99 (2TB), and $949.99 (4TB), in US dollars. Models with the heatsink will cost a little more, at $159.99 (500GB), $259.99 (1TB), $539.99 (2TB), and $999.99 (4TB).
