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Was this known? Xbox expansion card for $80 and $150
- Thread starter jorgejjvr
- Start date
Torrent of Pork
Banned
IIRC nobody saw the bottom falling out of the market for the particular flavor of NVME drive Sony went with. MS thought the format they went with would remain competitive price-wise, so it was a bad bet.
Chromium.Wings
Member
Nobody saw the same thing happening with NVMe drives that happened with every other non-proprietary storage solution?
Weird...Feels like a really bad bet to me lol
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CoreyFlawless
Member
Damn. I didn’t know that. I thought it was still 200 bucks for a 1tb version.
Torrent of Pork
Banned
The price crashed hard about a year ago. Of course tech gets cheaper over time, but there are whole threads on this forum talking about insane deals that came out of nowhere. Tech prices don't typically get cut in half over the course of a year.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
The closer that 1TB creeps to $100, the closer I get to buying it.
Chromium.Wings
Member
I understand where you're coming from, but I do believe my point stands. NVMe was always going to get cheaper, and do it faster, than their proprietary storage solution. We definitely agree it was a bad bet on MS' part, I just don't get why they made the bet at all.
analog_future
Resident Crybaby
Man I just bought a 2TB WD Black SN850X, a drive three times as fast as these Series X drives, for $100.
So hard to justify these costs in 2023.
So hard to justify these costs in 2023.
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dotnotbot
Member
There are chinese adapters available to buy but they only work with the one specific WD drive that is installed internally (CH SN530), nothing else is recognized so it's restricted on software level.
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Silver Wattle
Gold Member
And this is why proprietary storage solutions are terrible.
At the start of this gen people were shitting on Sony because a gen 4 m.2 that hits the required speeds was expensive AF, but now after a couple years it's easily cheaper than this garbage.
Here's a 2TB SSD that's advertised/branded as being for the PS5 and it's only $95.
At the start of this gen people were shitting on Sony because a gen 4 m.2 that hits the required speeds was expensive AF, but now after a couple years it's easily cheaper than this garbage.
Here's a 2TB SSD that's advertised/branded as being for the PS5 and it's only $95.
LordCBH
Member
That’s super lame…..wish that was something folks would call Microsoft out over. Proprietary storage is so bad for the consumers….
Torrent of Pork
Banned
I would assume MS thought that format would take off more than it did. I understand at the time when MS was putting the Series consoles together that particular SSD format was (and still is) king with high-end digital cameras. Basically VHS vs Betamax situation.
I heard all this on a Last Stand Media podcast some time ago. I'm a caveman when it comes with tech, all I know is that the two formats are different, and the type Sony went with is the type everybody went with after the choices were made.
ResilientBanana
Member
I’ll just get a 4tb external and call it a day despite the speed drop.
hououinkyouma00
Member
Just a little FYI for anybody with storage issues on Xbox Series consoles. Not all Series Enhanced titles require the internal drive/expansion and work perfectly fine on an external. Halo MCC is one of those titles and with that being like 120GB or something it is super helpful on the Series S. I ran that off of an external NVME drive until I got rid of my Series S the other day.
I got the WD850 Black or whatever it's called like a year ago for $105 and that was an amazing deal. Now they are cheaper then ever.
Yeah, Sony definitely chose correctly this time around but that doesn't surprise me at all because we've been able to put in basically whatever drive we want in PlayStation consoles since like 2006.
I got the WD850 Black or whatever it's called like a year ago for $105 and that was an amazing deal. Now they are cheaper then ever.
LordCBH
Member
How can you tell which ones need it and which ones don’t? I’ve got skyrim on my internal, but I assume it doesn’t need it and would be fine on an external. Not that it matters too much since my external Samsung has 9GB free at the moment lol
VectorVictor
Member
Not one that works well.
They do make an adapter that allows you to use the type of drives this storage (and the Surface Pro tablets) use…but I’ve ordered two of them and they’ve been a bust.
Really hope there’s a mid-gen refresh with an updated storage upgrade option…
Lone Wolf
Member
I know Reddit had a list not so long ago.
here is a site that explains it in detail.
How to Play Xbox Series X/S Games from External Hard Drive
Want to find which Xbox games are XboxGen9Aware and can play from HDD? Here's how you can play Xbox X or S games from external hard drive.
gadgetstouse.com
hououinkyouma00
Member
If I remember correctly you can go into game details and if it says Gen 9 aware it should work on an external. I'm pretty sure the Assassins Creed Odyssey works as well as one of the Tomb Raider games. I also believe Skyrim works as well.
Edit: Also check out the link posted above.
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baphomet
Member
Not the case.
They're both the same format.
Xbox specifically put the NVME into a proprietary adapter that's only used in Xbox.
There was no "format" war. There was never a chance that Xbox's proprietary adapter was going to get used anywhere else.
