The finest PS5 SSDs will upgrade your Sony console’s capacity while preserving lightning-fast load and transfer times, transforming it into a true gaming library. After accounting for the OS, firmware, and several console upgrades, Sony’s basic storage provides you with about 667GB of room. That’s still a respectable sum, but not in comparison to the expanding file sizes of contemporary games.
Install sizes for games like Ghost of Tsushima, NBA 2K22, and The Last of Us 2 are all edging closer to triple digits in gigabytes. Furthermore, that is increasingly the norm. Expect game sizes to increase as this console generation goes on, which will cause your 667GB of storage to be quickly used up by a small portion of your game library. The majority of your digital and disc-based games may be kept installed on your PS5 without too much trouble because to Sony’s current allowance of up to 4TB of additional storage being placed into the system. Thankfully, increasing your PS5 storage is quick and simple.
The greatest SSD storage solutions for the PS5 are now available, therefore we’ve done some of the research for you in finding them. Moreover, you can refer to our helpful tutorial to learn how to install an M.2 SSD in a PS5.
What are the best PS5 SSDs?
The Western Digital Black SN850 is now the top PS5 SSD due to its quick random read/write performance and reliable sequential read/write rates across all capacities. Although there are faster SSDs on the market, the WD Black SN850 boasts an unbeatable price to performance ratio. Although its endurance isn’t the finest we’ve seen, it’s still more than enough for the job at hand and should satisfy the vast majority of gamers for at least a decade.
The FireCuda 530 from Seagate, which combines quick read/write speeds with up to 4TB of capacity and robust endurance to create a very powerful SSD for the PS5, is a strong choice. The FireCuda 530 is a well-balanced powerhouse with sequential read and write speeds of up to 7,000MB/s and 6,900MB/s, respectively, and it will keep up with the PS5’s inbuilt SSD when it comes to installing or loading games. The 4TB option’s price, which can cost up to $999, is, however, its major flaw.
THE BEST SSD FOR PS5
The WD Black SN850
One of the first SSDs that satisfy Sony’s PS5 compatibility standards was the Western Digital Black SN850, and it is still one of your best alternatives for increasing capacity. Your games will open and load faster thanks to the SN850’s excellent mix between sequential read/write and random read/write performance. If you’re looking for top performance, the 1TB model offers the best read/write speeds, although all versions come with a heatsink option that, despite being more expensive, can be installed right out of the box.
The WD Black SN850 SSD’s relatively low SSD endurance is a drawback. Western Digital’s SSD lifespan isn’t going to be very impressive in comparison to other choices on our selection. But, while these statistics look little, they still indicate a sizable window of applicability. Using the smallest capacity model (500GB / 300TBW) as an example, you would need to write more than 150GB of data to the disk each day for five years to maximize the SSD’s lifespan. Another plus for Western Digital’s vivacious SSD is that it gets the personal endorsement of PS5 chief system architect Mark Cerny.
Seagate FireCuda 530 Heatsink
The Seagate FireCuda 530 is one of the most well-liked solutions for expanding your PS5’s capacity. Not only does it offer some of the quickest sequential read/write speeds of any PS5 compatible SSD, but the FireCuda 530 also boasts the best lifespans we’ve encountered. The FireCuda 530 doubles the longevity of comparable SSDs like the WD Black SN850 or Samsung 980 Pro throughout the 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB configurations. With an endurance of up to 5100TBW, the drive’s lifespan would be reached if you wrote about 2.8TB of data to it every day for the full five-year guarantee period.
The Seagate FireCuda 530 offers up to 4TB of storage, which is the maximum amount currently permitted by Sony, making it one of the highest-capacity SSDs that are PS5-ready out of the box. Although the size of the SSD and heatsink has increased due to the capacity increase, the FireCuda 530 will still fit the PS5 expansion port without difficulty and will keep the double-sided SSD cool even during extended periods of play. Its height ranges from 9.84 to 11.04mm.
Aorus 7000s by Gigabyte
The Gigabyte Aorus 7000s will provide you good performance, especially as the 2TB model’s sequential write speed of 6,850 MB/s virtually matches the sequential read speed of 7,000 MB/s. With a lifespan of up to 1,400TBW, or 750GB+ every day over the course of the five-year warranty, drive endurance is also strong.
Because the Aorus 7000s already has a heatsink attached, you won’t need to make any modifications before attaching it to your PS5. The SSD’s profile is increased by the heatsink, bringing it up to the 11.25mm height restriction. While that’s still within the permissible measurements put out by Sony, the heatsink is changeable and a smaller one can be used in its stead if preferred. Nonetheless, the aluminum heatsink with nanocarbon coating is more than capable of functioning on its own and shouldn’t affect your PS5 system.
Patriot Viper VP4300
If you want an SSD that strikes a good balance between performance and durability, the Patriot Viper VP4300 is one of the best options available. It boasts some of the fastest sequential read rates in the industry, with both the 1TB and 2TB models supporting speeds of up to 7,400MB/s. The 2TB model also dazzles in the opposite way, with sequential write speeds of up to 6,800MB/s. When it comes to sequential performance, this sort of performance comfortably places the Patriot Viper VP4300 at the top of our list, although average random write/read speeds do take some of the shine off of its otherwise excellent performance.
The VP4300 can easily withstand more than a terabyte of data written to the drive every day for the duration of its five-year guarantee before its lifetime is up thanks to a significant lifespan of up to 2,000TBW. The Patriot Viper VP4300 is a great no-fuss option for individuals looking for a quick SSD that will last for years because, like our other listed goods, it comes with a heatsink and is only 8mm tall, far below the 11.25mm height limit.
Conclusion
SSDs need to have a heat-dissipation device, such as a heatsink, in order to be compatible. If you select an SSD with a heatsink, it must not be taller than 2.25 millimeters beneath the M.2 SSD and 8 millimeters above the SSD in order to accommodate the expansion slot. There are various SSDs available that use a heatsink that are too tall to fit inside Sony’s required dimensions, but nothing is keeping you from removing the heatsink and replacing it with a smaller one (if the model of SSD allows for it).
