• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

New 2TB and 512 GB Seagate Expansion Cards for Xbox Series X|S ($400 and $140 respectively) announced

GHG

Gold Member
Lol, afterall that, some folks would still like the option to use series ssd's on PC.
How is having the option a bad thing?

For what reason exactly?

Per GB they are more expensive than any other equivalent speed drive out there (double the price in fact) and they have zero utility outside of Series consoles. Who are these people who desperately want to slot one of these into their PC instead of using one of the many open standard options available to them already?

Is it cheaper? Nope.
Is it faster? Nope.
Is it better? Nope.

So...

Confused Liam Neeson GIF
 
For what reason exactly?

Per GB they are more expensive than any other equivalent speed drive out there (double the price in fact) and they have zero utility outside of Series consoles. Who are these people who desperately want to slot one of these into their PC instead of using one of the many open standard options available to them already?

Is it cheaper? Nope.
Is it faster? Nope.
Is it better? Nope.

So...

Confused Liam Neeson GIF

If anything USB Type C can handle the speeds of the Series drive with ease. Which means the best option would be an adapter that allows you to use the Series drives with a PC. That would offer a plug and play experience that Sosokrates Sosokrates is looking for and it means a ton of peoples PCs would already be able to support something like that. That would be the best option for consumers. Once the drives (Series Version 2 for example) exceed USB Type C speeds then it would make sense to have a different solution.

I honestly don't see Mobo manufacturers and case manufacturers modifying their designs to accommodate the slot for the Series drives.
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
For what reason exactly?

Per GB they are more expensive than any other equivalent speed drive out there (double the price in fact) and they have zero utility outside of Series consoles. Who are these people who desperately want to slot one of these into their PC instead of using one of the many open standard options available to them already?

Is it cheaper? Nope.
Is it faster? Nope.
Is it better? Nope.

So...

Confused Liam Neeson GIF

As for the series ssd, people may like the plug and play nature, and people may like having another use case for the series ssd.
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
If anything USB Type C can handle the speeds of the Series drive with ease. Which means the best option would be an adapter that allows you to use the Series drives with a PC. That would offer a plug and play experience that Sosokrates Sosokrates is looking for and it means a ton of peoples PCs would already be able to support something like that. That would be the best option for consumers. Once the drives (Series Version 2 for example) exceed USB Type C speeds then it would make sense to have a different solution.

I honestly don't see Mobo manufacturers and case manufacturers modifying their designs to accommodate the slot for the Series drives.
Yeah, that does seem like a good solution, although it may still be appealing for some not having to have additional adapter with usb wire.
But I agree its not worth the hassle of manufacturing series ssd slots for mother boards and m2 adapters when a usbc adapter could do the job.

With all that being said though, the plug and play nature of the series SSD is a better design then. Current way PC upgrades are done. Not that making or upgrading PCs is hard, neither was putting a blu ray disc to watch a film, but most people stream now a days because its more convenient.
 
Last edited:

8BiTw0LF

Banned
Its expensive? I doubt it.the mechanism and shell cant cost more then a few dollers. And people would use it because of convience and it would give more use cases for the series SSD's.
Making NVME so small and wrapping them in cases are expensive. The ones we use in PC's today are way cheaper, faster and has more storage capacity.

Making a new port for something that's a worser alternative, makes absolutely no sense.
 

GHG

Gold Member
If anything USB Type C can handle the speeds of the Series drive with ease. Which means the best option would be an adapter that allows you to use the Series drives with a PC. That would offer a plug and play experience that Sosokrates Sosokrates is looking for and it means a ton of peoples PCs would already be able to support something like that. That would be the best option for consumers. Once the drives (Series Version 2 for example) exceed USB Type C speeds then it would make sense to have a different solution.

I honestly don't see Mobo manufacturers and case manufacturers modifying their designs to accommodate the slot for the Series drives.

As for the series ssd, people may like the plug and play nature, and people may like having another use case for the series ssd.

Here's a plug and play solution that exists on PC today, offers faster speeds than the Series expansion drives and is still cheaper:

title.jpg



But very few people buy that over the other solutions I outlined in a previous post.

You guys are nuts if you think PC users would have any interest in the Series expansion cards or anything like them considering all the options already available.
 

S0ULZB0URNE

Member
If anything USB Type C can handle the speeds of the Series drive with ease. Which means the best option would be an adapter that allows you to use the Series drives with a PC. That would offer a plug and play experience that Sosokrates Sosokrates is looking for and it means a ton of peoples PCs would already be able to support something like that. That would be the best option for consumers. Once the drives (Series Version 2 for example) exceed USB Type C speeds then it would make sense to have a different solution.

I honestly don't see Mobo manufacturers and case manufacturers modifying their designs to accommodate the slot for the Series drives.
GO7grz8.png
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
Here's a plug and play solution that exists on PC today, offers faster speeds than the Series expansion drives and is still cheaper:

title.jpg



But very few people buy that over the other solutions I outlined in a previous post.

You guys are nuts if you think PC users would have any interest in the Series expansion cards or anything like them considering all the options already available.

