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Sony open up M2 SSD port to beta testers of system software

Topher

Gold Member


DF was quick to get that Amazon affiliate link out.

GIF by Showtime
 

reinking

Gold Member
Going to let the rest of you spend that kind of cash to test this out. At least I was able to get gig internet this year. That softens the blow if I need to delete and download later.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Hmmm, I hope this does not affect performance of games. I wouldnt want hitching or anything and Sony to just be like..."it's the drive you need to put it on the internal for it to work correctly"
 

Darklor01

Might need to stop sniffing glue
I know I'm a bit slow, but I can't seem to find which would be the best heatsink that will fit over a drive like the SN850 and meet the requirements unless I buy some cheap super thin laptop size heat sink? I was going to buy https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073RHHYCM/?tag=neogaf0e-20 , but, the dimensions for just the cooler are:
r-0027_ekint_graphic_technical_drawings_heatsink_m.2_tl.v2_6.jpg

I'd be mounting this on an SN850 which, when I bought it, didn't have the built in heatsink option, and has L: 80.15mm W: 2.38mm X H: 22.15mm

I'm gathering, there's no way this will work out. If that's the case, I have no idea what heat sink to get.
 
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jroc74

Phone reception is more important to me than human rights
Interesting, also, that it is much lower than what Cerny initially said would be required.
Hey, I was one of those hoping for 5GB/s. I'll take it. While some are sitting in here 'concerned' as to why it isnt 7GB/s, I'm just excited it can be cheaper.

🤷‍♂️
This WD SN850 (without/with heatsink) will fit inside just fine. 7 GB/s read.

$120/$140 for 500 GB
$200/$250 for 1TB
$400/$430 for 2TB
5 year warranty.

Can always just add a 3rd party heatsink for $10 off Amazon if buying the naked model.

Seems like the best option.

Just ordered this one this morning. Cant wait to test it.
They can’t just give a list of some approved SSDs? Wow that’s lazy.
They are allowing off the shelf drives.......I know you cant possibly think its lazy. C'mon.

Look at how much info that gave for different size heat sinks....and many of us called it due to the depth of the internal slot that big heat sinks could be possible.

I just realized....this is all part of the beta tests. They might actually have a list after testing is done. We shall see.
 
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vpance

Member
  • Not all games are necessarily playable with the exact same performance provided by the PS5 console’s internal Ultra-High Speed SSD, even where the M.2 SSD device’s sequential read speed is faster than 5500MB/s.

That’s a slightly worrying disclaimer. So no matter what drive you buy potentially it will still perform worse than the internal? Or maybe it’s just for the beta?
 

DaGwaphics

Member
That’s a slightly worrying disclaimer. So no matter what drive you buy potentially it will still perform worse than the internal? Or maybe it’s just for the beta?

They would always have to put that disclaimer in there. There is always that chance that you buy a drive with specs listed on the package that aren't delivered in a real-world scenario (crap controller, etc.). It's normal for drives with near identical specs to have completely different performance profiles from each other under heavy load.
 

jroc74

Phone reception is more important to me than human rights
Sitting here, I was thinking are there any PCIe 4 drives thats 5GB/s? I just found one:


Not sure is someone posted this already but yeah......I'll take it. Easily.

That drive don't reach 5500MB/s in sequential read from what i see in tests.



Good catch. I was filtering in Newegg just on advertised peak speed. Sony will definitely need to publish a list of SSDs that have been tested before this comes out of beta.
I just remembered these posts. I'll still leave mine here but yeah....I guess 5GB/s isnt all you will need to know.
 
