dBrand Darkplates Review – Are they Good or Bad for your PS5 SSD & System Temperatures?

Last updated on 19 Feb 2022 📧 Subscribe
Contents hide
1 dBrand Darkplates – Are they Good or Bad for your PS5 SSD & System Temperatures?
2 The Design and Cooling Differences of the Brand Darkplates 2.0 for PS5?
3 How the dBrand Darkplate PS5 Temperature Testing was Conducted?
3.1 Original PS5 PLATES + Seagate FC530 H/S + M.2 Cover Test Results
3.2 dBrand PLATES +Seagate FC530 H/S + M.2 Cover Test Results
3.3 dBrand PLATES + Seagate FC530 H/S + NO M.2 Cover Test Results
3.4 dBrand PLATES + Seagate FC530 H/S + Sabrent PS5 H/S Test Results
3.5 dBrand Darkplates 2.0 vs Original PS5 Plates (WITHOUT m.2 Cover Plate)
3.6 dBrand Darkplates 2.0 vs Original PS5 Plates (with m.2 Cover Plate)
4 dBrand Darkplates 2.0 for PS5 and Keeping it Cool? – Conclusion & Verdict
5 Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?

dBrand Darkplates – Are they Good or Bad for your PS5 SSD & System Temperatures?

The Playstation 5 is one of the oddest looking consoles in…well.. ever! I think we can all agree that when Sony unveiled the console, a large number of us assumed it was concept art, or a tech demo. But no, the PS5 is white and black, has fins and is huge! When they announced that the side plates of the system were removable, it took all of about 10 minutes for brands to start getting to work on replacement side panels (or ‘Plates’) for the console in a multitude of colours and patterns. Sony, needless to say, immediately started pursuing legal action against these companies for infringement of their design and intellectual property without permission and of all the companies that received this legal onslaught, very few made the headlines as loudly as Brand and their Darkplate series. Thanks to a combination of speed of producing concepts, to an arguable savvy social marketing management team, they appeared on the bulk of mainstream gamer news sites and editorial platforms with their ‘illicit’ Darkplates. Sony won the battle of course, but dBrand seems to feel they can win the war with the release of their Darkplate 2.0, a new take on the shape and presentation of the PS5 plates, featuring additional ventilation, a tongue in cheek reference to their legal battles (with a user highlighting to me that the binary 01101 etc embossed inside is translated to the cease and decide Sony issued Brand) and creates a much more compact looking system that can also arrive in multiple colours, patterns and optional LED lighting. Now, I generally never look at things like this on NASCompares, as I focus almost exclusively on storage (NAS, DAS, HDDs, SSDs, Switches, Routers, IP Cameras, etc, etc), however, the Brand DARKPLATE 2.0 covers open up TWO important area of concern for some buyers that ARE very much in my/NASCompares wheelhouse. 1, Do these plates undermine or nullify the negative pressure air in/air out system the PS5 uses with its central fan and 2) if an m.2 SSD expansion drive is installed in the available bay of the PS5 (also inevitable given the baseline storage the system has and AAA games in 2022 onwards), does the increased block of heat that the SSD+HEATSINK+M.2 Cover panels result in ambient heat that the system is not efficiently ejecting? So, today I want to talk a little about these plates, but more importantly, run a series of tests that measure the temperature of the internal system AND the SSD expansion bay in a series of different setup scenarios. But, before we go any further, let’s take a closer look at the dBrand Darkplates themselves and how they install/look on the PS5

DESIGN - 9/10
QUALITY - 9/10
EFFECTIVENESS - 7/10
PRICE - 4/10
VALUE - 4/10


6.6
PROS
👍🏻Nice design, feel, patterns and colours
👍🏻In shape when deployed makes the system look a lot more subtle and understated (no tall fins)
👍🏻
👍🏻The Vented dark plate vents do not seemingly undermine the PS5 negative pressure cooling
👍🏻
👍🏻Mesh covered vents can be removed for cleaning
CONS
👎🏻Quite pricey for what you are getting
👎🏻The vented panels seem largely useless throughout temp testing

 

Twice the Price – What’s the Difference?

The Design and Cooling Differences of the Brand Darkplates 2.0 for PS5?

So, first and foremost, the vent panels of the Brand Darkplates. These are not featured on the official PS5 plates and are one of the biggest differences between the two (and almost certainly form part of the argument that these are not infringing on Sony’s copyright. It should be highlighted though that there are not fan-assisted, they do not connect with any internal/USB power source to increase airflow and are designed to be used above the existing PS5 system fan to allow more air to be pulled into the system before it gets pushed out the back of the console. This is where the concern is for some regarding how these pass airflow vents will undermine the PS5 active cooling system when in operation.

Fairplay to Brand, the presentation of the Darkplate 2.0 kit is incredibly chic, with a box that opens from the middle on dual hinges that reveals the individual plates wrapped in plastic and black foam, then cleaning fabric and a Darkplate 2.0 reference card. It’s all very modern in presentation and dBrand make several references to the Sony legal action, their ‘fight the man style stance and generally trying to promote this as more than just plastic for your home console. It is all laid on pretty thick, but it’s still a good retail kit.

One question many buyers have about the dBrand Darkplates is about value for money. Once you step aside from the marketing and legal fandango, you are looking at type plastic plates for your PS5 that are $59 to buy. Now, Sony is already releasing their own plates now at a notably higher price, but also you need to factor in that ALOT of budget eTailers (eshops, online retailers, etc) are now selling plain black budget plates for upgrading your PS5 for just $29 – half the price fo the black dBrand Darkplates. You can also add that if you wanted to upgrade your PS5 with a new SSD and wanted to ensure low operating temperatures and/of the longevity of the SSD, then you can look at PS5 designed SSD heatsinks for the system for as little as $20. So that means that the dBrand Darkplates 2.0 arriving at $59 puts it very much in a price bracket than many might think. The PS5 designed heatsink as an optional purchase is particularly pertinent as not only will it ensure that your PS5 SSD runs at a much better general heat level, but it does so with little/no impact on the system cooling (testing here on NASCompares several times in 2021/2022). So, do the dBrand Darkplates keep the system running cool still?

How the dBrand Darkplate PS5 Temperature Testing was Conducted?

