PlayStation 5’s latest firmware update added support for M.2 NVMe SSDs allowing players to add external SSDs to the new-gen console.
While the most evident advantage here is expanded storage for more games, the folks at Digital Foundry have uncovered some hidden benefits.
According to an extensive analysis, adding an M.2 NVMe SSD improves load times and transfer speeds on the PS5. Digital Foundry compared the Samsung 980 Pro 500GB and the Samsung 980 Pro 500GB with a heatsink to Sony’s storage tech, and the results were quite interesting.
On loading time improvements, Digital Foundry senior Thomas Morgan had the following to say:
The Samsung 980 Pro is fast enough to handle taxing PS5 exclusives like Ratchet and Clank and works just like PS5’s stock drive in its delivery of high-bandwidth scenes. Plus, there’s the loading time advantage. Most games in our test suite, from The Witcher 3 to Fallout 4, all run with a marginal lead on the 980 Pro. We have no loss in performance and only a gain in overall storage.
Thomas Morgan
During testing, Morgan noted that the Novigrad Centre in The Witcher 3 loaded three seconds faster using the external SSD and four seconds faster using the heatsink version.
Even Cyberpunk 2077 saw similar improvements, with load times reducing by three seconds on the 980 Pro’s heatsink version. Fallout 4 and Final Fantasy 15 loaded faster by one second and two seconds, respectively, but strangely enough, Battlefield 5 seemed to take three seconds longer to load.
Digital Foundry also tested transfer speeds by transferring data from the internal SSD to the external SSD, and here, the results were quite impressive.
Transferring Cyberpunk from PS5’s internal SSD to the M.2 SSD takes just one minute and 11 seconds. That’s an average rate of 1.42GB/s – an incredible speed given the sheer size of CDPR’s game. Transfer speeds do vary according to content, though, and so for example, copying Battlefield 5 from internal storage yielded a 0.87GB/s average transfer speed, while Final Fantasy 15 produced a 0.82GB/s average.
Thomas Morgan
While many thought that extra storage space would be motivation enough to purchase an external SSD, faster transferring and load times should give gamers that extra push.
If you’re on the lookout for one that is competitively priced and does the job, go on and click on the button below to check out Gigabyte’s recently launched Aorus Gen 4.
About Sony
Sony Corporation is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Kōnan, Minato, Tokyo. The company operates as one of the most comprehensive media companies on the planet and also holds the distinctions of being the largest video game console company and the second largest video game publisher in the world.
Its gaming and network services arm Sony Interactive Entertainment (formerly Sony Computer Entertainment) is best known for producing the popular line of PlayStation consoles.
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