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Justin9mm

Member
What happens to the argument that games are being fundamentally designed for a 7GB/s ssd but then are able to run on something slower? I would love to see Rachet running off a slower SSD's to see the real-world difference.
We will find out in due course
 

kyliethicc

Member
I know I'm a bit slow, but I can't seem to find which would be the best heatsink that will fit over a drive like the SN850 and meet the requirements unless I buy some cheap super thin laptop size heat sink? I was going to buy https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073RHHYCM/?tag=neogaf0e-20 , but, the dimensions for just the cooler are:
r-0027_ekint_graphic_technical_drawings_heatsink_m.2_tl.v2_6.jpg

I'd be mounting this on an SN850 which, when I bought it, didn't have the built in heatsink option, and has L: 80.15mm W: 2.38mm X H: 22.15mm

I'm gathering, there's no way this will work out. If that's the case, I have no idea what heat sink to get.
This one would work fine. Easiest is the 1 sided heatsinks. Anything under 8mm thick can go on top of a naked M.2 SSD and fit.



Honestly best to let others buy and try before we do. Wait and see what fits.
 

ZywyPL

Banned
That’s a slightly worrying disclaimer. So no matter what drive you buy potentially it will still perform worse than the internal? Or maybe it’s just for the beta?

It depends what Sony means by "performance" - if for example switching between the worlds in R&C takes a bit longer, who will really care? But if that means you can get into a scenario when you're rotating the camera and the textures or even entire assets aren't there, then that will be a serious issue.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
It depends what Sony means by "performance" - if for example switching between the worlds in R&C takes a bit longer, who will really care? But if that means you can get into a scenario when you're rotating the camera and the textures or even entire assets aren't there, then that will be a serious issue.

This is what I am thinking about, what happens if we get hitching and textures failing to load etc.
 

RaySoft

Member
Yeah Cerny said we needed >5.5GB/s ones, and it seems Sony have backtracked on this requirement. I wonder what could be the reasons now? 🤷‍♀️
Maybe the adoptionrate for qualified M2's is under par than Sony had hoped, and since storage capacity is getting more urgent by the minute, they landed on a solution that splits the internal SSD from the M2 and treats them as separate drives. The M2 will handle most games, but for some firstparty games (in a few years time) may require to be installed on the internal SSD to run, since they can always guarantee the throughput on that drive, but not for the M2 one.
This is the only reason I can se for them to recommend a minimum sequential read speed, rather than require it.
 

Darklor01

Might need to stop sniffing glue
This one would work fine. Easiest is the 1 sided heatsinks. Anything under 8mm thick can go on top of a naked M.2 SSD and fit.



Honestly best to let others buy and try before we do. Wait and see what fits.

Thanks! I saw that one and was debating whether to get it. Not sure whether to get the 2mm or 4mm pad version. I would guess the 2mm, but, not sure if both fit regardless. I'm assuming that either would fit based on the small dimensions.

I also agree about the try before buy. I'll wait and see if some beta tester information on it becomes available.
 

Blond

Banned
They aren't. This was bs from the start. Games will be developed against sustained speed, not peak. I called this out last year. Optimal file transfer size plays a role, and heat plays a role in how well these ssds performs.

We have little proof that the max speed sony listed is even sustainable in a game and thus far, there has been a minimal difference in load speeds compared to XSX. All the talk of double speed never materialized. Even in the ps5 unreal demo it never approached peak ssd speed.

Sony saying "recommend speed" pretty much confirms it imo. You pay extra for speed with Nvme drives on pc. Same will occur here.

I have 2 TB in my xbox and its over half full of games. Extra space is needed on all consoles imo.
Yeah, games that have 0 loading like Miles, Returnal or RE8 that has an actual screen and wait time on SX is no difference.
The phrasing of “ You can freely move games between the PS5 console’s storage, a connected USB extended storage device and the added M.2 SSD storage.” makes me worry that the OS won’t see the ssd as an extension of the console storage but as a separate unit.
that’s a bad thing how? It’s not a raid setup.
 

MikeM

Member
Glad we are seeing some movement on this. But the current costs of the required M.2 SSDs will hold me back from buying one. Internet is plenty fast (800mbps) to delete and re-download games if needed.
 

jroc74

Phone reception is more important to me than human rights
Needing a heatsink leads me to believe not much cooling is getting to the expansion Bay.

Of course there isn’t. Only rabbid fanboys tried to convince themselves that there was any effective cooling getting there
Unlike the rabid fanboys thinking it ....needs..... a heat sink.