For this test, I used the following components in four different hardware configurations, with each test cycle featuring four individual components that feature heavy Write activity actioned by moving 300GB of data from the internal system SSD and over to the expansion SSD, gameplay of two PS5 titles located on the SSD and a heavy Read activity by moving the games back onto the default system storage. When each test was completed, I turned the system completely off for 15 minutes and removed the side plates between tests, to allow the system the chance to dissipate heat. This seemed reasonable instead of leaving the system off for hours at a time to completely cool naturally and as long as all tests were afforded this same cool-down period equally, it still kept things even. Here are the hardware components used in this these tests:

  • PS5 System
  • Original Official Cover Plates
  • Seagate Firecuda 530 1TB SSD with EK Official Heatsink
  • Seagate Firecuda 530 1TB SSD without Heatsink
  • M.2 SSD Cover Plate
  • Sabrent PS5 Designed Heatsink
  • Twin Node Temperature Sensor

In all tests, a temperature node was placed an inch beneath the core system fan to measure ambient system temperature at all times. This was to see if 1, the ventilated debrand plates prevented the PS5 negative pressure cooling doing its job and 2, to see if the additional heat of the SSD with/without a cover would particularly increase heat in light of the brand plates changing the system passive cooling system. The first thing to do was to get a default/baseline from the PS5 system in all these tests, so I set up the PS5 in its original plates. I installed the Seagate Firecuda 530 SSD, set in place the metal m.2 cover plate, closed the system side plates and then begun running the tests on this ‘control’ or ‘baseline’ setup.

After the first range of tests were completed, I removed the official PS5 cover plates, left the system to cool for an hour (removing and then replacing the SSD at the start and end including the m.2 cover plate), then added the dBrand Darkplates to repeat all the tests.

The range of tests and operations were repeated in this near-identical setup (but with new plates) around 2 hours after the start of the first tests and with little meaningful change in the room temperature.

Next, I wanted to see what impact that m.2 cover plate had on the running of the PS5 with the dBrand plates, so after test phase 2 was completed, I powered the device down and removed the m.2 cover plate. This time I did not leave it covering the SSD during test phase 3. The Seagate Firecuda 530 SSD used for these tests features its official EK gaming heatsink and it would be interesting to see if the additional passive ventilation in the dBrand plates would allow the air to be better drawn through the m.2 SSD bays even slightly.

After Test Phase 3 was completed, I had one final test and that was using the Sabrent PS5 designed heatsink inside the dBrand darkplate setup. Swapping the Seagate Firecuda 530 EK Heatsink version in favour of the bare/non-H/S version for this test, I installed it + the Sabrent heatsink and then replaced the Darkplates for testing as before. It would be interesting to see if the increased surface mass of the Sabrent would possibly benefit from the dBrand plates and/or if the system would be impacted in any way.

So, there you have it. Those were the tests. So, now let’s go through the results and everything we observed. It is worth remembering that the temperature for the airflow/ambient temps inside the PS5 between each test (due to factors such as the time of day and surrounding room temp that were beyond my control) at the start and end of each test cycle had a few degrees of difference between tests and although I will be adding start/end temp levels into consideration, the increase between them inside each test will be primarily what I will compare, as it will demonstrate how well the system adapted/adjusted to the change in hardware setup. For the SSD temperature, I have used CrystalDisk for PC to access the logs of the SSD controller and see how the SSD changed temp throughout the four tests each time. The spike in the graphs represent the peak of the heat recorded during each test and decreased between tests. This temp was NOT a constant and just shows its highest point.

Key – Heavy-Write = Heavy Write Activity (300GB) moving games from internal PS5 Storage to M.2 SSD, Far-Cry-6 = Far Cry 6 Gameplay, Demon -Souls = Demon Souls Gameplay, Heavy-Read = Heavy Read Activity (300GB) moving games from M.2 SSD to internal PS5 Storage

Original PS5 PLATES + Seagate FC530 H/S + M.2 Cover Test Results

In test one, I used the original PS5 Plates, the Seagate Firecuda 530 H/S Edition and the m.2 expansion cover plate. Here are the results:

Type of Reading

Ambient System Temp.

SSD Controller Peak Temp.

Heavy-Write

20.2 > 20.8 = 0.6°C

45°C

Far-Cry-6

21.6 > 24.0 = 2.4°C

43°C

Demon -Souls

22.8 > 26.6 = 3.8°C

48°C

Heavy-Read

20.8 > 24.3 = 3.5°C

51°C

The general system temperature throughout the tests was quite normal for the PS5 (as you would expect in this default setup) but the SSD controller temperature was higher than I would have liked (especially compared to a PC setup) and a lot of that can be blamed on that M.2 cover plate. I have raised this before, but I do not think the cover for the M.2 is a good design for a closed system like the PS5.

 

dBrand PLATES +Seagate FC530 H/S + M.2 Cover Test Results

The next test was the dBrand Darkplates this time, but still with the same Seagate Firecuda 530 H/S SSD and m.2 cover plate. This was mainly to see if the additional ventilation would be a positive/negative to the system’s negative cooling (as its introduction of two meshed vents had to make an impact!).

Type of Reading

Ambient System Temp.

SSD Controller Peak Temp.

Heavy-Write

20.2 > 20.5 = 0.3°C

28°C

Far-Cry-6

20.4 > 22.2 = 1.8°C

39°C

Demon -Souls

21.0 > 24.0 = 3.0°C

44°C

Heavy-Read

20.9 > 24.8 = 3.9°C

47°C

The SSD temperatures were still predictably high, because of that m.2 cover, but overall the system temperature was very close to the official test temperatures and in some cases even managed to be a little cooler. Below is the temperature of the SSD controller at each test. Still higher than in a PC/Open setting, but a pinch lower.

 

dBrand PLATES + Seagate FC530 H/S + NO M.2 Cover Test Results

Next I wanted to remove the m.2 plate from the equation, so I repeated the previous test setup hardware WITHOUT the M.2 cover plate. Would allowing more active airflow in contact with the SSD heatsink help?

Type of Reading

Ambient System Temp.

SSD Controller Peak Temp.

Heavy-Write

21.3 > 21.0 = -0.3°C

18°C

Far-Cry-6

20.1 > 23.2 = 3.1°C

29°C

Demon -Souls

20.9 > 22.2 = 1.3°C

39°C

Heavy-Read

22.2 > 24.0 = 1.8°C

45°C

Overall the numbers were better for the SSD but negligible for the ambient temps. Nothing incredible and certainly not something that makes the dBrand plates worth the $59 asde from their look, but they did seem to run a slightly cooler system temp most of the time. The SSD controller was definitely a noticeable degree lower in running temp and although it still reached a height of 45 degrees after all the tests, it maintained the lower temperature recording for longer than the previous two tests.

