Xbox Series S/X 1TB SSD Expansion Will Cost $220

[GTPNewsWire]

This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:

Xbox Series S/X 1TB SSD Expansion Will Cost $220

This article was published by Andrew Evans (@Famine) on September 24th, 2020 in the Gaming category.

 

[Robin]

It's actually a fair price, when you look at equivalent performance oriented 1TB NVMe's they are only slightly less than that and probably can't achieve what these specialist expansion cards can.

Not sure why they didn't offer a lower capacity option though, 512GB would be more than enough for most coupled with the internal memory.

 

[FrankieStail]

Think the wise money is using something like a 4tb external for storing games and just use built in ssd for games being currently played.
Kinda how most pc gamers operate that have smallish capacity ssd.

 

[davidt33]

I find it's expensive. And of course PS5 would follow suit.

 

[TJ13]

I find it's expensive. And of course PS5 would follow suit.

Well not exactly sort of speak.
Sony did say certain PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives will work.
So just need to get the drive and it's all good.

 

[Tornado]

When the PS4 comes out I'm guessing you'll be hard pressed to find whatever top shelf certified devices Sony allows to be used in the PS4 to be any cheaper; and in a couple ways Microsoft has come up with a superior solution. The only question is if prices stay where they are as announced as flash memory drops. When the 360 came out (or the PSP for that matter) its memory solution wasn't outrageously horrendously gougingly expensive, but within a year they cost the same as they had at launch and standardized formats were already much cheaper. If Microsoft can resist the urge to charge $200 for a terabyte a year from now or further when high spec PCI-E Gen 4 NVMe drives are a terabyte and cost $125 or whatever, they should be fine.

 

[Samus]

Think the wise money is using something like a 4tb external for storing games and just use built in ssd for games being currently played.
Kinda how most pc gamers operate that have smallish capacity ssd.

Don't know about Xbox but on PS5 they've said you can't store PS5 games on a regular drive at all.

 

[FrankieStail]

Don't know about Xbox but on PS5 they've said you can't store PS5 games on a regular drive at all.

You can store ps5 games on external drive, just can’t play them from there, have to move across onto internal ssd.

 

[Famine]

Don't know about Xbox but on PS5 they've said you can't store PS5 games on a regular drive at all.

This is on Xbox Newswire:

The same thing applies to the PS5.

 

[Robin]

The only question is if prices stay where they are as announced as flash memory drops. When the 360 came out (or the PSP for that matter) its memory solution wasn't outrageously horrendously gougingly expensive, but within a year they cost the same as they had at launch and standardized formats were already much cheaper. If Microsoft can resist the urge to charge $200 for a terabyte a year from now or further when high spec PCI-E Gen 4 NVMe drives are a terabyte and cost $125 or whatever, they should be fine.

I would hope they would lower the price over time or maybe introduce larger capacity sizes. Looking at PS2 memory cards for example Sony did lower the price over the lifetime of the console because 8MB in 2013 couldn't legitimately by priced the same (with inflation) as 8MB in 1999.

 

[tunaphis]

That's a stunningly stupid $359 here in Oz. (Listed @ JB HiFi)
Imagine there are some parents and players choking on their cornflakes about now reading this.

 

[strela]

That's a stunningly stupid $359 here in Oz. (Listed @ JB HiFi)
Imagine there are some parents and players choking on their cornflakes about now reading this.

And I don't understand why. You can plugin any USB 3.1 HDD. It's just an expansion for internal SSD. Why would anyone need it? Besides it's fancy look, of course.

 

[tunaphis]

Also people like myself who were considering a X for flight sim now have to factor in storage costs.

 

[Famine]

And I don't understand why. You can plugin any USB 3.1 HDD. It's just an expansion for internal SSD. Why would anyone need it? Besides it's fancy look, of course.

You can't run Series S/X games from an external HDD, only the internal SSD or this expansion.

 

[FPV MIC]

That's a stunningly stupid $359 here in Oz. (Listed @ JB HiFi)
Imagine there are some parents and players choking on their cornflakes about now reading this.

Just checked at JB as well and noticed that price. Also noticed the Series S is the only new gen console that's still available to pre-order.

And I don't understand why. You can plugin any USB 3.1 HDD. It's just an expansion for internal SSD. Why would anyone need it? Besides it's fancy look, of course.

This is exactly what I'll be doing when I get around to getting the S. I've had to transfer the games I play from my external drive onto the PS4 (Red Dead 2 won't play off the external for some reason) already so I'm hoping this is the same. I just put it back onto the external when I'm tired of playing it again.

You can't run Series S/X games from an external HDD, only the internal SSD or this expansion.

Can you store them on the HDD and transfer them to the SSD when you want to play them?

