The WD_BLACK SN850X with Heatsink is the best all-around PS5 SSD. Tom's Hardware ranks it at the top of its PS5 list with an Editor's Choice award, citing 7,300 MB/s reads that clear Sony's requirement and a heatsink that drops into the expansion slot with room to spare. It runs cooler than the Samsung 990 Pro and offers strong value, especially when the 2TB model is discounted. Peak speeds trail the Samsung slightly, but for the PS5 it is the safest, best-balanced choice.
Full review
Real-World Performance
The SN850X is the drive Tom's Hardware places at the top of its Best PS5 SSDs list, awarding it an Editor's Choice and noting that "the performance results placed the WD Black SN850X near the top of the charts." With sequential reads up to 7,300 MB/s and writes up to 6,600 MB/s, it comfortably exceeds Sony's 5,500 MB/s minimum, so games load fast and the PS5's storage-test warning never appears. In practice, the difference between the top Gen4 drives on the PS5 is small, and the SN850X sits firmly in the leading group.
Club386's hands-on PS5 testing validated the speed in the console itself, recording "the highest figure we've seen: 6,177 MB/s ain't too shabby" on the PS5's own read benchmark. TechRadar, in its best-SSD-for-PS5 roundup, called it "a great match for the PlayStation 5" and the "top pick" despite a slight price premium over budget drives. For the buyer who just wants a fast, trouble-free PS5 upgrade, the SN850X delivers exactly that without caveats. The 7,300 MB/s read figure is well clear of Sony's 5,500 MB/s floor, which is the number that actually governs whether the PS5 accepts a drive, so there is no risk of the console flagging it as too slow. In day-to-day use, large open-world titles that stutter or pause on the stock console drive load briskly off the SN850X, and the difference is most noticeable in games built around fast streaming.
Thermals and PS5 Fit
Thermals are the SN850X's quiet advantage over the competition. In PS5 testing it runs cooler than the Samsung 990 Pro, around 55-60C versus the Samsung's 65-70C, which matters in the PS5's enclosed, warm expansion bay where sustained loads can push drives hard. Cooler operation reduces the risk of thermal throttling during long gaming sessions and is easier on the drive over its life.
The bundled heatsink is sized specifically with the PS5 in mind. Club386 confirmed it fits "with room to spare, there's plenty of space for the heatsink to breathe," so it drops straight into the expansion slot and the cover closes without modification. That plug-and-play fit removes the guesswork that trips up buyers pairing a bare drive with a third-party heatsink, and it is a big part of why the SN850X is the default recommendation. A poorly chosen aftermarket heatsink can be too tall to let the PS5's cover close, or too thin to cool effectively; the SN850X's factory heatsink sidesteps both problems, which is exactly the kind of friction a first-time upgrader wants to avoid.
Build and Capacities
The SN850X uses Western Digital's in-house controller and NAND, a proven, mature platform that has been refined across multiple firmware revisions. It comes in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities, with the heatsink (and an RGB option) available on the 1TB and 2TB models. For most PS5 owners the 2TB version is the sweet spot, holding a sizable game library while frequently dropping to attractive prices.
Build quality is excellent and the 5-year warranty matches the category standard. The one quirk is that the heatsink and RGB are not offered on the 4TB drive, so buyers who want maximum capacity with a heatsink need to look at a bare 4TB drive plus a separate cooler. The RGB lighting on the smaller models is also moot inside a closed PS5, though it is a nice touch for PC builds. These are minor footnotes on an otherwise faultless package. The drive's maturity is itself a selling point: WD has shipped the SN850X for long enough that firmware is stable and compatibility quirks have been ironed out, so buyers are not beta-testing a new platform inside their console. That track record, combined with the in-house controller-and-NAND pairing that WD tunes together, is why reviewers treat the SN850X as a known-good default rather than a gamble.
Where It Falls Short
The SN850X's shortcomings are minor and mostly about price and headline numbers. It typically costs a little more than budget drives like the Lexar NM790, so the most price-sensitive buyers can save money elsewhere with only a small real-world penalty on the PS5. Its peak sequential speeds also trail the Samsung 990 Pro on a spec sheet, even though the gap is invisible in actual PS5 game loading.
The heatsink-and-RGB omission on the 4TB capacity is a genuine limitation for buyers who want the largest drive with a drop-in cooler, and the RGB on the smaller models is wasted inside the console. None of these undercut its standing as the best overall PS5 SSD; they simply mean that shoppers chasing the absolute lowest price or the highest benchmark number have narrow reasons to consider alternatives.
