Performance and Design Overview
The good news is that Sandisk is still putting out SSDs for consumers, and these are not just cheap replacements. The Optimus GX Pro 850P is a bona fide high-end Gen 4 SSD that puts Sandisk’s name on a legendary design. This means DRAM, TLC flash, and good performance for any role.
Like similar enthusiast drives made with a heatsink for the PS5, the 850P is tailored for the console. Its heatsink is excellent, and it fits right into your desktop PC, too. Our main concern is the pricing, which is a bit steep – this is a nice drive, but you will pay a premium for it.
Pricing and Specifications
The Sandisk Optimus GX Pro 850P is available in capacities of 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB. Prices at the time of review for the Optimus GX Pro 850P are $309.99, $609.99, $1,139.99, and $2,249.99. These prices are well above comparable alternatives currently on the market. We think the prices will eventually adjust, but buyers should be aware of competing options.
The drive reaches up to 7,300 and 6,600 MB/s for sequential reads and writes respectively, alongside up to 1.2 million random read/write IOPS. This performance sits at the top tier for a Gen 4 drive and can easily handle heavier workloads. The drive includes a standard five-year warranty rated with 600TB of writes per terabyte of capacity, and supports TCG Opal v2.01 data-at-rest encryption.
Software and Accessories
Sandisk supports its drives with downloadable utility software, including the Sandisk Dashboard for drive health, SMART monitoring, and firmware updates, alongside Acronis True Image for data backups and drive imaging.
Hardware Breakdown
The Optimus GX Pro 850P is engineered to fit into the PS5 with an effective finned heatsink that increases surface area for better heat dissipation. The bare drive underneath is single-sided at 1TB and 2TB, but double-sided at 4TB and 8TB, resulting in a larger rated height for those higher capacities.
The drive label indicates a 3.3V / 2.8A rating, equating to roughly 9W under maximum power state. While higher than typical DRAM-less drives, it remains well within safe operational limits for the included heatsink.
The Optimus GX Pro 850P features a standard layout consisting of a controller, a DRAM module, power management components, and NAND flash packages. The DDR4 DRAM acts as a metadata cache, though the 2TB review sample contains 1GB of DRAM, which is half of what was found on equivalent older models. In practice, this reduction has no perceptible impact on intended workload performance.
The flash memory utilizes newer production lots compared to older benchmarks of similar hardware. Although minor component variations exist, performance remains closely matched, delivering robust speeds that push the limits of the controller technology.
The flash yields a higher I/O rate ranging from 1,200 MT/s to 1,600 MT/s, easily saturating the PCIe 4.0 link. While higher MT/s flash can offer lower latency and improved efficiency, real-world performance differences remain minimal.
MORE: Best SSDs
MORE: Best External SSDs
MORE: Best SSD for the Steam Deck
