The Best PS5 SSDs You Can Buy in 2025: Speedy M.2 Drives for Your Console

Over the past fewer console generations with built-in storage, gamers were typically stuck with nevertheless overmuch abstraction that came with the console. With the PS5, Sony made a astonishing determination by including an interior M.2 PCIe slot to instal an off-the-shelf SSD to supplement the interior storage. Given that this is the aforesaid institution that paired the PS Vita and PSP with ludicrously costly representation cards, this was a welcoming alteration of pace, particularly fixed the paltry 825GB of retention you person to enactment with. Now you tin instal high-end PC SSDs similar the Corsair MP600 Pro LPX, our No. 1 pick, to load adjacent much games astir arsenic accelerated arsenic the extra-special thrust that's built into the console itself.

TL;DR - These Are the Best SSDs for PS5:

There are a fewer restrictions. First, you request a PCIe 4.0 oregon Gen 4 thrust oregon better. This interface allows for SSD speeds up to 7,500MB/s, which is simply a immense betterment implicit the 3,500MB/s for Gen 3 M.2 SSDs. You're besides going to request an M.2 drive. The existent carnal size of the thrust doesn't matter, with the PS5 having screw holes for each size of M.2 thrust connected the marketplace close now. However, astir of the clip you're going to privation to instrumentality with an M.2 2280 thrust – they're the astir communal M.2 drives connected the market.

We besides urge getting an SSD with a built-in heatsink. There are size restrictions connected the heatsink itself, it can't beryllium taller than 11.25mm. Luckily, determination truly aren't galore SSDs retired determination that won't fit. Your PS5 SSD needs a heatsink due to the fact that PCIe 4.0 SSDs person a inclination to make a batch of vigor erstwhile nether load, and the small cubby wherever the SSD slot is located isn't precisely perfect for passive airflow implicit the thrust itself. So, you'll request a heatsink conscionable to marque definite your thrust doesn't overheat and throttle its performance. You tin either get an SSD with a built-in heatsink, oregon get a seperate heatsink – either mode volition enactment conscionable fine.

As for capacity, take nevertheless overmuch retention you deliberation you'll need. Most radical volition astir apt beryllium good sticking with a 1TB thrust to supplement their system. This volition fundamentally treble your disposable storage, and tin store a ton of games, oregon astatine slightest let you to instal Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and, like, 2 different games. You can, of course, splurge for a elephantine 4TB thrust and make a immense archive of games, conscionable beryllium alert that these capacious drives person a overmuch higher terms tag.

• If you're an Xbox owner, spot our roundup of the best SSDs for Xbox Series X

Contributions by Danielle Abraham and Callum Bains

PS5 SSD Basics

A steadfast magnitude of SSDs are disposable that brace perfectly with the PS5’s M.2 slot. Given there’s much contention successful the abstraction than adjacent conscionable a mates of years ago, you’ll find plentifulness of high-speed, low-cost drives for a sub-$100 terms tag. If you’re looking to amp up storage, you’ll find the terms of these drives rises exponentially; bigger drives, similar the 8TB SSD from Western Digital, volition tally you good implicit $500.

You’ll privation to guarantee you instal an NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD with maximum dimensions of 110mm x 25mm x 11.25mm oregon 4.33" x 0.984" x 0.442", including the heatsink. Clearly, the PS5 has immoderate cramped, shallow quarters, starring to precocious temps, rendering a heatsink indispensable to forestall bottlenecking oregon harm to the drive. Luckily, astir drives travel with an optional heatsink, but if you request to task retired connected your ain to drawback one, beryllium definite it fits tallness requirements of nether 8mm supra the SSD oregon 2.45mm below.

Beyond size requirements, you'll request astatine slightest a PCIe 4.0 SSD, that tin scope sequential work speeds of 5500MB/s oregon faster. Most SSDs volition person a rated sequential work velocity and constitute velocity advertised, truthful you tin get a beauteous bully thought of however accelerated it'll beryllium by looking astatine the box. When you spell to instal a PS5 SSD, it volition tally the thrust done its ain velocity test, which volition archer you definitively if it's accelerated capable to tally PS5 games. In my experience, this velocity trial peaks astatine astir 6,500MB/s, truthful drives that are importantly faster than this aren't truly worthy getting for the PS5. These days, astir PCIe 4.0 drives are rated for aroun 7,000–7,500MB/s, truthful you'll beryllium spoiled for choice.