 

dBrand PLATES + Seagate FC530 H/S + Sabrent PS5 H/S Test Results

The final test was the most unofficial sony one of the three, using the dBrand plates in conjunction with the Sabrent PS5 designed heatsink. This heatsink fills the entire M.2 slot and is raised slightly from the expansion aby in order for active airflow drawn by that internal fan to travel over/through the grooves of the heatsink. Use of the Sabrent heatsink means that I have to switch the Firecuda 530 SSD out for the same SSD but without the official/pre-applied heatsink. Now, the question here is that if the system internal negative pressure cooling is not as efficient with the vented panel of the dBrand plates, will that means that air flow over the Sabrent heatsink will be reduced (as the air gets pulled through the circular vents of the plates and not the grooved front vents of the PS5 normally?

Type of Reading

Ambient System Temp.

SSD Controller Peak Temp.

Heavy-Write

21.9 > 22.4 = 0.5°C

28°C

Far-Cry-6

19.8 > 24.9 = 5.1°C

32°C

Demon -Souls

20.3 > 22.9 = 2.6°C

33°C

Heavy-Read

18.5 > 20.9 (fan increased) = 2.4°C

38°C

Overall, this was a great test and the SSD temperature was at its lowest here than in any other test. The ambient system temperature was good too, lower at boot and by the end of a test wave than any other test. The only thing that marred it slightly was the fact the system fans appeared to ramp up in the closing stages of the heavy read test.

Let’s compare each test vs the default setup below.

In all four scenarios, games were being loaded from the Seagate Firecuda 530 NVMe SSD inside the PS5 expansion bay and an interesting take from this is the varying differences in temperature between them (in the white and red graphs) that, even if you factor small changes in the environmental temperatures around the machine, are still notably different, the more access airflow had to those heatsinks. Likewise, you can see that the temperatures displayed for the ambient system temperature were from the last seconds of each test in jsut the standard setup in conjunction with either plate set choice were still incredibly similar. Therefore I think this indicates that the system temp with the dBrand plates is still comparable in either setup (at most 1-2 degrees of difference):

Comparing the initial setup with dBrand and Official PS5 plates side by side, you can see that most fo the internal PS5 temperatures were largely identical and it’s only really on the SSD controller reports that we see a significant difference (with the dBrand SSD heatsink being the lower temperature at boot, but closing in on the same temp as the official plates as each test was completed. Overall, comparing these showed (at least to me) that the use of the dBrand plates did not impact the PS5 system operational temp levels negatively.

RESULTS:

TEST Original PS5 Plates + SSD + M.2 Cover

dBrand Darkplates 2.0 PS5 Plates + SSD + M.2 Cover

Ambient System Temp Start/End/Diff SSD Controller Temp Max Ambient System Temp Start/End/Diff SSD Controller Temp Max
Heavy-Write

20.2 > 20.8 = 0.6°C

45°C

20.2 > 20.5 = 0.3°C

28°C
Far-Cry-6

21.6 > 24.0 = 2.4°C

43°C

20.4 > 22.2 = 1.8°C

39°C
Demon -Souls

22.8 > 26.6 = 3.8°C

48°C

21.0 > 24.0 = 3.0°C

44°C
Heavy-Read

20.8 > 24.3 = 3.5°C

51°C

20.9 > 24.8 = 3.9°C

47°C

 

dBrand Darkplates 2.0 vs Original PS5 Plates (WITHOUT m.2 Cover Plate)

Whereas if we look at comparing the default PS5 setup+SSD+m.2 cover against the dBrand plates+SSD+no cover, we see that temperatures were even better for the SSD controller. In terms of ambient airflow, the uncovered SSD heatsink did not really negatively impact the PS5 system and in the areas, it did get hotter than the official PS5 plates and cover, it was very small indeed and negligible at best!

RESULTS:

TEST Original PS5 Plates + SSD + M.2 Cover

dBrand Darkplates 2.0 PS5 Plates + SSD + NO M.2 Cover

Ambient System Temp Start/End/Diff SSD Controller Temp Max Ambient System Temp Start/End/Diff SSD Controller Temp Max
Heavy-Write

20.2 > 20.8 = 0.6°C

45°C

21.3 > 21.0 = -0.3°C

18°C
Far-Cry-6

21.6 > 24.0 = 2.4°C

43°C

20.1 > 23.2 = 3.1°C

29°C
Demon -Souls

22.8 > 26.6 = 3.8°C

48°C

20.9 > 22.2 = 1.3°C

39°C
Heavy-Read

20.8 > 24.3 = 3.5°C

51°C

22.2 > 24.0 = 1.8°C

45°C

 

dBrand Darkplates 2.0 vs Original PS5 Plates (with m.2 Cover Plate)

Finally, there is comparing the default setup of the official plates versus using the dBrand Darkplates, M.2 SSD and the Sabrent PS5 designed heatsink. The controller was easily at it’s coolest point on the tests using the Sabrent heatsink, which wasn’t a big surprise. However, what really stood out was that the heat increase inside the PS5 system (although STARTING lower) increased quite quickly. Even though it was still lower than the SSD+official heatsink+m.2, it increased fast enough to make me wonder if the additional vents of the dBrand design lost some of that sucked in airflow directly next to the Sabrent heatsink. Here is how they compare:

RESULTS:

TEST Original PS5 Plates + SSD + M.2 Cover

dBrand Darkplates 2.0 PS5 Plates + SSD + SABRENT HEATSINK

Ambient System Temp Start/End/Diff SSD Controller Temp Max Ambient System Temp Start/End/Diff SSD Controller Temp Max
Heavy-Write

20.2 > 20.8 = 0.6°C

45°C

21.9 > 22.4 = 0.5°C

28°C
Far-Cry-6

21.6 > 24.0 = 2.4°C

43°C

19.8 > 24.9 = 5.1°C

32°C
Demon -Souls

22.8 > 26.6 = 3.8°C

48°C

20.3 > 22.9 = 2.6°C

33°C
Heavy-Read

20.8 > 24.3 = 3.5°C

51°C

18.5 > 20.9 (fan increased) = 2.4°C

38°C

Throughout Feb 2022, I will be publishing the videos of my tests (x3 videos) and they will be published below. Take a look at them as they get published, as well as my video detailing the results of temperature testing of the Sabrent PS5 SSD heatsink:

