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[Orky]

Full interaction from the transcript:

717: XSX/S Storage, Yakuza Like A Dragon and Xbox Family Settings - Xbox Wire

00:00 What we are playing and Xbox News 12:31 Interview: Dave McCarthy, Xbox Family Settings app 27:11 More news and a closer look at the new consoles 41:52 Interview: Jason Ronald, Xbox Series X/S Storage 55:39 Interview: Yakuza Like A Dragon: Scott Strichart, SoA 1:17:10 More Xbox News & Wrap up

majornelson.com

Larry Hryb: Now, folks can buy these at most places. I know that we've talked about them. They're available for 219.99. That's the manufacturer's suggested retail price. Prices will vary around the world. Certainly Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S are launching in different countries. Check your local retailers. Another question I've seen is about partnering with Seagate. Tell us about that.

Jason Ronald: Yeah. We're really excited to partner with Seagate. As I mentioned before, this is really innovative bleeding edge technology. To be able to partner with an industry leader like Seagate, to be able to deliver a one terabyte expansion option on day one at launch is very exciting. We're continuing to listen to feedback from the community.
I think, over time, you'll see this is a category that's really critical to us. You'll see multiple options and different form factors and different sizes. But what was really important for us is that we had a simple easy to use option available day one. You can expect to see more options moving forward.

Larry Hryb: You see that right there. That's what you're going to be looking for. Again, I want to point out you don't need this. Out of the box, you've got plenty of storage for your games and quick resume as Jason said. It's only if maybe your Game Pass, you want to download all the games or many more of the games. We've got you covered there.

TL DR - There will be cheaper & bigger models/solutions in the years to come.

 

[imbrock]

I imagine they'll stay near the industry average price for storage. They sound like essentially plug and play m.2 drives which is a good standard to move into.

The proprietary plug nature of the devices means there will always be a little bit of a surcharge over standard m.2 but that's the way specialty devices work. I hope that with consoles adopting fast ssd it will help the storage industry move further away from magnetic storage and further lower solid state prices.

 

[BusierDonkey]

I'm not sure what the drive and expansion drives in the new Xboxes are based on, but they seem to fall in-line with Seagate's PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive prices. I expected a 20% premium for the small form-factor and proprietary casing.

A PCIe 4.0 Seagate Firecuda sits at around or above that price with no casing on a full length m.2 card.

Seagate FireCuda 520 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive

pcpartpicker.com

 

[Dane]

I wonder if there's going to have adaptors for PC SSDs or if they are going to expand this compact format for them.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

Sony needs to learn MS here. They are making up ground by being so open.

 

[MoreJRPG]

I don’t think anyone actually thought this was going to be a Vita situation. Seagate bought a year of exclusivity and that’s really what this boils down to.

 

[Aidah]

I'm not sure what the drive and expansion drives in the new Xboxes are based on, but they seem to fall in-line with Seagate's PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive prices. I expected a 20% premium for the small form-factor and proprietary casing.

A PCIe 4.0 Seagate Firecuda sits at around or above that price with no casing on a full length m.2 card.

Seagate FireCuda 520 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive

pcpartpicker.com

That's over twice the speed of an XSX drive though hardware wise. A 2.4GB/S 1TB drive is about half that price.

 

[ZywyPL]

I think the expansion drive is nothing but just an ordinary 2230 M.2 drive in a fancy enclosure that keeps the drive cool, same for the internal drive.

 

[baphomet]

I wonder if there's going to have adaptors for PC SSDs or if they are going to expand this compact format for them.

Doubt it.

Every expansion drive has to be currently bought from Seagate. They're not going to just give away guaranteed sales.

 

[MarkMe2525]

I think the expansion drive is nothing but just an ordinary 2230 M.2 drive in a fancy enclosure that keeps the drive cool, same for the internal drive.

Isn't M.2 a platform that each manufacturer uses as a base for compatibility? What is an ordinary 2230 M.2? The info I'm finding indicates that "2230 M.2" is referring to the physical size and type of interface. It seems the performance and internal layout varies across these cards.

I'm new to SSD tech so I would be happy to be proven wrong. Just trying to understand what you are saying.

 

[Edgelord79]

I don't get it. This is pretty much in line with top of the line drives on PC of the same size. Slightly cheaper on PC but that's expected due to the console tax.

Did people expect state of the art 1TB blazing fast storage for much less than what is currently available in a time where manufacturing has challenges?

 

[truth411]

I don't get it. This is pretty much in line with top of the line drives on PC of the same size. Slightly cheaper on PC but that's expected due to the console tax.

