This new WD Blue SSD is designed with creators in mind, but its $56.99 price is calling my name

SanDisk just unveiled the WD Blue SN5100 NVMe SSD, a brand-new Gen 4 drive and a follow-up to the brand's WD Blue SN5000 range aimed at content creators. Better yet, its starting price is only $56.99.

The older WD Blue SSDs have remained a fixture of our best SSD for gaming guide ever since we got our hands on one, with our hardware team's own Duncan Robertson stating its 4TB model was a "cheat code for gamers," looking for storage space without compromising on price or speed. However, SanDisk boasts that this newly upgraded model is "30% faster" than the previous drives, thanks in part to its up to 7,100 MB/s and 6,700 MB/s read and write speeds,

WD Blue SN5100 NVMe SSD - 500GB | $54.99 at SanDisk (Was $56.99)
The new WD Blue SN5100 SSD is a PCIe Gen 4.0 drive that boasts read and write speeds up to 7,100 MB/s and 6,700 MB/s (for the 1TB-2TB models). Starting today, it's available as a non-heatsink model with capacities of 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB, with a 4TB model on its way.

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Just like most Gen 4 SSDs available today, this drive can be easily slotted into the M.2 drive of your gaming PC. Or, into the back of your Sony console like the best PS5 SSDs if you have a compatible heatsink at the ready. However, SanDisk has designed this drive not with just gaming in mind, but to "accelerate your AI-enabled workflow" and provide content creators with "blistering speeds" when dealing with large amounts of data.

These new impressive speeds are achieved thanks to the use of SanDisk's new nCache 4.0 tech. If that sounds like a bunch of gobbledygook, I don't blame you. It basically means that this new SSD has a different method of how it manages the way data is written to the drive.

As someone who doesn't dabble in AI applications and is strictly looking at the SSD from a gaming perspective, it's really the price that's alluring me most to this new drive.

SSDs can be pretty pricey, especially at launch, so it's a breath of fresh air to see a 500GB drive available for as little as $56.99 upon release, even if it's not a heatsink model. Grabbing just 500GB isn't personally enough for my gaming needs, especially as the storage demands of the latest AAA games are getting worse every day, but even the $82.99 MSRP for the 1TB version has caught my attention, especially given that other speedy drives have launched at over $100 at least.

The SN5100 is available today and starts from $56.99 at SanDisk for the 500GB model, $82.99 for the 1TB, $155.99 for the 2TB, and $299.99 for the 4TB model - the largest capacity the drive is available in so far. Even better, the official SanDisk website has lowered the prices to just $54.99, $79.99, and $149.99, respectively, so they're even cheaper for a limited time.

You'll have to wait a bit longer if you have your eyes set on the 4TB version, but you can sign up on the SanDisk website to be notified of its pending arrival at the online store.

• View all gaming SSD deals at Amazon
• Samsung SSD 9100 PRO 2TB: $199.99 at Amazon (Was $239.99)
• WD BLACK 1TB SN8100 NVMe SSD: $159 at Amazon (Was $179.99)

Prefer some portable storage? Our guides to the best PS5 external hard drives, the best Xbox Series X hard drives, and the best Xbox One external hard drives are full of speedy drives you can take on the go.