Note: if a video is showing as ‘unavailable’, it means it is still awaiting publication in the schedule and will be coming soon.

dBrand Darkplate 2.0 Temp Test 1

dBrand Darkplate 2.0 Temp Test 2

dBrand Darkplate 2.0 Temp Test 3

Sabrent PS5 Heatsink Temp Test

 

dBrand Darkplates 2.0 for PS5 and Keeping it Cool? – Conclusion & Verdict

Overall, I would say that the pricetag of the dBrand Darkplates is a lot more about having a unique looking and possibly better design looking PS5 in your home, than it is about improvements on systems temperatures and efficiency. The $59 price tag of the base/default dBrand Darkplate 2.0 kit is quite steep, when there are budget $25-30 PS5 plate kits in the market right now and the ventilation that forms a big part of the design of these newly refreshed designed plates looks interesting/effective, but in reality seems to change the operating temperature of the PS5 very little. Therefore although they don’t seem to improve the temperatures much, it can be argued that the plates do NOT undermine or negatively affect the PS5’s negative cooling system. Regarding their use in conjunction with an SSD, m.2 PC style heatsink or a PS5 designed alternative, the differences between identical setups with the official PS5 plates or Darkplates were too similar to declare any form of advantage. Ultimately, in 2022, if you want the SSD that is housing your bigger games to run at its coolest, investing in a better system designed heatsink or running without the m.2 cover plate is much, much more recommended than upgrading cover plates. I like the look, feel, presentation and overall design of the dBrand Darkplates, I just question whether they are worth $59, or double the price of budget plate replacements out there.

PROs of the dBrand Darkplates 2.0 CONs of the dBrand Darkplates 2.0
Nice design, feel, patterns and colours

In shape when deployed makes the system look a lot more subtle and understated (no tall fins)

The Vented dark plate vents do not seemingly undermine the PS5 negative pressure cooling

Mesh covered vents can be removed for cleaning

 Quite pricey for what you are getting

The vented panels seem largely useless throughout temp testing

 

 

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      370 thoughts on “dBrand Darkplates Review – Are they Good or Bad for your PS5 SSD & System Temperatures?”

      3. Don’t buy this garbage if you want to destroy your PS5. OEM cover is designed specifically to help cool the SSD due to the negative pressure created by sealing off the SSD. The head engineer at Sony specifically talked about this..
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      8. This idea might not work But it could. Buying small fans Attach them to the heat sink of the PlayStation 5 blowing in the right direction Could that work. If wired correctly and not mess up air flow. Will it make the system cooler.
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      9. Your are interpreting your data incorrectly. The temp inside the system being hotter is better. That means its drawing more heat away from the APU and power supply. The less heat means its pulling less heat away. The Dbrand is worse.
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      10. Tbh everything about having airflow is good like for example if it has airflow then you get dust but also performance but no airflow means no dust but less performance
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      11. I just ordered these cover plates and I already have an SSD upgrade the Samsung 990 pro without integrated heat sink but have a cover heat sink PNY XLR8. If possible could you do a test on how this set up would work well together.????????
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      15. I highly doubt you’ll see this comment, but I’ve seen some metal plates with a mesh screen to supposedly promote better cooling for the m2 SSD. Do you have any idea if this is true or not or am I better off keeping the solid metal cover the PS5 uses?
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      21. A bit late to the party. But i think an overlooked thing on the PS5 is those metal grills over each side of the fan. Which i assume are mainly there for protection, and perhaps catching large clumps of dust. But at the same time, i thiink it obscures a percentage of the fan itself, and is another obstacle for air to travel through.

        I removed mine completely and screwed the fan back in without them, along with the dbrand case with filters on. It’s probably a minimal thing in reality, but I find it opens up the fan a bit more to airflow. As long as the console is in a safe spot and is cleaned regularly, it wouldn’t hurt, right?
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      26. bonjour ???? ???? les coques sont magnifiques elles sont vraiment superbes je les trouve beaucoup plus belles que celles de Sony car ses coques épouse la machine je fais allusion au niveau des angles sur le haut sur le devant c’est de cette façon que Sony aurait du fabriquer ses coques un très grand bravo aux personnes qui ont inventé ses coques je vais en acheter une pour ma console bonne continuation
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      30. In fact 85 Celsius to 90 Celsius is normal for an AMD processor under load I mean look at the steam deck that thing runs like a furnace I’ve had mine since launch and it’s still fine
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      39. I’m curious what the temperature inside the console is like. You measure the SSD that isn’t really affected by the plates and still saw a slight improvement, but it doesn’t tell us anything about the temperatures of the CPU and GPU which is what the plates are supposed to effect to bigger effect.
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      42. Though I would say that leaving the expansion bay open will lead to dust accumulates there. Especially in the hard to reach corners.

        The best this would be if someone made an expansion bay cover made of dust filter with very tiny holes.

        So you get the airflow and also protection from dust.

        But one can only dream right?

        Anyways great video!
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      45. I found a vented SSD cover for my corsair 2TB and will be using the original external plate covers till i either see a price drop or more significant temp drops before i spend 60-80 dollars on a vented external plate.
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      57. I think that a multimillion dollar company that spent years of research, testing and designing the system with top engineers experts on the field particularly working on the ps5 should know better why it is the way it is.
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      62. For those saying the SSD will probably melt the PS5 plates with SSD cover off, the PS5 plates are most likely HDPE. In these tests, the hottest avg temp of the SSD was 50°C. Melting point of HDPE is 125°C. If the temperature exceeds 70°C, the SSD would fail to operate and reach the end of product life.
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      63. Awesome vid. My exact setup. Now a question elecgear make a replacement plate with vents in it does it work? And is there a heatsink cover that also works with the firecuda w/heatsink that fit?
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      69. A test I was thinking about conducting with the exact same ssd you have was to put a thermal pad between the top of the heat sink and that metal cover. Theory is simple, Air flows over plate which cools plate and that plate is sucking heat off the heat sink and therefore helps remove heat from the heat sink into the air headed for the CPU cooler.
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      76. I saw another YouTuber saying exactly this “You should reconsider the Dbrand case. That can fan hole actually short circuits the cooling loop and creates hotspots on your system. ” ANYONE CAN COMMENT ON THIS???
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      87. I currently have the DB Brands 2.0 faceplate with the 980 Pro Heatsink, would you recommend using the sabrent heatsink as the plate cover as well? Or do you recommend another heatsink option with my setup?
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      88. I thank you for making great videos but. Why not just trust the Sony engineers? They are the ones who made this great gaming console. They have the resources to do extensive testing and I bet they do test. If they thought holes were needed at the top of the skins I am sure they would put them there. Does not cost much money at all to make a hole in plastic. This is a silly gimmick.Trying to make you spend more money. It is classic sales. First convince people there is a problem. Then show them how you can solve their problem. Then they will give you their money. So very classic.
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      90. The 2.0 should do less than original 1.

