A new 1TB Xbox Series X comes with a $799.99 price tag, so investing in a brand-new console if your old Xbox needs more space for games is not the most financially sound option. As always, I'd much sooner recommend dusting your old console off with some upgraded storage, but that too can be a pricey endeavour with SSD prices fluctuating all the time.
At least Xbox hard drive options haven't taken as dramatic a hit when it comes to eye-watering price increases, and SanDisk's newly unveiled Optimus GX C50 Storage Expansion Cards are providing more opportunities to grab more affordable launch prices. The brand new cards are available in 512B, 1TB, and 2TB capacities for the Xbox Series X/S for $109.99 / £88.99, $199.99 / £177.99, and $339.99 / £249.99, according to the official SanDisk product page. There's no release date listed on SanDisk's site, but with alternatives like the 1TB WD - C50 sitting at $374.99 at Best Buy, grabbing these as soon as possible would be a wise (and cost-effective) move.
Xbox storage is a bit stranger than on other platforms. When it comes to the PS5, you can pretty much grab any SSD for gaming so long as it's a Gen 4 M.2 NVMe and you have a compatible heatsink attached to boost the game space of your Sony console. It doesn't need to be Sony-branded or designed with the PS5 in mind either. However, when it comes to the Xbox Series X/S, you're stuck with officially licensed options like Seagate's Storage Expansion Card or the WD_BLACK C50 Storage Expansion Card I mentioned above.
Why? Only Seagate and WD Black's branded cards provide the speeds and performance necessary to run Xbox games straight off the card. You can grab an external hard drive for additional storage, but storing games is all you can do. If you want to boost your onboard storage with additional space that you can actually run games from, you were limited to Seagate and WD Black's options, that was, until SanDisk unveiled its new Optimus GX C50 lineup. These new cards are designed to be optimized with Xbox's Velocity Architecture, utilize the console's Quick Resume tech, and come with a 5-year limited warranty.
Being limited to two brands' storage options isn't ideal, as naturally, you're limited to their pricing and availability. For example, the WD - C50 1TB I used as an example earlier is sitting at $175 more than the upcoming $199.99 (SanDisk) 1TB Optimus GX C50 Storage Expansion Card. If the cards remain at their introductory launch prices for a while, that should provide you with more affordable options to give your Xbox machine a boost.
However, I do think they're just that, introductory prices. While the official site lists their pricing, it's next to far higher MSRPs, which are scored out, which I can only assume is what they'll be listed for a week or even days after launch. With that in mind, I'd put your expectations in check that you're far more likely to see these new cards sitting at $137.99, $249.99, and $424.99 once they hit the online shelves.
Whenever that will be, I'm not too sure. However, I recommend signing up to be notified via the official SanDisk website or the SanDisk Optimus GX C50 Storage Expansion Card listing at Best Buy to keep tabs on its imminent drop. I'll be sure to let you know when they're available too.
- View all Xbox gaming storage at Amazon
For more storage options, check out our guides to the best Nintendo Switch 2 microSD Express Cards, the best SSDs for PS5, and the best SSDs for gaming.
