Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus PS5 SSD Expansion Test

Last updated on 07 Aug 2021 📧 Subscribe
Contents hide
1 Testing the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus SSD on the PS5
2 PS5 SSD Expansion Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus – Specifications
3 PS5 SSD Expansion Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Test – Internal Speed Test
4 PS5 SSD Expansion Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Test – Moving Games
5 PS5 SSD Expansion Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Loading Test 1 – Maneater
6 PS5 SSD Expansion Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Loading Test 2 – Destruction Allstars
7 PS5 SSD Expansion Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Loading Test 3 – Control
8 PS5 SSD Expansion Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Loading Test 4 – Destiny 2
9 PS5 SSD Expansion Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus – Conclusion
10 Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?

Testing the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus SSD on the PS5

Now that Sony has enabled the ability to expand the storage of the Playstation 5 in the latest software update (in beta at the time of writing), the range of potential PCIe M.2 SSDs that PS5 gamers are able to choose from is surprisingly vast. The minimum requirements of the M.2 update are 5,500MB/s sequential read (i.e big files), no longer than 22110 in length and PCIe Gen 4 M.2 Key interface in architecture. So, that narrows things down a little, but not by a vast amount. I made a master list of current compatible SSDs for PS5 HERE with help from Reddit users, but today I want to focus on the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus, as it is one of the most available, well priced and high performing SSDs that are supported by PS5 right now. The Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus is certainly supported by the Playstation 5 and in today’s test, I have opted for one of the BIGGEST M.2 NVMe SSDs in their range (and in the market) with the 4TB model. This should ensure the best possible sequential read and write possible (though of course only the former is going to be measurable today). So let’s take a look at how the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 4TB performs inside the PS5.

IMPORTANT – In today’s article we will be testing 4 mid-range PS5 games. Bigger and more exhaustive titles (such as Spiderman Miles Morales, Rift Apart and Demon Souls) will be tested in a FULL comparison between the 6 BIGGEST/Most Popular M.2 NVMes that are compatible with the PS5 Expansion slot. Stay Subscribed for those next week!

PS5 SSD Expansion Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus – Specifications

Sabrent originally released the Rocket 4 Plus series PCIe4 M.2 NVMe SSDs around the first quarter of 2021. The specifications are particularly impressive, even at the 500GB smallest capacity and only got better as you scaled into the larger 4TB level at the top. The specifications are below:

SABRENT Rocket 4 + SB-RKT4P-1TB

SB-RKT4P-2TB

SB-RKT4P-4TB

Price in $ and $ 1TB – $200 2TB – $469.99 4TB – $999.99
PCIe Generation PCIe Gen 4 PCIe Gen 4 PCIe Gen 4
NVMe Rev NVMe 1.4 NVMe 1.4 NVMe 1.4
NAND B27 3D NAND 96L B27 3D NAND 96L B27 3D NAND 96L
Capacity 1TB Single Sided 4TB Double Sided 4TB Double Sided
Controller Phison E18-PS5018 Phison E18-PS5018 Phison E18-PS5018
Memory 1GB 2GB 4GB
Size 2,280 2,280 2,280
Warranty 5yr 5yr 5yr
  SB-RKT4P-1TB SB-RKT4P-2TB SB-RKT4P-4TB
Price in $ and $ $199 / £180 $469 / £419 $1099 / £999
Total Terabytes Written (TBW) 700TB 1400TB 3000TB
Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF, hours) 1600000 1600000 1600000
DWPD 0.4DWPD 0.4DWPD 0.4DWPD
Random Read (Max, IOPS), 4 KB QD32 350000 650000 650000
Random Write (Max, IOPS), 4 KB QD32 700000 700000 700000
Sequential Read (Max, MB/s), 128 KB 7000MB 7100MB 7100MB
Sequential Write (Max, MB/s), 128 KB 5500MB 6850MB 6850MB

PS5 SSD Expansion Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Test – Internal Speed Test

The first test is the easiest. When you boot the PS5 with the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus NVMe SSD inside the expansion slot, the system will immediately identify that it is installed and format the drive. Then the system makes a performance benchmark check in order to ascertain whether the drive is suitable for PS5 Game use. The Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus SSD achieved 6,557MB/s Sequential Read on the PS5 internal system performance test. This is only a small dip from the reported maximum 7,100MB/s, but I hoped it would be a pinch higher.

