Analysis: Swapping out your PS5’s SSD can help improve load times in certain games

It’s been a few days since PlayStation announced that PS5 owners would soon be able to upgrade the console’s SSD via a new firmware update. This cause quite the scuttle when people realised that only a few SSD options would be officially approved for use with Sony’s next-gen console, one of those being the M.2 SSD from M.2. Well, as well as letting players store more PS5 games natively on their console, early analyses suggest that the load times of certain titles can be vastly improved too.

The news comes courtesy of tech-focussed YouTube channel Digital Foundry, by way of website VGC, who tested out the M.2 NVMe SSD with a handful of games – most notably Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart. Writer and tester Thomas Morgan wrote: “While this is a beta where the quality of delivery can change by the official release, results on our particular M.2 NVMe SSD are encouraging.”

With regards to Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart specifically, Morgan concluded that the M.2 NVMe SSD “is fast enough to handle taxing PS5 exclusives like Ratchet and Clank and works just like PS5’s stock drive in its delivery of high-bandwidth scenes.” The analysis then went onto say that slightly older PS4 games like The Witcher 3 and Fallout 4 also performed well.

SSD upgrades are currently exclusive to those lucky enough to have access to PlayStation’s Beta program. However, if early tests with significant PS4 and PS5 games are already showing impressive results like this, it’s highly likely everyone will be on track to benefit. PlayStation previously stated it’s on track to roll this out fully later this Summer.

The full list of compatible PS5 SSDs was published earlier this month alongside a full step-by-step breakdown of how to remove and install a new one. It’s been purposefully designed by the PS5’s architects to be a relatively smooth process. We’ll keep you posted when the Beta period ends and everyone will be able to upgrade their console’s SSD.