Sony PS5 And Microsoft Xbox Project Scarlett Rumored To Use Samsung NVMe SSDs

by Brandon Hill — Monday, November 25, 2019, 11:02 AM EDT

It's no secret that the next-generation consoles from Microsoft and Sony will both use a solid-state drive (SSD) in an effort to improve overall system performance and game loading times. However, up until this point, we had no idea who would be supplying this speedy storage subsystem for the Xbox Project Scarlett and the PlayStation 5.

However, according to a presentation at the Samsung SSD forum last week in Tokyo, we're learning that Samsung is likely the vendor that has been selected. During a presentation on SSDs, Samsung presented a slide dedicated to gaming SSDs for consoles. The performance for the so-called "Optimized NVMe" SSD show it providing a substantial decrease in system boot and game launch time compared to a SATA HDD, or even a SATA SSD. In fact, Samsung is showing its new SSD cutting boot and game launch times by roughly 50 percent compared to a SATA SSD.

Samsung isn't specific about what interface it's using for the SSD -- PCIe 3.0 or PCIe 4.0 -- but given past statements from Sony that it's SSD would be faster than anything we've seen on the market to-date, we're assuming it will be PCIe 4.0-based. The fact that both the Xbox Project Scarlett and PlayStation 5 will be using an AMD Ryzen 3000-based platform -- which supports PCIe 4.0 -- leads credence to this idea.

With that being said, Samsung says that this new "SSD era" will take place in 2020, which of course is when the next-generation consoles will launch. Both the Xbox Project Scarlett and PlayStation 5 are pegged for a "Holiday 2020" launch, but recent rumors have suggested that the latter's launch date has been pinpointed to November 20^th with a launch price of $499.

Tags: Sony, Microsoft, (NYSE:SNE), (nasdaq:msft), ps5, playstation 5, project scarlett

Brandon Hill

Brandon received his first PC, an IBM Aptiva 310, in 1994 and hasn’t looked back since. He cut his teeth on computer building/repair working at a mom and pop computer shop as a plucky teen in the mid 90s and went on to join AnandTech as the Senior News Editor in 1999. Brandon would later help to form DailyTech where he served as Editor-in-Chief from 2008 until 2014. Brandon is a tech geek at heart, and family members always know where to turn when they need free tech support. When he isn’t writing about the tech hardware or studying up on the latest in mobile gadgets, you’ll find him browsing forums that cater to his long-running passion: automobiles.

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