PS5 SSD Expansion Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Test – Moving Games

Moving games from the internal console storage and onto the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus SSD is very straightforward and can be conducted from the Playstation main menu r from the settings>storage manager menu. I moved the four games that will be used later in the article for performance and loading tests from the PS5 internal SSD and onto the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus:

Initiating the move of these files is very easy, however when files were being transferred (much like in my testing of the PS5 and other compatible SSDs) it was nowhere near the speed I was expecting and in fact it became very apparent that the PS5 system much performs some encryption, compression or bit-checks as the files are moved. The result is that moving games from the internal PS5 SSD and onto the expansion slot with the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus took much, MUCH longer than I expects. This is not the fault of the M.2 SSD and more regarding the clear internal handling protocol and security of the PS5 System.

They did move however and once the games were moved onto the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus M.2 SSD, the data used was clearly visible in the storage manager. Let’s get on with testing the games.

PS5 SSD Expansion Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Loading Test 1 – Maneater

The first game to test on the PS5 and using the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus SSD was Maneater. Rather than loading from the main PlayStation user interface, I opted to load the games from their own title screens, as this allowed me to not factor in the publisher and studio logos at startup that are unskippable and therefore would just hamper the comparison. Here is how the game running from the internal PS5 SSD compared with running on the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus:

Load times were very close,however, there was a clear winner in the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus, with the game taking 11.7 secs on the expansion SSD and 12.8 seconds on the internal PS5 SSD. It was only a second, but still good.

PS5 SSD Expansion Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Loading Test 2 – Destruction Allstars

The next game to test loading times WITH the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus SSD on the PS5 was Destruction Allstars. Again, I started the timer from the title screen and below is the results o how the internal SSD and m.2 SSD compared:

Both games ran very well, but the game ran the tiniest pinch faster on the internal PS5 SSD than the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus. Destruction Allstars uses quite a smart background loading when going into arenas and it is there that you can see the delay as each transition takes place. It was still just a second, but the internal PS5 SSD did it faster.

PS5 SSD Expansion Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Loading Test 3 – Control

Next was loading the game control directly from the PS5 player GUI and to test loading the game into a save and into direct gameplay would take, comparing the internal storage to the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus expansion SSD.

The Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus seemingly loaded the game a pinch faster (really, REALLY small) than the PS5 internal SSD and ultimately both games took 17-18 seconds to load the save file and load into gameplay from the main PS5 library menu.

PS5 SSD Expansion Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Loading Test 4 – Destiny 2

The final test was with Destiny 2. This was an odd one, as the game does a lot of server connectivity at startup and whether it was on the internal PS5 SSD or on the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus, no two loading times were quite the same. Therefore although I have included this test, it is not quite as watertight as I would like.

Destiny loaded faster on the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus expansion slot storage than the internal SSD, however because of the internet connectivity and server connection of this game at start u, it is tough to say if this was because of the SSD or because of the network/internet connection.

PS5 SSD Expansion Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus – Conclusion

Of all the SSDs I have tested for the PS5 so far, the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus is the one that I was most surprised about. We take for granted that bigger names in Samsung, Seagate and WD will produce fast drives and sometimes overlook lesser-known brands. However, the Sabrent Rocket Plus was able to match the performance of the WD Black SN850 and Seagate Firecuda 530 in my testing of these mid-range games and I am happy to recommend it. In further testing next week, we will be looking at much more extreme loading games (Spiderman Miles Morales, Demon Souls and Ratchet and Clank) which make much, MUCH more use of the faster speed of the PS5 internal SSD. In those articles and videos we will be facing the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus against the Samsung 980 Pro, WD Black SN850 and Seagate Firecuda 530 – so stay tuned for that. However, right now, I can recommend the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus as a great SSD for upgrading the storage of your PS5 via the expansion slot!