Another happening you're going to privation to instrumentality a look astatine is the warranty of the drive. This is much than conscionable selling hype, astir SSDs volition beryllium rated for an magnitude of time, usually 5 years, on with an endurance rating, measured successful TBW. This stands for 'Terabytes Written' and measures however overmuch information tin theoretically beryllium written to the thrust implicit its lifespan earlier it fails. This doesn't mean that a thrust rated for 700TBW volition neglect aft you capable it 700 times, but alternatively that it should past at slightest until that point.

You'll besides privation to look astatine the benignant of NAND representation the SSD is built from. There are 3 types of NAND that are typically used: QLC, TLC and MLC. The main quality betwixt the 3 are endurance, with QLC lasting the slightest magnitude of time, and MLC being the astir durable. Of course, this volition besides impact the terms of the drive, with QLC drives usually being the astir affordable drives connected the market, with MLC NAND typically recovered connected the astir costly SSDs connected the market, and are mostly meant for originative professionals, alternatively than gamers. All of the drives connected this database are utilizing TLC NAND, which people falls determination successful the middle.

Given the PS5 lone offers 825GB of abstraction and the PS5 Slim has 1TB, you’ll much than apt privation and/or request much storage. Games similar Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Baldur’s Gate 3 instrumentality up good implicit 100GB each erstwhile installed, truthful your retention volition capable up quickly. The M.2 enlargement slot lets you adhd 250GB–8TB of speedy interior storage. 1TB seems to beryllium the saccharine spot betwixt capableness and price, but if you’re looking to enactment your monolithic gaming room connected 1 console, you’ll privation adjacent much space. Luckily, astir mainstream PCIe 4.0 SSDs travel successful capacities up to 4TB, truthful you tin truly physique up a room if you person the fund for it.

Beyond an interior SSD, which should beryllium your preferred retention option, you tin usage an outer hard drive. Some outer SSD offerings deed comparatively precocious speeds. You can’t tally PS5 games connected them. However, it volition prevention you the hassle of redownloading larger games, and PS4 titles tin beryllium played close connected the drive.

Looking for assistance successful installing your PS5 SSD aft puchase? Be definite to cheque retired our usher connected however to upgrade your PS5 storage. Luckily, you don't request to beryllium hardware aficionado to fig it out.

1. Corsair MP600 Pro LPX

Best PS5 SSD

2. Crucial T500

Best Budget PS5 SSD

Crucial T500

A 1TB thrust that hits precocious speeds and includes a heatsink for usage with the PS5, each for little than you’d expect.

Sequential work speed

7,300MB/s

Sequential constitute speed

6,800MB/s

The Crucial T500 is the best-value SSD around, with bully show bump from P5 Plus, which antecedently held this spot. For conscionable implicit $100, it's a thrust offering 1TB of retention with a heatsink attached – lone $15 much than the non-heatsink exemplary – and is perfectly sized to slot into the cramped quarters of the PS5. Not lone does this thrust treble the retention connected the console, but the hassle of uncovering and spending other currency connected an perfectly indispensable heatsink that fits tin beryllium avoided.

Afraid of losing accelerated speeds with specified a great-priced SSD? Don’t be, arsenic the T500 keeps up with the champion high-performance drives acknowledgment to the Micron TLC 3D NAND flash representation – a coagulated measurement up from the QLC NAND seen successful galore fund SSDs. Max work speeds of up to 7,300 MB/s tin beryllium expected from the 1TB drive. Write speeds aren’t shabby either, hitting up to 6,800MB/S. So, everything from crippled boots and saves to transferring monolithic gameplay clips volition beryllium accelerated and seamless.

If 1TB doesn’t look similar capable storage, bumping up to the Crucial T500 2TB SSD sees a large summation successful retention abstraction and adjacent faster speeds. The TBW standing is besides doubled to 1,200 compared to the 1TB drive, though it inactive offers the aforesaid five-year warranty recovered connected astir SSDs. Unfortunately, a 4TB enactment isn’t disposable for the biggest crippled library.

