Don't Worry, You Can Still Upgrade the PS5 Slim's SSD

Will the new model use less power?

November is US? Rollout for the rest of the world is 'over the following months'? UK may not see the slim until early next year.

Why would I need a new SSD eventually? I don’t play dozens of games at the same time.

@thefourfoldroot1 The moment your kids start playing, the number of games installed on your HDD skyrockets ^_^

@Landstalker it will be rolled out first with Playstation Direct stores. And UK has that one.

SSD in the above picture (Samsung Pro Evo 970) is actually too slow for PS5 The 980 is good.

@themightyant
While it's possible you could move an existing PS5's NVMe drive to a new PS5, I think it's more likely that it will force you to format the drive. So to carry over installs, you would need to move them to a USB HDD or SSD formatted as 'extended storage'.

It would be good if you could simply move the NVMe over, but there's likely some kind of encryption tied to that specific PS5.

@thefourfoldroot1 "Why would I need a new SSD eventually? I don’t play dozens of games at the same time."

In my PS4 I have a 1TB SSD and a 4TB USB HDD connected. Basically allows me to have all my games downloaded or installed from disc, I only have to install once. While I will typically play one game at a time, not constantly switching, I prefer having everything ready to go.
A 1 disc PS4 game will generally take 30-40min to fully install, vs roughly 10m to move it from external to the SSD (or I could play it direct from HDD). Installing once should also, in theory, reduce wear on the blu-ray drive.

I have a decent internet connection, so I could re-download stuff fairly quick, but with the HDD if I wanted to play any of my games, I could do so immediately.
For those with slower Internet connection, having more storage is a great way to avoid long waits, or chewing through monthly data allowances.

Interesting. So instead of 1TB storage with ~800GB usable/accessible, it’s now like ~1.2TB with 1TB accessible, is that right?

@thefourfoldroot1 Because I don't want to spend hours reinstalling or transfering games across from an external HDD to play games I own when I want to play.

Yes you can ONLY play 1 game at a time, but I own more games than can fit on my SSD. Take Cyberpunk, I may not have played for months, but with new DLC, I may want to jump back. If I can only keep '5-8' games on the SSD, that limits what games I can play 'instantly' at any time out of my Collection with the rest either requiring reinstallation, updating etc before I can jump back in.

I may only play 1 game at a time, but I also don't want to be 'limited' as to what games I can just jump in and play quickly/easily to the select few games installed on the SSD despite owning others.

I'm planning on getting a 2 terabyte drive, is the Western Digital Black SN850X still a good one? It is cheaper then the official PlayStation branded Western Digital drives. I did note that one drive was faster but will the PS5 need or use that extra speed?

@themightyant ahh ok thanks for clarifying that for me! (and yes I dropped a nice 2TB SSD in my DE earlier in the year, love having more game choice to hand!) 😺

I just have an 8TB usb hdd and keep all my games on that then transfer back and forth to PS5 ssd when required. Easy easy.

@Fyz306903 excellent question on power consumption and I want to know that too. MS has done a good job reducing the XSX power consumption over time. A smaller, cooler model that uses less electricity would be more compelling.

I hope Gamer Nexus review the new PS5 model to see the minimum to maximum heat index that it can do and I’m curious if is energy efficient than the previous versions Sid shuman didn’t said it when he announced it on PlayStation Blog.

@themightyant
I'd be happy to be wrong in this case and the NVMe drives move over with no fuss.

But for example, to upgrade USB 'extended storage' drives on PS4, instead of simply plugging in both new & old drives and copying data across, you instead have to move data from old USB to internal, then internal to new USB. So it could be multiple unplugs & drive swaps depending on the size (I had to do this process when moving from my original 1TB USB to a 4TB).

Thankfully a USB 'extended storage' drive can be moved between PS4s and even PS5s without reformat, and it would be nice if the NVMe could do that. But I have a feeling its meant to be a "one and done" kind of upgrade, like how upgrading an 'extended storage' drive seems like an alien, unforseen concept to Sony engineers.

