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[Caayn]

To put these stats into perspective, loading times across all six games tally up to 15 minutes and 50 seconds on a stock PS4 drive. By comparison, an SSD jumps through all the very same hoops in just 11 minutes, 10 seconds overall. The savings on a solid state drive can't be questioned here, but the idea of cumulative gains is an interesting one - an upgrade that means we cut 28.6 per cent of the wait across a breadth of titles in our library. The length and frequency of loading times varies per game, but it's something that clearly tallies up over the course of a year.
The 50 most exciting games of 2016 The ones we know about, anyway. The 50 most exciting games of 2016

The SSHD option pales in comparison, but it still gives PS4's loading times a respectable speed-up. Calculated the same way, all loading times on the hybrid drive add up to 13 minutes and 30 seconds, saving 13.2 per cent of the time taken on the stock drive. Factoring in the doubling of space, and the cheaper price tag, it's a more economical path to take overall, if not one that delivers the premium experience in the speed stakes.

Article: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2016-is-it-worth-upgrading-your-ps4-with-an-ssd

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OP0tgY4vmM

Downgrade to floppy storage if old.

 

[King_Moc]

Not really worth it then. Shame it couldn't take advantage of the extra speed like a PC can.

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

I thought the bus was too slow to benefit from better HD's in the PS4, especially SSD.

 

[Caayn]

Personal thoughts: I'm a bit disappointed to see the article makes no mention of the Sata2 port acting as USB (as discovered by fail0verflow), nor does it seem that DF contacted Sony about this. This can heavily influence the impact a drive upgrade has. Also they don't discuss if the PS4 revision 10XX, 11XXX or 12XX makes any difference to loading speeds.

 

[Mr_Antimatter]

I've had an sshd in mine since bloodborne, made a huge difference.

 

[Maintenance]

I thought the bus was too slow to benefit from better HD's in the PS4, especially SSD.

It is bad, they need to go full pimp my ride on that bus.

Spoiler

/s

 

[FZW]

Now if that SSD was external and going through USB 3.... *ahem*

 

[derwalde]

I have a ssd in my PS4 and will never look back. If you have the money, go for it.

 

[ViciousDS]

I use an SSD.....love it. But price wise.....just Get an SSHD. .....it's best bang for buck and speed

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

Not really worth it then. Shame it couldn't take advantage of the extra speed like a PC can.

Sony needs to get with the program and allow us to use an external USB drive so we can take advantage of the 3.0 speeds.

 

[IvanJ]

I put a 1TB SSHD immediately at launch, so I cannot compare speeds with the original drive, but I am very satisfied with the speed.
I don't think shaving off a few extra minutes is worth the huge price difference.

 

[Lord Error]

I've had an sshd in mine since bloodborne, made a huge difference.

Yeah, loading the same thing over and over (which is a staple of that game in my case at least) is where SSHD is really at its best.

Sony needs to get with the program and allow us to use an external USB drive so we can take advantage of the 3.0 speeds.

I think the internal SATA2 port in the PS4 is in fact converted into USB3 or something weird like that. There'd be no speed boost with external drive. It's just that USB speed is simply not enough to take any real advantage of SSD.

 

[SlaughterX]

I'd rather have more storage than faster loading if I had to chose between the two, which is the case for the PS4 since you can only have a drive and no external storage. When I can buy a 2TB SSD for $100 or less than we can talk.

 

[Atolm]

I have one in mine since last June and all I can say is that it's fairly noticeable, not only for games but even the OS feels more responsive and it's faster for stuff like boot or waking up from rest mode. Also in streaming heavy games it has framerate advantage over mechanical drives.

If you're like me and delete your games after you finish them, with 500GB you're fine. At least I am. I have 120GB free with Witcher 3, TLOU, Killzone, DRIVECLUB, DMC4SE, Garden Warfare and more installed.

AND for FFXIV the difference is just massive.

 

[kabel]

So you have to wait 30,40,50 seconds for some games to load? Holy shit at TW3 and JC3. 1+ minute
I never thought that would be such an issue with this gen....


Not really sure if I still want to buy a PS4.

 

[King_Moc]

Sony needs to get with the program and allow us to use an external USB drive so we can take advantage of the 3.0 speeds.

Wait....the PS4's USB ports are faster than its SATA interface?

 

[Raist]

Wait....the PS4's USB ports are faster than its SATA interface?

Both the PS4 and XB1 use a SATA II interface only. USB 3.0 is roughly the same BW as SATA III IIRC.

 

[King_Moc]

Both the PS4 and XB1 use a SATA II interface only. USB 3.0 is roughly the same BW as SATA III IIRC.

So it's 3.0Gbp/s vs 5.0Gbp/s. Theoretically an SSD in USB 3.0 could shave another 40% off the load times then (ignoring bottlenecks from increased load elsewhere). That would probably make load times <50% what they are on a stock PS4, which would be more worthwhile.

