SANDISK - 2TB Optimus GX PRO 850X PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 2280 NVMe SSD

This Sandisk Optimus GX PRO storage is the perfect solution for the PC owner who needs a fast, reliable, and easy to install storage upgrade for their gaming needs. This 2TB SSD arrived neatly packaged, and was well protected during transit. Before ordering, I made sure the device I would be upgrading used this particular type of storage drive. Once I carefully removed it from the package, I was ready to start my install. I have a ROG Xbox Ally handheld, which has a stock storage capacity of 512gb. By utilizing some online guides and resources, I was able to removed the stock storage, and install this upgrade from Sandisk, with very little trouble. After a multi-step set up process to reinstall Windows on the ROG, it appeared that the Sandisk install was a success. I then downloaded most of my Steam and Xbox game library to my ROG, and I noticed that the download speeds did seem to be faster with this storage. After spending some time playing some games, including some demanding titles like Cyberpunk 2077, I can confidently say that this upgrade from Sandisk has been awesome for my needs. Load times are quick, and I absolutely love having the extra storage in my device. Before this, I was utilizing a 1TB SD card; I found that some games do not do well being loaded from an SD card, basically ensuring that you need to install these demanding titles on the internal SSD. Because of this upgrade, I've installed all of my regular go-games, and still have a huge amount of space left on the SSD. Just to note, after install, the total size of this SSD was 1.81 TB. While not the full 2 TB, there is always some variation of actual size, and this is still a MASSIVE upgrade from the stock 512gb. Overall, I am thrilled with the performance of this SSD from Sandisk, and it is pretty easy to install, which will also depend on what device you choose to use it is. Just be sure to check the specs to ensure you are ordering the right type of device. If you're looking for a high performance SSD for your gaming PC or handheld, look no further than the Sandisk Optimus GX PRO. 5 stars all the way!

The Sandisk Optimus GX Pro 850X NVM2 SSD is fast. Faster than my other M.2 drives. Installation is standard, you need a 2280 size slot, slip it in and secure it to your motherboard. I used windows, it was recognized right away and formatting it for use was easy. 2TB is large enough to hold an OS and games or large media files with ease. I used my Asus gaming laptop and ran the 3D Mark SSD benchmark against 3 drives. The picture attached shows the results. Overall the Sandisk did better than a Samsung 980 Pro and a WD PC SN740. For gaming it came out on top for access and bandwidth speed. This is just one test, but in the same M.2 slot, the Sandisk was consistent. No issues with overheating in the laptop either. It also comes with a 5 year warranty. The drive boasts a 7,300MB/s Sequential Read Performance per Sandisk. The size and speed of the stick is impressive and great for gaming. This is my first Sandisk M.2, and it so far it’s great and at least on par with any other similar drives out there.

I’m very happy with this little SSD with 2TB of storage - more than I need at the moment, with room to grow. While it doesn’t have any fancy heat sinks or showy elements, its slim profile ended up being appreciated as it it was easily able to slot into a somewhat hard to access m2 slot in my machine that was partially obstructed by a graphics card. In terms of speed, it’s a beast. While very similar to another speedy SSD I own, it’s fantastic to gain two more terabytes space at high speeds and an advertised endurance rating of up to 4,800 TBW. Only time will tell how well it holds up, but I haven’t had an SSD fail in over a decade, so I can only assume Sandisk’s quality will last here too. Either way, the 5 year warranty is fantastic to have for the extra assurance. Setup was simple, after finding my remaining m2 slot, it popped it in within about 30 seconds. If you’re like me, my pre-built PC didn’t come with extra screws for securing these drives, so I had previously bought some extras for doing small upgrades like this. This drive will not come with any either, so it’s always a good thing to check that you have what you need before this arrives. Like I mentioned above, I had initially worried I might need to remove my graphics card to slot this into my last m2 slot (every computer varies) but I was happily surprised that since this model is so flat/slim, I still had room to install it without removing anything. Overall, this is a fantastic speedy drive with great capacity for all of my upcoming games. I love being able to have all of my content on SSDs now. My machine is has no more bottlenecks, love it!

