Seagate's FireCuda storage solutions for PC have always been at the fore of that market. And today the company announced that the FireCuda 540 PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD is available now in Australia and New Zealand and represents the biggest leap forward in performance for that series yet.

Here's the official line:

Seagate’s fastest and highest performance M.2 2280 SSD, the FireCuda 540 delivers sequential read speeds of up to 10,000 MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 10,000 MB/s1. Built for sustained, pro-level gaming and accelerated content creation, the new drive performs up to 50% faster than Gen4 M.2 NVMe drives and 17 times faster than SATA-based SSDs. With the latest 3D TLC NAND technology and built with a Seagate-validated E26 controller, the FireCuda 540 provides the most advanced speed and durability—allowing users to push limits when gaming or creating content. Plug-and-play compatible with all PCIe Gen5 motherboards and backwards compatible with PCIe Gen4, the drive is accessible and ready for trailblazing.

“Gamers and content creators have asked for performance of PCIe Gen5 technology and we’ve listened,” said Lance Ohara, Vice President of Product Line Management at Seagate Technology. “Seagate is thrilled to bring the fastest and best technology to the gaming and content creating community.”

Available in capacities up to 2TB and with Seagate’s signature endurance designed to perform under heavy use, the FireCuda 540 offers 1.8M mean time between failures (MTBF) and up to 2000TB of total bytes written (TBW) — meaning gamers can write and delete up to 1TB of the drive capacity every day for five years.

Optimised with DirectStorage firmware for an enhanced PC gaming experience, the drive also includes Seagate’s three-year Rescue Data Recovery Service plan2 and a five-year limited warranty, offering peace of mind. It’s also bundled with Seagate’s SeaTools™ 5.0 making it easy for gamers, content creators, and PC builders to manage and monitor the performance and health of their drives.

The 540 can be picked up now locally from most PC stores and affiliate programs and will set you back AUD $389 and NZD $469 for the 1TB option, and AUD $649 and NZD $719 for the larger 2TB.