Yeah. Read prior replies its already been addressed.
 
Last edited:
Here's a plug and play solution that exists on PC today, offers faster speeds than the Series expansion drives and is still cheaper:

title.jpg



But very few people buy that over the other solutions I outlined in a previous post.

You guys are nuts if you think PC users would have any interest in the Series expansion cards or anything like them considering all the options already available.

I mean if someone on PC wants to buy an SSD with similar speeds as the Series drives it's going to be really cheap.

🤷‍♂️

I get it that some people want options but when much cheaper options are available it's questionable as to why someone would pay double the price for a drive that they can find for a lot less.

Idiots aside I don't think anyone would have an issue with finding a plug and play solution for their PC at a much lower price than the Series drives.

With the Series consoles I get it it's the only option that they have. But when the entire PC market becomes available things change.
 
I'll get the 1tb when it's on sale for around $150, or maybe the 512 when it hits $99. I can't see a need for the 2tb tbh, but nice that it's out there for people who do and who can afford it.

Definitely prefer the MS upgrade solution to the Sony, so happy to pay for the convenience, but man these are expensive. Luckily I don't need to upgrade the storage on my PS5 because I only use it for the occasional exclusive and haven't come close to filling it yet, while I am constantly juggling my Series X storage. That said, there's no reason for that to be full either if I was a little more ruthless in my deleting.
 
GHG GHG



Not everthing is console wars.
The fact you guys take issue with a perfectly harmless query is worrying.

It’s an awful idea. What does putting a proprietary slot on a pc have to do with console wars?
Having something like e-sata was but for PCI-e drives would be great--so long as they make it a standard as opposed to a closed proprietary thing (which we have plenty on our PCs anyway). We need to move beyond those crappy flash drives that never come close to their rated speeds. (I know about the enclosures, I want something small and fast).
 

DrAspirino

Banned
This is the Vita memory cards all over again. Sony made the right call to go with standard PC SSDs. Sure they're not much cheaper yet but in a couple of years price will come down quite a bit I'd imagine; not sure if the same can be said of these proprietary cards though.
https://eshop.sintech.cn/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=130_15&products_id=1382
how-to-use.jpg.webp

You were saying?

This thing will be exactly like it was with the Xbox 360 HDD add-on all over again.
 
Last edited:
Wow, those drives are over priced. I mean you expect propriety stuff to cost more but not those prices. I mean you can buy another console at those prices.
 

Soosa

Banned
Do you mean a 2TB NVME with specs equivalent to Series drives?


$186 vs $400

Not sure I see the similarities there. $200+ dollars is a substantial cost for convenience.
Indeed. Even traditional m2 ssd for PS5 at 2 tb size is way too expensive (fast ones that fit PS5), so paying same or more for much slower drive is even more annoying.

200$ is pretty steep for saving maybe 5mins from installation (slot vs m.2), unless someone for some reason needs to move the drive around constantly, it is just waste of money.

I personally will just wait until 2tb m2 is cheaper, install it and forget it until the rest of the gen.

And when I will get series x, I just rather delete stuff than pay more than 5% over similar speed/size m2 vs the slot disc add-on.

But I'm sure these disc will get cheaper in the future, and nobody is forced to pay more than they want, there isnt really an issue here. Kind of like apple products, if someone feels like they want to pay for them, be my guest :)
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
We are only a few months in and This is a good example of why Open Market is always better than Proprietary.

You can get an M.2. More than fast enough for the PS5.
On Amazon you can get a M.2 1TB for $165-$200.
A 2TB M.2. For $340-$400.
Right now the 2TB SN850 black is $340
Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2TB is $360.
Competition drives the price down and its only going down further next year and plummet when PCIE 5.0 M.2s hit the market.

Honestly I thought the Xbox 2TB SSD would cost more, its not a terrible price but because its proprietary they cant knock the price down very much. In a couple of years Xbox is going to have a PS Vita storage situation on its hands.
Considering the speed of the drive in comparison to those triple the spec as well, shit...

7wHEWGe.png
 
Not cheap but I suppose that is the downside of using a non standard format. I still haven't got one for my Series X yet.
I did buy one of the SSDs that Mark Cerny bought on amazon.co.uk, I went for the 1TB version without the heatsink and it was just over £140 which seems to be about standard on amazon.
I would have preferred to get a 2TB model but the prices go up pretty rapidly and they're currently more than twice the price.
 
Last edited:
We are only a few months in and This is a good example of why Open Market is always better than Proprietary.

You can get an M.2. More than fast enough for the PS5.
On Amazon you can get a M.2 1TB for $165-$200.
A 2TB M.2. For $340-$400.
Right now the 2TB SN850 black is $340
Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2TB is $360.
Competition drives the price down and its only going down further next year and plummet when PCIE 5.0 M.2s hit the market.

