{"id":85565,"date":"2016-01-26T02:00:43","date_gmt":"2016-01-26T00:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=85565"},"modified":"2016-01-26T02:27:21","modified_gmt":"2016-01-26T00:27:21","slug":"a-ps4-ssd-upgrade-may-be-in-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/playstation\/85565-a-ps4-ssd-upgrade-may-be-in-order","title":{"rendered":"A PS4 SSD upgrade may be in order"},"content":{"rendered":"

The inevitable truth is that load times have becomes incessantly long, particularly with recent games like\u00a0Just Cause 3 <\/em>for the PS4, and a part of that problem is the console’s use of a traditional hard drive.<\/p>\n

Patches are generally needed to fix such issues, but will installing an SSD give you those faster load times you’re searching for?<\/p>\n

Your PS4, by the way, uses a pretty sluggish 5400rpm hard drive, which is actually slowing down things considerably. That’s what recent tests suggest, at any rate.<\/p>\n

Given that the prices for SSDs are steadily dropping, and factoring how easy it is to install such a hard drive, this could definitely be an option for those who want higher load speeds in their \u00a0games.<\/p>\n

Eurogamer’s Digital Foundry<\/a> took the\u00a0the PS4’s stock drive and put it against OCZ’s 480GB Trion 100 SSD (R3,372<\/strong>) and a hybrid 1TB Seagate SSHD (R1,640<\/strong>), both of which are fairly expensive prospects.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0SSHD provides\u00a0a middle ground between the two technologies. It’s combination of a mechanical drive and solid state cache, which boosts loading times across nearly all games. However, it is not as fast as an\u00a0SSD.<\/p>\n

It must be noted that with these storage upgrades\u00a0in-game performance is normally\u00a0unaffected with frame-rates and\u00a0draw distances remaining nominally the same.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Loading Time (Seconds)<\/span><\/th>\nPS4 500GB Stock Drive<\/span><\/th>\nSeagate 1TB SSHD<\/span><\/th>\nOCZ Trion 100 480GB<\/span><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Bloodborne – Central Yharnam<\/th>\n30.8<\/td>\n23.4<\/td>\n16.9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bloodborne – Great Bridge<\/th>\n26.1<\/td>\n16.2<\/td>\n15.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bloodborne – Old Yharnam Respawn<\/th>\n30.7<\/td>\n23.9<\/td>\n15.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bloodborne – Return to Hunter’s Dream<\/th>\n10.7<\/td>\n9.1<\/td>\n7.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fallout 4 – Vault 111<\/th>\n31.7<\/td>\n28.8<\/td>\n17.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fallout 4 – Exiting Vault 111<\/th>\n25.7<\/td>\n24.1<\/td>\n17.2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fallout 4 – Concord Town<\/th>\n55.5<\/td>\n39.7<\/td>\n29.1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fallout 4 – Diamond City<\/th>\n49.0<\/td>\n40.4<\/td>\n28.6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Just Cause 3 – New Game<\/th>\n69.9<\/td>\n55.6<\/td>\n43.8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Just Cause 3 – First Mission Respawn<\/th>\n28.9<\/td>\n25.4<\/td>\n21.1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Just Cause 3 – Baia<\/th>\n65.6<\/td>\n59.7<\/td>\n43.7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Just Cause 3 – Baia Respawn<\/th>\n23.4<\/td>\n23.2<\/td>\n16.2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MGS5: Phantom Limbs<\/th>\n22.3<\/td>\n19.2<\/td>\n15.1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MGS5: A Hero’s Way<\/th>\n19.0<\/td>\n12.4<\/td>\n9.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MGS5: C2W<\/th>\n19.4<\/td>\n12.7<\/td>\n9.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Project Cars: Willow Springs (16 Cars)<\/th>\n38.1<\/td>\n34.5<\/td>\n31.9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Project Cars: Azure Cost (31 Cars)<\/th>\n50.5<\/td>\n43.6<\/td>\n40.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Project Cars: 24 Hour Le Mans (44 Cars)<\/th>\n49.6<\/td>\n48.5<\/td>\n45.8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Project Cars: Quit to Menu<\/th>\n21.4<\/td>\n21.2<\/td>\n20.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Witcher 3 – Novigrad Town Centre<\/th>\n92.5<\/td>\n79.5<\/td>\n69.2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Witcher 3 – Fast travel to Woesong Bridge<\/th>\n46.8<\/td>\n40.7<\/td>\n35.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Witcher 3 – Crookback Bog<\/th>\n63.5<\/td>\n57.9<\/td>\n50.8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Witcher 3 – Crookback Bog Respawn<\/th>\n64.6<\/td>\n61.5<\/td>\n56.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

One of the most interesting results is that Just Cause 3’s<\/em> normal loading time is 1 minute, whereas an SSD cuts loading times down to 43 seconds, and with an SSHD that figure stands at 59 seconds.<\/p>\n

Essentially, the SSD takes off\u00a0\u00a037.3% of the loading time when compared to the PS4’s stock hard drive. An\u00a0SSD takes\u00a07 to 8\u00a0seconds off the PS4 stock drive’s 23 seconds in most instances.<\/p>\n

With games like\u00a0The Witcher 3<\/em>, the results are more disheartening.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0SSD reduces\u00a0the overall load time for the game by 23.3 seconds, where the stock drive takes 1 minute 32 seconds to load the game. But these loading times change depending on what area you are in the game.<\/p>\n

Bloodborne<\/em>\u00a0presents an intriguing scenario for an SSD upgrade because patch 1.03 improves load times significantly.<\/p>\n

In areas of the game such as\u00a0Central or Old Yharnam, it takes a maximum\u00a0of 30 seconds to firstly\u00a0load on the PS4’s stock hard drive. Respawning takes 16 seconds.<\/p>\n

With the SSD, areas takes 15 seconds to initially load in Bloodborne<\/em>.<\/p>\n

When respawning (or reviving) in the game, it takes\u00a014 seconds on an SSD and SSHD, so you’re saving 2 seconds on your load times when compared to the PS4 stock drive.<\/p>\n