SK Hynix Platinum P41 & Haechi Heatsink review: "The read speed was higher than advertised"

I have to admit that the look of the SK Hynix Platinum P41 SSD and Haechi H01 heatsink is rather daunting. I guess that’s understandable, as it’s trying to compete with SSDs for PS5s that come with a heatsink already attached. 

With the SK Hynix Platinum P41 SSD advertising read and write speeds of 7,000 MB/s and 6,500 MB/s respectively, it’s firmly placing itself in contention to be named one of the best SSDs for PS5. We originally reviewed this drive back in 2022, and while we awarded it four stars, it’s struggled to stand out in a very competitive market. Now, with so many of its rivals falling by the wayside as SSD prices rise and fall, the Platinum P41 is finding a renewed sense of identity, particularly since its separated heatsink adds long-term value for upgraders.

While this is not an unknown brand, it’s considerably less at the forefront of people’s minds when it comes to buying an SSD, but should it be? Priced at a very reasonable $149/£165 for the 2TB model with an additional purchase of the heatsink for just $19.99/£6.99, a combined price of $168.99/£171 it’s not ridiculously expensive for someone looking for a brand new SSD for their PS5. However, with this drive being a couple of years old, you will frequently find it discounted well below the listed price.

Design

 As I previously said the SK Hynix Platinum P41 was ‘daunting’ and I wasn’t just being overdramatic. Despite looking like a pretty normal stick of SSD, everything from the packaging to the labeling on the drive itself gives this cosmic and otherworldly vibe. For this review, I tested the 2TB model but if you think that gives you too much space or you’re looking for something cheaper then 1TB and 500GB options are available.

The Platinum P41 SSD is small and compact with a nice purple design sticker on top which continues this cosmic presence that you’ll find across its packaging. Installation of the actual SSD could not have been easier, meaning that regardless of your experience in adding additional storage, you should have no problems here. 

I can’t exactly say the same for the additional heatsink, however. Unlike most heatsinks which come pre-attached to the drive, this mammoth of a cooler replaces the usual PS5 SSD guard and screws into place on top of the stick. I found it a little bit difficult to actually sit nicely in the PS5 and I was worried it was a little bit too big, but thankfully once screwed in nice and tight, it fits well. The SK Hynix Heatsink comes in two varieties, the Haechi H01 and the Haechi H02. The latter is compatible with every version of the PS5 including the slim and upcoming PS5 Pro, while the former will only work on the original build. I’d recommend future proofing yourself in the instance you decide to upgrade your PS5. 

Visually it looks very nice with a lovely gradient design going from matte black to an orange that reminds me of molten lava - hopefully it won’t be as hot as it though. Despite the SSD and the heatsink being tucked away under the hood of the PS5 for 99.9% of the time I’m using it, I do appreciate the visual aesthetic that SK Hynix has gone for here. It looks very premium and high-end which makes it stand out compared to the likes of the Nextorage NEM-PA or the Klevv CRAS C930 which go for a more muted all-black look.

Features

Looking at the specs of the drive, it features a controller chip that SK Hynix calls the Aries which aims to double the memory channel count of the drive from four to eight. This allows it to compete with some of the fastest M.2 drives on the market. 

Alongside this, it features 2GB of DDR4 cache memory and a 176-layer 3D TLC NAND. Finally, the 2TB model has been given a write endurance rating of 1,200TB, which may be smaller than some competing drives but realistically you’ll never have to worry about hitting that count. 

Performance

The first thing I wanted to know when I got my hands on the Platinum P41 was if it would live up to the previously mentioned advertised read and write speeds. More importantly, how would these live up to the much newer rivals I’ve tested previously? So before I jumped into my favorite games on PS5, I installed the drive into my PC and put the SSD through its paces in CrystalDiskMark. 

SK Hynix advertises sequential read speeds of 7,000 MB/s and write speeds of 6,500 MB/s, both very respectable numbers that, while aren’t the fastest Gen 4 speeds out there, are fast enough that I’d be happy paying the entry fee for. Across multiple tests using CrystalDiskMark I found that the average read speed was 7,206 MB/s with an average write speed of 6,178 MB/s. I was very impressed that the read speed was higher than advertised, it’s fairly uncommon for that to be the case, especially for drives which are a few years old. It’s only a 200 MB/s difference so will be pretty hard to notice when in use, but it’s great to see. 

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With the PC aspect out of the way, my PS5 testing began. Thanks to the PS5’s very helpful internal benchmark when formatting SSDs I discovered that unfortunately, the Platinum P41 fell short of its advertised read speed by 812 MB/s, as it was measured as having a read speed of 6,188 MB/s. It’s not unusual for SSDs to not quite hit the mark when installed into the PS5 but it is being measured slower than the Klevv CRAS C930 and the Nextorage NEM-PA, both cheaper and newer SSDs.

