PS5’s latest compatible SSD is the cheapest yet, but still pricey

Hardware manufacturer Gigabyte is the latest company to confirm an SSD compatible with the PlayStation 5.

The firm has confirmed that its Aorus Gen 4 7000 series SSD complies with Sony’s listed requirements to be compatible with the new-gen console. A 1TB Aorus SSD currently retails for around $200 / £185, and 2TB for $400 / £370.

Gigabyte’s pricing is slightly cheaper than the other two SSD drives confirmed to be compatible with PS5, from Seagate and Western Digital, though still pricey considering the PS5 itself retails for $400 (digital) and $500 (standard).

Western Digital’s SN850 SSD retails for $139.99 / £140.99 for 500GB, $249.99 / £218.99 for 1TB and $429.99 / £452.99 for 2TB.

And Seagate’s FireCuda 530 with a heatsink attached costs $169.99 for 500GB, $274.99 for 1TB, $569.99 for 2TB and $1,049.99 for 4TB.

PS5 finally enabled SSD storage expansion this week via an update rolled out to beta users.

Sony released the full set of requirements for compatible SSDs at the same time, but stressed that even some SSDs that meet the requirements may still not work. As such, the onus has been placed on storage manufacturers to confirm which of their SSDs are compatible.

Storage expansion has been one of the most requested features since PS5 launched in November last year, but its rollout has been hampered by the need for off-the-shelf drives to match the high specifications of PS5’s own high-bandwidth SSD.

Further reading

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PS5 storage upgrade: How to install a new PS5 SSD

Choose the right SSD and install it in your PlayStation 5

While players can currently attach an external drive to the PlayStation 5 via USB, these aren’t capable of playing PS5 games.

They can only be used for playing PS4 games, and can also store PS5 games currently not in use so they can be copied to the console’s main SSD storage when they’re ready to be played.