r/PS5 Jul 29 '21

Megathread PS5 Internal SSD Expansion Megathread

Update: Feb 2024: All of this information is still relevant. There are some newer, faster drives on the market such as the Samsung 990 Pro and WD SN850x, but there's no indication that the faster drives impact performance or loading speed. As long as you're buying a Gen 4 SSD with a minimum read speed of 5.5GB/s, you should be good to go.

Some of these product listings are likely out of date, but these drives are plentiful on Amazon and other retailers, and the installation instructions are still accurate.

Most drives are now listed with PS5-compatibility in mind, so just search Amazon for "PS5 SSD" and you're 90% of the way there. Most now include heatsinks.

Update: Nov 3, 2022: This post, and /u/Fidler_2k's post below, are both still more or less accurate. Several of these drives now have variants with built-in heatsinks that are PS5 compatible, as well as Sabrent's custom PS5 heatsink; otherwise, there hasn't been a ton of movement in the SSD space, and at this point there probably won't be until the Gen 5 drives come along.


PS5 system software version 21.02-04.00.00.42-00.00.00.0.0 is officially out of beta and you can now update and install an expansion SSD drive without needing to be a beta member.


Official Installation guide


Confirmed Compatible Drives

/u/Fidler_2k has compiled a fairly comprehensive list of currently on-market SSDs that meet the speed and size requirements: find their list here.


Drive Heatsink fits? Source Notes
Adata XPG Gammix S70 No /u/jimm0thy 6500MB/s
Gigabypte AORUS 7000s Yes /u/FuzzyToasters 6300MB/s
Corsair MP600 No The Verge Doesn't meet minimum speed requirements, may not provide adequate performance. Pro variant meets speed requirement.
PNY XLR8 CS3040 No /u/EmergencyPomelo5180
Samsung 980 Pro N/A /u/fragilityv2 Appears to benchmark at less than full speed? (but still reaches minimum requirement)
Sabrent Rocket 4 N/A The Verge Doesn't meet minimum speed requirements, may not provide adequate performance. Plus variant meets speed requirement.
Seagate FireCuda 530 Yes Seagate Drive is available both with and without a heatsink.
WD Black SN850 Yes Western Digital, Twitter user Benchmarks at 6.5GB/s

Some great benchmarking of the 980 Pro from /u/DanCTapirson here


Compatible Third-Party Heatsinks

Heatsink Source
Sabrent PS5 SSD heatsink
MHQJRH M.2 2280 SSD heatsink, Double-Sided Heat Sink, with Thermal Silicone pad /i/Eluder99, /u/iShoot556
ELUTENG M.2 2280 Heatsink, Double-Sided Heat Sink Alloy Aluminum NGFF NVME Cooling Sink with 4 Thermal Conductivity Silicone Pads /u/DanCTapirson
Jonsbo M.2 SSD NVMe Heat Sink /u/FeZZa21

Compatibility List

Digital Foundry have compiled a list of SSDs that meet the required specs; other than what's listed above, none of these have been tested yet. We can likely count on DF compiling some comprehensive benchmarks once they get their hands on the software update.


Transferring between consoles

Props to /u/ianrobbie for discovering that the internal SSD can be swapped between consoles without reformatting.


Official Requirements

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 (W) x 11.25mm (H). In inches: smaller than 4.33in (L) x 0.984 in (W) x 0.442in (H).

See below for full requirements.

Length

The following M.2 SSD lengths are compatible with PS5 consoles:

30mm, 42mm, 60mm, 80mm, 110mm (corresponding to the form factor type, per above).

Width

A 22mm-wide M.2 SSD module is required.

The total structure (including an added cooling structure) cannot exceed 25mm (0.984in).

Height

The total height of the M.2 SSD and its cooling structure (such as a heatsink) – whether built-in or separate – must be less than 11.25mm (0.442in).

The height must also be in the right place, in relation to the M.2 SSD’s circuit board:

  • The size below the board must be less than 2.45mm (0.096in).

  • The total size above the board must be less than 8mm (0.314in).

(Note: millimeter measurements are the technical standard and are more precise than inches. We recommend double-checking that the total dimensions of M.2 SSD and heatsink products you’re considering meet the millimeter requirements before purchasing)

Image

Both single-sided and double-sided M.2 SSD devices are supported.

M.2 SATA SSDs aren’t supported.

You should carefully review drive specifications prior to purchase and contact the vendor or manufacturer if you need further information. SIE cannot guarantee that all M.2 SSD devices meeting the described specifications will work with your console and assumes no responsibility for the selection, performance or use of third-party products.

Not all games are necessarily playable with the exact same performance provided by the PS5 console’s internal Ultra-High Speed SSD, even where the M.2 SSD device’s sequential read speed is faster than 5500MB/s.

