PlayStation 5 lead architect Mark Cerny shares his 7,000 MB/s SSD of choice for his personal PS5 console

There has been a long wait for PS5 owners in regard to an official list of internal SSDs that are compatible with the console. While some details about the potential SSD selection have already been shared, it seems Mark Cerny himself had his eye on a Western Digital drive that wasn’t included on a recent list of alleged compatible NVMe SSDs. The PS5’s lead architect apparently splashed out on the WD Black SN850 (stylized as WD_BLACK SN850) with heatsink.

Cerny posted about his purchase decision on Twitter, gleefully sharing this comment with followers: “Couple of awesome options for 7,000 MB/s, ended up putting my $$ down on this one. Going to be SWEEET!!!”. Obviously he had been tempted by another model from another brand (Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus or Samsung 980 Pro perhaps?) but it was the WD Black SN850 that finally got the purchase seal of approval for the executive’s personal PS5.

The WD Black SN850 series starts with a 500 GB option (4,100 MB/s write + 7,000 MB/s read) and continues through the range with 1 TB (5,300 MB/s write + 7,000 MB/s read) up to a 2 TB SKU (5,100 MB/s write + 7,000 MB/s read). The PCIe Gen 4 M.2 drive costs from US$149.99 for the 500 GB unit without heatsink and goes up to US$549.99 for the 2 TB drive with heatsink.

These are the prices from the official Western Digital store, but there are offers to be had with other retailers for those willing to look harder. No doubt PS5 owners will soon be snapping up WD Black SN850 drives in their droves thanks to Cerny’s personal choice.

Buy the WD Black SN850 on Amazon