Microsoft Xbox Series X|S Storage Cards

Shifty Geezer said:
Is the market for 1 chip SSDs increasing? I know Steamdeck uses them but that's pretty niche. High end tablets are using them too I guess, but any cahnge they'll find their way into middle-tier handhelds/mobiles? Or is the price largely capped by manufacturing and yields, with single chip solutions fixed that uch higher than the multichip solutions as you say?
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It probably depends on whether handheld gaming devices take off. I believe the new Asus handheld gaming device will also be using the 2230 format.

Now that capacities for single chip NAND is getting to the point of being a useable amount (1 TB and above) if the cost of the chip comes down to X level, then it could become attractive to ultra portable laptop makers in order to either reduce size and weight ever so slightly or increase battery capacity slightly. For example, I could see Apple eventually adopting something like that.

Regards,
SB
 
Silent_Buddha said:
I believe the new Asus handheld gaming device will also be using the 2230 format.
Click to expand...
Interesting. That will help bring the prices down if demand goes up for this type of thing.

Mobile gaming is looking pretty good. Series S isn't looking as foolish for its price point. Definitely feel like we're going to see a mobile gaming revolution before cloud at this rate.
 
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iroboto said:
Interesting. That will help bring the prices down if demand goes up for this type of thing.

Mobile gaming is looking pretty good. Series S isn't looking as foolish for its price point. Definitely feel like we're going to see a mobile gaming revolution before cloud at this rate.
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2230 drives are going down. Crucial just released a 1TB for $100 , micron has 1TB for $89 and 2TB for $150. I think the real issue is that segate had and exclusive on the ms drives. Hopefully the rumor of that ending later this year is real and we see downward pricing pressure from competitors.

I don't think there being a small price premium vs standard 2230 drives being a large issue however the MSRP of the 1TB is $219 although its now on sale almost everywhere for $150 and the 2TB MSRP is $399 and is on sale almost everywhere for $280. Hopefully the 1TB price gets down to $100 when more companies release drives and the 2TB gets down to $200 .
 
Silent_Buddha said:
It probably depends on whether handheld gaming devices take off. I believe the new Asus handheld gaming device will also be using the 2230 format.

Now that capacities for single chip NAND is getting to the point of being a useable amount (1 TB and above) if the cost of the chip comes down to X level, then it could become attractive to ultra portable laptop makers in order to either reduce size and weight ever so slightly or increase battery capacity slightly. For example, I could see Apple eventually adopting something like that.

Regards,
SB
Click to expand...

I don't even understand why they don't allow 2242 or even 2260 formats which would allow multiple chips. Does it really matter if your drive stands out 42mm or even 60mm compared to 30?:)
 
eastmen said:
2230 drives are going down. Crucial just released a 1TB for $100 , micron has 1TB for $89 and 2TB for $150. I think the real issue is that segate had and exclusive on the ms drives. Hopefully the rumor of that ending later this year is real and we see downward pricing pressure from competitors.

I don't think there being a small price premium vs standard 2230 drives being a large issue however the MSRP of the 1TB is $219 although its now on sale almost everywhere for $150 and the 2TB MSRP is $399 and is on sale almost everywhere for $280. Hopefully the 1TB price gets down to $100 when more companies release drives and the 2TB gets down to $200 .
Click to expand...
Single chip is significantly more costly than multi chip. It’s not just 2230 format, you need that single chip to operate at 3500 MB/s as well.
You can get very high bandwidth just stacking a bunch of smaller chips together.
 
iroboto said:
Single chip is significantly more costly than multi chip. It’s not just 2230 format, you need that single chip to operate at 3500 MB/s as well.
You can get very high bandwidth just stacking a bunch of smaller chips together.
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What's the issue regards eastmen's examples? Are the Crucial and Micron drives not going to be suitable?
 
Shifty Geezer said:
What's the issue regards eastmen's examples? Are the Crucial and Micron drives not going to be suitable?
Click to expand...
Not sure if they are fast enough for Xbox. I’ll need to check.
I’m can’t find crucial 2230 on the market yet. Checking micron:


2TB on sale for 218USD
Versus the 280 for Xbox expansion
Quite significant savings. I suspect Xbox will likely drop further.

But Eastman is right. The prices are coming down quickly. May come down a bit further yet.

They are all sold out lol. I guess news got to Steam Deck owners.
 
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iroboto said:
Not sure if they are fast enough for Xbox. I’ll need to check.
I’m can’t find crucial 2230 on the market yet. Checking micron:


2TB on sale for 218USD
Versus the 280 for Xbox expansion
Quite significant savings. I suspect Xbox will likely drop further.

But Eastman is right. The prices are coming down quickly. May come down a bit further yet.

