The most effective SSDs for PS5 in 2025 Leave a comment

In case your PlayStation 5’s inside storage is beginning to really feel just a little cramped, you’re not alone. With sport installs commonly taking over over 100GB, increasing your storage is among the best methods to get extra out of your console. The most effective SSD for PS5 won’t solely offer you further house in your sport library, however it must also meet Sony’s velocity necessities so your video games load simply as quick as they’d on the built-in drive.

There’s a variety of SSDs to select from, whether or not you desire a easy plug-and-play choice with a heatsink or a budget-friendly choose the place you add your personal. Some provide higher cooling, others include software program instruments for managing efficiency — however all of the drives we’ve included listed below are suitable, quick and dependable. Right here’s what to look out for when upgrading your PS5 storage, and our high picks that will help you get began.

Learn extra: These are the perfect SSDs in 2025

Desk of contents

Greatest SSDs for PS5 in 2025

How we take a look at PS5 SSDs

I’ve examined many of the SSDs really useful on this listing, both for PS5 or laptop use. I additionally purchased and used our high choose in my very own PS5.

PS5 SSD FAQs

How a lot PS5 storage do I would like?

The PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Professional can settle for inside drives with between 250GB and 8TB of storage capability. Should you already personal a PS5, likelihood is you could have an affordable thought of how a lot storage you want ​​in your sport library. Should you’re shopping for an SSD with a brand new PS5 or PS5 Professional, or shopping for for another person, it’s harder to inform what you would possibly want for a high-performance expertise.

PS5 video games are smaller on common than their PS4 equivalents, sometimes taking over between 30GB and 100GB, with some notable (and very fashionable) exceptions. Should you’re a fan of the Name of Responsibility collection, putting in Black Ops 6 and Warzone 2.0 can eat as much as 240GB. In different phrases, a full Name of Responsibility set up will take up greater than one-third of the PS5’s inside storage. Should you’re not a CoD fan, although, likelihood is you’ll be good to retailer between six to 10 video games on a daily PS5 internally earlier than working into issues.

You additionally want to contemplate your web velocity. Should you reside in an space with sluggish broadband, the “you possibly can simply obtain it once more” rationale doesn’t actually work. At my outdated residence, a 100GB obtain took me round eight hours, throughout which period it was tough to concurrently watch Twitch or, say, publish articles about upgrading PS5 SSDs. Protecting video games round on the off-chance you’ll need to play them in some unspecified time in the future is smart.

Off the bat, there’s principally no level in going for a 250GB PS5 SSD. Economically, 250GB drives aren’t that less expensive than 500GB ones — and virtually, that basically isn’t plenty of house for contemporary video games to reside on. 500GB drives could be a respectable choice, however after years of declining costs, I believe the candy spot for most individuals is to go for a high-capacity 1TB or 2TB drive, which ought to run you at most $200. The latter will greater than double the PS5 Professional’s storage with out breaking the financial institution.

Until you’re rolling in money and need to flex, 4TB and 8TB fashions ought to largely be prevented, as you’ll find yourself paying extra per gigabyte than you’d with a 1TB or 2TB drive.

Whereas the 825GB PS5 solely supplies 667GB of storage, that’s largely on account of storage being reserved for the working system and caching. Should you set up a 1TB PS5 SSD, you will have, inside a margin of error, 1TB of storage obtainable for video games. Out of the field, the PS5 Professional provides 1.86TB of storage for video games, although you possibly can eke out extra when you delete the pre-installed Astro’s Playroom (gasp).

Since neither the PS5 Slim nor PS5 Professional characteristic up to date CPU structure, all of our suggestions will work with no matter PS5 mannequin you personal.

Are you able to play PS5 video games on an exterior SSD?

Exterior exhausting drives are likely to price lower than inside SSD counterparts (and there’s a very good likelihood you would possibly personal one already). Sadly, there are restrictions on what you are able to do with them. An exterior SSD connects to your PS5 through USB, and is barely appropriate for taking part in PlayStation 4 video games, or storing PS5 titles. That’s helpful when you have something however the perfect high-speed web — it’s quicker to maneuver a PS5 sport out of “chilly storage” on an exterior drive than it’s to re-download it — or need to maintain your PS4 library available.

