Seagate confirms FireCuda 530 is PlayStation 5 ready

The new Seagate FireCuda 530 NVMe m.2 PCIe Gen 4 SSD offers blisteringly fast speeds and it's compatible with Sony's PS5.

[Jin_Sakai]

Finally. Hopefully Sony officially announces support in August.

[isarai]

I do find it weird that this is the second internal SSD i've heard marketed as PS5 ready and yet the requirement guidelines haven't been released publicly. Are they already finalized but we just aren't hearing them? Kinda weird but whateves, hopefully the announcement is soon

[SlappingOysters]

Announced requirements are:

Be an m.2 drive (30, 42, 60, 80 or 110mm)
Be PCIe 4.0 ready
Have a read speed in excess of 5500MB/s

[gamer7804]

They also need to have heat sinks on them and still fit the dimensions

[StoneyYoshi]

They probably want to see how the beta goes before sending out a list.

[Teflon02]

Isarai, because you don't just send a 1 by 1 list of officially ready devices. You gather all the Passing products and finalize a list when it's officially available as new ones maybe available or other companies may submit something. It's also the better business move as more companies will want a PS5 Ready drive to get easy sales boosts. If you announce the first 1 or 2 when they become available, people will buy early, then any device made after looses so much potential sales from people jumping in early as well as the word of mouf aspect where everyone will talk about the ones they know is available right away as opposed to additions later.

[darthv72]

As with almost any 3rd party device.... there will be ones officially branded to work and ones that will fudge the verbiage to say something like "Also works on PS5". If it isnt on the [official] list... it aint going in my system. Sony has been testing different drives for months and they have to cover their ass by disclaiming:

“SIE cannot guarantee that all M.2 SSD devices meeting the described specifications will work with your console and assumes no responsibility for the selection, performance or use of third-party products.”

so while they cant guarantee anything... they do know what does and does not work [currently]. I know seagate is on that list so they are a safe bet.

[Seraphim]

https://www.playstation.com...
M.2 SSD requirements for PS5 consoles
Interface: PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD

Capacity: 250GB – 4TB

Cooling structure: Using an M.2 SSD with your PS5 console requires effective heat dissipation with a cooling structure, such as a heatsink. You can attach one to your M.2 SSD yourself, either in a single-sided format, or double-sided format. There are also M.2 SSDs that have cooling structures (such as heatsinks) built in.

Sequential read speed: 5,500MB/s or faster is recommended

Module width: 22mm width (25mm width is not supported)

Form Factor: M.2 type 2230, 2242, 2260, 2280 and 22110.
These numbers can be found on retail listings for M.2 SSD devices. The first two digits refer to the width, the remaining digits to the length.

Socket type: Socket 3 (Key M)

Total size including cooling structure:
In millimeters: smaller than 110mm (L) x 25mm (W) x 11.25mm (H).
In inches: smaller than 4.33in (L) x 0.984 in (W) x 0.442in (H).

See below for full requirements.

Length
The following M.2 SSD lengths are compatible with PS5 consoles:
30mm, 42mm, 60mm, 80mm, 110mm (corresponding to the form factor type, per above).

Width
A 22mm-wide M.2 SSD module is required.
The total structure (including an added cooling structure) cannot exceed 25mm (0.984in).

Height
The total height of the M.2 SSD and its cooling structure (such as a heatsink) – whether built-in or separate – must be less than 11.25mm (0.442in).
The height must also be in the right place, in relation to the M.2 SSD’s circuit board:

The size below the board must be less than 2.45mm (0.096in). The total size above the board must be less than 8mm (0.314in).
(Note: millimeter measurements are the technical standard and are more precise than inches. We recommend double-checking that the total dimensions of M.2 SSD and heatsink products you’re considering meet the millimeter requirements before purchasing)

[itsmebryan]

No one is talking about the elephant in the room. The price. 1TB is $349 or $399 w/heating. If it's Aus$ it's $258usd and $295usd respectively. Is that price correct?

[Eonjay]

Actually USD its
$254 without heatsink
$274 with heatsink
https://www.seagate.com/pro...
If you don't want to spend the extra $20 on the heatsink, you can get one for half the price on Amazon

[Asuka]

Don't cheap out. Pay the extra $20 for the heat sink to mitigate degradation to IO speeds. These SSDs run hot and if you don't have adequate cooling you won't see the full performance for what you're paying for.

