Sandisk’s new 8TB SSD for PS5 and PS5 Pro launches with a crazy price tag

Sandisk’s Optimus GX Pro 850P 8TB SSD costs over £2,500

Sandisk has officially launched a new officially licensed SSD for Sony’s PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro, the 8TB Optimus GX Pro 850P. This SSD is tailor-made for Sony’s consoles, featuring a PlayStation-branded heatsink and PCIe 4.0 connectivity. While that sounds good, this SSD arrives with a shocking price tag of £2,638.99.

Thanks to AI-driven demand for NAND and DRAM, SSD pricing has skyrocketed. That said, the price of this new Sandisk 8TB SSD is certifiably insane. For context, the unlicensed version of this SSD, the Optimus GX Pro 850X 8TB (with heatsink), costs £2,417.99. That’s right, gamers are getting charged £221 for official PlayStation branding.

What’s worse is that even Sandisk’s PCIe 5.0 Optimus GX Pro 8100 8TB SSD (with heatsink) costs less at £2,550.99. This drive offers users sequential speeds up to 2x faster than SanDisk’s 850P drive and still costs over £80 less.

Blame AI, it’s always AI

With an asking price of £2638.99, this 8TB SSD costs as much as five PlayStation 5 consoles. The AI industry has driven the prices of NAND and DRAM to skyrocket due to rapid datacenter buildouts. This has forced the price of SSDs and DRAM to rise to unprecedented levels. Last year, 8TB SSDs were available for well under £1,000. Now, Sandisk are launching new 8TB SSDs for over £2,500.

SSD pricing is expected to remain high until one of two things happens. Either demand evaporates due to a bursting of the so-called “AI bubble”, or NAND supply increases enough to meet demand, forcing prices downward. Which will happen first? Who knows. All I know is that regular consumers are suffering because of these high prices. Frankly, these SSD prices are sickening.

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