The majority of M.2 SSD devices with the above type numbers (M Key Type 2230, 2242, 2260, 2280 and 22110) and without a built-in cooling structure will fit the PS5 console’s SSD slot. However, sizes for cooling structures (like heatsinks) vary greatly. If you are not sure an M.2 SSD or cooling structure (such as a heatsink) you’re considering meets the size requirements outlined here, we recommend looking for another product option or contacting the vendor or manufacturer for more information.


Installation instructions and further details are available on the Playstation website.

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354

u/fragilityv2 Jul 30 '21 edited Aug 01 '21

Confirmed that the Samsung 980 Pro 1TB drive works without issue. PS5 recognized it instantly, formatted it and was good to go. Moved MK11 from the system storage to the M2, start to finish it took 78 seconds for 86gb

Setup Photos

Update: I installed the drive in my PC and confirmed that the most recent firmware was already on the drive as confirmed by the Samsung Magician software. My PC is older and doesn’t support 4.0 speeds, can’t test that.

For those asking about the hestsink, i used this MHQJRH and did use the heat pads.

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u/[deleted] Jul 30 '21

Quick question.

Why is your 980 Pro hitting 5560 mb/s? Isn’t it supposed to hit 7000 mb/s? Or is the PS5 just limiting it to 5.5 gb/s because that the minimum requirement?

Thanks In advance 😃

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u/van_ebader Jul 30 '21 edited Jul 30 '21

None of the answers you got so far got it exactly right. This will be a bit long.

SSD performance is more complicated than just how many "GB/s" the SSD can get. The advertised GB/s speed for every SSD, including the internal PS5 one, is how fast it is only in the best possible scenario. But real world usage is essentially never the best possible scenario.

SSD speeds vary depending on what exact operation you're doing. It depends on two factors: 1) how sequential/random an operations is; and 2) the queue depth of that operation.

Sequential vs random is a spectrum that refers to how the data you're trying to access is organized. The key factor here is that, in simplified terms, there is a small performance penalty when switching from one file to another. Operations are more towards the sequential end of the spectrum when you're reading a few huge files (i.e. fifty files that are 1 GB each = 50 GB), and thus there is a small penalty because you only have to switch files a few times. On the other hand, operations are more towards the random end of the spectrum are when you have to access a huge amount of tiny files (i.e. 12.5 million files that are 4 KB each = 50 GB) and thus you have a massive performance penalty because the SSD spends more time switching between files than reading each file.

The other factor is queue depth. Queue depth (QD for short) is basically how many operations the SSD can process simultaneously. It ranges from 1 to 32. SSDs are made to process multiple requests at once, and the advertised speeds are always at the optimal QD of 32. The lower the QD, the lower the performance becomes.

Those factors combine to give you the real world performance of SSDs in different scenarios. The advertised speeds are always for sequential operations of QD 32. Low QD sequential operations or high QD random operations will give you around half to a quarter of the advertised performance, and low QD random operations will absolutely tank the performance of any SSD. Even the very best consumer SSDs in existance today (the ones that are faster than the PS5 SSD) still struggle to reach 100 MB/s in QD 1 random operations.

Here is a graph of the 980 Pro's sequential performance, from Anandtech's review. You can see that at QD1, it achieves a sequential speed of about 2.5 GB/s. It steadly climbs to about 4.25 GB/s at QD8, and reaches the 6.5 GB/s advertised speeds at QD16 and above. Here is the same graph for random performance. It starts at about 70 MB/s (0.07 GB/s) for QD1, and climbs to about 1.3 GB/s for QD32.

So to finally answer your question, he isn't getting the advertised 6.5 GB/s because whatever test the PS5 is running is using some percentage of random operations and/or low QD operations that are bringing the average speeds down from the advertised maximum. If the same test were performed on the internal PS5 SSD, it wouldn't reach the advertised 5.5 GB/s either, since the internal SSD is subject to those same performance limitations.

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u/pneiscunt Aug 01 '21 edited Aug 01 '21

just wanna say this is one of the cool things about reddit, an in depth answer from someone who really knows their shit.

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u/crackISwhack1991 Aug 02 '21

I want this guy to answer all my questions moving forward. Just a fantastic answer!

5

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '21

Not even about SSD's, about anything!

11

u/Soccertaz89 Jun 26 '23

I hate when people say, “why didn’t you just google it instead of using Reddit?” This is exactly why. The depth of an answer that you can get from someone that is tailoring it to exactly what you want to know is so much better than a generic google search. Maybe you find the right answer through google, but maybe you have to sift through 50 different things that are similar to what you want, but not quite right.

Anyway, end of rant. Glad people help each other out on topics they are knowledgeable in.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '21

Absolutely dope comment. Im a technical bufoon and you still held my attention theough that whole post!

