I’m the sort of person who likes to keep their favorite PS5 games installed on my console even after completing them. This lets me wander the nine realms of God of War Ragnarök or blast through a quick run of Returnal without having to first redownload the best PS5 games ahead of time.
Because of this, not to mention the increasingly large file sizes of modern video games, it’s no wonder that I upgraded my PS5’s storage capacity as soon as the feature was made available via a system update in the summer of 2021. At the time, I opted for a 1TB WD_Black SN850 SSD, and it’s served its purpose perfectly over the past two years. But, I think I’m now ready for an upgrade, and Prime Day 2023 could be the ideal time to splurge on the WD_Black SN850X.
This new iteration of the SN850 sports the same design but with souped-up specs. The SN850X packs a read speed of 7,300 Mbps and a write speed of 6,350 Mbps. That’s a big improvement over the regular SN850 which offers a read speed of 7,000Mbps and a write speed of 5,300Mbps. It’s also available in a new 4TB size, although I’ve got my eye on the 2TB model as anything more feels excessive.
Right now, the WD_Black SN850X 2TB SSD is on sale for $142 at Amazon. That’s more than half-off its full retail price of $309. And it’s currently the lowest price ever for the SSD. If you’ve yet to score one of the best PS5 internal SSDs, it’s definitely worth considering. However, if you’re the patient type, you could hold off until Prime Day itself as I think the drive could drop even lower to around $120-130 during the main sales.
Over here in the U.K., the WD_Black SN850X 2TB SSD is on sale for £150 at Amazon right now. That’s a solid price but not quite cheap enough for me to click that “Buy Now” button yet. Especially considering I don’t need a new PS5 SSD, I just very much want one. My WD_Black SN850 SSD still gets the job done, and I’ve not quite run out of storage space yet. I’ve still got some room spare for Final Fantasy 16, which I’m hoping to pick up this summer once I’ve finished playing Aliens: Dark Descent and finally polish off The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on Nintendo Switch.
However, if the impending Amazon Prime Day 2023 sales drop the WD_Black SN850X 2TB SSD down to around £115 my resolve will be seriously tested. In that case, it's very likely that I would end the month with a whole extra terabyte of PS5 storage. This would definitely come in handy as the rest of the year looks stacked with epic new PS5 games on the horizon including Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Alan Wake 2 and Mortal Kombat 1.
Whatever you're shopping for this Prime Day, be it a PS5 SSD like me or perhaps a new OLED TV or countertop air fryer, be sure to keep it locked to Tom’s Guide. We’ll be bringing you complete coverage of the annual sales event across loads of different product categories, and yes, if the WD_Black SN850X SSD drops any lower, I’ll be sure to shout about it.
