Thanks for sharing the pic.
Wasn't it known that the PS5 would rely on a proprietary SSD? I thought that was one of the first things revealed, that the system leverages a superfast custom SSD to "eliminate load times".
Not to me; I was under the impression they were using a proprietary/customized implementation of NVMe 3.1 over PCIe 4.0 with some type of memory controller handling customized specifically for PS5, but still accepting regular 3rd-party M.2 SSDs.
I suppose it would still come down to 3rd party manufacturers to implement the software stack and driver compatibility to take advantage of those features on Sony's part, which could still facilitate the need for Sony to make their own drives in case that pickup from 3rd parties didn't happen. But if the image is close to what this thing could look like at retail, then it seems ONLY Sony's drives would be compatible due to the form factor.
Either that, or they have two slots; one for their own, and one for 3rd parties. But the latter would require either double the lane count, or a multiplexed solution (unless the lane bandwidth were increased to accommodate two drives simultaneously at full speed, then only one drive would be operable at a time). And I suppose they
could do two slots for just this reason.
Sony thankfully has gotten away from proprietary storage formats. Memory sticks, mini discs, UMD, etc. It would be weird for them to return to something like that for PS5 storage, considering that both PS3 and PS4 used standard 2.5" drives that users could replace easily.
I have no idea what type of storage PS5 is going to have that allows it be as fast as Sony has demonstrated. It can't just be SATA 3 /SSD without the PS4's bottleneck.
I'd love to see Sony go for M.2 nvme storage that users can replace. That would produce the speed Sony is suggesting and future proofs the PS5 for its life cycle. I'm just not sure that it's practicable on a per unit cost basis.
I don't see why it would be very difficult; NVMe drives have been out on the market for years now, and AMD began shipping motherboards and processors with PCIe 4.0 support this year. Depending on BOM for other components, they could theoretically cut down on the number of PCIe lanes active on the APU (keeping in mind at least one would probably be used as a bridge for other I/O like USB ports).
In the grand scheme of computer technology, NVMe, M.2 and PCIe 4.0 are not that hard to implement on processors or motherboards. Even in terms of fitting TDP budgets, they aren't that taxing on voltage and wattage use (particularly for the peripherals we know PS5 would be using them for). And they're going to need those things for future-proofing purposes.