        Because it’s Small differents between them I thought when you upgrade ventelation it will be 3x less instead of 0.5x less it’s useless when you spend more money and it comes out nothing.
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      95. I bought one of the Sabrent heatsinks that replaces that metal cover, I’m not sure if it works well but I haven’t had any issues (also using it with a sabrent drive). I like how it looks, got it for $16.99 Canadian, normally they are $25. Forgive me if you have already tested it, but I just came upon this video when researching darkplates 2.0.
        *edit* i found you have a video on it already, nice!!!
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      98. With all the temperature testing on PS5 SSD’s. Have you ever tried changing ther thermal pad on heat sink with something like thermal grizzly? I thought it might be something fun for you to test out. Keep up the great work!
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      102. Just clean your PS5, then replace the internal fan every year. $30 US on Amazon. Very easy to replace. Based on roughly 6 hours of play daily every day over a 2 yrs of play. Cleaning a fan replacement is the best option.
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      107. i been testing. basically you dont want a heatsink. because it warms up the memory too .
        even a motherboard heatsink just leave it off.
        its a consumer scam again . . also for gaming just get a ssd .
        its not worth buying a m.2 unless you a professional user
        unless you can get it for same price . also failure rate is higher on m,2
        why spend x2 the money on a 1 second load time
        heatsinks do not work they cool the controller but spread heat to the other modules. you better just heat sinking the controller and not the rest of the chips
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      112. i dont understand why you spend soooo much time making these videos and running all these tests, but you dont even control your variables correctly. not even the most basic variable (ambient temp). between non-controlled variables and usual margin of error in sensors/testing, you might as well just guess lol. certaintly not worth the time.
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      117. Darkplate 2.0 ugly because of the vents. Original cover ugly because of those pointy colars.

        Darkplates 2.0 without the vents and slightly higher on the top of the plates would be good.
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      120. I literally have no plates on my ps5 the panels keep way too much heat inside it’ll stay colder 100% without the plates trust me I had overheating issues til I took them off. Sometimes it still happens but may take over 100 plus hours with plates maybe 5 tops.
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      140. I’m confused. At 13:30 your charts show that temperatures fell way down between games using the Darkplates, whereas it stayed almost the same with the regular PS5 plates. How is it, then, that your conclusion from that is that the Darkplates have WORSE heat dissipation? If temps are falling faster between games… that’s better dissipation, is it not?
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      143. can you do a video test with the original sony plate on the intake of the fan and the dbrand on the exhaust side? im interest on knowing if keeping the sony back pressure but maximizing the discharge pressure make a different outcome.Also would be interesting to see dbrand vents closed about 30% allowing a little more air directed through the front of the playstation allowing maybe more cooling to the SSD area.
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      144. Is the “EZDIY-FAB M.2 SSD heatsink 2280, Double-Sided Heat Sink, High Performance SSD Radiator” meant to perform without the ssd bay cover? I bought it off your recommendation and its a tight fit
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      145. So my question would be, without the plate dont we run the risk of dust and lint build up overall affecting the nvme drive in the long term. Obviously there are those who wont clean their system often so its more or less directed toward them.
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      146. I came Up with the best solution. I got the digital edition on day one of launch. And immediately noticed the capability of the fan’s airflow power. A dust prevention method needed to be done. Also the thermals with covers on concerned me too. The shells are just cosmetics/design products, maybe a safety Funktion too. Preventing children to put stuff into an operating fan etc. long story short : My modified PS5 has better thermodynamics and covers the dust problem, and that’s a real problem in the PS5 Design.

        Check out my modified unit here: It goes strong since almost two years and two very hot summers with up to 40 Celsius!

        https://youtu.be/t6WViI6DTms
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      149. you don’t measure the direct temperature of any modules, you measure the ambient temperature between the plastics. Try a Sabrent M.2 heatsink it uses both the original “negative pressure” BS AND creates a heat sink that takes up the entire cover door. its basically a replacement cover door
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      150. Bought the Darkplates, added a screen to the curved intake/center section and even added a micron mesh to the Darkplates to reduce dust intake. I also plan on removing the fan cover grates since they are simply useless unless you plan on travelling. The Darkplates actually DO assist in active airflow and reduce the internal temps by 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Gamers Nexus numbers with/without PS cover plates temps would be more accurate since they placed thermocouples on the actual memory and processors and you are taking a temperature of a piece of plastic that maintains the same constant temperature. I even ran a FLIR camera on my system after 2 hours of playing Horizon Forbidden West in resolution (4K) mode and the exhaust temperature was 50 degrees Fahrenheit lower than with my old PS5 plates. Plus you can see on your PS plates side that the graphics activity is much less drastic than the Darkplates video. you were really trying to get that processor to work on the Darkplate side.
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      153. The problem with this test is there are two tests in one go. We can’t conclude what’s causing the temperature difference, is it the ssd cover or the plates…

