Sandisk's new PS5 SSDs cost up to $2,960, that's five PlayStation 5 consoles

[Alfonso Maruccia]

Facepalm: Sandisk has unveiled a new line of SSDs designed to expand the PlayStation 5's storage capacity. To no one's surprise, the new drives are priced more like luxury hardware than an affordable storage upgrade for a mass-market home console.

The US memory manufacturer has launched the Optimus GX PRO 850P SSD lineup, which includes storage drives specifically designed for the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro. While high-capacity SSDs are already expensive, Sandisk's PS5-branded drives push pricing to an entirely different level.

The Optimus GX PRO 850P lineup includes four NVMe SSDs with capacities ranging from 1TB to 8TB. The 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB models are priced at $380, $760, $1,500, and $2,960, respectively. Sandisk is also offering introductory discounts on the drives, suggesting their regular retail prices will be even higher once the promotion ends.

Sandisk said the Optimus GX PRO 850P SSDs are officially licensed by Sony and feature an exclusive heatsink design with a PS5 logo on top. The PCIe 4.0 drives have reportedly been optimized for the console's internal M.2 expansion slot, although they are also compatible with any PC motherboard that supports the M.2 2280 form factor.

Additional specifications include support for the NVMe 1.4 protocol, sequential read speeds of up to 7,300 MB/s, and sequential write speeds ranging from 6,300 MB/s on the 1TB model to 6,600 MB/s on the 8TB version. Endurance ranges from 600 TBW for the 1TB drive to 4,800 TBW for the 8TB model, while every SSD is backed by a five-year limited warranty.

Sandisk describes the Optimus GX PRO 850P lineup as a "no-compromise" storage solution that can significantly expand the number of games stored on a PS5 at once. However, the company neglected to mention that the 8TB model now costs about as much as five PS5 consoles. Only the 1TB version is currently "cheaper" than the console itself, and even that comparison is based on the higher PS5 prices Sony introduced earlier this year.

Unlike the Xbox Series X and Series S, the PS5 uses a standard M.2 NVMe SSD for expandable storage. If Sandisk's pricing is too steep, plenty of third-party alternatives can expand the console's storage at a much lower cost.

The Optimus GX PRO 850P drives are the latest example of hardware affected by ongoing supply chain pressures in the memory industry. The retail SSD market is shrinking, while consumer electronics prices continue to climb because of rising memory costs. AI companies are buying up virtually every memory chip they can secure, even though many planned US data center projects for 2026 have yet to materialize.

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Sandisk's new PS5 SSDs cost up to $2,960, that's five PlayStation 5 consoles

 

[LordVile95]

I mean it’s a PS branded model with a heatsink it was never going to be reasonable as it’s priced about the same as 2TB unbranded drives. Also 8TB SSDs were always ridiculously expensive and you can get them for about 1200 now for non PS5 models

 

[Megalomaniac]

It's so incredible that 4TB SSD were under $199 in 2025 and now they're ridiculously overpriced.

 

[NumberNine]

Everyone involved should be ashamed of themselves.
I may not have Sony money, but I sleep very well at night.

 

[Hecate91]

8TB SSD's were under $1,000 before the RAMpocalypse, the retail market for these simply isn't sustainable with how greedy these companies are being.

 

[LordVile95]

8TB SSD's were under $1,000 before the RAMpocalypse, the retail market for these simply isn't sustainable with how greedy these companies are being.

I mean they’re only 1200-1400 now they haven’t exactly skyrocketed like RAM has

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I mean it’s a PS branded model with a heatsink it was never going to be reasonable as it’s priced about the same as 2TB unbranded drives. Also 8TB SSDs were always ridiculously expensive and you can get them for about 1200 now for non PS5 models

I mean they’re only 1200-1400 now they haven’t exactly skyrocketed like RAM has

The sn850x was $540 before the rampocalypse.

 

[LordVile95]

The sn850x was $540 before the rampocalypse.

And what about the Samsung drives?

In either case it’s nowhere near the PS branded price gouging SanDisk are doing. But that’s nothing new they did that with the switch SD cards back in the day.

 

[Hecate91]

I mean they’re only 1200-1400 now they haven’t exactly skyrocketed like RAM has

The WD SN850X 8TB was less than $600 last year before AI companies hoarded all of the memory.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/mzJp99/western-digital-wd_black-sn850x-8-tb-m2-2280-pcie-40-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-wds800t2x0e?history_days=365

 

[airbornex]

For $3,000, the SSD should not just store the games. It should finish the backlog, earn the platinum trophies, and explain why I bought an 8TB drive for a console.

 

[LordVile95]

The WD SN850X 8TB was less than $600 last year before AI companies hoarded all of the memory.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/mzJp99/western-digital-wd_black-sn850x-8-tb-m2-2280-pcie-40-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-wds800t2x0e?history_days=365

And RAM has shot up what 4x? Also there are better drives at the same price point that haven’t gone up as much

 

[BlackyNoir]

Videogaming never has been the "the most affordable type of entertainment", not by a very long shot.

Reading is cheap, free or near free with classic older books or a public library or book exchanges. And as for gaming, roleplaying (the real one, the tabletop pen&paper one) is very cheap to free, with plenty of good and free rpg books and no on-going cost.

And for videogaming specifically, consoles never have been the cheapest way to play. While the initial hardware cost may be lower, the total cost of ownership including games, necessary services, accessories, upgrades, always have been much higher. That's why the console industry exist, to extract more money from gamers than they do on PC.

 

[The Talking Tech]

I mean it’s a PS branded model with a heatsink it was never going to be reasonable as it’s priced about the same as 2TB unbranded drives. Also 8TB SSDs were always ridiculously expensive and you can get them for about 1200 now for non PS5 models

Love how people still making up excuses pretending a problem doesn't exist with pricing as we can clearly see on the comment above.

 

[mosin]

I thought paying 330$ for my sn850x 4tb 3 years after they launched was horrible especially when 2 tb were like 70-90$.

 

[LordVile95]

Love how people still making up excuses pretending a problem doesn't exist with pricing as we can clearly see on the comment above.

I’m not saying prices haven’t gone up im saying using an example that’s over 2x the price of what’s typical elsewhere is stupid and click bait

 

[n3o127]

Gone days of Cyrix and VIA where when pricing climbs on tier 1 brands and products a alt product comes along -- too bad not chip company that while they may not be able to make AI class chips and latest ram can make a line of chips that will do just fine with gaming.

 

[JimF1]

Greed Mongers!