PlayStation 5 SSD gains speed kudos thanks to timely reminder that it was a "low-speed" PS5 devkit SSD that whupped the PS4 Pro in that famous Spider-Man demo

It’s not surprising how two important words can get lost under an avalanche of leaks, rumors, and news where the PlayStation 5 is concerned. However, a redditor called u/Optamizm has decided to remind everyone about those particular words, which are “low-speed”. Taken into context, it appears the PS5’s SSD is going to perform even faster than we have all been led to believe so far.

The current reference in regard to the PS5’s SSD in action is a video clip that we reported on in May of last year. It involves a comparison being held between a PS5 devkit and a PlayStation 4 Pro to show off how much quicker the next-generation console’s SSD could deal with loading a game and rendering scenes. The PS5 devkit was much faster than the PS4 Pro, booting Marvel’s Spider-Man in 0.83 seconds compared to 8.10 seconds for the older machine.

Sony has since provided the world with the technical data regarding the PS5’s SSD: 825 GB drive that can utilize a 12-channel interface to get to transfer rate speeds of 5.5 GB/s (uncompressed) and 8-9 GB/s (compressed). To put that into context, the incredibly quick PC SSD Samsung 970 Pro can manage a maximum read speed of 3.5 GB/s. In fact, the custom SSD in the PS5 is so fast it can load 2 GB of data in just 0.27 seconds.

But the problem with these numbers is the difficulty of actually imagining how fast they would make the PS5 perform in reality. If we go back to the PS5 devkit/PS4 Pro comparison, it was Wired that pointed out that the devkit was a “low-speed” model. That is, a “low-speed” model that loaded Marvel’s Spider-Man in under a second and rendered the complex street scenes without a stutter in sight. The final retail PS5 console’s SSD is certainly not going to be a “low-speed” variant, so it looks like we can wave farewell to tedious loading times for good.

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