This drive is a great addition to my HP Omen 35L gaming desktop. The Omen came with a 1TB M.2 drive and with the addition of the Optimus GX PRO, I now have 3TB worth of space. I use the Sandisk to store my games. This keeps them all together in the same place, and keeps the SSD with the operating system and normal additional programs separate. The 850X NVMe SSD is available in different capacities (1TB, 2TB, 4TB and 8TB). You can also get it with a heatsink or without. Mine does not have the heatsink but it's located above the GPU on the motherboard and has plenty of ventilation. If you're wondering how much capacity 2TB buys you, I currently have 13 games installed on this SSD. These are all large installs with titles like the last three DOOM games, the last three Tomb Raider games, several Star Wars games and four Resident Evil games. So, with 13 games like this installed, I've only used 816GB of space. For me, this size works well and gives me plenty of room to grow my collection. It was very easy to install, nothing tricky or unique about it. It's a standard M.2 2280 size, so it should fit in a wide variety of machines. Worked flawlessly from installation. Smooth and fast when loading games and levels. I never saw any loading issues. Sandisk includes a 5-year warranty with this drive. Another nice thing is that Sandisk also offers a free desktop app for download. Sandisk Dashboard shows info about the SSD like Drive Health, Capacity, Interface Speed and Temperature. It also shows a performance section that gives you some useful tools and optimizations, and has links to Windows drive settings along with a link to register a new Sandisk product. The specs on this drive are really good. PCIe Gen 4.0 is (at the time of this review) the standard for fast gaming machines. The Gen 4.0 version ensures things like 7000-7500 Mbps sequential read speeds over 4 lanes. This is important if you're installing this drive into a newer machine with a fast processor that can fully utilize all the fast features of this drive. If you're planning to use it in an older machine, make sure you look up the machines PCIe specs. While the SSD will fit and work in a standard 2280 slot on the motherboard, if your machine only has the PCIe 3.0 spec, you'll be leaving half the features on the table (so to speak). It will run, but only at PCIe 3.0 speeds. I suspect that most reasonably modern gaming machines will include the 4.0 standard, so this is just something to keep in mind. Anyway, my experience with this SSD has been 100% positive. The price of any NVMe SSD these days is ridiculously expensive, so for Sandisk to include a 5 year warranty is at least something for your peace of mind. Combined with being able to get it with or without a heatsink and at a bunch of different capacities is something that makes this drive series appeal to a wide audience. The Sandisk Dashboard is also a cool way to monitor the health of your drive.

An SSD stick may not be as sexy as a huge monitor or sick mechanical keyboard, but when it comes to playability that’s where performance actually comes from. Besides RAM, a great performing stick is crucial to having a good gaming experience. But the San Disk Optimus GX Pro isn’t just for gamers – anyone who wants a great performing SSD from a name you can trust will find this to be a great value. I’ve been using SanDisk products since the late 1990’s starting with memory cards and USB flash drives to RAM and internal storage and I still have some SanDisk products from back then that are STILL working. So, I feel confident in recommending the brand. And the drive itself is a solid performer; it came extremely close to it’s stated read and write specs in my benchmark tests, so there’s no complaints there. This stick is fast; I’ve been testing it with the latest version of Ubuntu and opening apps and games are near instantaneous with short load times. Unfortunately, this powerhouse of a drive comes at a premium price and even though BB has this at the lowest price among competitors, at this price you are starting to close on PCIe 5.0 drives, which would nearly double your read/write speeds. It is an incredible drive that I am fortunate to be testing, don’t get me wrong. But if I am being honest, you can find some great mid-tier drives at a price the average or casual gamer could better afford. You’re really up against the limits of 4.0 technology here – the Optimus is close to pushing the threshold here so if you could move to a 5.0 drive setup, it might be wiser to spend your money there. But if you want one of the absolute best 4.0 SSDs for gaming/content creation or any other high burst application like AI work, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better alternative – if you can afford it. I would recommend SanDisk in general and this SSD specifically with that caveat.