Introducing the New OWC ThunderBlade X8: More Speed, More RAID Capacity, Improved Design
By Jennifer P
In Wayne G’s blog post for OWC, he introduces the enhanced ThunderBlade X8, marking the beginning of the New Year with a significant announcement. The ThunderBlade X8 maintains its status as a high-performance, mobile-ready RAID SSD, catering to the needs of creative professionals. The OWC team, consisting of both engineering experts and creative professionals from diverse industries, collaborated to address the growing demand for increased speed and capacity in creative applications.
The ThunderBlade X8 brings about various improvements, most notably in speed. With real-world speeds reaching up to 2949MB/s, it outperforms its predecessor across all platforms, including Windows PCs, Macs with Intel processors, and Macs with Apple M-Series chips. Notably, ThunderBlade X8 exhibits up to 21% speed improvement on Windows, 15% on Intel-based Macs, and 10% on M-Series Macs, making it a versatile solution for different computing environments.
A key enhancement lies in the improved RAID 4/5 performance, addressing the challenges faced by Thunderbolt SSDs in these configurations. With double the NVMe SSD Blades compared to the original ThunderBlade, ThunderBlade X8 provides 16% more usable capacity in RAID 4/5, achieving sustained speeds of up to 2464MB/s. This improvement ensures adherence to the 3-2-1 rule of data backups without compromising on capacity, performance, or time.
In terms of design, while retaining the solid aluminum, fanless case for efficient cooling, the ThunderBlade X8 introduces changes to the lighting. The new downward-pointing individual LEDs replace the original LED light bar, reducing distraction on sets. The ThunderBlade X8 also features a ruggedized power connector for enhanced durability in intense production environments.
The ThunderBlade X8’s versatility is further highlighted by its second Thunderbolt port, allowing connection to USB-C devices or displays and enabling daisy-chaining of up to five additional Thunderbolt devices. With support for SoftRAID XT software, RAID configurations become seamless, and the inclusion of the OWC ThunderBlade X Spacer facilitates secure connection and organization of multiple ThunderBlades.
Designed with video professionals in mind, the ThunderBlade X8 proves to be an ideal solution for on-set editing, shuttle drive purposes, and various demanding workflows, including multicam sequences, 8K RAW video, and VFX. The blog post concludes by highlighting the availability of the original ThunderBlade, providing users with options based on their specific requirements.
Read the full post by Wayne G for OWC HERE
Learn more about OWC HERE