@S1ayeR74 I’ve just bought a 2tb WD Black SN850X with heatsink on sale from Amazon and did a little research first and from what I read it is just an update from the SN850 and should work perfectly for PS5. It seems to be a meaningful improvement over the SN850, particularly as it doesn’t sound like it gets as hot. I think it is advisable to get the one with heatsink if you’re getting one for ps5.
As far as speed goes on paper it is a fair bit faster than the SN850 but it’s probably not something you’ll notice in normal usage and would only really pick up on if you timed it side by side.

Basically, all my research showed that there is no reason not to get the 850X as it will fit in the ps5 just as well and is an improvement over the 850 in almost every way. It’s just you probably wouldn’t notice the difference if you swapped from one to the other.

@CJM Thanks for the feedback, so you bought this one?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/WD_BLACK-SN850X-Gaming-Heatsink-speed/dp/B0B7CKZGN6/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=1XI32EKLEWKWP&keywords=ps5%2Bssd&qid=1696950682&sprefix=ps5%2Bssd%2Caps%2C81&sr=8-3&th=1&psc=1

This is the one I was looking at getting.

@S1ayeR74 No problem 🙂. Yeah, that exact one

Apparently, as well as the older 850, there is now an 850P which is the newer official branded version but its performance is completely identical to the 850x but you pay much more for the 850p because it is PlayStation branded.

@BAMozzy
Meh, I play 1,2,3 games at most at the same time. When finished I never play them again. Haven’t got the time to play all the new games I want plus replay old ones…thus a big hard drive is of no use to me.

@Kalime78
lol, no kids for me (thankfully), but yes, if multiple people use one console then it can build up, but for adults they’d usually just buy their own console even when in the same household, so they don’t have restricted time.

@themightyant
Fair enough, I tend to plan what I’m playing in advance and download the night before finishing my current game…

@thefourfoldroot1 Well that's you. I prefer to be able to return to games as and when I want - whether I have 'finished' the main Story or not. Take Cyberpunk, I have owned it since launch but with Patches and now some upcoming DLC, I may want to return to it years later. A lot of games get updates, new content etc and reasons to return and/or reasons why I didn't finish them at the time.

As I said, I don't want to be restricted to playing a 'handful' of games everytime I turn my Console on. I don't always have 'hours' to reinstall games or move them, so I want to be able to turn my console on and be playing 'any' game I have within 'minutes' at the most.

Its not like the 'pre-XB1/PS4' era where EVERY game you owned could be accessed by simply putting the Cartridge/Disc into the hardware as it ran from that Disc - at most,, you'd get an update to install first. But as games run from internal Storage now and must be installed too, the amount of Storage is limiting the number of games you can access.

I also don't want to have to decide which games to move/delete every time I want to play something 'different' - whether its an 'old' game I own, some 'free' game from a Sub Service (like PS+) or a new game I've just bought.

@themightyant
Of course. And we all like choice obviously. I’m just happy with the choice of a dozen games rather than three dozen (it helps I’ve been doing this for a while and generally know if I’ll like a game).

@BAMozzy I can just download cyberpunk and be ready to play it in 10 - 15 minutes. Why do people need instant access to games they haven’t played in years.

I really don’t see the need for this form fitting extra side piece disc drive except for Sony to have an excuse to charge more for it. Any external USB-C drive should have been fast enough as the system doesn’t even play games off of it, just installs them to the SSD and checks for a license. Why have to dismantle a system and rebuild it again when 1 wire will do?

This isn’t a PS5 Slim, it’s just a new model created to make Sony more money. It’s 30% smaller and 24% lighter, meaning Sony can ship them many more to a container at lighter weight. And the boxes will likely be smaller as well.

In another couple of years we’ll probably get the real PS5 Slim, perhaps with a normal external disk drive, and Sony will finally pass on some of the savings to its customers.