I have yet to see anywhere that states it....needs....a heatsink.
 
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hlm666

Member
I said it on the first teardown vid last year
Sony nail the specs of a console but fail on the design on many levels….I’m keen to hear the feedback on the noise of the ps5 with the drive in
They should have made the cover on the ssd slot the heatsink like some pc motherboards do, put your bare ssd in peel the plastic off the pre mounted thermal pad on the cover/heatsink plug it on and off to the races you go. Its harder for people to screw up that way.
 

kyliethicc

Member
Thanks! I saw that one and was debating whether to get it. Not sure whether to get the 2mm or 4mm pad version. I would guess the 2mm, but, not sure if both fit regardless. I'm assuming that either would fit based on the small dimensions.

I also agree about the try before buy. I'll wait and see if some beta tester information on it becomes available.
I think the 4 mm would work fine. A M.2 drive is less than 1 mm thick. Total space inside is over 11 mm, with 8 mm above the drive.

As Sony shows here, a M.2 drive naked is 0.8 mm thick. Then you can add up to 8 mm on top for a heatsink and it'll fit.

YBOgNsp.jpg



Unlike the rabid fanboys thinking it ....needs..... a heat sink.

I have yet to see anywhere that states it....needs....a heatsink.

7rIywRP.jpg
 
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hlm666

Member
Unlike the rabid fanboys thinking it ....needs..... a heat sink.

I have yet to see anywhere that states it....needs....a heatsink.

What other "cooling structure" are people going to use? Sony says you require one, like a heatsink. So sure they say you need a cooling structure and not a heatsink but I mean holy fucking semantics batman.
 

jaysius

Banned
I forsee many PS5s dying because people "don't need" heatsinks.

This was far messier than I expected.

This has potential for lulz.

ALSO if you're one of those sick fucks that like the kink by jamming your PS5 into a tight box with a closed side FRONT OR BACK now is the time to not fuck around with the fact that sony states you need ONE INCH ALL AROUND clearance for you PS5 to operate optimally without fucking itself thermally. Now isn't the time to be stupid and to realize that if you're jamming the PS5 into a close front environment the AMBIENT AIR that is being sucked into the FRONT is going to STILL BE WARM AIR and not fresh cool air the machine requires. Also in a closed box, the AMBIENT AIR that is coming up off the CPU is still being ventilated into the machine, there have already been a few "why is my PS5 showing artifacts and locking up threads" around, there'll be more to come. It's an expensive machine, treat it right.

Just listen to that advice...

But I think I'll just sit back and watch all the rage when people tell me that the PS5 is "better at cooling" so it doesn't need to be placed in an area that Sony itself tells you to place it.
 

Whomeam

Neo Member
They definitely ran into issues getting this working, which is why it's a year late and there's a disclaimer that it may not perform as well as the internal SSD, regardless of the speed of the external drive.

I'd like to see something that takes advantage of the SSD like Ratchet run on the M.2 slot and compare performance.
I'm sure digital foundry will have this video up super quick.
 

Aenima

Member
Unless the game sizes start balloning like malware called COD. I will probably not even buy a expansion SSD. My habit of deleting games after i finish them has keep my PS5 storage with more than half of storage space available.

But will be interesting to see what option will i have in a few years. Right now 200$ for a expansion is way too much for me. Good thing they using 3rd party PC parts so hopefully the prices will lower faster.
 
Uh, didn't they say you needed a 7 GB/s drive in order to make up for overhead? Why are they now saying the minimum is 5.5 GB/s instead?

Anyway it's been a long-ass time for them to get around to this, guessing it'll be available for the all owners by early Fall, like mid-late September or maybe a bit earlier.

What happens to the argument that games are being fundamentally designed for a 7GB/s ssd but then are able to run on something slower? I would love to see Rachet running off a slower SSD's to see the real-world difference.
Yeah, back when they were first talking about this they said it needed to be 7 GB/s to make up for processing overhead. Was that an actual requirement and they've somehow found a way to utilize 3P drives the same speed as PS5's internal one with no performance penalty, or....?