3. Samsung 990 Evo Plus

Best PS5 SSD Without Heatsink

Samsung 990 Evo Plus

Sequential work speed

7,250MB/s

Sequential constitute speed

6,300MB/s

NAND type

Samsung V-NAND TLC

TBW

600TB (1TB), 1200TB (2TB), 2400TB (4TB)

Excellent show for the money

Extremely accelerated load times

Doesn't travel with a heatsink

While you tin walk a batch of currency connected a PS5 SSD, I’ve ever preferred drives that present fantabulous show without a bloated terms tag. That’s fundamentally what the Samsung 990 Evo Plus provides. It does person a little endurance standing than the much costly 990 Pro, but that’s not thing you really have to interest astir if you’re plugging an SSD into a console. Plus, the 2TB thrust I tested is inactive rated for 1,200 TBW, which is much than astir gamers volition ever really use.

What’s much important is speed. While the thrust is rated for up to 7,250MB/s sequential work speeds, the PS5 retention trial that runs erstwhile you instal a caller thrust rated it astatine 6,137MB/s. That’s inactive much than accelerated capable for PS5 games to tally connected it, and successful my testing, it loaded Metaphor: Refantazio successful conscionable 4.37 seconds, a spot faster than the autochthonal thrust astatine 4.47 seconds. That’s conscionable a 10ms quality successful loading time, but hey, astatine slightest you cognize it’s not going to load your games slower, right?

One happening to support successful caput is that the Samsung 990 Evo Plus is simply a DRAM-less SSD, which means little highest show successful pro workloads. However, portion it does mean this thrust has little highest show than it would with a dedicated DRAM cache built-in, the PS5 can’t instrumentality vantage of its afloat rated velocity anyways, truthful it truly doesn’t matter. What does matter, though, is Samsung doesn’t presently merchantability the Samsung 990 Evo Plus with a heatsink attached, which means you’re going to request to brace it with 1 of your own. Luckily, SSD heatsinks are mostly conscionable a fewer bucks connected Amazon, and you could astir apt get distant without one, too.

4. Samsung 9100 Pro

The Overkill PCIe 5.0 SSD for PS5

5. WD_Black P40

Best External SSD for PS5

PS5 SSD FAQ

Is an SSD worthy it for PS5?

A bully chunk of the PS5’s interior 825GB SSD is taken up by strategy files, leaving you with a small implicit 650GB of usable retention space. The PS5 Slim adds a spot much storage, and the PS5 Pro further increases the retention up to 2TB. If you dedicate yourself to lone a fewer games astatine a time, those smaller retention amounts should astir apt beryllium enough. But if you similar having respective games connected the go, oregon are a fiend for unrecorded work games that thin to balloon successful size arsenic much updates and contented packs are added, you’ll soon find yourself hitting the limits of the PS5’s storage. At that point, get yourself an SSD. It's 1 of the champion PS5 accessories you tin put in.

What velocity SSD should I get for PS5?

You’ll request an SSD that’s rated with a work velocity of astatine slightest 5,500MB/s. In practice, it’s hard not to find a PCIE 4.0 thrust that ticks that box. The higher the velocity the better, but support successful caput that the PS5 lone truly supports speeds up to 6,500MB/s. Getting a faster thrust than that surely won't wounded anything, but the strategy volition bottleneck faster drives, particularly PCIe 5.0 SSDs that tin person work speeds that scope 14,700MB/s oregon more.

When is the champion clip to bargain a PS5 SSD?

PS5 SSDs are a amazingly costly adhd connected to immoderate PS5 console purchase. Prices person dropped beauteous signicantly implicit the years, but if you're hoping to prevention arsenic overmuch wealth arsenic possible, determination are a fewer antithetic times that are champion for buying an SSD. The archetypal large 1 is Amazon Prime Day, which usually takes spot successful July each year. After that, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are an fantabulous clip to find large discounts connected PS5 SSDs online.

Are PCIe 5.0 SSDs worthy it for the PS5?

Not really. The PS5 supports PCIe 4.0, and though PCIe 5.0 drives are backward compatible with PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 3.0, the console can’t instrumentality vantage of the afloat work and constitute speeds of the latest drives. That means it’s not worthy the other money, particularly erstwhile you tin often find PCIe 4.0 SSDs for acold less.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor astatine IGN and the PC components queen. You tin travel her @Jackiecobra