@Fyz306903 I suspect it'll be a similar power draw as the latter PS5 (1216 model)as there hasn't been a die shrink as far as I know?

@thefourfoldroot1 tbf no one said you would need an additional drive and some people only play one game.

For gamers like myself I like to install a fair few games because I like to play a few hours on one then a few on another etc. I buy a lot of games so I just enjoy playing all sorts it's just the way it is isn't it.

@Landstalker It's dependant on clearing stock in certain regions. The UK still has a healthy supply of the older model to shift (Prob with more discounted prices)

Will it make breakfast for me and help fix my crumbling relationships? If not, then pass.

So 30% less volume but is it actually any smaller? Could be just misleading marketing hype referring to just the disc drive being removed…

It may only save you 3-5 seconds in most cases. But the SSD you buy for PS5 can load games a little quicker than the console’s SSD. So i install all my games on the M.2 drive. Again it’s not all that much of a difference but hey why not.

@Dodoo look at pictures on this site and see it is.

@PlayStationGamer3919 Then the price would have needed to be a lot higher.

@hoffa007
Originally it did. I believe they must have edited. They specifically said “eventually”, hence the phrasing of my reply.

@Flaming_Kaiser ah I’ve missed comparison shots. Will take a look thanks!

@sanderson72
Now that's interesting. No die shrink would be a good reason to not even unofficially refer to this as a 'slim'. How were they able to reduce the size without a die shrink though? Would a die shrink be possible for the PS5?

I would say this is a first for a PlayStation revision, since many of them cut corners. But the PS4 Slim had the same functionality as the base PS4.
Also, I think the PSP-2000 and 3000 actually had more RAM than the PSP-1000, and also a better screen. All these despite being slimmer models.

The PS one removed the I/O port. The PS2 Slim removed the hard drive slot, making Final Fantasy XI Online unplayable there. The PS3 Slim and Super Slim gutted out PS2 backwards compatibility and Super Audio CD playback entirely (but kept PS1 backwards compatibility).

@Fyz306903 Yes, a die shrink would be possible - I thought there were already plans for AMD to do so but not heard anything more about it.

When you look at the innards of the different PS5 revisions, there's been massive changes in the circuit board and heat sink sizes as well as as a few other components. The CFI-1216 I have could easily sit in a 30% volume reduced case. I think The Verge did a piece on this shortly after the 1200 series was launched?
https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/7/23340577/sony-ps5-new-design-motherboard-less-power-lighter
Towards the end of the article, there's a side-by-side comparison.

The weird little clear plastic thing to have it horizontally makes it look really cheap. I'll stick original disc PS5.

@Hydra_Spectre PS2 backwards compatibility was removed long before the slim PS3 consoles were released. When I bought my 40GB 'fat' PS3 in early 2008 the 60GB backwards-compatible models had already been discontinued, in the UK at least.

@MrHabushi Yeah, But none of the Slims and Super Slims have PS2 backwards compatibility.

@themightyant
Indeed we do. In honesty, I have honed my tastes to the point it could be argued I’m too restrictive, but I just feel I know what I like. So, stealth games? Never. Nope to tactical strategy, no to any racing, flight, platformer, or horror that isn’t in VR…etc. in fact I’d be happy with just VR (which is mainly what I play and the games tend to be much smaller) and the Yakuza series, with a few JRPGs mixed in.
In retrospect this, along with the fact I never replay games once I’ve finished the story and all trophies, means it’s not surprising really.

"Don't Worry, You Can Still Upgrade the PS5 Slim's SSD"

Misnomer because you can't technically upgrade the original PS5 SSD - it's SMD soldered to the board. More accurate to say the Slim still has the NVMe port for adding more SSD based storage.

@PlayStationGamer3919 You are going to pay the extra out of your own pocket? The money will add up fast we already get 140 or 160GB extra anyway.