This past week Sony issued a long-awaited update for the PlayStation 5 that unlocked the console's hardware functionality, allowing for storage expansion via an M.2 SSD card. The only problem is that there's no official, proprietary PS5 SSD card. PS5 users will have to figure out what's best, in terms of availability and price, for themselves. Luckily, PS5 architect Mark Cerny has stepped forward and offered a recommendation, posting the SSDs he's purchasing for himself on Twitter.
In a message on Twitter, Cerny told his followers what his solution was for his "very active two gamer PS5 household," implying that both him and his partner will be using the SSDs in their respective PS5s. The image they link is for Western Digital's WD_Black SN850 line of NVMe SSDs. He also chose the versions that include the SSD's heatsink, which knowing Cerny was likely done so that any PS5 heat dispersion will help in the long run.
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As for further details about the device, all Cerny said was that he chose the WD_Black SN850 from multiple options of SSDs that offered 7,000 MB/s sequential read speed. The recommended read speed is 5,500 MB/s, so Cerny is opting for a PS5 SSD above what's expected. As for storage size, Cerny doesn't clarify. All of the SSDs in the SN850 line have the requisite 7,000 MB/s sequential read speed, so storage size is just a matter of necessity and price.
Regarding price, Cerny has chosen a line of SSDs that have relatively affordable base levels and very expensive larger sizes, depending on PS5 owners' needs. There are 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB options for the WD_Black SN850 line. They're priced at $150, $230, and $529 respectively. Note that the heatsink versions of each SSD, which Cerny decided to buy for himself, will add another $20 to each price. These aren't required, by any means, but no one's been able to do testing to see if they help, either.
The WD_Black 850 line of SSDs isn't the only line that will work on PS5. Seagate already stepped forward, saying that its line of FireCuda 530 SSDs is PS5 compatible. Its 500GB SSD is the same price as Western Digital's, but its 1TB is $25 more expensive, though that's before adding a heatsink. Still, both lines are as "compatible" as it gets now, without rigorous testing.
For the time being, an SSD as affordable and readily available as the Xbox Series X/S Expansion Card has yet to be found. That 1TB card retails for just $219.99, which is close to Western Digital's but still just ahead. It'll be interesting to see if PS5-compatible SSDs lower in price to be competitively framed next to the Xbox Series X/S storage expansion.
The PS5 is available now.