If you are a console gamer, one of the problems that will surely have often occurred to you, especially with the advent of the latest generation, is running out of available memory.
Even with increasingly larger hard drives, as technologies evolve the weight of the most famous titles increases inexorably, forcing players to make constant choices (more or less forced and painful) on which titles to keep ready for action.
Luckily for some time now Our consoles are designed so that the memory can be easily expandedeven more so since the very fast and practical SSD memories have entered the market.
Numerous manufacturers already present for years in the sector, such as Western Digital (recently merged with SanDisk), have brought their own solutions to the market, and today we will examine one of them, namely the WD_BLACK SN850X NVMefrom here on SN850X.
If the name suggests something to you, you are absolutely right: in fact it is an updated version of the previous card SN850Xwith the only difference being in this case The Sony certification that made the previous version an official PlayStation product is missing. Let's go into detail and discover the SN850X.
Unboxing of the SN850X NVMe
The official packaging of this SN850X does not differ much from what we have seen previously: a black cardboard package with a photo of the SSD highlights and the list of features, with the most important ones in orange.
In our case, the version provided for the review is the entry level version from 1TBbut The SN850X is also available in 2 and 4 TB versions. To keep in mind, in case you want to install the memory on PlayStation 5 is that both the 1TB and 2TB versions are available in the version with Heatsinkuseful for avoiding overheating and keeping our precious console protected (but only in the case of prolonged games with particularly heavy games).
In fact, it could happen that in the absence of the heatsink, during particularly demanding gaming sessions, the SSD gets warm; the widespread fear is that in the long run this could cause damage to the console, but these are sporadic cases limited in time.
Returning to the presentation, the package simply contains our SSD in a plastic casing and a short manual; nothing else, and in fact we don't need anything else.
As for the SN850X it is a fairly standard card, as we would expect and if you pay attention it is marked Western Ditigal That SanDisk an element which, considering the fame of the two brands, gives us the certainty of a quality product.
Performance
In this case it is necessary to make an appropriate distinction regarding the purpose of use of the SN850X depending on the hardware on which we will mount it.
As already said, it is a product without Sony imprintingbut having PlayStation 5 a standard connector (unlike Xbox) is perfectly possible to use it after an installation that takes a few minutes.
Clearly, with this use we will lose some peculiarities of the SSD, it being understood that use on a console is obviously different.
In fact, used on PC, SN850X It has a maximum writing speed of 7300 MBs which on consoles drops to 6280 MBs; not that that's a problem since it's still enough speed to, say, move a 150GB game in a couple of minutes.
This speed means that the titles installed in our SSD start very quickly: Horizon Forbidden West it starts up in less than a minute, while for old gen titles it is also enough 10 seconds to find yourself back in the game.
However, when used on consoles, some integrated functions that can be used using the appropriate software are lost; among them we find the Game 2.0 modewhich allows us to modify some parameters which therefore overlap with the preset game mode and all the parameters we need to monitor the operation of the SSD through temperature monitoring, data exchanged in real time, etc.
Whatever the intended use, Western Digital guarantees the long-term functionality of its product; in fact we have a lot at our disposal 5 year warranty with a maximum calculated by the manufacturer 600 TBW writing.
Installation on PlayStation 5
Since we talked about installing SN850X, you might be interested in knowing how to do it; if you don't feel like a geek and don't get excited about the idea of getting your hands on your precious one PlayStation 5know that assembly is quick and very simple since Sony has provided a slot for additional memoryaccessible without having to open the console completely.
Once you have removed any vertical support, all you have to do is put the Playstation on a stable surface with the reader at the top (ultimately the side with the logo must be face down). At this point just pull it slightly to the right faceplate of the console and remove it as if you wanted to replace it; once the plate is removed you will have exposed the side of the PlayStation where the fan is located, a little further to the left (you can find the photos for reference) there is the memory expansion slot.
With a Phillips screwdriver you can easily remove the cover and the locking screw; with the field free, all you have to do is fit the SSD into the access door and screw in the locking screw that you removed earlier.
The hardware installation is complete: to make the new memory operational it must be turned on the console that automatically recognizes the installed hardware and will ask you to format it. Once the process is complete, everything is ready to play.
SN850X NVMe It can be purchased on Amazon in its 1TB, 2TB and 4TB versions.
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