SSD vs SSHD vs HDD for GT6 digital download

soap_hand · Dec 1, 2013

Obviously SSD is the best but also very expensive. Is a Hybid SSD/HDD the next best option? I'm lookng at one like this :http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178340

I'm currently running my stock 120gb so anything really will be a huge improvement, likely. My main question though is: is the 5400RPM seagate SSHD better than a traditional 7200RPM HDD? Thanks.

Streeto · Dec 1, 2013

Didn't know about those hybrids until now, seems like a really good option, yeah.

Looking at it, they use some of the mechanics of a normal HDD, but are almost as fast as an SSD, so yeah they're miles better than a HDD it seems.

Edit: @soap_hand I've read some reviews on that model on Amazon, it seems that it takes a day or two for the SSD side to kick in. It might seem like a normal drive at first, but one guy said his first boot was around 60 seconds as usual, then the next day it booted up in 10 seconds (laptop).

FRoSTeD · Dec 1, 2013

The problem with SSHD is that they require data be used often before you get the real performance boost of the SSD portion of the drive. For example, when you first install the SSHD, your PS3 might boot up in say 12 seconds. Every time after that, theoretically, the time of boot up will drop by a little until the SSD portion is fully utilized. It'd probably take 3-4 times.

The same could be said of a game installed on the drive. It may take it a few times to really see the benefit, but after that it should be mostly have the gains of the SSD portion of the drive.

Edit: I'd have to say the SSHD is the best option if you want large capacity and quicker loads if you're willing to let the drive take a little while to "learn" what you use the most :cheers:

I personally have an SSD and I saw a few gains on GT5, but who knows, GT6 might not even benefit from a faster drive, going to have to wait and see!

Bounkazz · Dec 2, 2013

Don't bother with any SSD, honestly. Sure the SSD's are fast as hell, but the PS3's SATA sockets (the socket you shove new the HDD/SDD in) can't keep up with them. That's the problem and bottleneck with a PS3 combined with an SSD.

I personally use a Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB @ 10.000RPM. I have the same loading speeds as an SSD. Why? Because I'm already at the limit of the SATA socket.

bodger · Dec 2, 2013

Bounkazz
Don't bother with any SSD, honestly. Sure the SSD's are fast as hell, but the PS3's SATA sockets (the socket you shove new the HDD/SDD in) can't keep up with them. That's the problem and bottleneck with a PS3 combined with an SSD.

I personally use a Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB @ 10.000RPM. I have the same loading speeds as an SSD. Why? Because I'm already at the limit of the SATA socket.

Completely disagree.

I have just upgraded to an SSD and the track loading times in GT5 are vastly better. In some cases more than twice as fast.

Do a search on this, GT is one of the better games for performance improvement through an SSD.

A hybrid drive is also a good option - just be picky about which one.

Bounkazz · Dec 2, 2013

bodger
Completely disagree.

I have just upgraded to an SSD and the track loading times in GT5 are vastly better. In some cases more than twice as fast.

Do a search on this, GT is one of the better games for performance improvement through an SSD.

A hybrid drive is also a good option - just be picky about which one.

Yeah. It will all work great, and maybe slightly better for you (you in general), but getting a better SSD will not improve your speeds when already owning an SSD. It's pointless and a wasteof money.

The, and all, PS3's use a SATA-150 port. Which is the lowest SATA btw, and has a maximum transfer rate of 1.5 Gb/s. If you get a drive that exceeds that rate, and you are thus hoping for faster speeds, forget it. The SATA socket in the PS3 simply can't allow it to.

It's as simple as that.

GETEDA · Dec 2, 2013

IF want put a SSD in your PS3, buy a SATA2 (SATA300) because the console only accept SATA (SATA150)
but with the retrocompatibility, we can put a SATA3 (SATA600) but it go to run to the old SATA (SATA150) speed.
I have in my console a OCZAgility3 60gb, in pc run to: Read 200MB/s - Write 85MB/s
In console its limited to 150MB/s, dont know the write speed, but it better then the original HDD.

120gb sata2 2.5 HDD stock ps3, in pc run to: Read 60MB/s - Write 9MB/s

Regards!

Tornado · Dec 2, 2013

bodger
Completely disagree.

