This is the SSD deal I’ve been waiting for. While prior Black Friday offers featuring 4TB versions of SN850X have proven tempting, I knew that the greater affordability of its lower capacity siblings would make for an irresistible bargain. Sure enough, the 2TB version of my favourite solid-state drive for gaming is now an absolute steal with a price that makes it the cheapest it’s been for all of 2024.
WD_BLACK SN850X 2TB
Battling out with the best consumer PCIe 4.0 SSDs available, WD Black SN850X is another fine contender. Read our review.
UK shoppers, take heed, as SN850X 2TB is currently 68% (£251.75) off on Amazon, making this titan of a drive cost a mere £119.99. Meanwhile, US bargain hunters have plenty to celebrate too with a 35% ($66.11) discount, for a final price of $123.88. Better still, should you fancy the SSD complete with built-in heatsink, you’ll only need to splash a further £10 / $10 to nab it.
Speaking from experience, SN850X 2TB makes for a reliable and nippy home for your data. With respective sequential read and write speeds of up to 7,300MB/s and 6,350MB/s, it should come as no surprise that loading times in games practically disappear.
It doesn’t buckle under pressure during prolonged use either, keeping its cool while under stress during large file transfers and other heavy workloads. While it will perform well sans heatsink, it’s best to pair it with passive cooling from your motherboard to enhance performance if you’re buying the standard drive.
Western Digital Dashboard also helps SN850X go the extra mile. Not only does the software provide firmware updates to your drive, but it also unlocks features such as overprovisioning that can help prolong its lifespan. However, with a 1,200 TBW endurance rating out of the box, longevity should never be a concern with this SSD. Should you need more peace of mind still, WD offers a five-year limited warranty on the drive.
SN850X 2TB was at the heart of my previous test system and I’d return to it in a heartbeat if I didn’t have the luxury of rocking a PCIe 5.0 drive. It’s a drive that handily caters to the demands of today’s games with room to spare, and I’ve little doubt it’ll fall behind the curve for many years to come.