With the technical side of things out of the way, I bet you’re wondering how it works in everyday use. Well, I am pleased to report that despite not hitting its advertised speeds, it didn’t really matter. Like with most of the best SSDs for gaming, I had barely enough time between load screens to register what was actually happening - as much as I love this, I do miss the days when you were given fun little tips and tricks while the game loaded.

I’ve recently been playing a lot of Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, so I thought I would put it to the test and see just how ‘about time’ it actually is. Across six tests I was able to load from the level select map into a level on average in 10.4 seconds, this tended to speed up the more I tested with my quickest time coming in at 10.2 seconds. It’s fast and you’ll not be waiting long to get all those Wumpa fruits, but I knew that the Platinum P41 SSD could do better when paired with a game that is built to utilize the SSD as best it can.

This brought me to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. Insomniac’s 2023 sequel is one of my favorite games to really challenge an SSD and it constantly amazes me how quickly modern SSDs are able to load into this huge recreation of New York. This extends to the Platinum P41 SSD as I was swinging about the city to my heart's delight in just 5.2 seconds on average. Tested across six attempts I was most impressed by my fourth test which had me jumping off the Avengers tower in just 4.1 seconds. Comparing it to the Nextorage NEM-PA SSD which I tested earlier this year, this performs similarly to it and in some instances faster than it.

As much as Insomniac's Spider-Man 2 is impressive at swinging you into the game before you know it, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is well-known for being one of the fastest-loading games on the market. It’s genuinely baffling how fast I was able to load into the game from the main menu with the Platinum P41 SSD. On average, I was in control of Ratchet within 1.4 seconds. Remember when I said this SSD was daunting? Well, I think this speed sums that up quite well.

Transferring games to the SSD was reaffirming as this was a chance for the drive to show off its write speeds. I was able to transfer all three games mentioned above, totaling 141GB, from my PS5’s internal SSD to the new Platinum P41 SSD in 46 seconds. You’ll find that trying to fill up the Platinum P41 SSD will be quite hard as with 2TB worth of space to play with it will take you a little while - plus who needs that many games installed all at one time? Me, I do.

Remember when I said the heatsink has a color gradient going from “matte black to an orange that reminds me of molten lava”, well thankfully it doesn’t run anywhere near as hot as molten lava. Despite not having an actual way to test exactly how hot it got to a degree, it remained cool to touch after extensive use and quickly dispelled any remaining heat that lingered. It gave me assurance that the SSD won’t overheat despite how hard it was working.

Should you buy the Platinum P41 & Haechi Heatsink?

Personally, I would recommend the Platinum P41 SSD if you are looking for one of the best SSDs for PS5 to give you that much-needed extra storage. It did everything I threw at it exceptionally well across weeks of testing and regular use. Plus if you like a futuristic look to your tech then it ticks that box too.

However, it can’t be ignored that there are cheaper and newer options that give a similar level of performance, making the Platinum P41 at full price less easy to recommend, especially when many don’t require an additional heatsink purchase. Granted if you can find it discounted like it frequently is then it’s great value for money.

If you’re looking for a slightly cheaper option then the 1TB model and the 500GB model can be found for $102/£92 or $82/49 respectively. I’d have to say you’re better going for either the 1TB or the 2TB options to really get your money’s worth. On that point, the SK Hynix Haechi heatsink is particularly good value for anyone looking to upgrade their SSD in the future, since you won't need to opt for one of the pricier options with integrated heatsinks, and you can instead go for the cheaper models designed for PC. 

The Platinum P41 isn’t exactly going to break the bank, especially if you manage to find it on sale, but it will break the habit of picking up your phone at every load screen to scroll Reddit endlessly.

How we tested the SK Hynix Platinum P41 & Haechi Heatsink

I used the Platinum P41 as my main PS5 SSD and copied all of my games to the storage device, this totalled roughly 1.5TB of the 2TB space. It spent 2 weeks inside my PS5 and was used in both a testing environment and in regular day-to-day use. 

To test the read speed within the PS5 I used the internal benchmark test which appears when formatting the drive upon installation. Prior to testing the speeds on PS5, I installed the Platinum P41 into my PC and measured the read and write speeds on CrystalDiskMark.

All tests which were highlighted during this review were conducted six times on PS5 and then averaged which have provided the statistics mentioned throughout. For more on how we test SSDs, check out our hardware policy. 

For more storage buying advice, check out the best Xbox Series X hard drives, the best external hard drives for gaming, and the best PS5 external hard drives.