Check out the Seagate Firecuda 530 SSD

Seagate had already achieved some gaming brilliance with a fun Limited Edition FireCuda 520 (the Gen3 SSD that precedes the 530 we’re going to be discussing today) in the Cyberpunk 2077 release. The FireCuda 530 was to bring two major developments; much higher performance and efficient, PS5 compatible cooling.

FireCuda 530 overview and features

Seagate’s box comes with a little more paperwork than usual. Two sticky sheets of stickers, a statement of the limited warranty, and a quick installation guide that basically directs you to the Seagate website.

The two things that are most interesting are the 5-year guarantee also advertised on the packaging and rescue, a data recovery and backup service. We’ll come back to that a little later.

The SSD itself is surrounded by a compact foam that protects both the components and the heat sink, which is in contact with the SSD via a thermal transfer film. The version available to us has a capacity of 2 TB.

	”’Specifications of the FireCuda 530 (2TB version)
compatibility	PC, PS5 interface M.2 Gen4
Manufacturer read speed	Up to 7300MB/s | Measured at 6292 MB/s
Builder write speed	Up to 6900MB/s | Measured at 6267 MB/s
DRAM	Yes 2GB
heatsink	Oui
persistence	2250To
warranty	5 to

Buy the Seagate FireCuda 530 SSD from Amazon

A PS5 compatible heatsink

This model is not very new, however It is the first in the Seagate range to be compatible with PS5. It respects Sony’s recommendations in this area, which led to the sticker of the same name being placed on the box.

The presence of a heat sink is one of the criteria (the same model exists without it) and above all its size allows it to be accommodated in the dedicated space when closing the metal cover of the compartment. Developed with the help of EKWB, originally known for its liquid cooling systems, this heatsink is sober and efficient. The Slovenian manufacturer did a good job.

The heatsink is coming off, which is a good thing if it ever needs to be replaced.

In this case on the PS5, the maximum temperature did not exceed 52 degrees This will keep you far from the values ​​that cause a drop in performance. We can also wonder if it wouldn’t be interesting to save a few dollars by turning to a model without. The PS5 won’t be the medium that puts the most strain on the SSD, and you don’t risk overheating (our measurements are made by transferring tens of GB for several minutes). However, it should be noted that we are (slightly) above the temperatures of the models from Corsair, Western Digital or Samsung.

Result with cooler on PS5: 51.3 °C maximum

	Transfer SSD to FireCuda 530	Loading time with the FireCuda 530	Load time with PS5 SSD
GTA V	91.4Go -> 57s	51s	53s
Yakuza like a dragon	43.63lot -> 37s	30s	31s
AC Valhalla	65Go -> 1.33min	1.33 min	1.13 min
Apex Legends	59.5Go ->46s	29s	22s
Big tour 7	108Go -> 1.18min	17s	19er

It heats up a little more, but it rocks! In most cases, loading with the SSD was faster than with the PS5’s internal storage. Note that we’ve replaced GT Sport with GT7 in the list of games tested on load (PS4, PS5 titles, physical or dematerialized). There are still seconds saved and it’s up to the user to judge if the game is worth the effort in terms of investment, but definitely You will not lose performance.

Rescue data recovery service and handy tools

As is often the case, you can use the PC to its fullest potential by using applications that require a lot of disk access. The measurements taken are slightly below advertised specifications and what is often measured by our peers. On the other hand, the in-game deployment was one of the fastest we’ve ever experienced.

The American brand also focuses on professionalism with its private customers. While the purchase of a FireCuda 530 comes with a 5-year operational warranty, you can also count on a data recovery service that is valid for the same period.

Do not try to use this serial number as a guarantee, it is clearly esta

We contacted the Seagate service several times and after waiting times that were always less than 10 minutes (free calls), we received clear (albeit very formal) and professional answers. Our test SSD was out of the question as it was considered an unsold sample. However, a customer who has valid proof of purchase has the option to send in their SSD to attempt data recovery possibly damaged. It’s not a guarantee of success and will be particularly useful for PC applications, but it’s clearly a positive service compared to the competition. It also shows that Seagate believes in the reliability of its hardware.

Buy the Seagate FireCuda 530 SSD from Amazon

Conclusion

The FireCuda 530 is an excellent SSD and one of the best on PS5. If the performance measured by the Sony console doesn’t place it first, the observation of game loading speeds is clear; It’s faster than the PS5’s internal storage. It is therefore logical that its performance on PC is similar. Again, raw numbers don’t tell the whole story, and you’re looking at an SSD drive that will give you complete gaming satisfaction.