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Seagate confirms FireCuda 530 is PlayStation 5 ready

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FireCude 530 on Ps5 C

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


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We've known about Seagate's next generation of NVMe m.2 PCIe SSD for a while now, and it's looking great. It could end up as one of the best SSDs in Australia. The FireCuda 530 is 2 times faster than the Gen 3 FireCuda 520. You can expect 7,300 MB/s sequential read and 6,900 MB/s sequential write. That's well in excess of the minimum requirement of the PlayStation 5.

In fact, the PS5's own internal SSD starts out at 5,500 MB/s but can stretch to 9,000 MB/s with compressed files. As such, gamers had speculated the FireCuda 530 would be PS5 compatible upon its launch in August 2021. Now that can be confirmed.

Moments ago, I stepped out of a briefing with Seagate where they took me through the upcoming FireCuda range. I've previously written on how eager gamers can upgrade their PS5 storage, so have been sweating on more news about options. Jeff Park, country manager for Seagate Technology, ANZ, confirmed with me the good news.

We have done some testing with Sony on the PlayStation 5 and today we can confirm that the FireCuda 530 with the heatsink has met all the PS5 requirements. With the PS5 design, the SSD card slot is very narrow, so there's not much room for the SSD to mount. However, with the FireCuda 530 – even with the heatsink on the top – the slim design allows for it to fit. Of course, the FireCuda 530 without the heatsink is slimmer, so both of them will fit into the PS5.”

Country Manager for Seagate Technology, ANZ, Jeff Park

FireCuda 530 ready for PS5 expansion slot in August

The timing could be perfect, too. Sony has been dragging its feet painfully on activating the hard drive expansion slot on the PlayStation 5. The console launched with a less than inspiring 667GB of useable hard drive space, which filled up very quickly – Call of Duty alone is well over 200GB.

While there are other upgrade options, many of the console's best features are tied to the speed of its internal hard drive. Therefore, gamers are keen to upgrade their PS5 console with a Gen 4 NVMe m.2 internal SSD.

Sony has previously hinted that the expansion slot would be unlocked before the end of August. That goal would seem to be on track given the feature has released to some users in beta form on 30 July 2021. Given that the FireCuda 530 is due out in August, the planets would seem to be aligning nicely.

In Australia, the FireCuda 530 will come in 4 capacities, with and without a heatsink. Note, you will need the heatsink variant for PS5. Here is the Australian pricing for each model:

500GBAU$199
500GB (with heatsink)AU$239
1TBAU$349
1TB (with heatsink)AU$399
2TBAU$729
2TB (with heatsink)AU$819
4TBAU$1,429
4TB (with heatsink)AU$1,499

Do you need a heatsink on your PS5 SSD expansion card?

Yes, you do. This wasn't clear initially, but on 30 July 2021, Sony clarified that it is required when it released the beta for the firmware update that will ultimately unlock the expansion slot. The exact instruction from Sony is as follows.

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.

If you simply cannot wait for Sony to unlock the expansion slot on the PS5, there are some solid external drives that can ease the pain. You can find the best SSDs in Australia here.

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