When the original PlayStation 5 came out, you were essentially stuck with the storage that came inside, which was often a bit too small, given how most modern games can hit 70-100GB without a sweat. Unfortunately, at the time, you couldn’t really expand the internal storage because there weren’t any SSDs that could work with the PS5’s architecture, but a few years down the line to today, there are a ton of excellent SSDs for the PS5 that are worth grabbing. Just be aware that there are certain SSDs that are made specifically to work well with the PS5, so you can’t really just go and grab any SSD. We’ve gone into the reasons below.
We’ve also collected some of our favorite SSD deals below. That said, if you haven’t picked up a PS5 yet, be sure to check out these excellent PS5 deals, and if you already own one, maybe check out these PS5 game deals to expand your library.
Our favorite PS5 SSD deal
It wasn’t that long ago that you’d have to pay well over $100 to get an SSD for your PS5, and often, it’d be slower than the pricier alternatives. These days, you can buy a Samsung 980 Pro 1TB SSD with heatsink for just $130 from Best Buy, thereby saving $35 off the regular price of $165. The SSD offers speedy performance while also having its own nickel-coated high-end controller to help deliver effective thermal control. It means it won’t overheat and performance won’t be compromised. Being a PCIe Gen 4 SSD, you get twice the data transfer speed of PCIe Gen 3 which is useful. Offering maximum read speeds of 7,000 megabytes per second, it’s a good upgrade to go alongside your existing hard drive with 1TB offering plenty of extra space at a shrewd price.
More PS5 SSD deals we like
There are a lot of different PS5 SSDs that you can use to upgrade your console’s storage space. When upgrading your PlayStation 5, look for a heatsink that has already been installed on the SSD for added ease, and check whether the SSD is compatible. Many are, and we’ve featured a bunch of them below. Different sizes are available with 1TB to 4TB most common. Not everyone needs 4TB, even though it’s tempting, so we’ve listed smaller ones, too, depending on your plans. Different brands are also available so we’ve focused on the most popular options.
- Corsair MP600 Pro 2TB —
- Seagate Game Drive 2TB —
- WD Black SN850P 2TB —
- ADATA XPG GAMMIX S70 4TB —
- Samsung 990 Pro 4TB —
Why you need a specific PS5 SSD
Unlike your average laptop or computer, the PS5 can’t really accept any sort of SSD you want to put into it. While it’s true that, at the very least, you need to use an M.2 SSD, what’s even more important is that the SSD has a PCIe 4.0 specification, which is much faster than the older PCIe 3.0. While you could, in theory, put an older SSD into the PS5, it won’t be used to run games actively but will instead act as a storage to load games onto the internal storage, so it’s not much of an upgrade.
Also, Sony recommends that any SSD that goes into a PS5 come with a heatshield to help with heat dissipation. Without one, the SSD’s internal controller might thermal throttle it so that it doesn’t melt itself, which can impact the game’s performance and introduce lag and other issues. That’s why all the suggestions above come with some form of heatshield already pre-installed on the SSD.
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