Do PCIe 4.0 and upcoming PCIe 5.0 M.2 SSDs beat the PS5‘s blazing fast storage?
As a hardcore gamer and tech enthusiast, this question has been top of mind for me since the PlayStation 5 launched. Sony made huge claims about the PS5‘s super fast custom solid state drive (SSD), boasting hardware-accelerated throughput up to 9GB/s with the promise of lighting fast game loads.
So how does this purpose-built storage solution compare against the latest and greatest PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 5.0 M.2 NVMe drives for gaming PCs? I decided to dig into the specs and performance testing to find out. The results surprised me!
The short answer: Today‘s cutting edge PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSDs essentially match the PS5‘s raw throughput metrics. But Sony still maintains practical loading speed advantages in real-world gameplay thanks to the PS5‘s custom decompression and storage processing optimizations. However, next-gen PCIe 5.0 SSDs coming later in 2024 will reshape the battle once again!
Here‘s my in-depth breakdown as an avid gamer comparing PC and PS5 SSD performance as we race into the era of super speed solid state storage.
Diving Into the PS5‘s Custom Ultra-Fast SSD
The PlayStation 5 broke new ground for consoles by utilizing PCI Express 4.0 – the latest SSD interface typically only found in modern gaming PCs, not closed box designs. This alone gave Sony the potential for much faster storage performance than previous PlayStation generations.
But they didn‘t stop there – Mark Cerny and the PS5 hardware design team added a slew of customizations to wring every last drop of speed from the SSD, including:
- Dedicated hardware decompression – Allows compressed game data to be unpacked extremely quickly, saving storage space without sacrificing game load speeds. Provides up to an extra 9GB/s effective throughput!
- Direct data path to the GPU – The SSD communicates directly with the graphics processor, bypassing the CPU and bottlenecks it may induce. Innovative integration.
- 性能定制存储控制器Custom storage controller tuned for gaming workloads – Sony custom-designed the SSD controller (like a storage brain) specifically optimized for handling thousands of small random file requests during game loads.
These enhancements combined result in a proprietary storage solution fine tuned for the kinds of workloads games impose that goes beyond just fast sequential read/write metrics.
So what are the actual throughput specs of the elusive PS5 SSD then?
- Raw sequential throughput: 5.5 GB/s reads, 4.5-5.5 GB/s writes
- Hardware decompression effective speed: Up to 22 GB/s !
- Size: 825 GB usable capacity (full drive is 1TB)
Pretty impressive stuff! It bests what the vast majority of gaming PCs were equipped with when the PS5 launched. But SSD technology moves extremely fast too…
So how do the latest and greatest 2021/2022/2023 PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 5.0 M.2 NVMe SSDs available compare now? Let‘s take a look!
Bleeding Edge PCIe 4.0/5.0 M.2 SSDs – Faster on Paper?
PC hardware enthusiasts and gamers know that NVMe solid state drives connecting via PCI Express deliver ludicrous speeds compared to legacy SATA drives. And we‘ve now moved onto the 4th generation PCI Express interface, unlocking double the bandwidth of PCIe 3.0 SSDs in 2017/2018.
I follow SSD market launches closely as both an enthusiast PC builder and PS5 owner myself. Some of today‘s bleeding edge drives with crazy fast spec sheets include:
| SSD | Seq. Read | Seq. Write | Interface | Launch Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung 980 Pro | 7,000 MB/s | 5,000 MB/s | M.2 PCIe 4.0 | 2021 |
| WD Black SN850X | 7,300 MB/s | 6,200 MB/s | M.2 PCIe 4.0 | 2022 |
| Seagate FireCuda 530 | 7,300 MB/s | 6,900 MB/s | M.2 PCIe 4.0 | 2021 |
| PlayStation 5 SSD | 5,500 MB/s | 4,500 MB/s | Custom PCIe 4.0 | 2020 |
| Micron 7400 | TBA | TBA | M.2 PCIe 5.0 | 2023 |
As you can see, both the WD and Seagate flagship PCIe 4.0 drives on paper narrowly exceed the PS5 SSD spec in peak sequential read and writes. So case closed right – PC SSDs are indeed faster?
Not so fast! (pun intended) There are real-world considerations beyond just these benchmark-friendly sequential specs…
Real-World Game Loading: PS5 Still Faster Than Current PC SSDs!