        Lol as I was typing this 16:08 confirmed! Thank you! Amazing videos!
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      154. It might be possible to achieve lower temperatures in certain places with these plates, but no one knows what happens in the rest of the case. I can imagine that this can create heat spots. That’s why I would keep my hands off something like this. No one can predict with certainty what this will do to the longevity of your console.
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      158. I somewhere heard that the only reason Sony recommends using the M.2 cover is because of potential dust buildup in the slot since it’s directly located besides the fan. Don’t know how bad it could get if you leave it without the cover for a year or more.
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      160. PlayStation 5 is an extremely Awesome Machine but I do have one little caveat which is how hot the back USB ports get as I’m not sure what Sony was thinking but I had my cable plugged in for just a few hours and the piece which plugs in is uncomfortably hot in My opinion !
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      164. Thank you for this. Glad to see it’s a $50-$60 waste of money that can go to a game, or an extra controller… unless, of course, one buys it simply for the aesthetics.
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      171. I run the wd black sn850 with its factory heatsink. It’s clearly a drive that gets warmer than other’s. My PS5 is a launch model so no warranty at this point, should I concearn my self with the negative pressure with the m.2 cover being on? Or should I leave it off to keep the ssd cooler, it is a replacable part and has a 5 year warranty. I’m just on the fence about it, on or off? With it off it actually is cool to see it glowing its led in the PS5 but I want to preserve my PS5 over the replaceable ssd in the m.2 slot. Please share your thoughts thank you.
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      180. What i am curiuos about is dust, the PS5 original covers channel dust to certain areas to be vacuumed out. will the dark plates put dust in bad places or have the system get dirtier faster
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      184. Why are you testing the temperature of the M.2 when that is a passively cooled component? There isn’t even active M.2 cooling in a PC. It literally doesn’t matter if it’s heavy read, heavy write, heavy anything. There is absolutely no component in the PS5 that actively cools the SSD, so OFC you won’t see any additional cooling benefit to it. What you have shown, and don’t seem to realize, is that the Dbrand plates give consistent, repeatable ~10% drops in temperature while gaming, which is the only time when the system actually tries to cool itself down. I’ll be buying the Dbrand plates for sure now.

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      194. I got the darkplates 2.0 and am unsure wether to go for theFirecuda 530 + Sabrent heatsink or the Sabrent SSD + Sabrent Heatsink OR the Firecuda 530 in combination with the PNY heatsink. Difficult desicion, what do you guys think?
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      195. stupid question but did you make sure to NOT test with the ps5 standing vertically without the factory stand? i’ve been reading a ton of blogs saying that running the ps5 vertically-flat (like in your non-running commmentary) inhibited air intake flow from the bottom vents…. again i’m sure you ran it horizontal but just wondering. thank you!!!!
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      196. love this review. i ended up not getting the dbrand plates due to $$$$ for cooling value and just opted for black bubble vented plates that allow my ps5 rgb ring lights on the fans shine through. thank you for the review!!!
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      201. I’ve been hearing a rumor that the vent plates are bad for the PS5 and the plates it comes with we’re made that way by design to help with air flow, is this confirmed?
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      202. I really needed to see this video and from the results maybe it’s not worth the hefty price and more saving for a SSD with a heatsink and a cover for performance and storage
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      203. Thanks for the super informative comparisons. I watched all 3 parts of this video. However, I do wish that you had a video showing temperature difference between the original Sony’s PS5 Plate vs Dbrand’s PS5 Darkplate 2.0 with Sabrent M.2 NVMe Heatsink installed with Rocket 4 Plus or any other SSD installed along with Sabrent Heatsink. So basically it would be interesting to see how much cooler temperatures can be achieved on Darkplate 2.0 with SSD + Sabrent Heatsink installed compared to the original PS5 plate.
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      206. I think the dplates make an ugly console, look a fair bit better, I’d prefer them without the cooling vents but they are seriously overpriced
        & you have to pay for shipping which makes them £58.66, there certainly not worth that!
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      209. Be interested to see the different temps with the 3 different known oem system fans. Keep hearing the delta is quiet, but does it cool as good? Your already setup to test it out, just need the fans.
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      213. Interesting vid. Question is, having PS5 horizontal or vertical make any difference in the heatsink. Because how horizontal setup will put the heatsink under the SSD, so is heatsink able to dissipate equally as vertical setup?
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      220. Last one. Can you please test elecgear h/s with d brand plate? I know both are on back order and not really useful for most people for a few months but atleast we’ll know ahead of time with the comparisons with the sabrent and dbrand plate.
        Great videos too btw obviously
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      221. So which setup do you recommend? In a previous video you recommended going for a first party heatsink but these results indicate that the sabrent heatsink is doing a better job.
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      226. I have to say that I have just picked up these plates with the light strips (green) and central cover. Its more for aesthetics really as I’m not a fan of the ‘collar’ on the original plates, but hey it is down to each individual I suppose. But if there are any additional benefits like dropping a couple of degrees, then all the better. Have the Samsung 980 PRO SSD with the heatsink as well so hopefully will get similar results. But great video sir! Like sent 😉
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      232. I wonder what would happen if I used the dbrand darkplates 2.0 with my elecgear
        Because in this case the og plates are helping the air to be pushed through the elecgear and with the dbrand plates maybe less air being pushed through there and the result may be hotter ssd ?
        Anyway… Great video and thanks for doing this tests !
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      237. Thank you very much for this video! I was expecting this one for so long.. Now I’m even more impatient to install all of them. I hope they arrive soon ????
        P.S. I miss the seagulls ????
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      243. Hi Nas, for the SSDs 2 or 4TB, they are 2 sided, did you do a test for having double sided but only using the lower part of the heatsink and replacing the top one with Sabrent or PNY??
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      247. Love your videos I was wondering is it possible to do a liquid cooled ps5 ? If so do you think the temps would be drastically lower than any of the plates or mods that we can currently do ?
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      257. Can’t wait for the new Sabrent 8tb drive to come out so you can do your testing. I expect that with the Dbrand 2.0, and both Sabrent 8tb ssd and heatsink cover, the PS5 will be the ultimate gaming machine.
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      263. One aspect that’s left out of equation (apart from slightly lower temperatures) is that if you don’t install the metal cover, the area is prone to dust accumulation given its location…
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      264. @NASCompares I’ve not been able to locate the temp tests without SSD cover plate (and original PS5 covers). Will you send the link, mate? I’ve got the Firecuda with heat sink and am wondering if I should remove that pesky cover plate
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      270. Great video, always good information from your channel.