[Seraphim]

let's not forget that drives much have heat dissipation. anyone who wants to read the article at Sony with a listing of specs and other information, the link is below
https://www.playstation.com...

pricing was my concern and its come to be true. $250 for a 1TB Western Digital Black. So I'd imagine this drive too is around that $250 mark for 1TB. I overpaid for storage on the PS3 [320GB for $180] and PS4 [though it wasn't as bad]. Much as I do need and want more storage I simply can't justify it. I had hoped that pricing could come in below XBs proprietary expanded storage or close to. If I recall those are about $200-220. I'm certainly happy to see if finally roll out but I'll more likely than not try holding off until pricing is more reasonable.

[andy85]

For this one, the 980 Pro will be compatible and that's massively cheaper, at least in the UK

[isarai]

No one is talking about it cause it's a given, it's not only higher end hardware, but there's a shortage pushing prices even higher. Personally i'm gonna wait till i can grab a 2tb for as close to $150-ish as i can, one and done. I dint mind waiting till then

[SlappingOysters]

So desperate for this expansion slot to go live - been out of HD space since a week after launch!

[TheDoomedGuy]

Are you playing all those games still? If it took you 1 week to fill the internal drive then I'd say you got maybe 2 weeks till you need to upgrade again.

[ABizzel1]

The best thing you can do is just buy an external and store you content on it. It'll give you significantly more space 4TB - 8TB (not sure if there's still a 8TB limit on PS) today for $50 - $150, instead of waiting months to maybe get 1TB (which will be gone instantly as well) for $150 - $250.

Just put all your PS4 content on to the external, and store PS5 games you don't play often there.

[Teflon02]

My PS4 games are on my USB drive so I've only finally filled mine a few weeks ago when I got scarlet Nexus

[SlappingOysters]

Call of Duty takes up heaps of it. Then I have a few single players I’m getting through, then my kids have a few.. nothing just sitting there taking up space.

External support wasn’t there for ages. It helps, but prefer to save that money for an internal that can deliver all the PS5 features.

[yeahokwhatever]

Ive got fiber internet. I uninstall and install games constantly. biggest game takes me like 20 minutes to fully install. :-)

[SlappingOysters]

yeah ok, whatever ;)

[Rimeskeem]

I like how they described the amount of storage on the base PS5 as "pathetic". Like please be more biased in your article thanks.

[SlappingOysters]

How is that biased? Strong word choice I agree, but biased? It's not a positive word, so how is it biased?

[TheDoomedGuy]

A bias does not have to be a positive word.
Bias can be negative or positive

[Teflon02]

Because it's not pathetic, the storage is well more than enough to fit 10+ games without issue. Pathetic is 256GB on the console. over 600 is fine especially when alot of games are smaller than PS4 games and 500 for that at the start was acceptable. Just don't put PS4 titles on the main drive and you're fine

[Vengeance1138]

It's a no-win situation with the base PS5 storage, it's either have users pay another $100+ to have higher storage included or just have low storage to begin with but a fair entry price for the console.
Also I really don't see how anyone can run out of storage a week after launch.. I mean.. are you really trying to install your entire PS4 library on day 1? How about you complete what you install, then delete the application and install something else, theres absolutely no reason to have 15-20 games installed at once.

[SavageFlamingo]

People play games differently. As for me, I switch between games daily.

[TheDoomedGuy]

@savage

Yes people play games differently but most people don't play more than 5 games at a time.

And even if they do i would hope they'd eventually beat one and be able to clear space for the next one.

How many big open world space hungry games do you have installed at a time?

[Teflon02]

Doom I spread between about 15 games I'd say

1 Persona 5 Royal
2 Trails of Cold Steel (tryina platinum so I play whenever)
3 Scarlet Nexus
4 Ratchet and Clank (doing the New Game plus run)
5 Returnal (haven't finished because I don't know how to commit)
6 Battlefield V (BF hype
7 Genshin Impact
8 Honkai Impact 3rd (on PC and phone but just as an example)
9 Spiderman
10 Miles Morales (yes I'm playing both at the same time because I didn't play the first on PS4)
11 Sackboy (still didn't finish, I play randomly)
12 Atelier Ryza 2 (Randomly play casually whenever I feel)
13 Ni no Kuni II (did 100% including the DLC on PC but doing it on PS too now)
14 Dreams
15 Persona 5 Strikers
16 Yakuza Like a Dragon literally came in from Amazon today, adding that to this list as I get off my PC lol

