The Gen5 SSD offer is not as extensive as it should be for the most modern and fastest version of the solution, which completely monopolizes client storage in personal computers. The reasons are varied (including temperature issues), but maybe it just wasn’t necessary. Users don’t feel that the price/performance ratio is enough to make the leap, so manufacturers have had no pressure to upgrade to the latest.

But it’s always good to move forward, and the SSD we’re bringing you today, the PNY CS2150, expands the Gen5 SSD lineup and does so in a way that we can consider economical at current prices.

The unit comes in a standard format M.2 2280 which became massive and almost the only one used to connect to PCI-Express, because they still exist and are widely used in older devices connected to SATA. The drive supports the latest version of NVMe and features such as DirectStorage present in Windows 11, which speed up loading in games and improve image quality.

In terms of performance, the PNY CS2150 is among the basic Gen5 with a data transfer speed of up to 10,300 MB/s sequential read and 8,600 MB/s sequential write. Although not up to the speed of the fastest Gen5, they are more than enough features for any personal computer, and much more than any Gen4, which is limited to transfers of about 7 Gbytes per second.

The PNY CS2150 will have a five-year warranty and a high level of TBW that the typical user will not wear out over the lifetime of the unit. It will be available this December in two variants depending on storage capacity and at the following prices:

• 1TB: $109.99
• 2TB: $199.99