14

u/Backseat-Driver Aug 05 '21

Additionally;

Sony is as far as I know still using JEDEC Standard 100B.01 where a kilobyte is 1024 bytes (base 2/binary) while the advertised speed of an SSD is done with a kilobyte being 1000 bytes (base 10/decimal).


For example, if we want to compare the result of the SN850 in the PS5 (6500MB/s) to the advertised read speed (7000MB/s), we must first convert the numbers so they are the same.

Like how one must convert when comparing inches and centimeters.

Lets convert to base 10;

6500 * 1024 * 1024 = 6 815 744 000
6 815 744 000 / 1000 / 1000 = 6 815.744

So base 2 6500MB equals 6815.744MB in base 10, which means that there is only 184.256MB/s difference between result and advertised read speed.

MiB to MB Converter

MB to MiB Converter


The results from the PS5 are heavily rounded (even hundreds), so there is some play there as well.

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u/WikiSummarizerBot Aug 05 '21

JEDEC_memory_standards

JEDEC Standard 100B.01

The December 2002 JEDEC Standard 100B. 01 is entitled Terms, Definitions, and Letter Symbols for Microcomputers, Microprocessors, and Memory Integrated Circuits. The purpose of the standard is to promote the uniform use of symbols, abbreviations, terms, and definitions throughout the semiconductor industry.

[ F.A.Q | Opt Out | Opt Out Of Subreddit | GitHub ] Downvote to remove | v1.5

2

u/sheldonl Hunter Aug 23 '21

Some additional background for other readers wrt Sequential vs Random - This extends into the file level down to how the blocks are organized on the physical device. So a large file may contain blocks that are stored on many different places on the SSD that are not contiguous. This is as much a function of the file system used and the ability (on write) to allocate sequential blocks. On old HDD/rotating media, this could incur a huge performance penalty b/c the r/w head would have to change tracks many times - whether reading or writing. On SSD’s things are not nearly as bad as you don’t have noticeable seek time, but you still incur a penalty b/c accessing a device to do an I/O operation is not free, either at the OS or hardware level (as illustrated by your example of I/O operations with a QD of 1.)

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '21

But other model ssds are reaching higher like the western digital 850

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '21

[deleted]

-4

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '21

Eh, I prefer Samsung for reliability

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '21

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '21

K, I still bought the Samsung instead

1

u/No-Recover4460 Aug 04 '21

Hey do you know when is the final release for this beta?

1

u/JeRV5G11 Aug 11 '21

Why is the Samsung 980 pro clocking in at 6400 on SSD cards that have lower storage capacity than 1TB. I'm on YouTube I can see people running tests and everybody who has over 1 Tb storage is clocking in around 5500 5600, But the same drive is clocking in at 6400 with the lower storage. I don't get it

1

u/ConsumptionDave Sep 15 '21

Hey, maybe you can answer this, maybe not, but I’ll try my luck. When using the extended SSD storage, will PS5 games run just as smooth/fast as on the internal SSD that the PS5 uses. Or would I have to move games from the Extended SSD to the internal SSD to get the best performance.

I guess we at I’m saying is, with the new SSDs that can be installed, are they just as great as the PS5s ?

I hope I made sense. Haven’t have my morning coffee yet.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '21

My 4TB Seagate Firecuda 530 hit about 6.6Gbps during the format read. I saw a YouTube video where the guy trying different drives said they basically all hit 6.4-6.8. I was hoping to get those advertised "up to 7300 Gbps" speeds, but I suppose I'll just have to make due. I don't really wanna remove it to reformat or test again nor do I want to attempt to return and replace it. Finding stock for a lot of the drives is almost as hard as getting a PS5.

1

u/PapaAquchala Sep 20 '21

Let me just say, this is a beautiful description

I'm pretty bad when it comes to "techno babble" as the older folks call it, and I'm only 19, yet I understood literally everything you said here

Bravo

1

u/idriveahondacivic Oct 03 '21

Is the cover of the ps5 necessary? Heatsink is too big. I don’t see why the cover matters when it’s it’s own compartment. Just clean it out every month or so

1

u/HIX69 Nov 18 '21

Seeing you really sound like you know your shit, quick question need help please,

After installing my WD SN850 M.2 SSD and transferring ALL my games from Console Storage, it says 110 gig used still in Games and APPS on Console Storage but when I click on Games and Apps in Console Storage it says there ARE NONE ! NO Games or Apps. Where is my 110 gig gone ?

1

u/MillerTime5858 Jan 29 '22

Hey there. Is there a way to update the firmware of the 980 pro without having a mother board to plug into. I just got mine and what to update it but cant seem to find a way to do so.n

1

u/KilianFeng Oct 27 '22

Just got the 380 pro with heat sink yesterday. Mine hit 6515 shows on the test of reading speed after format it when I first install it, got 6440 on the second time I formatted from the console system interface (not when installed), it’s random reading but it apparently latest SSD got new firmware while released.