These get shuffled on random days and so on, I definitely understand. But I just don't install PS4 titles on the PS5 drive so I haven't had space issues until Scarlet nexus filled my drive and I had to remove warframe for Genshin after the update allowed my PC save on PS5 lol

[Lexreborn2]

I read this after I posted the same observation. Lol

[kayoss]

Thats the problem with keeping the cost down at the start of a new gen console. Cuts have to be made somewhere and usually its the storage option that get the short end of the stick. Just imagine how much it would cost to have a 2TB SSD hard drive on the PS5 for consumers. People will be outraged at the initial price. I would think a 2TB PS5 console probably would cost at least $550.

[gamer7804]

i think xbox players and ps players can all agree that 1tb was the minimum they could put in these consoles.

[isarai]

It's gonna be a while till i get one, gonna try and wait for the prices to drop back to somewhat normal, but if i'm gonna buy one i want a 2rb right off the bat like i did with my ps4 and the 1tb for my ps3 so it's one and done and i don't really have to worry about it anymore

[DJStotty]

And the price of this is higher than Xbox's proprietary seagate 1TB expansion.

Xbox Series 1TB expansion - $219.99

PS5 1TB internal expansion - $249.99 (Changed to US $ instead of AUS $ - originally put $349)

I called it, got bashed for it, but i fully expected the PS5's internal drives to be a higher price.

[DJStotty]

Edit : UK price

Seagate 1tb expansion card for Series X - £179.99

PS5 internal 1tb seagate SSD - can not locate a price, but my guess would be £249.99, going by the 520 which is currently £179.99

[DJStotty]

@therapeutichawk

Relax buddy, just comparing 2 SSD's from the same manufacturers.

But you do realise the external SSD is not the only one that is compatible with the Series X? i know right, mesmerising

"PS5 supports any SSD that has a 5500MB/s read rate."

Xbox supports every external SSD....

[ocelot07]

It's £189.99 in the UK for the 1tb firecuda 530.

https://www.overclockers.co...

So £10 more than the Xbox series memory card thing but also faster. I'm sure cheaper drives will be announced in coming weeks/months.

[DJStotty]

@ocelot07

Speed is irrelevant, the Seagate external is identical to the internal (series X), however you can buy non-seagate external SSD's that are still compatible for cheaper than the card.

The reason the Firecuda 530 is more expensive, is because it is a faster SSD, still does not change the fact, people were bashing a 1TB external drive for the series x for the price, but are giving the firecuda a pass on the price "but but but because it is faster" argument.

Still more expensive.

"I'm sure cheaper drives will be announced in coming weeks/months."

As will be soon with the Series X, both are doing similar in regards to storage. The question is, how many parents/kids are going to open up a console to upgrade the storage?

[badz149]

tbf, for a mere PCIe Gen3 speed, the SX expansion storage is overpriced. plus, as of right now, MS only comes out with 1TB while the PS5-ready drives will be available in ranges of 512GB onwards maybe even as low as 256GB if you're going cheap LOL. if this 530 is compatible, the Samsung 980 pro should be too and that one comes in the smaller 256GB size up to 2TB if I'm not mistaken. I wonder if MS will offer a 2TB option down the road. how much would they be charging for that?

[darthv72]

There will be bigger capacity drives in the future. being that it is socketed, the internal storage of the series will likely increase just as the external plug in cards will as well. It could be argued that due to the use of the 2230 size socket, their only choice was a gen 3 speed drive. but that isnt to say there wont be gen 4 2230 at some point. WD (who provides the internal drives) has shown interest in making expansion cards like seagate. So it could soon provide options for users ranging from 512gb up to 4tb and beyond.

And honestly the speed of even the gen 3 is still impressive for the series. Loading times would only reduce even further if they were to actually use that gen 4 controller to the fullest. i expect prices for the 1tb to drop once they announce the 2 and 4tb expansion cards. Same with newer skus of series s and x with even larger internal drives (possibly faster too). a 1tb S isnt that far off for possibility just as a 2tb X. the current global chip mfg situation affects not only the consoles but also storage industry and auto industry.

