You could buy at least three extra PS5 Pro consoles for your house and swap between them whenever the 2TB of on-board storage runs dry, or maybe ditch the console altogether and put together a decently futureproof gaming PC, or… you could spend the same amount of money on a single SSD upgrade for your existing PS5.
Introducing the Optimus™ GX PRO 850P, SanDisk’s latest offering for those who simply can’t get enough storage for their PS5, an officially-licensed M.2 NVMe drive designed specifically for PS5 and PS5 Pro that’s available in sizes ranging from 1TB through to 8TB.
“Damn, that’s a lot of storage, how much is the 8TB SSD?”
I’m glad you asked! It’s just a casual USD $3699!
Sorry, I shouldn’t misrepresent it – the 8TB SanDisk Optimus™ GX PRO 850P is currently available at a discounted rate of just USD $2,959.99, so you’re saving a good $700 off the bat. Doing a simple conversion, without factoring in any additional costs and taxes that might apply, that’s just over AUD $4200. For more storage on your PS5 console.
The GX PRO 850P does exist on the Australian branch of the SanDisk website, but it’s unclear as of now if and where it might retail locally, and for how much exactly.
Now, it’s no secret that memory is expensive as hell right now, driven by a global memory crisis caused by the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure disrupting the market for crucial components. It’s the driving force behind the gaming console and hardware price increases we’ve seen over the past couple of years, and it’s had particularly profound effects on consumer flash storage prices, with SSDs now retailing for 3-4x what they were two years ago.
Still, context aside, it’s hard to see who would be spending this amount of cash on 8TB of extra storage for their PS5. I regularly fill up the 4TB I have available on my PS5 Pro, but I’m also playing and writing about multiple new games a week, and I’d sooner just deal with deleting and re-downloading things as needed than cough up enough cash for a small car. Even the 2TB version of this new drive will run you the same as buying a whole PS5 Pro, which already includes a drive that size and is a whole console on top.
With chatter already fired up around the next generation of gaming consoles, it’s tough to see exactly where things are going to go in terms of pricing and hardware specs. It feels as though a potential “PS6” or Xbox’s “Project Helix” will command an eye-wateringly high price of entry and offer fewer meaningful upgrades than we’re used to for a generational leap, but at this point there’s no sense making any kind of prediction about the world of consumer tech.