 

SABRENT Rocket 4 + SB-RKT4P-1TB

SB-RKT4P-2TB

SB-RKT4P-4TB

Price in $ and $ 1TB – $200 2TB – $469.99 4TB – $999.99

 

 

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      74 thoughts on “Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus PS5 SSD Expansion Test”

      1. I never bought more room for my PlayStation before and been thinking of getting one for my ps5 because I’m tired of having no room and my friends have like 2 TB and I’m here with 800GB so I couldn’t download the games they had without having to delete a game and idk what to buy I just know the ps5 can go up to 4TB
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      2. I just installed the 2tb rocket 4 plus and only had a read speed of 4650. So disappointed as I removed and reinstalled it formatting over and over and could only get to 5000mbps which is significantly below what their advertising and what I have seen others ssds get
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      14. I have the 1 tb the original format read spead was 5420 something which is lower than ps5 recommends so I tried to reformat it and it was 5795.688 is there a reason it’s so low maybe because I have it on a 75 inch lg tv??
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      24. could you test the Sabrent SSD interne Rocket Q4 NVMe PCIe 4.0 ? it’s less expensive for a bit less of speed , but it’s maybe could be invisible less loading time , Wait for your test
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      29. long story short: yes, Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Drive (PCIe 4.0) is faster than the internal SSD. Question is, will the Sabrent Rocket Q be faster? Then we can have an 8TB NVMe. Or if PCIe 3.0 compared to PS4’s internal SSD…. hmm…
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      33. Warning Warning Warning Warning !!! If you do not have the 2.0 firmware on your PS5 do not waste your time putting an SSD in it because when you power it on it will tell you
        to power down and remove the SSD from the internal Bay.
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      35. correct me if im wrong but the ps4 games with ps5 updates seem to load faster over ps5s ssd except with destruction allstars .. be interesting to see what the difference is with more actual ps5 titles e.g returnal rachet and clank etc..
        iam waiting for the firecuda 530 review and i think i might bite the bullet and go the rocket 4 heat sink with the firecuda 530 2tb that ive already brought!
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      41. The speed difference seems more noticeable for multiplayer online games like destiny then for others, if you can test the load times with more online games like fallout 76 or call of duty that would be nice too. Aside from that great video! Love your channel man ????????
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      43. Just so you guys know the last gen Sabrent rocket 4 nvme 2tb is working perfectly for me at 5600 read speed tested in the ps5 speed test . Well over the 5000mb it’s rated for. I played demon souls all night as well as legion and Valhalla . All load times are equal to internal sad load speed. Demon souls loads in an instant and it work’s flawlessly
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      53. I’m starting to think that SSDs like WD-SN850, Samsung Pro and this one will be good enough for PS5 at this point until the devs start to make their games that will be use these speeds and command my power.

        It’s still early in the gen and a good portion of these are cross gen. Probably in the next two years will see this.
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      62. Thanks for the video and recommendations I just picked up this ssd 4tb and heat sink should be getting everything soon wanted the fire Cuda but can’t find it anywhere
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      66. Thanks for the vid man! It’s fairly impressive, but I still can’t stare at a black screen for 90 seconds every time I wanna transfer 150gb of games to my internal drive, so downloading it is 🙂
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      67. I heard wd makes the most reliable ssd of them all and second only to firecuda 530 in speed. It comes with its own heatsink for 249 for 1TB. Just installed it today in my ps5. Works very good actually some games like devil may cry ps5 version look better run better with the wd ssd. I saw the free ps plus game control looked better on the wd too.
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      70. Well, I don’t know why they call PS5 SSD a “Magical SSD” while it has almost the same performence as my Samsung 980 PRO SSD that I’ve bought 1 month before the PS5 came out.
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      74. Woohoo First!! I ordered a FireCuda 530 4TB! Looking forward to early September when it ships! great hype video! I was seriously looking at this Sabrent Rocket Plus 4TB for months… but the issue of having to install a heatsink pushed me towards the FireCuda 530!
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