Also the internal (and possibly external) drive is custom gen 4 even though it seems like a gen 3 https://www.tweaktown.com/n...

[FlavorLav01]

They might release their own proprietary cards once they’re done with the beta. We haven’t heard it from the horse’s mouth so I wouldn’t take anything (including pricings) as final.

[jznrpg]

Of course they are , they are better drives in the PS5 . You think it would be cheaper??

[DJStotty]

Your not understanding my point, months back, in articles about the price of the series x external proprietary card, i stated the NVME storage option for the PS5 would be higher in price.

I got ridiculed, bashed, downvoted, called a fanboy, you name it, for simply stating a fact which has now come to fruition.

Nothing to do with speed, compatibility, whatever anyone wants to use to justify the price, my point still stands, all these months later.

The PS5 storage option, is more expensive than the Series X storage option.

[chadwarden]

except these are 3rd party drives that other companies will also produce and compete with. The prices will go down and go on sale frequently.

[DJStotty]

Good stuff, any competing drives announced and green lit by Sony yet?

[TheDoomedGuy]

No you would not have been bashed if you had been honest.

There's a big difference between making a statement that assumes all things are equal and one that doesn't. As @therpeutic said.

Songs solution is a much faster 1tb which essentially means a much better product.
You have to look at the whole and then be unbiased in your response.

Ps5 offers a 3x faster 1tb for a measley $20 more. You get the most bang for your buck with ps5 offering.

[DJStotty]

Everyone knows the speed of the PS5 storage options are higher, i did not think i would have needed to spell that out.

The series x external, matches the internal SSD identically, these prices will also reduce once more manufacturers/storage sizes are available.

"here's a big difference between making a statement that assumes all things are equal and one that doesn't."

No, i just made a simple statement about storage solution prices. If anybody took it in a way that suggests the products are equal, then that is a them problem, and no to answer your question, months ago i stated that the PS5 internal storage expansion solutions would be higher in price due to the tech being better (faster etc) i got ridiculed and called a fanboy, and then the same people said "no they will not be higher as competition will drive prices down" i suggested the seagate expansion for the Series X will not be the only card released (1 the internal is made by WD - 2 the Seagate expansion card is more than likely an agreement deal for about 2 years) after which, more storage options will become available, thus driving Series X solution prices down, i got ridiculed again.

[Atticus_finch]

Smh. Please try and hide your ignorance a little better next time.

[TimeSkipLuffy]

I've seen a quick test on YT showing the use of a lower speed ssd and it worked fine (with Ratchet). Hopefully we will be allowed to use lower speed ssds and the game will decide whether it has to be installed on expansion or internal.

[Teflon02]

From the notes, It essentially says the drives can't be promised to work properly with all games. I'm sure at some point certain games will fall apart. Insomniac is amazing at optimization so they probably have alot of headroom so I think a slightly slower drive is even efficient this early in the life cycle, but not wise long term

[StoneyYoshi]

Stotty you need to open your eyes bud.

Im not adding lists of cheaper ones since someone already did. Some are higher but some aren't as well. I can grab a 1Tb for $199 and get a compatible heatsink for $8 on amazon coming out to less than the XSX option.

"Xbox supports every external SSD...."

And so does Sony. Did you forget that?

[DJStotty]

My eyes are wide open, sure you can get a cheaper M.2 than the firecuda 530, whether it will work with the games is a different story.

I meant "support" more favoured towards the Series X, because the internal speeds of the Series are easily matched with the majority of SSD external's, the PS5 requires a minimum speed of 5500 mbps.

Maybe i need to be more clear in my comments, as it seems a lot of people take them out of context and then i have to explain what i mean.

So far, the only M2 we know will work inside the PS5 is the firecuda, i know all externals work with both consoles, but it gets a bit muddy when you try finding out which externals actually run the games from the drive, same with the Series X.

[StoneyYoshi]

"Sure you can get a cheaper M.2 than the firecuda 530, whether it will work with the games is a different story."

Mark Cerny has already said he will be using the WD SN850 in his PS5 which is the one I was using as the price example so theres one more out there that will for sure work. We need to wait until the beta ends before jumping to conclusions as if there wont be multiple options out there to choose from. And so far we already have 6 or more that are having promising results with some testers. I wish I had the beta so I could test this stuff out too because I love this kind of shit lol.