I have just upgraded to an SSD and the track loading times in GT5 are vastly better. In some cases more than twice as fast.

Bounkazz is right, because you're comparing the OEM drive speed (and Sony has used some crappy OEM drives; particularly in the Super Slim) to the speed of an SSD rather than the speed of an SSD to the speed of a hard drive that is simply faster than the OEM model. Even among drives rated at the same RPM, not all drives are rated equal in terms of performance, and the PS3's hardware is a hard limit on how fast you can push it. I upgraded from the OEM 120GB drive from a PS3 Slim that was in my CECHA PS3 to a 640GB 7200RPM one, and the load times were vastly better than they were originally (ten to fifteen seconds faster). Two years later after I had a hard drive failure, and it is currently using an SSD (because that is what I had sitting around); but the speed difference between those two is negligible (a few seconds at most, and rarely even that much) over the old drive.

z06fun · Dec 2, 2013

I'm going to guess that no matter what drive you have in a PS3 you are generally not limited by its 1.5Gbits SATA 1 limit in real use. Reason is this: seek time
The seek time of any traditional hard disk is SEVERAL orders of magnitude slower than an SSD (milliseconds vs nanoseconds). The real usage bottle neck has nothing to do with the SATA 1 limit, its mostly seek time. I've used plenty of fast non SSD drives in my PS3's, but in GT5 they were still painful to use after getting used to a machine with an SSD. GT5 was also known to be made up of many many small files, which again means you are very heavily bottle necked by seek time, not peak bandwidth of the SATA 1 limit.
Now GT6 may be different in its file structure, but either way you simply can't do better than an SSD. There are plenty of 64Gb SSD ones for under $90 on newegg/amazon.
You could use some thing like this 120GB one for $90:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148693

A nice special on this one today also 240Gb $144, might be even cheaper on amazon
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148694

As an interesting calculation, SATA 1 limit translates to about 150M bytes per second of actual data at peak speed (a little extra is used for command and error checking overhead). If GT6 installs 10Gig of data on the hard disk like GT5 did, with zero seek time you could read the whole entire thing in 66 seconds if the SATA 1 limit was the bottleneck.

Bounkazz · Dec 2, 2013

Tornado
Bounkazz is right, because you're comparing the OEM drive speed (and Sony has used some crappy OEM drives; particularly in the Super Slim) to the speed of an SSD rather than the speed of an SSD to the speed of a hard drive that is simply faster than the OEM model. Even among drives rated at the same RPM, not all drives are rated equal in terms of performance, and the PS3's hardware is a hard limit on how fast you can push it. I upgraded from the OEM 120GB drive from a PS3 Slim that was in my CECHA PS3 to a 640GB 7200RPM one, and the load times were vastly better than they were originally (ten to fifteen seconds faster). Two years later after I had a hard drive failure, and it is currently using an SSD (because that is what I had sitting around); but the speed difference between those two is negligible (a few seconds at most, and rarely even that much) over the old drive.

Thank you.

Your speeds are only as fast as the sockets/ports will allow.

People always buy SSD's for in their PS3's to make them go mega fast, I lol at them. It's mostly between the ears. You see whatever you want to see/believe. Loading speeds always vary per console. How full the HDD/SSD is etc.

dr_slump · Dec 3, 2013

Bounkazz
I personally use a Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB @ 10.000RPM. I have the same loading speeds as an SSD. Why? Because I'm already at the limit of the SATA socket.

You have a drive that officially doesn't exist?

I'm interested, tell me more about it.

~~Oh and could anyone here link me the source of the "PS4 has SATA 1" story?~~

Bounkazz · Dec 3, 2013

dr_slump
You have a drive that officially doesn't exist?

I'm interested, tell me more about it.

Oh and could anyone here link me the source of the "PS4 has SATA 1" story? Yes?

I never said PS4 has SATA-150, but here: http://www.edepot.com/playstation3.html#PS3_Harddrive (that's for PS3, but the PS4 has a SATA-600 if I'm not mistaken) Edit: Yes, SATA-600: http://www.edepot.com/playstation4.html

Oh, and sorry, I meant 250GB. I thought it was 500GB, lol.

dr_slump · Dec 3, 2013

Tornado · Dec 3, 2013

No one was talking about the PS4 in this thread. The topic literally hadn't come up until you asked about the PS4.