 

[strela]

You can't run Series S/X games from an external HDD, only the internal SSD or this expansion.

Yes I know. But you really don't need it. You can still store games there (HDD) and just transfer them whenever you want. Just like you're going to do on PS5.

 

[tunaphis]

The PS5 buyers will benefit from the fact that their not bound to PS for storage.The used pc parts market in a year will be littered with PS spec ssd's.

 

[RolexGTP]

$220 for a 1TB external drive? Hell nah. Microsoft is smoking some good stuff. Imagine a 5TB probably talking at least $800

 

[strela]

$220 for a 1TB external drive? Hell nah. Microsoft is smoking some good stuff. Imagine a 5TB probably talking at least $800

You have no idea what that is do you?

 

[Mr Grumpy]

Here's a thought, what is stopping them from actually having these cards as a media device instead of discs?

What's stopping them from preloading a game onto this format & selling them at the normal game price?

If games are getting larger, you could fit about 7 of the largest games on 1 of these things, so how much cheaper could a 200gb with a pre installed game cost?

Affectively plug & play with no installation, like the old cartridge days.

I'm also presuming that with this method, whatever games you got installed on this expansion drive you can plug it into another series s/x around your mate's house or 2nd machine & have your games available to play?

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

What's stopping them from preloading a game onto this format & selling them at the normal game price?

Probably the normal game price

Unless I'm misunderstanding, I don't see that being cost effective at this time.

 

[GT Kelv]

Yes I know. But you really don't need it. You can still store games there (HDD) and just transfer them whenever you want. Just like you're going to do on PS5.

That’s my plan. But, I probably buy one to have for games I don’t want to swap in to play.

 

[Tornado]

$220 for a 1TB external drive? Hell nah. Microsoft is smoking some good stuff.

Yeah, Microsoft must be smoking crack for that $20 markup over a decent Gen 4 drive.

Imagine a 5TB probably talking at least $800

Yes, a 5TB NVMe would be well over $800. That's why people don't generally use them as external hard drives, and why Microsoft isn't either since this is an expansion of the internal storage instead of some USB Western Digital mechanical drive that takes 15 seconds to even spool up.

Here's a thought, what is stopping them from actually having these cards as a media device instead of discs?

What's stopping them from preloading a game onto this format & selling them at the normal game price?

If games are getting larger, you could fit about 7 of the largest games on 1 of these things, so how much cheaper could a 200gb with a pre installed game cost?

The costs to mass produce a Blu Ray is a matter of maybe 2 bucks for 100 gigs of space, versus ~13 cents for every gig for an older Gen 3 NVMe. Even removing profit margins and just going on cost would likely get you in the 10 cent range, versus ~2 cents/Gb for optical media.

That number will start falling more and more eventually, but it won't approach optical media in price as a straight storage medium before optical media is abandoned entirely for games; plus the volatility of prices for flash storage and how optical media is easier to mass produce.

 

[kjeldsen]

Samsungs first PCIe 4, the 980 Pro, is priced similar, the 1TB achieves 7000 MB pr sec, and could in theory be the first PS5 approved SSD.

The most important question still needs an answer, will we be able to "park" our PS5/XBSX games on the slow USB3 drives?

 

[strela]

Joe: "Guys did you hear? Microsoft is selling Xbox memory cards for 200$ a piece! Me think it's a scam"
Cleveland: "What? That's ridiculous! I can get 200 memory cards for my PS at the Pawnshop for that money!"
Peter:"I know right. Sony is going to win the next gen war. It just became as easy as taking a candy from an infant."
Brian:"Come on guys... are you still into consoles?... I mean... big boys play on PC nowadays."
Quagmire:"Giggity!"

 

[dirtyduckuk76]

Samsungs first PCIe 4, the 980 Pro, is priced similar, the 1TB achieves 7000 MB pr sec, and could in theory be the first PS5 approved SSD.

The most important question still needs an answer, will we be able to "park" our PS5/XBSX games on the slow USB3 drives?

MS have said that the external storage can hold the games and then you can copy them across to play on the XSX

Famine pasted a table in an earlier post saying what can be done for XSX

 

[TurismoBad]

Another reason to wait a year before going next gen.

 

[TheCracker]

Yes I know. But you really don't need it. You can still store games there (HDD) and just transfer them whenever you want. Just like you're going to do on PS5.

It's possible, but it sounds like a good way of fragging your primary internal SSD.

 

[PSN:And-War]

Another reason to wait a year before going next gen.

Totally agree let's wait and don't early adopt.

 

[strela]

It's possible, but it sounds like a good way of fragging your primary internal SSD.

I won't say it can't happen. But what are the odds? Are they greater than the possibility of a lightning strike? I never had that problem before. Maybe is a common thing that I just never experienced.