        I’m going to buy the Seagate Firecuda 530 2 TB, due to the reviews I saw on the channel,.
        what will be the best option? Seagate 530 with heatsink included, or Seagate 530 plus Sabrent heatsink? Thanks
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      271. To be honest, NONE of my SSDs run that cool. None of my SSDs even start out that cool. I’m just talking about regular SATA SSDs and not M.2. My servers run pretty cool at around 30 to 35 degrees C. but my workstation’s SSD gets up to sometimes 40 degrees. I’ve recently invested in some fans and I haven’t seen it get that hot for awhile but I’ve never seen 21 and 22 degree temperatures on any of these SSDs.
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      272. Great video, I would recommend stating the percent differences of starting and ending temps rather than just the overall increase. It better represents the data since they do generally have differing starting points. Just a thought. Thanks for doing these tests
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      278. I have an idea for another video in this series. Doing a comparison between the Darkplates with and without the fan grill filter. Since they are removable for cleaning why not test to see how much better the temps are without the the filters installed.
        P.s. – Can I ask if you’re abandoned the Elecgear altogether? I got the feeling that one was the ultimate heatsink, and right now it costs only an extra £10, even if it’s only a few degrees cooler. I wonder if the extra surface will provide even more cooling with the Darkplates.
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      279. I have an idea for another video in this series. Doing a comparison between the Darkplates with and without the fan grill filter. Since they are removable for cleaning why not test to see how much better the temps are without the the filters installed.
        P.s. – Can I ask if you’re abandoned the Elecgear altogether? I got the feeling that one was the ultimate heatsink, and right now it costs only an extra £10, even if it’s only a few degrees cooler. I wonder if the extra surface will provide even more cooling with the Darkplates.
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      280. I have an idea for another video in this series. Doing a comparison between the Darkplates with and without the fan grill filter. Since they are removable for cleaning why not test to see how much better the temps are without the the filters installed.
        P.s. – Can I ask if you’re abandoned the Elecgear altogether? I got the feeling that one was the ultimate heatsink, and right now it costs only an extra £10, even if it’s only a few degrees cooler. I wonder if the extra surface will provide even more cooling with the Darkplates.
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      281. I have an idea for another video in this series. Doing a comparison between the Darkplates with and without the fan grill filter. Since they are removable for cleaning why not test to see how much better the temps are without the the filters installed.
        P.s. – Can I ask if you’re abandoned the Elecgear altogether? I got the feeling that one was the ultimate heatsink, and right now it costs only an extra £10, even if it’s only a few degrees cooler. I wonder if the extra surface will provide even more cooling with the Darkplates.
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      282. I have an idea for another video in this series. Doing a comparison between the Darkplates with and without the fan grill filter. Since they are removable for cleaning why not test to see how much better the temps are without the the filters installed.
        P.s. – Can I ask if you’re abandoned the Elecgear altogether? I got the feeling that one was the ultimate heatsink, and right now it costs only an extra £10, even if it’s only a few degrees cooler. I wonder if the extra surface will provide even more cooling with the Darkplates.
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      293. Do you really think Sony’s engineers over looked the cooling characteristics of the M.2 bay? I would have second guess that argument. Btw the compartment does have openings for air to pass through which you could have put the probe wire through on tests where the probe is on the M.2, that top metal cover acts as magnetic shielding, and there are heat conductive strips of material along the top side perimeter of the bay to pass the transfer radiant heat from the M.2 drive building in the bay cover to the heatsink system inside the PS5.
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      294. Do you really think Sony’s engineers over looked the cooling characteristics of the M.2 bay? I would have second guess that argument. Btw the compartment does have openings for air to pass through which you could have put the probe wire through on tests where the probe is on the M.2, that top metal cover acts as magnetic shielding, and there are heat conductive strips of material along the top side perimeter of the bay to pass the transfer radiant heat from the M.2 drive building in the bay cover to the heatsink system inside the PS5.
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      295. Do you really think Sony’s engineers over looked the cooling characteristics of the M.2 bay? I would have second guess that argument. Btw the compartment does have openings for air to pass through which you could have put the probe wire through on tests where the probe is on the M.2, that top metal cover acts as magnetic shielding, and there are heat conductive strips of material along the top side perimeter of the bay to pass the transfer radiant heat from the M.2 drive building in the bay cover to the heatsink system inside the PS5.
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      296. Do you really think Sony’s engineers over looked the cooling characteristics of the M.2 bay? I would have second guess that argument. Btw the compartment does have openings for air to pass through which you could have put the probe wire through on tests where the probe is on the M.2, that top metal cover acts as magnetic shielding, and there are heat conductive strips of material along the top side perimeter of the bay to pass the transfer radiant heat from the M.2 drive building in the bay cover to the heatsink system inside the PS5.
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      297. Do you really think Sony’s engineers over looked the cooling characteristics of the M.2 bay? I would have second guess that argument. Btw the compartment does have openings for air to pass through which you could have put the probe wire through on tests where the probe is on the M.2, that top metal cover acts as magnetic shielding, and there are heat conductive strips of material along the top side perimeter of the bay to pass the transfer radiant heat from the M.2 drive building in the bay cover to the heatsink system inside the PS5.
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      298. One of the problems I have with “the Queen’s English” (QE) is the tendency to not pronounce the last “R” in a word (or, “wood”, in the QE). So when the presenter says, “The dock plates”, is he saying “the dark plates” or “the dock plates”? Not being familiar with the equipment he’s using, I don’t know what they’re called. Scottish people, who speak English (as opposed to the ones who don’t) tend to pronounce all the r’s in a word. American English speakers also tend to pronounce all the r’s (unless they’re putting on some phony affectation). So, we don’t say, “bettah”, we say, “better”. Anyway, for the sake of clarity, it would be nice to hear the letters of a word pronounced in a technical presentation (except for the crazy words like night, thought, etc.)
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      299. My nigga you’re doing Gods work ty. Cant wait for my DP 2.0s I’m in February wave so by the end of this month I should have mine in. Anybody wanna buy the OG DP 1.0 plates hmu
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      303. Love all these videos but the only thing that always bothers me is how your graphs aren’t ever in the same format so it makes discerning the differences in data so much harder. I know it really doesn’t matter much because you’re not some scientific researcher but it’s just a personal pet peeve for me when graph comparisons are not using the same graph layout for each item. Still though keep up the good work
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      305. Some company should make a really tiny liquid cooled mount for the ssd even if it pops out more tbey can give you a custom plate and it can be usb powered to run off the system itself
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      306. is this guy good or what? i was dying to know if the vent in the d-plate makes a difference. i was wondering if the vent affects the airflow in a bad way. these a mod for the ps4 where someone does the same thing by cutting a hole in the cover over the fan.
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      307. Interesting. Here’s a slightly different take: The DBrand plate has increased air intake. With this being the case, how do these measure up over time whereas dust builds up internally creating a heat blanket.