While those crazy high throughput numbers make for nice flashy marketing, that‘s not what actually determines game load times in practice. Sustained performance for "random" operations more closely matches real gameplay, and other bottlenecks come into play too.
The proof is in actual game loading time comparisons between these cutting edge PCIe 4.0 SSD equipped gaming PCs and the PS5 itself.
The excellent YouTube channel Digital Foundry specializes in these kinds of hands-on, empirical game loading tests. They found that despite sequential specs favoring the PC, for nearly all modern games tested, the PS5 matched high-end PCs equipped with the Samsung 980 Pro within 1-2 seconds during actual gameplay loads.
Very much an equal tie! This shows the value of Sony‘s integrated storage architecture and specialized hardware in action – delivering efficient, low overhead performance for real gaming workloads.
Now to be fair, some brand new PS5 titles leveraging the bleeding edge storage tech churn out bigger improvements, like Sackboy: A Big Adventure showing 56% faster loading than the same Samsung 980 Pro system. So the PS5 still demonstrates some noticeable advantages in select software.
But for now, most real-world gameplay experiences are too close to definitively call current top-tier PCIe 4.0 SSDs straight up "faster" than what the PS5 provides. The integrated architecture makes more impact than peak bandwidth claims. But what does the future hold as PCIe 5.0 storage erupts onto the scene?
Here Comes PCIe 5.0 – Absolute Speed King Returns To PC?
As I explored earlier, the PlayStation 5 dramatically closed the storage performance gap by integrating a PCIe 4.0 SSD far ahead of the curve. But now PCs have a new trick up their sleeve – the PCI Express 5.0 interface that again doubles SSD bandwidth ceilings.
Major storage brands unveiled blazing fast PCIe 5.0 M.2 offerings at CES 2023, led by the Micron 7400 SSD. It promises outrageous sequential throughput up to 13,000 MB/s thanks to the extra PCIE 5.0 lane bandwidth.
That should make it 60-70% faster than Sony‘s lighting quick custom solution in the PS5 on paper. Even if real-world gaming scenarios narrow the difference as they do with 4.0, PCIe 5.0 still ensures PC storage technology reclaims the outright speed crown in 2024 and 2024 as more affordable options launch.
The Micron 7400 series also focuses heavily on random performance, vital for game loading. So I expect these next-gen drives to deliver excellent experiences that surpass the PS5 in many gaming activities as well. Exciting times ahead!
I‘ll definitely be upgrading my AMD Ryzen gaming rig to PCIe 5.0 once reasonable cost 1-2TB models are out. And I‘m keen to compare them first-hand with my PS5 load times. I think PC may claim the performance advantage once again thanks to raw bandwidth gains, but we‘ll see!
Verdict – Extremely Close Battle With Possible PCIe 5.0 Comeback
After breaking down all the specs and data comparisons between the PS5 SSD and latest and greatest PC storage tech, I‘ve reached a verdict.
Today‘s cutting edge PCIe 4.0 SSDs essentially fight the PS5 drive to a draw for real world game loads. The custom optimizations Sony implemented still demonstrate some loading benefits over current M.2 drives, amazingly keeping ahead of the bandwidth they provide.
But I believe PCI Express 5.0 SSDs arriving in 2024 will be fast enough both sequentially and randomly to reliably beat the PS5 in loading scenarios by a small but noticeable margin. The early Micron 7400 benchmarks suggest so.
Of course, cost and adoption factors must be considered too – PCIe 5.0 drives will be expensive initially and require brand new platforms. So most gamers won‘t jump instantly. Nevertheless, I‘d declare premium M.2 storage the heir apparent once again for pure performance that the PS5 matched for a fleeting generation.
That being said, PC tinkering and complexity is not for everyone. So I still wholeheartedly recommend the PlayStation 5 experience even if surpassed on paper by some metrics. The ease of use through smart integration cannot be understated – and will keep PC builders on their toes for years to come!
Let me know what you think of my assessments – I‘m always happy to debate and discuss the latest gaming hardware! Feel free to drop a comment with your thoughts or hit me up on Twitter at @john_gamerguy. This technology battlefield will definitely continue evolving at warp speed!