They are all sold out lol. I guess news got to Steam Deck owners.
Click to expand...

Sure speeds are different .


Inland's drive is 1TB 2230 3.4/2.4 for $110 and


1TB 2230 4.7/3.7 for $130 a few months ago the slower TN436 was all they had at $160.

Drives are getting cheaper and faster
 
Nisaaru said:
I don't even understand why they don't allow 2242 or even 2260 formats which would allow multiple chips. Does it really matter if your drive stands out 42mm or even 60mm compared to 30?:)
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Keep in mind that for the expansion cards, the case is essential for cooling and for the drives (internal and add-on), space is a valuable commodity in the Xbox Series consoles.

As such the cost of the metallic case would also go up so while there are savings to be had it's not as dramatic as it could be. Then, the metal casing has to be internal to the machine as the design of the expansion port includes it in the air flow of the case design (to increase the cooling available to the NVME expansion card). So, that means even more interior space that would be needed to be dedicated to the card and possible alterations to the cooling path to accommodate it.

It's not an insurmountable challenge, but a smaller card makes things easier design wise.

Regards,
SB
 
Silent_Buddha said:
Keep in mind that for the expansion cards, the case is essential for cooling and for the drives (internal and add-on), space is a valuable commodity in the Xbox Series consoles.

As such the cost of the metallic case would also go up so while there are savings to be had it's not as dramatic as it could be. Then, the metal casing has to be internal to the machine as the design of the expansion port includes it in the air flow of the case design (to increase the cooling available to the NVME expansion card). So, that means even more interior space that would be needed to be dedicated to the card and possible alterations to the cooling path to accommodate it.

It's not an insurmountable challenge, but a smaller card makes things easier design wise.

Regards,
SB
Click to expand...

Also in the long run prices will drop but the size is always key.

Lets say we get a refreshed series S slim , a larger nvme stick would um stick out like a sore thumb. They also become less portable so for instance if we get an xbox series m and you want a quick expansion method unlike the deck or other handhelds the current nvme cards would actually work very well. If you pick a larger size then they obviously wont.
 
Silent_Buddha said:
Keep in mind that for the expansion cards, the case is essential for cooling and for the drives (internal and add-on), space is a valuable commodity in the Xbox Series consoles.

As such the cost of the metallic case would also go up so while there are savings to be had it's not as dramatic as it could be. Then, the metal casing has to be internal to the machine as the design of the expansion port includes it in the air flow of the case design (to increase the cooling available to the NVME expansion card). So, that means even more interior space that would be needed to be dedicated to the card and possible alterations to the cooling path to accommodate it.
Click to expand...

I still don't get how that should be different to 42 or 60mm formats used for *external* cards vs. the current 2230 one.
 
Nisaaru said:
I still don't get how that should be different to 42 or 60mm formats used for *external* cards vs. the current 2230 one.
Click to expand...

Well first off the xbox series expansions aren't 2230 cards

1683350440854.png
1683350554399.png


m.2 drives have to be inserted in an angle into the connector and then pressed down. The xbox cards don't do that , they are more like a CF express. So right there if you go with a traditional m.2 design you are adding more complexity and issues into the install and removal of the external card

secondly there really isn't much pricing difference between the 2242 and 2230 drives and the 2242 may be even rarer. The 2260 is almost double the size of the 2230 and a 2280 is more than double

1683350754513.png


The whole card is 7.8 x31.6 x 52.95mm.
 
But it's the same slot.
eastmen said:
Well first off the xbox series expansions aren't 2230 cards

View attachment 8882
View attachment 8883


m.2 drives have to be inserted in an angle into the connector and then pressed down. The xbox cards don't do that , they are more like a CF express. So right there if you go with a traditional m.2 design you are adding more complexity and issues into the install and removal of the external card

secondly there really isn't much pricing difference between the 2242 and 2230 drives and the 2242 may be even rarer. The 2260 is almost double the size of the 2230 and a 2280 is more than double

View attachment 8884


The whole card is 7.8 x31.6 x 52.95mm.
Click to expand...
I thought 2230 used the same slot. Obviously it makes sense now. I really thought it was just about the length of the card itself. If they had used the same slot the packaging would be a trivial thing.
 
Nisaaru said:
But it's the same slot.

I thought 2230 used the same slot. Obviously it makes sense now. I really thought it was just about the length of the card itself. If they had used the same slot the packaging would be a trivial thing.
Click to expand...
Yea , they serve two different functions. People aren't hot swapping m.2 drives so the installation can be a bit more cumbersome and prone to to breakage. The main goal is for an easy way to plug a long card into a motherboard so you have to go in at an angle but then you need it to lay flat. The series cards don't need to worry about that but need to last over hundreds if not thousands of insertions
 
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