Those planning to upgrade their PlayStation 5 may encounter problems as the solid-state drive (SSD) upgrades for the console are also seeing the price hikes felt all over the industry due to the global RAM shortage.
PlayStation 5 Storage Upgrade Sees Price Hike
Introducing the SANDISK Optimus™ GX PRO 850P NVMe™ SSD, the officially licensed drive for the @PlayStation®5 and PlayStation®5 Pro consoles. Play and store more titles with worry-free installation--up to 8TB of storage. Learn more at https://t.co/rzttNROIe2. pic.twitter.com/8TD16vRade
— SANDISK Optimus (@sandiskoptimus) June 16, 2026
According to Polygon's report, SanDisk has unveiled a new lineup of officially licensed NVMe SSDs designed for the PS5 and PS5 Pro, and the prices have been turning heads in the industry.
The newly announced drive is called the Optimus GX Pro 850P, and the company recently shared the price list of all configurations of the NVMe SSDs, which saw a significant price increase.
What is good about it is that it is available in 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB capacities. On SanDisk's storefront, the 8TB variant is currently listed at $2,960, which the company describes as a discounted launch price, while the regular price sits at $3,700.
The full PS5 storage upgrade price breakdown across the Optimus GX Pro 850P line is as follows:
- 1TB: $379.99
- 2TB: $759.99
- 4TB: $1,499.99
- 8TB: $2,959.99 (Original price: $3,699.99)
To understand how steep those numbers are, the 2TB model alone costs more than a standard PS5 console, which currently retails at $649.99 in the US following a price increase Sony implemented earlier this year.
The 8TB model, at its current discounted price, is roughly equivalent to buying 4.6 PS5 consoles and costs more than three PS5 Pro systems, each of which already ships with a built-in 2TB SSD.
PS5 SSD Is Significantly More Expensive
The Optimus GX Pro 850P is a PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive, not PCIe Gen 5, which the PS5 does not support anyway. It delivers sequential read speeds of up to 7,300 MB/s and write speeds of up to 6,600 MB/s, with the 8TB model rated slightly lower on reads at 7,200 MB/s.
All capacities carry a five-year limited warranty. The drive also features an integrated heatsink bearing the PlayStation logo, designed to slot into the PS5's M.2 bay without issue.
The specs are essentially identical to SanDisk's previous WD_Black SN850X line. Amazon currently lists the WD Black SN850X in the same 8TB capacity for $1,599.00, which makes the Optimus GX Pro 850P nearly $2,100 more expensive for what appears to be comparable performance.
The main distinction is that the Optimus GX Pro 850P carries official PlayStation licensing.
RAM Shortage Greatly Affects PS5
The pricing lands in the middle of a global memory and storage crisis that has been pushing component costs up across the board. As Engadget notes, the new SSD is launching amid a global memory crisis, and the prices reflect just how out of control the situation has become.
AI data center demand has been consuming NAND flash and RAM at a scale that is squeezing consumer storage availability and driving up retail costs significantly.
The PS5 SSD price hike is part of a wider wave hitting gaming hardware, following Sony's raising the prices of the PS5, PS5 Pro, and the PS Portal earlier this year.
Microsoft hiked Xbox console prices twice in 2025, and Nintendo followed last month, bumping the Switch 2 up by $50 in the US, with the new $500 price taking effect in September.
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