If you're upgrading your current setup or building a new rig, a PCIe Gen 4 SSD should be sufficient for most workloads, including gaming. An easily recommended option is the WD Black SN850X SSD, which tops our list of the best SSDs for the PS5 and is currently available at a reduced price on Amazon. The 4TB variant is available at a discounted price of $280, while the 2TB heatsink model is priced at $149 for the Amazon Prime Day sales. If the SN850X isn't up your alley, we also have a more expansive list of the Best SSD deals for Amazon Prime Day.
The WD Black SN850X is rated for excellent sequential performance, with read speeds of up to 7,300 MB/s and write speeds of up to 6,600 MB/s. It features 112-layer BiCS5 TLC memory with a WD proprietary controller and offers up to 600TB of writes per terabyte of capacity over a five-year period. The drive also features a “Game Mode 2.0” function, which is said to deliver reduced load times and enhance sustained performance during gaming.
The SN850X is fully compatible with the PlayStation 5 and meets Sony’s performance requirements for use as a secondary drive, making it a great option for console gamers. With its included heatsink, you shouldn’t have to worry about thermal throttling during extended gaming sessions.
In our testing of the 2TB variant, we found that the SN850X lags behind the SK Hynix Platinum P41 in almost every 3DMark and PCMark 10 storage benchmark test. Nevertheless, it was consistently faster than competitive drives, such as the Sabrent Rocket 4, Samsung 980 Pro, and the Kingston KC3000.
Similarly, ATTO test results show the SN850X offers strong performance, especially in write tasks, where it surpasses the older SN850. It doesn’t quite match the top-tier Phison E18-based SSDs like the Rocket 4 Plus or Kingston KC3000 in read speeds, it still manages to maintain its lead over other competitors. It also shows gains in small 4KB file transfer performance and benefits slightly from Game Mode, which helps reduce latency a bit.
Testing the drive without a heatsink, it idled at 48 °C, while it hovers between 78 °C and 85 °C during heavy workloads. Essentially, it is recommended to buy the heatsink variant for sustained workloads.
If you're looking for even more options, you can always check out our list of Best SSDs and Best SSDs for the PS5.
We are working hard to find the best computer hardware deals for you this Amazon Prime Day. If you're looking for more savings, check out our Amazon Prime Day deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, or CPU Deals pages.
