One of the integral components that improves the overall performance and quality of life on PS5 is the Solid State Drive (SSD).
SSDs, compared to the HDDs found on the previous gen consoles, significantly improve the transfer speed making the game loading almost instantaneous.
Unfortunately, though, PS5 only has 825 GBs of SSD. So for those who crave a large menu or a huge repository of installed games on their PS5, they would obviously want to expand the storage capacity of their PS5. For this, you may want to know “How many SSD slots does PS5 Have”?
Well, the succinct answer to this question is that PS5 offers one built-in SSD and ONE extra NVME expansion slot for a Gen 4 SSD.
As such, you can add ONE extra NVMe SSD drive to your PS5.
PS5 supports Gen 4 SSDs which are lightyears ahead in performance as compared to the Hard Disk Drive (HDDs) found on the previous gen console.
To give you a glimpse, a Gen 4 SSD can reach speeds of up to 7000 MB/s transfer rate (Depending upon the model) and the HDD at BEST can reach 200 MB/s only!
While SSDs may not sound as significant as the CPU and the GPU and Teraflops, for a seamless experience, particularly with load times in consideration, SSDs are instrumental.
PS5 and Support for Gen 4 SSDs
As alluded to earlier above, PS5 supports Gen 4 NVMe SSDs. Gen 4 NVMe SSDs conform to the PCIe protocol.
PCIe is basically one of the two interfaces (the other one being SATA) that storage drives use to communicate with the rest of the system.
SATA is much slower. SATA SSDs have a transfer speed of 550 MB/s. NVMe SSDs, aka PCIe SSDS, are multiple folds faster. Their exact speed depends upon the generation they belong.
PCIe/NVMe Gen 3 SSDs like the Samsung 970 Pro have speeds of 3500 MB/s max. Gen 4 NVMe SSDs like the Samsung 980 Pro have speeds of 7000 MB/s max.
The following table shows the relative speeds of different storage drives (the exact speed depends upon the model of the drive).
Storage | ApproxMax Speeds |
HDD | ~120-200 MB/s |
SATA SSD | 550 MB/s |
Gen 3 NVMe SSD | 3500 MB/s |
Gen 4 NVMe SSD | 7000 MB/s |
PS5 supports Gen 4 SSDs or later.
In other words, Gen 3 SSDs or SATA SSDs WILL NOT work on PS5.
The official requirements for Sony clearly state:
use an M.2 SSD that meets these requirements: PCIe Gen4 or later
As such, while Gen 5 SSDs will work, the older Gen PCIe/NVMe SSDs are not supported by PS5.
SATA and PCIe M.2 SSDs Look the Same
Do not get fooled by SATA SSDs as they look the same as and NVMe/PCIe SSDs.
SATA SSDs, like the Gen 3 NVMe SSDs, are NOT supported by PS5
PS5’s Built-in SSD Details
The primary built-in storage of PS5 is also a PCIe 4.0 or Gen 4 NVMe SSD with a capacity of 825GB.
However, the built-in SSD is unlike your average SSD. It is heavily customized with promises to deliver game-changing load times.
And of course, since it is built-in, it cannot be detached.
This brings us to the question at hand:
How Many SSD Slots Does PS5 Have?
Now, as far as expandability goes, PS5 offers one extra M.2 slot for inserting an NVMe SSD.
The details of the SSD that you can install are summarized in the following table.
Interface | PCI-Express Gen4x4 supported M.2 NVMe SSD (Key M) |
Storage | 250 GB – 4 TB |
Supported sizes | 2230, 2242, 2260, 2280, 22110 |
Size includingheat-dissipation mechanism | Width: up to 25 mmLength: 30/40/60/80/110 mmThickness: up to 11.25 mm (up to 8.0 mmfrom above the board,up to 2.45 mm from below the board) |
Sequential Read Speed | 5,500MB/s or faster is recommended |
Socket type | Socket 3 (Key M) |
Let me explain these specs a bit.
Interface:
This refers to the fact that the SSD should belong to the PCIe (NVMe) interface conforming to version/Gen 4. The “x4” in Gen4x4 indicates that the SSD utilizes 4 PCIe lanes – you need not bother yourself much with this.
Storage
This is quite self-explanatory. The capacity should be between 250GB-4TB. Do not go for anything else or the SSD may fail to get detected by PS5.
Supported Sizes
This indicates the length and width of the SSD
2230, 2242, 2260, 2280, 22110
The first two numbers indicate the width whereas the rest indicate the length in mm. 2230 means 22mm x 30mm and 22110 indicates 22mm x 1110mm.
Size Including Heat-Dissipation Mechanism
This relates to the height of the SSD. Since PS5 encourages you to install heatsinks, you must make sure that the overall thickness with the heatsink installed should not exceed 8mm from the slot.
Sequential Read Speed
This essentially points to how fast the SSD should be. While Gen 4 SSDs can easily reach the required 5500MB/s, not all are created equally.
Hence you must make sure that you invest in the right Gen 4 SSD.
Socket Type
You need not bother yourself with this much. This is a term that relates to the type of the M.2 slot PS5 has which is Socket 3 (with M Key).
There are essentially three types of M.2 defined by their socket types.
- Socket 1: Intended for installing WIFI and Bluetooth cards
- Socket 2: Used for GPS modules
- Socket 3: Used by SSDs.
Socket 3 can be for M or B+M key type. M is for NVMe SSDs whereas B+M is for SATA SSDs.
PS5 thus understandably has the M key Socket 3 slot.
Final Words
TL:DR, PS5 has ONE extra NVMe M.2 slot for installing a Gen 4 SSD. You can expand anywhere between 1-4 Terabytes of extra SSD storage space on top of the 825 GB already available.