        It seems to me that using the DBrand covers will result in the need to clean the internals more frequently.

        Also of note is that the opening on the DBrand covers didn’t appear to have any sort of mesh to help capture dust particles from entering internally.
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      312. I literally do not understand the comments from people saying they’re surprised that the dark plates even work. Just because the original PlayStation plates was designed around negative pressure does not take away the physics of having more airflow come through the system to cool it off. I’ve had my Darkplates for about a week now and there is a drastic difference in cooling. I’ll play disc games and when I take my disk out to put it away the disc is much much cooler than it was using the old plates. Plus the air that comes out of the PlayStation is much cooler. I’m a Sony fan boy but even I can recognize that there is a flaw in the original plates. Negative pressure aside, the physics of having more airflow will always have better results. It’s common sense and I’m surprised by the lack of it by people‘s blind following to Sony‘s design philosophy…
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      313. Nice video! Love those plates but I barely pulled the trigger on my $120 Atom50 1tb ssd. Running it with just the stock heat spreader and no cover. Pretty happy with not having to bounce PS5 games between internal and external.
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      316. I personally am loving my Dbrand dark plates but I’m not loving the vents. And reason being I noticed there’s not as much heat coming out the back like normally it would. Which leads me to believe its not cooling the internals as it should normally. I’m thinking of taping up the inside where the vents are or putting back on the ps plates.
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      317. Really appreciate the detailed reviews do you !!! Waiting for my DBrand plates during this next March drop. Can’t wait for next video on the tests with and without M.2 cover, while still using the Dark Plates.
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      327. So just to understand – heat dissipation in test #1 during the power on / power off cycles was worse in the non official Sony Plates?

        Wouldn’t a “passive” airflow be better WITH more heat escape / ventilation options?

        Maybe I am fundamentally miss understanding what is meant here but if the system is off, I.E no fan working there is no movement of air – then subsequently the plate thickness or material would constitute more to heat exchange/thermals rather than the shape effecting airflow?

        Great test though!
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      330. Thank you for making the dbrand Darkplate 2.0 temperature test vid.

        I have similar set up with black Darkplate 2.0 & Seagate Firecuda 530 2TB M.2 SSD with factory heatsink on my PS5. Indeed just shaved off 2 – 5C° and doesn’t affect much, but certainly good to know dbrand Darkplate 2.0 does its job ever slightly to lower the C°. Anticipating next test with Sabrent PS5 heatsink cover with Darkplate 2.0, may be also try Elecgear and PNY heatsink too with the temperature test with Darkplate 2.0? Keep up the good work!
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      332. I have a 2TB Firecuda 530 with the factory installed heatsink on the way. I’m wondering if there is possible/makes sense to replace the SSD plate that goes on top with a very slim additional heatsink for even lower running temperatures?
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      336. Thank you for making the video! You mentioned great points there and glad you are going to do more comparisons, especially on the Sabrent Custom Heatsink based on how it’s designed and how it can potentially be more affected based on its design. Once again great work man and looking forward to the next video!
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      337. and i was waiting for this kind of tests to buy my plates or not…
        writing this before watching until the end

        18:12 just a question, if the darkplates make a better job of “cooling” the ps5 can you in a next time you make a video like this (please) read the exhaust temperature?
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      345. If I pair the Sabrent heatsink with the XPG S70 Blade, would I leave the super thin heatsink thats included off, or actually put it on in combination with the Sabrent one?
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      347. Always great vids! I bought the FireCuda530 with heat sink.(thanks for your input with that)Should I get the Sabrent cover to replace the gray stock plate? Or is that overkill/fit?
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      348. Hey Nas excellent video really seen the difference was so close I was expecting the PNY be a bit more cooler with the design I have the Sabrent it works perfect, but everywhere I look I can’t find that PNY XLR8 heatsink even in your links, iam from the UK btw any advice as when I get a bigger SSD I would like the PNY buddy, please help me iam a sub and always like your Vids too
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      349. Since the WD SN850 is basically the hottest running m.2 ssd, I wanna see how well the 3rd party heatsinks work on it, especially the ElecGear and Sabrant. Please do this test for us SN850 owners
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      350. You are mixing up heat (energy) with temperature and missing out why hotter objects loose energy quicker. Also worth remembering that an iceberg has more heat than that mug of coffee on your desk…
        Broad-brush comparisons are ok for review work (ie without a climate chamber and controlled conditions) but only if you test 2 devices at the same time in an effort to achieve similar environmental conditions. As it is this is a bit of a physics cringe-fest with your voice-over competing with the laws of thermodynamics. You risk undermining your NAS review work with these more recent repetitional offerings.
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      351. Just a quick question… how does this fit in my NAS? Or how do I convert a PS5 to use as a NAS?
        If neither of these are valid why is it that a channel I subscribed to for really good NAS content is mainly PS5 ssd content focused now…?
        Wish there was a dislike button… only choice we have now is unsub… please move non-NAS content to a second channel? Lots of others have multiple channels to avoid spamming subscribers with content they have no interest in.
        I’m sure I am not alone in only wanting NAS related content on this one… 🙁
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      356. I currently have a wd sn850 500gb and I’m going to change to a 1tb ssd soon. I was wondering what you would recommend between the kingston fury 1tb, wd sn860 1tb, cardea a440 pro special series, and s70 blade? I already have the sabrent heatsink cover which has been great and it seems like there is a negligible difference between it and the pny from the video. I love all the ps5 vids Robbie and would love your input!
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      357. Just a little remark: starting at 11:50 you say that the PNY kept the SSD at a lower temp delta, but the Sabrent cooled down quicker between tests.
        But from the tests before in the video it looked and sounded exactly the other way around.
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      362. How can these two options have very different depth specs and still fit over the top of a ssd in the PS5 bay?
        I have a WD Sn850 ssd, so which one of these two makes proper contact with the top to guarantee it fits correctly?
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      364. Cool and in depth as always.Gets a thumbs up from me.Question.How hot should the heatsink be to touch?Out of curiosity i removed the ps5 cover plate after a lengthy,for me anyway,session and the heatsink was warm to the touch.This was with the elecgear but it was also the same when i was using the sabrent.Just curious.
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