 

[bombshell]

So you have to wait 30,40,50 seconds for some games to load? Holy shit at TW3 and JC3. 1+ minute
I never thought that would be such an issue with this gen....


Not really sure if I still want to buy a PS4.

Yeah, TW3 and JC3 have very long initial load times for loading into the open world every time you boot up the game, but that is a load time that you can completely bypass by using rest mode suspending of the games.

 

[Tagyhag]

I thought about putting one on my PS4 but the decrease in times isn't big enough.

Besides, I haven't really had a problem with the stock times on the PS4. Only Destiny is a big issue.

Man a Destiny with no loading would be so good.

 

[EmSeta]

I'm really happy about the reductions in load times from installing an SSD. Sure, they're nowhere near the same step up compared to going from a PC HDD to an SSD, but I'm a pretty impatient guy, and all the seconds saved do add up.

 

[murgo]

Yeah, TW3 and JC3 have very long initial load times for loading into the open world every time you boot up the game, but that is a load time that you can completely bypass by using rest mode suspending of the games.

Witcher 3 also has terrible loading times after dying or when fast travelling. Fallout 4 is even worse sometimes. Wish I had bought the PC version of FO4

 

[Nesses]

I bought a SSD for my XB1 and it was worth it (256GB), so I just load the games up that take ages to load (AC U and Syndicate, Witcher 3, Destiny and Halo 5). Its a pretty big difference in loading times.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I have a SSHD in mine and it helps. In some titles, the difference is enormous but in about 2/3rds of games it just shaves a few seconds. But, situationally, it still helps big time in most of those games anyways. But I would kill for external drive support regardless.

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

Yeah, loading the same thing over and over (which is a staple of that game in my case at least) is where SSHD is really at its best.


I think the internal SATA2 port in the PS4 is in fact converted into USB3 or something weird like that. There'd be no speed boost with external drive. It's just that USB speed is simply not enough to take any real advantage of SSD.

WTF Sony?!

So it's 3.0Gbp/s vs 5.0Gbp/s. Theoretically an SSD in USB 3.0 could shave another 40% off the load times then (ignoring bottlenecks from increased load elsewhere). That would probably make load times <50% what they are on a stock PS4, which would be more worthwhile.

Yeah, the One sees better load times when you run the games off the USB than the internal drive and I was hoping Sony eventually patches that feature in but if what Lord Error says is true....

 

[shouamabane]

Within a year or so I plan on replacing my launch PS4 and getting an SSD.

 

[MrBenchmark]

WTF Sony?!



Yeah, the One sees better load times when you run the games off the USB than the internal drive and I was hoping Sony eventually patches that feature in but if what Lord Error says is true....

yeah i have a USB 3.0 RAID 0 enclosure with 2 4TB WD Black 7200RPM drives on my one it is way faster than my PS4 with the internal WD 2TB 7200rpm drive i put in it. I have Destiny on both and it's so much faster on the one i have a few EA games the same on both and they are also super fast on my Xbox One loading.

This is why i wish Sony would add external support so i can set it up like my ONE.

 

[JP]

Why is it that consoles never seem to benefit in the same as PCs in relation to SSDs? Is this something that can be improved via the firmware or is it due to the actual hardware? is it down to the developers?

 

[Vashetti]

When 1TB+ SSDs are cheap enough, I think it makes sense to upgrade.

120GB SSDs go for £20-30 now so I put one in my PS3, so snappy compared to HDD.

Why is it that consoles never seem to benefit in the same as PCs in relation to SSDs? Is this something that can be improved via the firmware or is it due to the actual hardware? is it down to the developers?

As far as we know, console games are optimised for 5400rpm HDDs as console hardware is standardised and everyone has the same stuff.

 

[Live Free or Die]

SSHD has always been the way to go.

 

[Siphorus]

If it was SATA III maybe, but at the moment SSHD is probably better bang for your buck.

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

Why is it that consoles never seem to benefit in the same as PCs in relation to SSDs? Is this something that can be improved via the firmware or is it due to the actual hardware? is it down to the developers?

The internal connection is not fast enough to take advantage of it as its only SATA 2.0 instead of the SATA 3.0 you can get on PCs. They would need a hardware revision and I hope they do down the line, its 2016 we shouldn't have to be limited with the slower 2.0 standard.

 

[Vashetti]

The internal connection is not fast enough to take advantage of it as its only SATA 2.0 instead of the SATA 3.0 you can get on PCs. They would need a hardware revision and I hope they do down the line, its 2016 we shouldn't have to be limited with the slower 2.0 standard.

The HDDs in the PS4 and the Xbox One don't even saturate the SATA II connector. They're not going to spend money on SATA III.

 

[Boss Mog]

As a poor person I had to settle for a 2TB 5400rpm HDD for $69. I'm happy with it since I can now install more games and that was the main reason I needed to upgrade the hard drive. Even if I wasn't poor, I'm not sure I would spend much more than that since the PS4 is only 300 bucks itself. A 2TB SSD would cost like double that amount.

