Every generation of consoles promises extraordinary advancements over the consoles that came before it, and the PlayStation 5 is no different. Among its other claimed improvements on the previous generation, the PS5 will reportedly make use of an SSD, or solid state drive, to store and load games.
According to Sony, the change from the HDD, or hard disk drive, that the PS4 used will bring about astronomical improvements in performance for the PS5. If that's the case, not only will new titles for the PlayStation be able to deliver incredible new experiences, but titles of the past might find new lives on the console by loading faster than ever before.
The Benefits of an SSD
Sony has released on ambitious statistics explaining what the PS5's SSD will deliver. If it can deliver on the promise, the improvements over the PS4 are very impressive. For reference, the PS4's HDD can access data at a bandwidth of about fifty to a hundred megabytes per second, depending on what the system is looking for. It also takes the HDD 20 seconds to load one gigabyte of data, which is pretty decent.
That said, it pales in comparison compared to Sony's performance goals for the PS5's drive. Sony claims that the PS5 will operate at a bandwidth of five gigabytes per second, a tremendous improvement over the previous console's speed. Additionally, the PS5 will need only about a quarter of a second to load two gigabytes of data. It goes without saying that, if the PS5 can deliver on these professed speeds, there will be no comparing the two consoles.
Mark Cerny, one of the PS5's developers, has said before that nigh-instantaneous load times for improved game performance was one of the goals in designing the new SSD. The benefits of such an achievement are clear. Next-gen games will have to account less for load times by keeping the player entertained while entering new areas or respawning. Instead, developers can put work toward the actual experiences of the game. However, the SSD also means a great deal for past PlayStation titles, because the PS5 is backwards compatible with at least PS4 titles.
The Impact on Backwards Compatibility
Yet another improvement by the PS5 is that it can play games from the previous generation. That means that games hampered by their loading times can benefit from an SSD's power. For example, Destiny 2 continues to suffer from high loading times on consoles, and players can be stuck in a menu or aboard their ship for thirty seconds or even more than a minute before they get to resume play. This is an unfortunate situation during the Season of Arrivals, but the SSD might help players who want to love Destiny 2 experience the game anew.
Another example is Fallout 4. The most recent single-player installment in Bethesda's Fallout franchise has faced its own litany of complaints about drawn out loading screens. The issue has caused players so much frustration that some have developed mods in an attempt to fix the issue. However, one of the lasting recommendations for speeding up Fallout 4's loading is using an SSD. Just like Destiny, a built-in SSD might give Fallout 4 a second life on the new console. And this just scratches the surface of what could be possible with the new SSD.
On top of the performance improvements, the SSD's storage is up to 825GB from the PS4's 500GB. That means there's plenty of room for players to replay their favorite titles while enjoying the newest PS5 games. All in all, the PS5 is strongly optimized to add replay value to all kinds of PS4 titles, boosting their performance significantly. That'll go a long way to keeping players entertained as new titles for the new console are revealed and released little by little. Even if players don't see launch day titles for PS5 that excite them, they might enjoy the console's improved hardware as they wait for other games to come around.
The PlayStation 5 launches in holiday 2020.