Bounkazz · Dec 3, 2013

Tornado
No one was talking about the PS4 in this thread. The topic literally hadn't come up until you asked about the PS4.

Thank you.

dr_slump · Dec 3, 2013

Tornado
No one was talking about the PS4 in this thread. The topic literally hadn't come up until you asked about the PS4.

Ohhhh my bad. I'm sorry, really.

I really messed this up, I somehow thought I'm in the console and pc forum. Although even then I missed GT6 in the title... :banghead:

Yes, sorry again.

Bounkazz
Oh, and sorry, I meant 250GB. I thought it was 500GB, lol.

Caviar Black with 250GB and 10000rpm doesn't exist either...

Do you even know what drive you have?

Bounkazz · Dec 3, 2013

dr_slump
You have a drive that officially doesn't exist?

I'm interested, tell me more about it.

Oh and could anyone here link me the source of the "PS4 has SATA 1" story?

@GETEDA @z06fun @Bounkazz

dr_slump
nm

dr_slump
Ohhhh my bad. I'm sorry.

I really messed this up, I somehow thought I'm in the console and pc forum. Although even then I missed GT6 in the title... Yes, sorry again.

Caviar Black with 250GB and 10000rpm doesn't exist either...

Do you even know what drive you have?

Well, it does exist, it's in my PS3...

Do your research before hanging out the clever guy.

/sarcasm mode on
Edit: Oh boohoohoo, it's a 7200RPM, so what? I made a mistake, I'm so sorry!

/sarcasm mode off

dr_slump
Do you even know what drive you have?

Not anymore exactly, you confused me, I'll check when Bob is finished driving for me.

Edit 2: Right, Bob's finished, checked my HDD, and it's a Western Digital Scorpio Black 250GB @ 7200RPM. Product number: WD2500BEKT.

Now I remember, I was confused with 3 different HDD's.

The Cavair series in my laptop, the Scorpio Black series @ 7200RPM in my PS3, and the Velociraptor series @ 10.000RPM I want/wanted in my PS3 and old desktop. Happy?

dr_slump · Dec 3, 2013

Bounkazz
Well, it does exist, it's in my PS3...

Do your research before hanging out the clever guy.

Just because I confuse PS3 with PS4 doesn't mean I know nothing about hard drives.

From what I know, Caviar Black with 10000rpm don't exist. What's the model number? I really must see this.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd like to see it.

This one: WD2500BHTZ ?
But that's not a caviar black.

Bounkazz · Dec 3, 2013

dr_slump
Just because I confuse PS3 with PS4 doesn't mean I know nothing about hard drives.

From what I know, Caviar Black with 10000rpm don't exist. What's the model number? I really must see this.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd like to see it.

Uh, I never said you know nothing?

dr_slump · Dec 3, 2013

Bounkazz
Not anymore exactly, you confused me, I'll check when bob is finihed driving for me.

Uh, I never said you know nothing?

EDIT: Saw your edit.

Yeah, that sounds right.

Bounkazz · Dec 3, 2013

dr_slump
EDIT: Saw your edit.

Yeah, that sounds right.

Good for you. It automatically added me quoting you about "Do you even know what drive you have?" without me knowing or seeing, and I already answered that in a previous post.

Don't be so childish about "I saw you edit!!!1!", it's not always negative you know, we all make typo's too.

dr_slump · Dec 3, 2013

Bounkazz
Good for you. It automatically added me quoting you about "Do you even know what drive you have?" without me knowing or seeing, and I already answered that in a previous post.

Don't be so childish about "I saw you edit!!!1!", it's not always negative you know, we all make typo's too.

Huh?
Nearly the whole last part wasn't there, so I posted something completely different at first. After I posted it I immediately saw the edit, therefore I made an edit as well.

"Saw your edit" was only there to inform you about the reason for my edit. It wasn't about any typo...

EDIT: And I'm really terribly sorry about the SATA story, seriously. I understand when you're angry on me because of that. I did make a mistake there.

