Well that didn’t take long. Just a matter of hours after Microsoft unveiled tons of Xbox Series X details including its new expansion card technology, Seagate has officially taken the wraps off a compatible offering. The new Seagate Storage Expansion Card tops out at 1TB of storage and is built in direct partnership with Microsoft’s Xbox division. This means that it takes full advantage of the Xbox Velocity Architecture, delivering performance that is said to be identical to what’s found inside Xbox Series X. Continue reading to learn more.
Seagate Storage Expansion Card unveiled
The upcoming expansion card from Seagate aims to seamlessly grow storage capacity on Xbox Series X. With only 1TB of storage inside each console, gamers could run into capacity limits much sooner than what we saw in previous generation consoles which started at 500GBs. For those of you thinking that you’ll be able to plug in a standard external HDD, you’ll be disappointed to hear that only previous generation Xbox titles will still be able to be reliably played in that manner.
Since PCIe 4.0 is utilized to connect both internal and external SSD storage directly to the CPU, players should not be able to tell a difference between load times no matter if it is stored inside the Xbox or on an expansion card. To help interested parties wrap their heads around just how fast Xbox Series X is, Microsoft uploaded a tech demo to YouTube which compares One X with its upcoming console. This arguably showcases why new and optimized games will not be able to run on standard external drives.
Pricing and availability
We have yet to receive any official information surrounding the pricing and availability of the upcoming Seagate Storage Expansion Card. Thankfully a bit of history provides us with a bit of insight into what pricing could look like as Seagate has been making Game Drives for quite some time.
Generally speaking, these console-branded drives tend to be marked up between 20-35% when compared with standard alternatives. Bearing this in mind, it seems likely that Seagate Storage Expansion Card will sell in the ballpark of $200-$250, but this is all pure speculation. When it comes to availability, we strongly suspect this card to debut alongside Xbox Series X, which is planned for the 2020 holiday season.
Electronicsforward’ Take
It is becoming increasingly clear that the next generation of console gaming is going to be a pricey one. Especially given the fact that SSD performance is being painted as an expectation for new and optimized Xbox Series X games. Pair this with ever-growing game sizes and 1TB doesn’t seem like quite enough space to keep a medium-to-large catalog of games downloaded and ready-to-play. Here’s to hoping that SSD prices come down and that Seagate Storage Expansion Card debuts with additional sizes larger than 1TB.
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