Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus PS5 SSD Expansion Test

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:

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!

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