How It Compares to Alternatives
Against the Samsung 990 Pro, the SN850X trades a small deficit in peak speed for meaningfully better thermals in the PS5, which is why it edges the Samsung for the top spot. Compared to the Crucial T500, the SN850X is a bit pricier but is a more established top-tier pick, while the T500 delivers most of the performance for less.
The Lexar NM790 undercuts the SN850X on price and is the value champion, but the SN850X is the safer, cooler-running choice. The Seagate FireCuda 530R competes closely on speed and endurance but at a higher price. Across the board, the SN850X is the drive that does everything well, fast, cool, well-supported, and easy to install, which is the definition of the best all-around PS5 SSD. It does not top any single chart by a wide margin, but it has no real weaknesses for console use, and in a category where the cheaper and the faster drives each force a small compromise, the SN850X is the one that asks nothing of the buyer in return for a top-tier experience.
Installation and Value
Installing the SN850X in a PS5 is genuinely simple: power down, remove the expansion-bay cover, drop the heatsinked drive into the M.2 slot, secure the single screw, replace the cover, and the console formats it on the next boot. Because the heatsink is pre-fitted and sized for the bay, there is none of the cooler-shopping or clearance-checking that complicates a bare-drive purchase. The whole process takes a few minutes and requires only a small screwdriver.
On value, the SN850X sits in a sweet spot: it costs a little more than budget drives but frequently goes on sale, and the 2TB model in particular drops to prices that make it an easy buy. Tom's Hardware has tracked the 2TB falling to around 7 cents per gigabyte, which is excellent for a top-tier drive. You pay a small premium over the cheapest options for better thermals, a proven platform, and a drop-in heatsink, and for most buyers that premium is well worth it for the peace of mind.
Who It's Best For
The WD_BLACK SN850X with Heatsink is for the PS5 owner who wants a single, no-compromise storage upgrade and does not want to think about thermals, fit, or compatibility. Its drop-in heatsink, cool operation, and top-tier speed make it the most foolproof choice, and the frequent discounts on the 2TB model make it easy to recommend without reservation.
It is a slightly weaker pick only for the most budget-focused buyer, who can save with the Lexar NM790, or for someone chasing the highest benchmark number, where the Samsung 990 Pro wins on paper. But for the vast majority of PS5 upgraders weighing speed, thermals, fit, and value together, the SN850X is the best overall choice in this lineup.
Strengths
- +Top pick on Tom's Hardware's Best PS5 SSDs list with an Editor's Choice award
- +7,300 MB/s reads exceed Sony's PS5 requirement with margin
- +Runs cooler in PS5 testing than the Samsung 990 Pro
- +Bundled heatsink fits the PS5 expansion slot with room to spare
- +Excellent all-around value with frequent discounts on the 2TB model
Watch-outs
- −Slightly pricier than budget drives like the Lexar NM790
- −Heatsink/RGB option not available on the 4TB capacity
- −Peak speeds trail the Samsung 990 Pro on paper
- −RGB lighting is wasted inside a closed PS5
How it compares
The SN850X is the all-around PS5 pick, running cooler than the hotter-running Samsung 990 Pro while nearly matching it on speed. It is pricier than the budget Lexar NM790 and the value-oriented Crucial T500, and competes closely with the Seagate FireCuda 530R, but its combination of thermals, speed, and PS5-fit heatsink puts it first.
Who this is for
At a glance: PS5 owners who want the best-balanced, most reliable storage upgrade with a drop-in heatsink and cool operation.
Why you’d buy the WD_BLACK SN850X with Heatsink
- Top pick on Tom's Hardware's Best PS5 SSDs list with an Editor's Choice award.
- 7,300 MB/s reads exceed Sony's PS5 requirement with margin.
- Runs cooler in PS5 testing than the Samsung 990 Pro.
Why you’d skip it
- Slightly pricier than budget drives like the Lexar NM790.
- Heatsink/RGB option not available on the 4TB capacity.
- Peak speeds trail the Samsung 990 Pro on paper.
Rating sources
“The performance results placed the WD Black SN850X near the top of the charts and earned it a top spot on our Best SSDs for the PS5 list.”
“Fitting with room to spare, there's plenty of space for the heatsink to breathe.”
“A great match for the PlayStation 5; while it can be pricier than budget options, it's still the top pick.”
Our 4.6 score is the average of these published ratings. Ratings marked * were derived from the reviewer’s written analysis or video transcript — the publisher didn’t print an explicit numeric score, so we inferred one from their own words. Click through to verify. More about methodology.