But Sony does say this:

  • Not all games are necessarily playable with the exact same performance provided by the PS5 console’s internal Ultra-High Speed SSD, even where the M.2 SSD device’s sequential read speed is faster than 5500MB/s.

That's probably because they're taking other factors into account that could vary negatively for 3P drives: access latency, random 4KB block read, random 4KB write, even sequential write speed, etc. You can have a way faster drive at sequential reads but worst statistics in those and other areas.

Even so, knowing those possible variances I'm a bit surprised Sony are allowing PS5 owners to kind of fend for themselves with expanding their internal storage. Feels like they did enough testing and realized it's impossible to ensure probably even a handful of 3P SSDs fit the exact performance metrics of their internal one.

There was some rumor about them manufacturing their own expansion SSD drive for the PS5, it's something they'll probably have to do down the line. At least that will also allow them to sell those to PC and laptop gamers, they can advertise them as the best way to play PS5 ports on PC, or something like that.
 
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Darklor01

Might need to stop sniffing glue
I think the 4 mm would work fine. A M.2 drive is less than 1 mm thick. Total space inside is over 11 mm, with 8 mm above the drive.

As Sony shows here, a M.2 drive naked is 0.8 mm thick. Then you can add up to 8 mm on top for a heatsink and it'll fit.

YBOgNsp.jpg


Thanks! I'm obviously mathematically challenged (and/or lazy .. maybe). Being it's below $20, I ordered it just so it's not out of stock come time to use it. I'm also "that guy" who can't wait patiently for things.
 

vpance

Member
They would always have to put that disclaimer in there. There is always that chance that you buy a drive with specs listed on the package that aren't delivered in a real-world scenario (crap controller, etc.). It's normal for drives with near identical specs to have completely different performance profiles from each other under heavy load.

Kinda sucks that they couldn't find some way to mitigate that scenario from happening.

It depends what Sony means by "performance" - if for example switching between the worlds in R&C takes a bit longer, who will really care? But if that means you can get into a scenario when you're rotating the camera and the textures or even entire assets aren't there, then that will be a serious issue.

Doesn't it also mean no dev can expect to go ham on internal SSD speeds, because they have to take into account lower perf of M.2s?

Maybe it's one of those things that no one will ever know what they missed. So whatever I guess.
 
Is Sony going release their own SSD? It would be nice to have a reference product on the market in term of compatibility and speed. This expansion should work as the internal storage otherwise the cost/benefit will be quite limited.
 

Mr Moose

Member
Uh, didn't they say you needed a 7 GB/s drive in order to make up for overhead? Why are they now saying the minimum is 5.5 GB/s instead?
Here's the catch though, that commercial drive has to be at least as fast as ours, games that rely on the speed of our SSD need to work flawlessly with M.2 drive.


We can hook up a drive with only two priority levels definitely but our custom I/O unit has to arbitrate the extra priorities rather than the M.2 drives flash controller and so the M.2 drive needs a little extra speed to take care of issues arising from the different approach.
 

01011001

Banned
I really wonder what happens if you put a super slow SSD in there, the slowest NVMe drive you can find, and then play Ratchet on it.

I wonder if there's a lower limit at which the console will simply not accept the SSD
 

FranXico

Member
Is Sony going release their own SSD? It would be nice to have a reference product on the market in term of compatibility and speed. This expansion should work as the internal storage otherwise the cost/benefit will be quite limited.
Yes, there was even a thread about this recently.
I suspect that was the main reason for the hold up.
 

small_law

Member
I have two Samsung 980 Pro 1TB drives in my PC running at PCIe 4.0. Here's a quick and dirty bench:

26574Jv.png


Take Sony's heatsink requirement seriously. NVMe SSD's running at PCIe 4.0 speeds get thermonuclear hot if there's no cooling solution. It doesn't look like the PS5 channels air to the M.2 slot, so buy a good heatsink. I'd even consider using premium thermal pads instead of any pack-ins.
 
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