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Report: SSD Hard Drive Improves Loading in Gran Turismo 5; SSD Mandatory for Next-Gen?
by Brian Leahy, Dec 13, 2010 4:00pm PSTIt appears that installing a solid-state hard drive in a PlayStation 3 can halve load times for Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo 5, reports Digital Foundry citing data from the Beyond3D forums.
The two systems being compared are an old-body PS3 with a Corsair F120 SSD HDD and a stock slim PS3 with the Sony-installed HDD. According to the user doing the testing, the initial loading of time of 55 seconds can be reduced to 29 seconds. The user also hints that the menu navigation is faster, but does not provide concrete data.
Similarly, track load times between 30 and 50 seconds are reduced to around 20 to 25 seconds. Now, throwing an SSD in your PS3 requires a significant money investment, but it brings up the issue of what should go into next-generation consoles. If developers are going to continue to use local storage for caching and quicker loading, when compared to optical drives, I think solid-state drives are mandatory for any next-gen console.
Comments
What the PS3 really needs is faster optical disc reading, it's why all these games need to have some installed to the hard drive in the first place. Since don't install everything on the HDD so they still have to rely on the BD for lots of stuff and it can be slow.
GT5 is the first game I've seen where a SSD makes any difference. Usually people test each new release with no significant results.
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It's not just about new technology, it's about making new technology cheap enough to be commoditized.
Have computers leap-frogged consoles in terms of technology and performance? Yes, ages ago.
Does it matter? No, because a very large percentage of gamers now have only ever known consoles, and will continue to do all of their gaming there.
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