Did people expect state of the art 1TB blazing fast storage for much less than what is currently available in a time where manufacturing has challenges?

Am I missing something? Its only 2.4GB read speeds, thats not "State of the Art" a big reason its that expensive is because its proprietary.
$220 for 2.4GB read speeds is nothing to brag about.
You can buy NVME with 7.0GB read speeds for the same amount.
Open Market > Proprietary.

 

[Edgelord79]

Am I missing something? Its only 2.4GB read speeds, thats not "State of the Art" a big reason its that expensive is because its proprietary.
$220 for 2.4GB read speeds is nothing to brag about.
You can buy NVME with 7.0GB read speeds for the same amount.
Open Market > Proprietary.

I agree open market is better than proprietary, but that's not how it works on consoles. Below is a better deep dive if you are interested. Optimization seems fairly key and apparently it makes a large difference. We shall see.

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2020/07/14/a-closer-look-at-xbox-velocity-architecture/

 

[OnThePathToWisdom]

TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY UNITED STATES DOLLARS

 

[Endless Fluff]

Am I missing something? Its only 2.4GB read speeds, thats not "State of the Art" a big reason its that expensive is because its proprietary.
$220 for 2.4GB read speeds is nothing to brag about.
You can buy NVME with 7.0GB read speeds for the same amount.
Open Market > Proprietary.

Yes, you are missing the form factor and Microsoft's constant emphasis on "sustained performance".

There is apparently no Gen4 M.2 2242 NVME drive with 2.4GB/s read/writes on the market (I can't find one). There is one Gen3 M.2 2242 NVME... which is advertised as having 2.5GB/s read speeds, however that drive is DRAM less and benchmarks show that it has trouble sustaining read speeds, falling below 2GB/s in some benchmarks, while also not even hitting 2.5GB/s (lots of benchmarks peak at 2.3GB/s). It's a Sabrent Rocket Nano. 99% of 2242 drives are typically SATA3, since they're used for laptops.

So, this new Seagate M.2 2242 is pretty much state of the art if it really sustains that speed at all times. I'm really looking forward to an actual teardown as well, if it turns out that is has DRAM as well, then the price is actually justified. The perception is still bad, though, as with anything with a small form factor. Smaller while keeping high performance equals more expensive in tech.

 

[truth411]

Yes, you are missing the form factor and Microsoft's constant emphasis on "sustained performance".

There is apparently no Gen4 M.2 2242 NVME drive with 2.4GB/s read/writes on the market (I can't find one). There is one Gen3 M.2 2242 NVME... which is advertised as having 2.5GB/s read speeds, however that drive is DRAM less and benchmarks show that it has trouble sustaining read speeds, falling below 2GB/s in some benchmarks, while also not even hitting 2.5GB/s (lots of benchmarks peak at 2.3GB/s). It's a Sabrent Rocket Nano. 99% of 2242 drives are typically SATA3, since they're used for laptops.

So, this new Seagate M.2 2242 is pretty much state of the art if it really sustains that speed at all times. I'm really looking forward to an actual teardown as well, if it turns out that is has DRAM as well, then the price is actually justified. The perception is still bad, though, as with anything with a small form factor. Smaller while keeping high performance equals more expensive in tech.

Of course not, thats slower then PCIE 3.0. If your getting a NVME 4.0 it will be faster than 3.5GB (the max speed of PCIE 3.0) or its pointless.
As far as "Sustain Speeds". Read speeds will be fine, its when Writing multiple files is when NVME SSD really heats up an throttle down to maintain temps, But thats fine for consoles. Say the 980 Pro reads at 7.0 GB/sec, but say when moving a 100GB game file to the PS5 internal SSD, it will write at 5GB/sec for say 15-20Sec. Or how ever long it takes before it gets too hot, the on board controller will throttle the write speeds to 2GB/sec to maintain temp until finished. But as far as reading data off the NVME streaming game assets during gameplay, that will be fine.

 

[TheFarter]

J Ron is a gift.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY UNITED STATES DOLLARS

Almost half the price of a Series X or PS5.

Fuck that. I'd just roll with a plain ol' external if that is supported.

 

[truth411]

TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY UNITED STATES DOLLARS

*I understood this reference.gif*

 

[Phunkydiabetic]

TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY UNITED STATES DOLLARS

Yeah that's fuckin mental. How is this even justifiable.

 

[Magic Carpet]

‘spensive.
I still think this is a good opportunity for an external connector.
USB is rather slow when dealing with TB sizes.
Extending the PCIE out the back of the machine could yield new opportunities for PC motherboards.
I can see plugging These in at Redbox machines or store kiosks for buying or renting.