Honestly I thought the Xbox 2TB SSD would cost more, its not a terrible price but because its proprietary they cant knock the price down very much. In a couple of years Xbox is going to have a PS Vita storage situation on its hands.
This keeps getting said but there is no indication that the open market solution provides better performance nor the same flexibility with regards to installation, use and portability. The biggest knock is the price, outside of that there isn't much else to complain about. People complained that the 1TB option was almost as expensive as the XSS system. Ignoring the fact that you could use an external drive for cold storage there is now an internal storage option that is cheaper. It's hard to spin that as a negative.
 
As I suggested in another post an adapter that uses USB 3.1 or Type C would be the best option since many people already have PCs that have them.

xbox-series-x-expansion.jpg


I'm not seeing this happening though.
It could happen but I'd think anything like that would still need to be a licensed product though as I'd imagine that it used some sort of proprietary hardware/software that wouldn't allow it without a license.
I know people have been really negative about the Xbox solution but there are advantages of being able to just stick a couple of memory card style drives into your pocket to use on a friend's console it's just that the cost of that convenience is far too high at the moment and there aren't really any disadvantages to using an open format.
I mean, it's still not what I'd call cheap but even with the general price of memory rising there's still be prices dropping with the PS5 internal solutions simply due to companies trying to compete with each other. Companies have also started creating heat sinks specifically for the PS5 now too which is also good to see.
 

Del_X

Member
I bought a 1TB and ate the cost at launch. Got the WD Black and heat sink (1TB) for PS5 and it was maybe 10% less. I really don't see the price premium as being as outrageous as people act. If any of them get knocked down 10%-15%, they seem like a reasonable deal.
 

dcmk7

Banned
Not sure why MS didn't give users a non proprietary option.

But looking at available PS5 options seem get better speeds, capacity aswell as being cheaper.

Would rather MS have done down the same route personally, prices seem a bit of a piss take, I'm going to wait and pick up a 2TB card after price comes down a bit.
 

GHG

Gold Member
I bought a 1TB and ate the cost at launch. Got the WD Black and heat sink (1TB) for PS5 and it was maybe 10% less. I really don't see the price premium as being as outrageous as people act. If any of them get knocked down 10%-15%, they seem like a reasonable deal.

Look at the speeds of the respective drives and there's your answer.

If you were able to do the same thing on the Series X as you did on the PS5 you would have paid roughly half the price of whatever you did for the PS5 drive.

The margins on these expansion drives will be insane. Considering some of the comments in this thread, I can't blame them. If I was them I'd charge more, they clearly have leeway to get away with it.
 

Del_X

Member
Look at the speeds of the respective drives and there's your answer.

If you were able to do the same thing on the Series X as you did on the PS5 you would have paid roughly half the price of whatever you did for the PS5 drive.

The margins on these expansion drives will be insane. Considering some of the comments in this thread, I can't blame them. If I was them I'd charge more, they clearly have leeway to get away with it.
What are the speeds on the XSX proprietary drive?
 
I have the 1tb card and it's plenty. I guess peoole with bad internet will benefit from the 2tb so they can store more games but even then just buy a big external.
 

sendit

Member
Look at the speeds of the respective drives and there's your answer.

If you were able to do the same thing on the Series X as you did on the PS5 you would have paid roughly half the price of whatever you did for the PS5 drive.

The margins on these expansion drives will be insane. Considering some of the comments in this thread, I can't blame them. If I was them I'd charge more, they clearly have leeway to get away with it.

Agreed. I'm starting to question the average education level or the ability to do 1 min of research of some posters.
 

KellyNole

Member
If anything USB Type C can handle the speeds of the Series drive with ease. Which means the best option would be an adapter that allows you to use the Series drives with a PC. That would offer a plug and play experience that Sosokrates Sosokrates is looking for and it means a ton of peoples PCs would already be able to support something like that. That would be the best option for consumers. Once the drives (Series Version 2 for example) exceed USB Type C speeds then it would make sense to have a different solution.

I honestly don't see Mobo manufacturers and case manufacturers modifying their designs to accommodate the slot for the Series drives.

USB-C 3.1 can't. it is 10 Gbps which is 1.25 GBps. The Xbox Series drives run at 2.4 GBps. USB-C 3.2 should be able to, but we have only seen a few products released this year with 3.2 and it would be expensive to try and fit that in this year much less last year. Much cheaper to run a split pci4 lane.
 

Del_X

Member
Article/review here:

So they used a Sonnet reader to test it. So... not the proprietary hardware inside the Xbox. These numbers are meaningless, since those speeds would not be sufficient to provide load times on par with the internal drive.
I'm not seeing an accurate way to compare speeds.
 

truth411

Member
This keeps getting said but there is no indication that the open market solution provides better performance nor the same flexibility with regards to installation, use and portability. The biggest knock is the price, outside of that there isn't much else to complain about. People complained that the 1TB option was almost as expensive as the XSS system. Ignoring the fact that you could use an external drive for cold storage there is now an internal storage option that is cheaper. It's hard to spin that as a negative.
Joke Post?

M.2s are literally about 3 times faster than the XSX SSD 2.4GB speeds. That is objectively better performance, while being cheaper at the same time.
There's no way around it:
Open Market > Proprietary.
 
Top Bottom