The most convenient option, this 4TB SSD comes with a PS5-specific heatsink cover that works brilliantly. So that is the physical design of the Addlink A95 SSD. But what about the hardware components themselves? Does the Addlink A95 cut the mustard in terms of current generation hardware and protocols? Let’s find out. Addlink A95 SSD Review – PS5 Benchmark Next, although the ATTO tests were quite good, but not what I would have hoped from this SSD, so I moved on to the Crystal Disk Mark testing to see how well it would handle our lasts barrage of tests. The first test was the 1GB file testing, which measured both sequential and random, as well as the read and write IOPS. Test were conducted on a 1GB, 4GB and 16GB Test File. I also included a mixed 70/30 read and write task to give a little bit more of a realistic balanced workload. These tests were conducted with 1-minute cooling break in between I mean if you don't have a huge library (in terms of the total size of the games in GB, not necessarily the number of games) or you tend to play only one or two games at a time before uninstalling them and installing new ones, then it's not really an issue. But then, if that's the way you do things then it wouldn't be an issue if you had the digital version either.

There are two big considerations to bear in mind when choosing a PlayStation 5-compatible SSD card. Using CrystalDisk, we got a good measure of the drive and verified that this PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSD was indeed using the 4×4 lane. Additionally, the temp averaged out around 41C between each test being conducted. It comes from one of the most respected component makers in the world and also has one of the best heatsinks attached. As such, you really do just have to take the drive out of its box and slot it into the PS5 – installation really is that simple. Next, I switched to AS SSD benchmark. A much more thorough test through, I used 1GB, 3GB and 5GB test files. Each test includes throughput benchmarks and IOPS that are respective to the larger file sizes (important, if you are reading this and trying to compare against the reported 4K IOPS from the manufacturer).

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Worst part was getting off the plastic PS5 bottom which feels like it will just break apart in your hands. There are no discernible markings on the PS5 anywhere telling you which part to lift and what direction to slide. Also of note, when you move the internal screw also move the internal little “collar” piece under it.

Remember Sonys tech is very "next gen" when it comes to storage and to allow drives of much lower cost (and therefore lower speeds) would instantly prove that the NEED for all that fancy "next gen" storage is really for nothing and a "regular old nvme" like the 970 Evo would have been good enough.

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A closer look a the heatsink base shows you just how well it surrounds each chip (with clear indications of where each was placed from imprints). Additionally, you can see that the consistency of the silica gel pad is not the same as the reusable pads in other heatsinks, with this substance having more in common with thermal paste found on CPUs. The slightly porous nature of it definitely seemed to ensure that the components were adequately covered and it does leave you with a distinct feeling of quality and professional application. Removing the Addlink A95 Heatsink was NOT easy. I cannot stress enough how well attached this heatsink was! I nearly snapped the SSD in two trying to remove it. The SSD uses a adhesive coated silica gel that covered the entirety of the M.2 NVMe SSD, but also slightly envelopes each chip on the drive. It doesn’t smother them (so no touching the PCB) but it does surround the edges of each component to cover a greater physical density, whilst still remaining tidy. Much like the Controller on the Addlink A95 being the ‘CPU’, it also has an area of memory. The Addlink A95 SSD uses 2666Mhz DDR4 memory on board and this in conjunction with the SSD provides a massive body of data handling resources for getting your data moving through the SSD and out of the m.2 NVMe PCIe 4 interface. The amount of memory scales in conjunction with the 1TB or 2TB SSD you use, with 2GB of DDR4 at the on the 2TB tier, 1GB DDR4 on the 1TB, etc. With less than 1MB between the top three and more than 300MB/s higher than the XPG Gammix S70, it is a solid benchmark. Additionally, the Addlink A95 takes care of overprovisioning at the NAND/Controller level (with four 176L 3D TLC NAND modules of 512GB), so that means that this 2TB SSD is genuinely available as 2TB on the Playstation 5 Storage manager (not 1,920GB as seen previously): The best anyone realistically will be able to afford to add will be an additional 1tb as I can promise you a 2 tb of that speed will be way higher than than most would want to pay (like almost as much as the system itself).

We have extensive experience of using multiple PlayStation SSD cards ourselves, in both standard and digital edition consoles. The contents of the box are a little small, but not in a bad way. A first-time setup guide and warranty information is included in a booklet (as well as the usual web/3D-Barcode links), as well as the SSD itself (with heating pre-applied).Btw I have a disc version too, I have a 2TB external HDD for most PS4 games and I'm in no hurry to expand my PS5 game storage, so my point isn't that you should go out and buy an SSD or anything. More that all PS4/PS5 discs are good for is being able to sell your game second hand - they don't affect the amount of storage you need to play them Overall, you really cannot fault the hardware inside/onboard the Addlink A95, as it is still (at release) higher performing in sequential Read and Write than many other M.2 NVMe PCIe 4 SSDs released in that time. Before we go into the full testing, however, it is worth taking a moment to look closely at the reported performance benchmarks of the Addlink A95, as although the performance seems stellar, there are areas such as IOPS and endurance when compared with its main rivals that are worth taking into consideration. Addlink A95 SSD Review – Official Stats First Edit: That last bit about storage size might be a PS5 vs PC thing and not an SSD vs HDD thing but either way 1TB of extra space was nice to see, those extra 70GB is another game. Looking at the Addlink A95 at an angle shows that, despite the aggressive nature of the heatsink, it is actually not very tall. In fact, the Low-Profile designed heatsink is only has a 9.1 mm height, with the total Heatsink+silica+SSD coming to just under 11.25mm. With space being at a premium in the PS5 M.2 SSD slot (and users wanting a little space around/above their SSD+HS to promote any airflow, this is particularly impressive.

As you might expect from an M.2 NVMe SSD that boldly promises performance of over 7,000MB/s sequential read (ie BIG data), the hardware specifications and architecture of the Addlink A95 are quite modern. Indeed, for all the big talk of the Seagate Firecuda 530 hardware (still currently the ‘score to beat’ PCIE Gen4 m.2 NVMe right now) being top tier, the Addlink A95 is pretty darn similar on the spec sheet! Below is how it looks: Addlink A Series A95 SSD To beging with, the card needs to be an M.2 SSD and you can't just buy any model, it has to match certain criteria in terms of speed.It would be excellent if they came up with a file system that did most of this automatically for you but I highly doubt Sony will go that far. I would wait as Long as possible to buy expansion, not only will PCIe 4 prices drop but expect speeds to increase a lot over the next year or two.