PlayStation 5 SSD cartridge has been a hot debate since the Unreal 5 reveal on PS 5. Many are saying that it could be the end of PC gaming while forgetting many facts. As of now, no consumer base SSD can match the speed of the PlayStation 5 SSD. However, there is server SSD that is nearly five times faster than PlayStation SSD. During the PlayStation 5 hardware reveal, Mark Cerny clearly said that there is no such SSD now. It means that by the time next-gen console release such SSD would already be in the market. The next-gen graphics is for all systems not just PS 5.
The era of the next-gen console is almost upon us but it’s not here. PlayStation 5 SSD cartridge is ahead of Xbox Series X SSD but not ahead of the upcoming SSDs. The power of the hardware is not limited to the speed of a storage device. There is a lot more than the storage device of a console or PC when it comes to video games. PS 5 SSD offers advantages to the console but it has more to do with the development of games rather than the hardware itself.
PlayStation 5 SSD Specs
Before we get into the details, let’s talk about the PS 5 SSD specs. It will give everyone a clear idea about the PlayStation 5 SSD cartridge specs. I am not going to get into complicated technical stuff but I will explain it simply. The bandwidth of PS 5 SSD at least 5.5 GB/s and the speed can reach a much as 9 GB/s making it the fastest consumer base SSD. It doesn’t need time to seek and can access the data at the moment notice. Instantaneous data seeking make SSD fast because it doesn’t have to look for data. The PS5 SSD can load 2 GB data in 0.27 seconds compared to HDD speed of 1 GB in 20 seconds making it 100 times faster than a hard disk drive.
A hard disk drive has a disk with a needle that searches data on a disk. When the disk rotates the needle picks data from the disk which can take time because data is scattered on the disk. The needle has to wait for the disk to present it with the location of the data. Seeking takes time which turns into loading and stuttering. SSD does not have a disk or needle and it gives data as per the requirement without having to search for it. While the needle of an HDD is searching for data Ram and other resources are sitting idly. PlayStation 5 SSD cartridge will utilize every bit of power that the console produces. PS 5 SSD will easily decompress data as it works alongside the CPU of the console. SSD will have an impact on the frame rates of a game.
Even Now PS 5 SSD is Not the Fastest
The PlayStation 5 SSD cartridge is the fastest consumer SSD but it is not the fastest SSD. Liqid’s SSD with the internal name of Honey Badger is the fastest SSD. It is Liqid’s first Solid State Drive that utilizes PCIe Gen 4 and it has the minimum speed of 30 GB/s making it the fastest SSD in existence. However, it is not a consumer SSD and it has the storage space of up to 32 TB. Such a price point will make it extremely expensive which is not a viable solution. The proper name of SSD is LQD 4500 and it is intended for server use.
AMD has already announced PCIe Gen 4 support for its processors. By the time next-gen console release consumer base gen 4 SSDs with high speed will become common. Even Mark Cerny said that high-speed SSD would be available by the time PS5 is out. PlayStation 5 will use 3rd party SSDs as expandable storage. You don’t have to buy Proprietary memory cartridges like Xbox Series X. The compatible SSD would need to be gen 4 with the minimum speed of 7 GB/s. Sony knows that such SSDs would be available, that’s why they are allowing its use. Epic Unreal 5 can run games on any hardware but they were demonstrating it on PS 5 to show the caliber of PlayStation 5 SSD cartridge.
PlayStation 5 SSD VS Other SSDs
Right now PlayStation has the upper hand with its storage device. The storage device of both Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 would likely remain the same. As we know, that the SSD of PlayStation 5 is nearly twice as fast as Xbox Series X. The fast speed storage device might remain the same for the entire life cycle of 9th gen consoles. So PS 5 would have an upper hand over Series X in terms of storage speed. The SSD might give more FPS to PS5. On the other hand Xbox has more graphical power which will give it crispier graphics. PC would get the best of both because it is upgradable. A PC with a high-Speed SSD and powerful graphics will have the power of both. The upgradable nature of a PC would give it an upper hand over consoles in terms of specs.
Game Development Will Play a Huge Part
The PC market is diverse with every PC having different parts. In the current-gen, when developers make a game they take HDD into consideration. SSD is not even part of a developer’s plan. That won’t be the case in next-gen consoles because they have SSDs. When developers develop games for the next-gen console they will take Solid State Drive into consideration not HDD. Such a developing tactic would give advantage to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. The advantage would be more for PlayStation 5 because developers would take the speed of PS 5 SSD into consideration while developing a game. The situation would be the same for Xbox Series X but not PC. Different PC players would have different storage devices and developers would take all storage devices into consideration when developing games. The development strategy of PC games might bottleneck its performance.
Verdict
Currently PlayStation 5 has the fastest SSD that is faster than not on Xbox Series X but all consumer SSDs. PS 5 will beat Microsoft’s Xbox Series X in terms of storage speed but not sheer power. PlayStation 5 SSD cartridge will be 825 GB with the choice of 3rd part expandable storage. Series X would offer 1 TB with proprietary extendable storage. PS 5 has the fastest SSDs for now but by the time of its release SSDs would catch up to the same speed. PC would even have faster SSDs with more powerful hardware. All that being said, developing strategies might bottleneck PC gaming.
