We show you how to exchange the built-in HDD with an SSD or SSHD. In addition, there are benchmarks for you to compare the increase in performance – primarily during loading times. For the conversion and re-initialization of the Playstation 4, take a look at the gallery in this article. We will then present the benchmark results. These include measurements of the boot time as well as loading times for games that are both on the hard disk (PSN versions) and from the disc.
PS4: How to install an SSD / HDD
Update: November 30, 2017: We added the benchmark results for an SSHD.
Picture gallery
We use the current PS4 (CUH-1216A). The HDD comes with a standard built-in Toshiba hard drive (MQ01ABD050) with 500 GB, as the SSD the Crucial M550 with 1 TB, and as SSHD the Seagate Game Drive for Playstation with 1 TB.
Benchmark results
The operating system of the PS4 does not support the important TRIM function for SSDs. In simplified terms, this ensures that the areas of an SSD are more evenly used, in order to increase the service life. Deleted data are marked by the operating system so that the space can be used again. According to Crucial, the M550 with garbage collection has a corresponding internal function. The use of the SSD in the PS4 is therefore absolutely possible.
Summary
Lesetipp: buy PS4 - you have to pay attention
In addition to a comparison of the boot times, we also take a look at the loading times of the games GTA 5, Need for Speed and Fallout 4. GTA 5 is available as a PSN version, that means that the game without a disc comes out and thus completely up Of the hard disk. Need for Speed and Fallout 4 are the disc version. For all three tracks, we stop the time from the PS4 main menu, to the first interactive element - for example, the start screen from which you enter the main game menu by the gamepad command.
In Fallout 4 and Need for Speed, we also test the load time from the main game menu to the level. As the loading time in Fallout 4, we select the scene after the main character comes first from the bunker "Vault 111". At Need for Speed, we stop the time from the main game menu to the virtual garage.
We show the individual results of our measurements and form average values. For each benchmark, we have stopped 3 to 5 times the time, and for other abnormalities.
Boot (From power on until the charging circuit disappears from the main screen)
GTA 5: PSN version completely on the hard disk (from game start until story mode is loaded)
Need for Speed: Disc version (from game start to the first interactive element)
Need for Speed: Disc version (from game start in the main menu to the garage)
Fallout 4: Disc version (from game start to the first interactive element)
Our conclusion
Fallout 4: Level load time (from loading confirmation to the opening of the game world)
The speed advantage of SSDs and SSHDs is measurable, but not always perceptible. Depending on the title, a shortening of the charge time times higher, sometimes lower. In the case of GTA 5 and Fallout 4 (Start level) the PS4 with an SSD needed almost only - or even less than - half the time, the PS4 with HDD required depending on the test run. But for Need for Speed, the advantage of starting and loading the game world can be marginal.
Lesetipp: PS4 or Xbox One? - The duel
On the one hand, it is striking that the SSHD increased in both GTA 5 and Fallout 4 after an initially slow start from run to run and almost reached the speed level of the SSD. This is because relevant data must first be written from the magnetic field to the flash area. On the other hand it is noticeable that the fluctuations in the individual test runs with an HDD are more pronounced than with an SSD. This loads the data at a constantly nimble level. The magnetic hard drive apparently has a few extrarounds here and there, which meant that we had to stop the time with a built-in HDD disk more frequently when loading the Fallout 4 level and starting GTA 5.
Probably the HDD helps in many cases, that during the repeated pass of a benchmark large amounts of data are already in the RAM. Later outliers would have to be justified by the fact that the RAM has to be rewritten.
Lesetipp: PS4 - Set DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD
Important is still to know - even if the test can not reflect here - that the operation of a PS4 with a built-in SSD is much smoother. Loading pictures or videos from the PS4 library is much smoother. Even in the game itself, we notice in action scenes less dips in the number of FPS (frames per second, frames per second). Whether this is worth investing in an SSD, each user must decide for themselves. For the SSHD, the first time we load data, we are on a level just above the HDD. Over time, the right data is in the flash memory and the performance is approaching the SSD.
Overall, an SSD is not worth the current prices. A hard disk upgrade at the PS4 should bring either performance gains or more space, best both. And for those disks, you are currently paying for more than the console itself.
Our recommendation therefore comes at the best compromise between price and performance: the SSHD. For 1 TB you currently pay just over 100 euros. This is an average of 50 euros more than the difference between the 500 and 1000GB variant of the PS4. For this, the SSHD has measurable advantages with regard to load times, which are noticeable with increasing playing time per session.
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