With Sony’s PlayStation 5 update now allowing the installation of M.2 NVMe SSDs, console owners have started looking for the best possible brand to expand storage space; meanwhile, various brands have been advertising why their product is the best option. While it may take some time to come to a common consensus on the most preferable SSD, it seems that they may have another benefit besides expanding storage.
According to Digital Foundry, adding an M.2 NVMe SSD could also slightly improve loading and transfer speeds. “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,” wrote Thomas Morgan.
RELATED: Best SSDs For PlayStation 5
While testing various apps, Digital Foundry compared the loading times between the PlayStation 5’s internal SSD, the Samsung 980 Pro 500GB, and the Samsung 980 Pro 500GB with a heatsink.
They found that the Novigrad Centre area in The Witcher 3 loaded up three seconds faster using the add-on SSD, and four seconds faster with the heatsink version. Similarly, Cyberpunk 2077 saw loading time shortened by up to three seconds with the heatsink version, Fallout 4 by one second, and Final Fantasy 15 by two seconds. However, Battlefield 5 seemed to take up to three seconds longer to load.
Digital Foundry also tested out the transfer speeds by moving games between the internal and external SSDs. “Transferring Cyberpunk from PS5's internal SSD to the M.2 SSD takes just one minute and 11 seconds,” wrote Morgan. “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.”
While Sony has announced the prerequisites for what kind of SSDs will be compatible with the PlayStation 5, it would be wiser to wait for brands to reveal which of their products fit the bill.
NEXT: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart Brings The PS2 And PS3 Stories Together Like Never Before