Jibran#one
Member
This is so anti consumer bullshit by ms
Half the speed for triple the price for a ps5 nvme drive
A 2tb crucial nvme was going for 80 dollar in last black Friday and then there is this shit
I have a series X but this is total bs by Microsoft
Half the speed for triple the price for a ps5 nvme drive
A 2tb crucial nvme was going for 80 dollar in last black Friday and then there is this shit
I have a series X but this is total bs by Microsoft
Vox Machina
Banned
I just got a 2TB NVMe SSD with 7300 MB/s Read speed for $100. Yeah, these Xbox expansion cards are still too expensive.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
If a game says gen9aware in the file info tab, it can be played off of an external drive, even if it has Series S|X upgrades. eg Mass Effect Legendary supports 4K and 120hz on Series X, but it also runs off of an external drive since it is a gen9aware game.
Unknown Soldier
Member
The particular flavor of bog standard NVMe SSD that every PC on Earth uses?
dotnotbot
Member
I don't think they ever thought 2230 format would remain competitive price-wise as it's always gonna be much more expensive to manufacture than bigger drives. They prioritized form factor above everything else.
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Torrent of Pork
Banned
I'm not trying to defend a bad decision, just trying to explain things to the best of my knowledge.
SecretAgentHam
Member
If Xbox releases a mid-gen refresh of the XSX/XSS, it better come with a standard m.2 slot for storage expansion. These prices still suck.
coffinbirth
Member
Xbox uses CFExpress. Full stop.
This is for hot-swapping drives, which is a feature on Xbox, albeit one with a price albatross.
UltimaKilo
Gold Member
Pretty good! It's getting cheap enough (especially once they have a sale) that it negates the need for the new Series S SKU.
Unknown Soldier
Member
Meanwhile in the land of upgrading your Steam Deck with a bog standard 2230
slickdeals.net
This is the same form factor used in the proprietary Microsoft cards except without a lockout
1TB SABRENT Rocket 2230 NVMe PCIe SSD (steam deck) $89 + free s/h
deal [amazon.com] $89 + free s/h after coupon code 19ZRBMVE
slickdeals.net
This is the same form factor used in the proprietary Microsoft cards except without a lockout
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S0ULZB0URNE
Member
Options are great.
baphomet
Member
That's the problem. Your "knowledge" about the subject is completely incorrect.
The PS5 and Series consoles use the exact same type of storage. Microsoft just decided to encase theirs in an external adapter and lock out other drives via their firmware.
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demigod
Member
Nobody saw this coming? Stop drinking ms kool-aid son. Everyone that owns a PC knew that the 2280 nvme would get cheaper.
Mr Reasonable
Completely Unreasonable
Huh, that's the first time I've heard that, and Google thinks you're right. Thanks for sharing.
Incidentally, I just googled CFExpress cards and Amazon prices for them are far from undercutting the series storage prices.
Soodanim
Member
They've had two generations to learn that proprietary drives are dead. Even Nintendo, who moves at a snail's pace sometimes, doesn't do it anymore. Even if you're offering the convenient product for the less technically minded customer, you can't in this day and age not also offer the option for those that do want to upgrade with off the standardised products. It's bad business. It was bad on 360, and it's bad now.
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
True but for some games of that era, the loading time improvements you get running on the SSD are very noticeable. Would love to see benchmarks and someone measuring exactly how much you lose if you go big external HDD over the internal SSD or the expansion card.
PropellerEar
Member
Still a ripoff.
coffinbirth
Member
Indeed.
Aside from parts pulls(Xbox, Steam Deck, Surface) and some grey market deals here and there, 2230 drives have simply not been cheaper for 1TB+ until very, very recently. That's almost certainly because of the Steam Deck upgrade demand causing smaller brands to jump on board and give WD and Seagate competition. I mean, WD jumped in and instantly undercut Seagate, and I suspect this trend will continue. Will be interesting to see if Microsoft grants a brand like Sabrent access, as they already have a decently priced 2TB 2230 drive in the wild.
They prioritised profit above all else I'd imagine. The 2230 they went with is the same as the internal drive they have so they've ordered higher volume to reduce the BOM on the xbox and priced their proprietary drives higher with a profit margin because they know people can't buy alternatives. They did the same with the 360 and that was a regular drive in a caddy restricted by software. All of it is about margins.
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NeverYouMind
Member
I grabbed a used Seagate 1TB expansion drive a few months back. It cost me half the price of the Series S (~130 USD) and tripled my storage capacity. I am surprised this expansion drive has the same performance as the internal SSD. It was worth it for me as it removed the headaches of internal installation and space management. I still have ~40% of storage available and I have tons installed. They are somewhat expensive, but what price can be put on peace of mind?
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