Bounkazz · Dec 3, 2013

dr_slump
Huh?
Nearly the whole last part wasn't there, so I posted something completely different at first. After I posted it I immediately saw the edit, therefore I made an edit as well.

"Saw your edit" was only there to inform you about the reason for my edit. It wasn't about any typo...

EDIT: And I'm really terribly sorry about the SATA story, seriously. I understand when you're angry on me because of that. I did make a mistake there.

Well the only thing I edited in post #19 was that what i said in post #21. So I hacve no idea what you're talking about. And I'm not mad at that, you seemed confident in your statement so I got confused. The only thing that really pissed me off was your know-it-all attitude. Treating me like I have no idea what I'm talking about. If I really don't know, I wouldn't take the effort in trying to know. If I do know, I will make it clear that I do know and share it.

dr_slump · Dec 3, 2013

Bounkazz
Well the only thing I edited in post #19 was that what i said in post #21. So I hacve no idea what you're talking about.

17

Bounkazz · Dec 3, 2013

dr_slump
17

Oh, yeah, there I added the parts after the "Edit:"'s. I did not delete or accdentally delete anything that I'm aware of.

dr_slump · Dec 3, 2013

Bounkazz
Oh, yeah, there I added the parts after the "Edit:"'s.

That's what I meant.

steve30x · Dec 3, 2013

Bounkazz
Thank you.

Your speeds are only as fast as the sockets/ports will allow.

People always buy SSD's for in their PS3's to make them go mega fast, I lol at them. It's mostly between the ears. You see whatever you want to see/believe. Loading speeds always vary per console. How full the HDD/SSD is etc.

(Fixed that)

I had a 160GB SSD in my computer and got a 240GB VERTEX 2 SSD for free so I replaced the 160GB and installed it into my 12GB PS3. Its an Intel SATA II SSD. I can see a massive difference in load times between the SSD and the HDD in my PS3 (When I had a 250GB PS3). I didn't go out and buy the SSD Specifically for my PS3.

Bounkazz · Dec 3, 2013

steve30x
(Fixed that)

I had a 160GB SSD in my computer and got a 240GB VERTEX 2 SSD for free so I replaced the 160GB and installed it into my 12GB PS3. Its an Intel SATA II SSD. I can see a massive difference in load times between the SSD and the HDD in my PS3 (When I had a 250GB PS3). I didn't go out and buy the SSD Specifically for my PS3.

Oops, yeah sorry haha. That could put alot of people on the wrong track. I'll edit it ASAP.

Ramanujan · Dec 4, 2013

I have a fat 40 gig PS3 and planted a 120GB Samsung SSD in it. That was the best thing i ever did to my PS3.
All the menu's and loading times of GT5 were *much* faster. And not just in my opinion, they really are a lot faster!

I didn't buy a top off the line ssd but a samsung 840 because i knew anything faster would be overkill for the PS3.
Any trustworthy SSD will do.

So in GT5 it was a great investment, and probably it won't hurt GT6. If you want the most out of it you would go for downloading all off GT6, and not bother with the use of a blu-ray. That way all data will be on the SSD.

In all of the tests i found most games had little to gain from a SSD, but GT5 was the one that had the biggest performance boost in loading times. I pre-ordered GT6 so version 1.0 all updates will be on my SSD.

FRoSTeD · Dec 4, 2013

Ramanujan
I have a fat 40 gig PS3 and planted a 120GB Samsung SSD in it. That was the best thing i ever did to my PS3.
All the menu's and loading times of GT5 were *much* faster. And not just in my opinion, they really are a lot faster!

I didn't buy a top off the line ssd but a samsung 840 because i knew anything faster would be overkill for the PS3.
Any trustworthy SSD will do.

So in GT5 it was a great investment, and probably it won't hurt GT6. If you want the most out of it you would go for downloading all off GT6, and not bother with the use of a blu-ray. That way all data will be on the SSD.

In all of the tests i found most games had little to gain from a SSD, but GT5 was the one that had the biggest performance boost in loading times. I pre-ordered GT6 so version 1.0 all updates will be on my SSD.

I'd have to agree! My XMB has been much snappier every since I slapped an SSD into it!

I like the thought that my PS3 is running at max in terms of drive read/writes. It's really the little things you notice when you upgrade to an SSD.