The WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD Is One of the Fastest PCIe Gen 4 SSDs, and Now Also One of the Cheapest

The SN850X is WD’s fastest PCIe Gen 4 solid state drive. There are faster PCIe Gen 5 drives out there now (like WD’s own SN8100) but they are a lot more expensive and complete overkill for gamers. In terms of performance, the SN850X is considered a top-tier SSD with sustained read speeds of up to 7,300MBps, write speeds of 6,600MBps, random read speeds of up to 1,200K IOPS, and write speeds of 1,100IOPS. The SN850X also has 2GB of DRAM cache. Most SSDs at this price don’t have any DRAM cache and instead rely on system memory as a buffer. A DRAM cache offers better write performance. Gamers shouldn’t notice any performance difference either way, but having a DRAM cache is preferred if you plan to use this as your primary boot drive in a PC build.

For PC gamers, WD includes Game Mode 2.0 utility software that’s designed to tune the SSD for better performance during gaming sessions. Unless you have an unlimited budget, 2TB is the size I would recommend for a boot solid state drive; for most people, this is plenty of space for your OS and apps, and the price is still reasonable.

The SN850X also makes for an excellent SSD for your PS5. It’s identical to Sony’s officially licensed WD Black SN850P SSD except that this particular SN850X model is not equipped with a heatsink. It fulfills all of Sony’s PS5 recommendations, including a M.2 2280 form factor, minimum 5,500MB/s speed, and PCI-E Gen4x4 interface. You can get the version with the pre-installed heatsink for $30 more, but you’d be better off saving your money and getting a cheaper aftermarket heatsink (it’s very easy to install). The SSD comes with a five-year warranty.

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Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn’t hunting for deals for other people at work, he’s hunting for deals for himself during his free time.