Because of the limitations right here, you don’t want the highest-performing mannequin, though it is best to go for SSDs over HDDs for improved switch speeds and cargo occasions. Any primary transportable drive from a good model will do, with the Essential X9 Professional and Samsung T7 being choices we’ve tried and might suggest.

Which SSD playing cards are suitable with the PS5?

The official reply to this query is an “M.2 Socket 3 (Key M) Gen4 x4 NVME SSD.” However even inside that seemingly particular description, there are extra components to contemplate. The principle necessities Sony has laid out for compatibility come down to hurry, cooling and bodily dimensions.

For velocity, Sony says drives ought to have the ability to deal with sequential reads at 5,500MB/s. Early testing confirmed that the PS5 would settle for drives as sluggish as 4,800MB/s, and that video games that faucet into the SSD commonly — similar to Ratchet & Clank: Rift Aside — would trigger no points. Just about the one factor the PS5 will outright reject is one that does not match the Gen4 x4 spec.

In our opinion, although, utilizing a drive slower than the specification is a danger that, when you don’t have already got that drive mendacity round, isn’t price taking. Simply because we haven’t discovered points but doesn’t imply there gained’t be video games that could possibly be problematic sooner or later. The worth distinction between these marginally slower Gen4 drives and those that meet Sony’s spec isn’t enormous, and also you would possibly as properly cowl all of your bases.

Barely extra difficult than velocity is cooling and dimension. Most new SSDs are going to be simply superb; the PS5 can match 22mm-wide SSDs of just about any size (30mm, 40mm, 60mm, 80mm or 110mm, to be exact). The overwhelming majority of drives you discover will probably be 22mm vast and 80mm lengthy, so no drawback there.

It ought to be famous that the system can match a 25mm-wide drive, however that width should embody the cooling answer. Talking of, Sony says SSDs require “efficient warmth dissipation with a cooling construction, similar to a heatsink.” The utmost top supported by Sony’s slot is 11.25mm, of which solely 2.45mm could be “beneath” the drive.

This beforehand meant among the hottest heatsinked Gen4 SSDs, together with Corsair’s MP600 Professional LP, wouldn’t match inside the PS5’s storage growth slot. Since Engadget first printed this information in 2021, most NVMe makers, together with Samsung, have come out with PlayStation-specific fashions that meet these necessities. That stated, if you wish to avoid wasting cash, naked drives are sometimes cheaper and it’s trivial to discover a cooling answer that can work for the PS5.

The one part in an NVMe SSD that basically requires cooling is the controller, which with out a heatsink will fortunately sear a (very small) steak. Most SSDs have chips on just one facet, however even on double-sided SSDs, the controller is more likely to be on high, as producers realize it must be positioned there to raised dissipate warmth.

So, head to your PC part vendor of selection and choose up principally something that meets the really useful dimensions. A very good search time period is “laptop computer NVME heatsink,” as these will probably be designed to slot in the confines of gaming laptops, that are much more restrictive than a PS5. They’re additionally sometimes cheaper than those labeled as “PS5 heatsinks.”

One suggestion is that this $6 copper heatsink, which attaches to the PS5 SSD with sticky thermal interface materials. It really works simply superb, and in performing stress assessments on a PC, we couldn’t discover something metallic that didn’t maintain temperatures underneath management. Whenever you’re looking out, simply ensure that the answer you go for measures not more than 25mm vast or 8mm tall (together with the thermal interface materials) and has a easy technique of set up that’s not going to trigger any complications.

One final thing: When purchasing for a PS5 NVMe, there’s no cause to purchase a Gen5 mannequin over a extra inexpensive Gen4 mannequin. As issues stand, Sony’s console can’t reap the benefits of the brand new commonplace, and although Gen5 drives are backward suitable, they’re dearer than their Gen4 counterparts. Simply purchase the quickest and highest-capacity Gen4 mannequin you possibly can afford.

How you can set up an SSD into your PS5

Should you want steerage on how you can set up your new NVMe into your PS5 or PS5 Professional, we’ve got a separate information detailing all of the steps right here. Set up is fairly easy, however our how-to might help you when you’re caught. Simply make observe: Earlier than trying so as to add extra storage through a PS5 SSD, guarantee that you’ve got Sony’s newest software program put in.