Should Next Generation Consoles Use SSDs?
Should Next Generation Consoles Use SSDs?
Posted 12/14/2010 at 7:26am
| by Paul Lilly
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PC enthusiasts already know the benefits SSDs bring to the table, but as it turns out, these flash-based drives are pretty awesome for consoles, too. To prove it, Beyond3d.com forum member "Phil" shoved a Corsair F120 SSD into his PlayStation 3 and fired up Gran Turismo 5 "since it allows a big chunk of the game to be copied onto the hard drive."
According to Phil's numbers, the SSD had a tremendous impact on load times, often cutting down the time spent waiting for a race to begin by half. Loading GT5 took 55 seconds with the stock hard drive, which was reduced to just 29 seconds with the SSD. Similar results were seen when loading the London track, in which the SSD cut the load time from 39.47 seconds to 19.26 seconds, as well as a handful of other tracks.
"Is it worth it? Not for me -- not for that price. Perhaps when SSDs become a cheaper, I may get one cheap one day for the PS3," Phil says. "I'm also not sure how optimized the PS3 file system is for SSD usage and how long such a drive would live. No way really to benchmark this, sadly."
Valid points, and it's worth mentioning that not all games are as hard drive heavy as GT5. Still, initial results are impressive, and we can only imagine how much better they would be if Sony (or Microsoft or Nintendo) built a console specifically designed to take advantage of SSDs.
Would you be willing to pay more for a console using SSDs, or do these gaming boxes cost enough as it is?
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americaeh
December 15, 2010 at 8:43pm
Couldn't i just shove a western digital black edition in and get a little performance boost versus speeding 100-200 for an ssd
eric0rr
December 14, 2010 at 6:17pm
I for one love this idea, considering that most games could easilly fit on a tiny SSD, flash drive even! I mean how big can Fallout: New Vegas possibly be! But does it make sense for the companies to do it? SSD's arent cheap, though they are dropping fast, If it cost them another 20 bucks to make their customer happy, then they will probably no do it, maybe special SSD editions for faster loading.
bstauts
December 14, 2010 at 4:27pm
Personally I think the gamming consoles need to be built to last before they try to incorporate any thing new into them. They can't seem to keep them from burning up. The SSDs would definitely be an improvement over the current configuration. I would buy one as an upgrade after I let everyone else do the Beta testing.
Zachary K.
December 14, 2010 at 12:08pm
talk about full circle. first there were flash cartridges, then optical disks, now back to flash?
violian
December 14, 2010 at 11:41am
Being that console makers find every way to cut nickels and pennies to bring the costs of every console down, I'd be surprised this were to happen anytime soon. Especially being that consoles are being sold at a loss - I don't see why companies would have the incentive to lose even more. Not until the cost of SSD is lower than HDD will I expect this to happen.
Caboose
December 14, 2010 at 3:57pm
"Being that console makers find every way to cut nickels and pennies to bring the costs of every console down..."
Sony sure as hell doesn't...
Markitzero
December 14, 2010 at 11:14am
There can be TOO Much drive activity for SSD and I don't think that the PS3 is optimized at all for ssds. I think in alot of ways standard hard drives will be staying in the PS3 and XBox 360s for a while. For the reason SSDs can mess up more then HHD. Save games could be lost if the SSD errors out.
sas281gt
December 14, 2010 at 8:55am
They should ship with current gen consoles. They also should ship in absolutly everything so the friggen price will go down. 256G need to be less than $300.
lunchbox73
December 14, 2010 at 7:58am
I hope SSDs aren't the future because it drives me crazy when people say "SSD drives"
Caboose
December 14, 2010 at 3:56pm
I agree, now if you'll excuse me, I need to go to the ATM Machine...
n0b0dykn0ws
December 14, 2010 at 7:45am
Would anyone be willing to perform a test with Seagate's Hybrid drives?
I'd be interested to see the differences there as well, and it would be a whole lot cheaper.
n0b0dykn0ws
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