Amazon Prime Day is nearly over, but it’s not too late to make use of some deals on PS5-compatible internal SSD drives. The deals cover three brands of SSD drives — Samsung 980 Pro SSD, Seagate FireCuda 530 SSD, and the WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe — but which is the best choice? Here’s our quick guide to which of the three options may be best for you.
PS5 SSD drives — do I need a heatsink?
Both the Seagate FireCuda 530 SSD and the WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe have versions with or without heatsinks. However, Sony’s recommendation is that “using an M.2 SSD with your PS5 console requires effective heat dissipation with a cooling structure, such as a heatsink and a heat transfer sheet.” If you have the know-how to add a heatsink to an SSD drive then by all means get a drive without one built-in, but if you’re like me and aren’t very technically minded, you’ll want to get an SSD with a heatsink already.
Most people have likely used up the storage space provided within their PS5 console. After all, the machine only launched with 667.2 GB of usable space thanks to its operating system. However, you have to make sure that you buy one that meets the PS5 SSD requirements but the good news is that all three of the drives on sale on Amazon Prime Day meet those requirements. Now that we’re focusing purely on SSD drives with built-in heatsinks, which PS5 SSD upgrade is best for you?
1. WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe PS5 SSD
This is the most obvious choice of the three after Sony officially licensed the drive for use with PS5 consoles earlier this week. Even before this, PlayStation architect Mark Cerny had endorsed the SSD drive as his choice of PS5 storage expansion. The WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD offers 7 GB/s read speeds and 5.3 GB/s write speeds, which isn’t the fastest of drives but does meet Sony’s requirements. It also comes with a write endurance of 600TB, which should cover the entire lifespan of the PS5, and a five-year warranty. Our review called it “a great SSD expansion drive for the PS5 that will do exactly as advertised.” The SSD comes in three different sizes — 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB — although only the latter two are on decent sales during Amazon Prime Day.
- WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe Internal Gaming SSD with Heatsink 500GB – 5% off – now $89.99
- WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe Internal Gaming SSD with Heatsink 1TB – 29% off – now $113.99
- WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe Internal Gaming SSD with Heatsink 2TB – 64% off – now $197.59
2. Seagate FireCuda 530 SSD
Seagate was one of the first brands to announce a PS5-compatible SSD when Sony finally unlocked the PS5 SSD memory expansion bay for players to use. As well as Seagate’s own seal of quality, the drive comes with a custom heatsink from EK. The Seagate FireCuda 530 SSD offers 7.3 GB/s read and 6.9 GB/s write times, making it the fastest of the three drives on offer. It also comes with a write endurance of 640TB and a five-year warranty, making it slightly more generous than the WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD. Our review said that if you “want the peace of mind that comes with quality and performance that you know is going to work, the Seagate FireCuda 530 is a great SSD expansion option for PS5 players.” The SSD comes in four different sizes — 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB — although strangely only the smallest and the largest have significant discounts for Amazon Prime Day.
- Seagate FireCuda 530 SSD with Heatsink 500GB – 35% off – now $109.99
- Seagate FireCuda 530 SSD with Heatsink 1 TB – 12% off – now $159.00
- Seagate FireCuda 530 SSD with Heatsink 2 TB – 10% off – now $299.99
- Seagate FireCuda 530 SSD with Heatsink 4 TB – 32% off – now $689.99
3. Samsung 980 Pro SSD
The Samsung 980 Pro SSD is one that’s flown under the radar when compared to the other two, which isn’t exactly fair bearing in mind the PS5’s own drive was once thought to be the Samsung NVMe SSD 980 QVO. The SSD drive offers 7 GB/s read speeds and 5.1 GB/s write speeds, making it the slowest of the three but still sufficient for Sony’s requirements. It also comes with a five-year warranty but no write tolerance equivalent. The SSD comes in just two different sizes — 1TB and 2TB — both of which have been reduced for Amazon Prime Day.
- Samsung 980 Pro SSD with Heatsink 1TB – 39% off – now $139.99
- Samsung 980 Pro SSD with Heatsink 2TB – 38% off – now $249.99
Of course, there are other PS5 compatible SSD drives on the market, such as the ADATA XPG Gammix S70 Blade, Addlink AddGame A95, Corsair MP600 Pro LPX, Gigabyte AORUS Gen4 7000s, Kingston Fury Renegade, Patriot Viper VP4300, PNY XLR8 SSD Gaming Kit, and Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Heatsink, but these are not on sale during Amazon Prime Day. If you want to consider one of these instead, you may be best waiting for another set of offers.
In other news, we have more of the Amazon Prime Day deals that also include games and other accessories. Elsewhere, Supermassive Games has been entirely acquired by Nordisk.