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

The HDDs in the PS4 and the Xbox One don't even saturate the SATA II connector. They're not going to spend money on SATA III.

Yeah, they really cheaped out. I replaced my 5400 rpm drive with a 7200rpm one. A console that going to go for years can't take advantage of tech that's already around for years like SSD makes me sad, they still got USB 3.0 though and the luckily the One isn't as quite as limited on with drive performance because it can be used.

 

[c0de]

I thought the bus was too slow to benefit from better HD's in the PS4, especially SSD.

When will people understand why ssds are fast...

 

[eso76]

11 minutes instead of 15 doesn't sound exciting at all.
And this is using cumulative figures to make the gap sound more substantial than it really is, when real world waiting times are probably going to be like 11 seconds instead of 15.
Waste of a SSD, really.

 

[MrBenchmark]

for reference this article about SATA 2 vs 3 with SSD's

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sata-6gbps-performance-sata-3gbps,3110-3.html

 

[DavidDesu]

I'm not overly fussed by the loading times in any of my games besides say GTAV but I barely ever play that now and it's one initial load only... but I'm really interested in SSD or a hybrid drive purely to speed up the OS.

It has that occasional moment of slowdown when you quit out of a game or boot it up from rest mode that takes a few seconds to get over the jank-fest. I'm guessing even a hybrid drive would fix this and give me more storage to play with. SSD's are getting cheaper every year for more storage so I might keep my eye on it. 500GB is manageable for me but I have reached my capacity limit and have had to start deleting some stuff to install new games, I'd definitely rather jump it up to 1TB or even 2TB storage SSHD before going for just a 500GB SSD.

Here's hoping the next gen of consoles goes solid state all the way, or even a compromise of a decent sized hybrid drive with an extended solid state cache of say 12GB or so so the OS and the currently played game can drastically speed up.

 

[opticalmace]

11 minutes instead of 15 doesn't sound exciting at all.
And this is using cumulative figures to make the gap sound more substantial than it really is, when real world waiting times are probably going to be like 11 seconds instead of 15.
Waste of a SSD, really.

Hm, yes and no. If you compare it in bloodborne you almost halve the loading times going from the HDD to SSD... if you are gonna spend hundreds of hours in BB it might really be worth it.

There's also the SSHD, of course.

 

[Kaako]

The first thing I did when I got my PS4 at launch was swapping out the HDD with an SSD I had at hand. No regrets.

 

[Oni Jazar]

Why the hell isn't there a 2TB 2.5" SSHD? I've been waiting forever.

 

[Korezo]

I read SSHD suck and it's better to get a 7200rpm hdd instead since speeds are more consistent. Unlike SSHD speed always changing. Best options I seen are 7200rpm HDd or ssd.

 

[Fisty]

Ive had an SSD since before Destiny came out, and I never really noticed super fast load times. I guess the stock hdd load times were just alot worse than i expected.

I did some moderate tests of my own during upgrade, and the OS loads from cold boot much faster, and a few games like Infamous and Dont Starve showed a bit of a drop in load times, but it looks like Fallout and Just Cause are really benefiting from the SSD (havent played them yet)

I suppose thats also why i never thought load times were much of an issue in Bloodborne when everyone was making a big deal about them.

 

[Vashetti]

I read SSHD suck and it's better to get a 7200rpm hdd instead since speeds are more consistent. Unlike SSHD speed always changing. Best options I seen are 7200rpm HDd or ssd.

7200rpm doesn't go above 1TB in 2.5" form though, which is what most people would be interested in.

 

[mavericktopgun]

Got a 3 TB HDD on my Xbox One and a 2 TB HDD on my PS4. Enough space and speed.

 

[RoboPlato]

I have an SSHD and it's served me well. I've even noticed better performance in some games (Witcher 3 primarily) on top of faster loading. Since Rainbow Six Siege shows the load progress of your teammates at the start of a match it illustrates it really well. I load in about a second compared to 10-15 for everyone else.

 

[c0de]

I think the internal SATA2 port in the PS4 is in fact converted into USB3 or something weird like that. There'd be no speed boost with external drive. It's just that USB speed is simply not enough to take any real advantage of SSD.

What? What? What?

 

[Lord Error]

WTF Sony?!

Yeah, the One sees better load times when you run the games off the USB than the internal drive and I was hoping Sony eventually patches that feature in but if what Lord Error says is true....

I read something about it on the failoverflow, but I'm not sure what to make of it. I mean it could still mean that SATA2 is the bottleneck in the SATA->USB3 conversion, so the external drive would still be faster.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/d...station-4-hack-confirmed-watch-the-linux-demo

On top of that, it seems that despite the actual hardware using a SATA interface, the PS4 itself appears to communicate with the hard drive via USB - a curious state of affairs. The Blu-ray drive does use the SATA AHCI standard, but is currently untested in the Linux build.

 

[viHuGi]

Space > Speed.

Most games are just some seconds, Witcher 3 speeds pisse me of though.