If you’re in the beta program for PS5 firmware, then you’re finally able to upgrade the hard drive space of you’re PlayStation 5. This is a feature touted prior to the release of the console and a great way to supplement the relatively small amount of space available on the system.
The real issue to think about now is the speed of those M.2 SSDs that are available to purchase and which ones should go into your system. For reference, these are the recommended specs from Sony.
- Interface: PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD
- Capacity: 250GB – 4TB
- Cooling structure: Using an M.2 SSD with your PS5 console requires effective heat dissipation with a cooling structure, such as a heatsink. You can attach one to your M.2 SSD yourself, either in a single-sided format, or double-sided format. There are also M.2 SSDs that have cooling structures (such as heatsinks) built in.
- Sequential read speed: 5,500MB/s or faster is recommended
- Module width: 22mm width (25mm width is not supported)
- Form Factor: M.2 type 2230, 2242, 2260, 2280 and 22110.
These numbers can be found on retail listings for M.2 SSD devices. The first two digits refer to the width, the remaining digits to the length. - Socket type: Socket 3 (Key M)
- Total size including cooling structure:
In millimeters: smaller than 110mm (L) x 25mm
x 11.25mm (H).
In inches: smaller than 4.33in (L) x 0.984 in x 0.442in (H).
Source : Sony
I don’t think that anyone who really cares about loading speed should settle for a 5,500MB/s M.2 drive. It doesn’t seem fast enough and we should all try to focus on the 7,000MB/s drives on the market, which there are only a few right now. Extra speed is needed to compensate for this storage solution not being as integrated into the hardware as the onboard SSD, so if you’re simply going with the lowest recommended speed you’re bound to see slower load times on the titles that utilize this feature.
They also recommend using a heatsink for your SSD, which isn’t that big of a deal. These can easily be added by the consumer, although certain drives do come with build on heatsinks. I have noticed in the days following Mark Cerny’s recommendation on the drive he bought for his PS5 that the price of that drive has gone up significantly. It seems that a lot of gamers were waiting to upgrade their storage. Although, I currently see the 1TB model, without heatsink, going for 199.99 USD, which is cheaper than the Microsoft offer (you still need the heatsink though).
I think I’m going to wait for a 2TB drive at 7,000MB/s to get around the 300$ mark or so before I invest in this. I am pretty good at finishing games and just deleting them so it’s not too much of a struggle for me now. And if I do add storage, I want it to be at least 2TB so that I don’t have to think about upgrading it again during this lifecycle.
Ghost Ba Bomb 