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SanDisk's latest lineup of PS5 SSDs shows the true extent of the flash memory price crisis, with the top-end 8TB model retailing for a cool $2960 (!) plus tax - and amazingly, that's after a 20 percent discount from its $3699 MSRP (!!). For context, last year Eurogamer covered a deal on a similarly capable 8TB SSD that cost just $599.
The Optimus GX Pro 850P lineup also includes smaller 1TB, 2TB and 4TB models, with prices that are nearly as eye-watering: $380 for the 1TB, $760 for the 2TB and $1500 for the 4TB size. If you don't need the PS5 branding and heatsink, the 850X costs "just" $2650, a $310 reduction that absolutely dwarfs the $10 cost of a third-party heatsink. As a reminder, these aren't even bleeding-edge PCIe 5.0 drives; they're PCIe 4.0 models that sit at the same rated speeds as models from years ago.
I'm sure these are performant drives for their category, and the official PS5 licensed heatsinks look sharp, but it's hard to see anyone in the world rushing out to buy one of these while SSD prices remain as high as they are. If prices do come back down, these will at least make for some amusing discounts on the future. That $3699 MSRP would mean a drop to a $599 price would amount to an 84 percent discount!
SanDisk also announced a new 7100X SSD that's bizarrely "for ROG Xbox Ally (X) and PC" - and looks like an entirely standard PCIe 4.0 model. The only difference I can see from an off-the-shelf model is that they are described as "officially licensed storage" and come with a free month of Game Pass Ultimate.
I've not been briefed on these, so I'm not sure if there's any kind of special sauce that I've missed, but given that even Micro SD cards also work just fine on the ROG Xbox Ally X in our testing, the cheapest available PCIe 4.0 SSD with a half-efficient controller will probably work just fine.
You can see all the Optimus GX drives at SanDisk's website.
What do you think of these new drives? I'm of two minds about them - on the one hand, you can't expect SSD makers to stop making new drives just because they're incredibly unaffordable right now, but equally, launching drives with a 20 percent discount off MSRP to given the illusion of value is just weird. Anyway, let me know your thoughts in the comments below.