"I meant "support" more favoured towards the Series X, because the internal speeds of the Series are easily matched with the majority of SSD external's, the PS5 requires a minimum speed of 5500 mbps."

Yeah its currently favoured towards Series X now because its SSD speeds have been available for roughly 2 years now while PS5 speeds are more "cutting edge" I guess is a way you can describe it which is going to take some time to have more "support" but its inevitable that SSD's exceeding 5500mbps will be standard speeds in a year or two bringing the prices down. The fact that MS is charging roughly the same price as a SSD thats over twice the speed is what surprises me the most. MS totally could have this in the bag if they didn't overcharge for their expansion storage. but they did the same thing here like they did with the 360. Remember them charging $180 for a 120 gig proprietary HDD?

" i know all externals work with both consoles, but it gets a bit muddy when you try finding out which externals actually run the games from the drive, same with the Series X."

Im slightly confused by what you mean here? Neither console can play next-gen games on external drives. But I haven't heard anything about people having issues with certain external drives working to play last gen games on it besides them just buying a shoddy one.

[Teflon02]

NVMe prices drop, My 970 pro NVMe 512GB was $300 CAD when dropped, I can now get 1TB for under $170 and it's faster than the Xbox drive technically lol. That's the difference. Like the 320 era where the price seems fine on release, 3 years later it'll be the same while compatible PS5 drives will be 2tb for a under $300 range

[DJStotty]

Is it compatible with PS5 though?

That is what we are discussing here, not just SSD's you can buy

[mkis007]

What you are doing is kinda like saying the series s is cheaper than the series x and giving no other in formation.

[foker]

You do realize competition will move the prices down really fast,.. and MS will stay the same,.. Not to mention these drives are 3 times faster than what MS uses. I will simply wait or perhaps put my PS4 library on external usb drive

[cfir]

Digital Foundry have list a set of compatible drives (size/spec, but not actually tested on PS5),
https://www.eurogamer.net/a...
Prices range from £151 - £218 for 1TB

[DarkZane]

@DJSlotty

You likely got bashed because it's true. PS5 internal drives will go down quickly since there will be more competition, however Xbox uses proprietary tech, which means that drive will likely take years before it sees a significant price cut.

Also, the PS5 drive is faster.

[Lexreborn2]

I like how the author injects “pathetic” HDD space as if even though the storage is low the performance of it has been nothing close to pathetic. It’s really important journalist choose their words better as injections like that fuels fanboy flames.

[roadkillers]

Can't wait for the PS6, this will not be a concern next gen ;)

[JayRyu]

I'm still waiting for the Sony approved list of SSDs

[Viking_mo]

Jesus those are crazy expensive

[thesoftware730]

See now we are talking about price vs speed.

I have not see this special magical speed compared to the SX. I play both consoles and they are very comparable with load times, I haven't see any game that cant be done on the SX or vice versa that shows why the SSD is so magical and special.

[yeahokwhatever]

just pop in ratchet and clank into your xbox and you'll see how the game doesnt even work.

[Viljong]

Xbox games load instantly like spiderman and ratchet and clank? Also load times are tested to be noticeable faster on ps5. Ps5 no doubt have much more advanced i/o

[Sayai jin]

Nice. Seagate offers consoles so pretty good drives.

[masterfox]

So awesome PS5 integrated a standard high speed port for internal expansion, pretty sure the PS5 architecture will truly utilize the NVMe ultra high speeds standards to reach near instant loadings like the original internal SSD.

[hiawa23]

I order this for pickup tomorrow. https://www.bestbuy.com/sit...

[JayRyu]

Does that need a heatsink?

[hiawa23]

It doesn't come with heatsink so I canceled and ordered the 2TB WD SN850 with hestsink.

[anast]

How much? At around $800 is still cheaper than a PC. $700 or more will get a decent rig.

[Viljong]

Ps5 i/o and ssd tek is more advanced than xbox and specially pc. It allow games like ratchet and clank to load new world instantly while playing.

[philm87]

I've got on pretty well with the storage on there. I've found my PS5 downloads super quick compared to the PS4, so no issue just deleting then reinstalling if I have to. Plus the PS5 games tend to be a lot smaller so the storage goes a lot further. Early days though, may well need the upgrade in the future.

[NobleRed]

Seagate rofl.
Better get Samsung or Western Digital.