Do SSDs bottleneck based on GPU and CPU or only which SATA the system supports and workload?

[Tr4405]

So my ps4 HDD ate it and for the same price as a 1 TB HDD I found this Inland Professional 512GB SSD 3D TLC NAND SATA III 6Gb/s 2.5" 7mm Internal Solid State Drive (512GB) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088KLZKP...abc_V4EPV000D1J9Y7CXNQN8?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

So I’ve seen people review the 480 GB version of this drive which has a max read speed of 550 MB/s. I’ve seen people try it on SATA II systems and since the drive is SATA III the drive was bottlenecked to about 240 MB/s. The one I got is 512 GB and has a mad read speed or 520 MB/s and since the ps4 is SATA II it’s obviously gonna bottleneck it. Would I see the same 240 MB/s speeds that most SATA II laptops have? Could the CPU and or GPU also bottleneck the drive?

 

[Athlonite]

What you loose in speed you make up for in access times when going from HDD to SSD it's not likely the CPU or GPU will bottleneck an SSD but rather the other way round although you should see better loading times as an SSD will get alot closer to that SATA II theoretical bandwidth limit than an HDD would

 

[Tr4405]

What you loose in speed you make up for in access times when going from HDD to SSD it's not likely the CPU or GPU will bottleneck an SSD but rather the other way round although you should see better loading times as an SSD will get alot closer to that SATA II theoretical bandwidth limit than an HDD would

So basically I would get within the 200-300 MB/s range?

 

[biffzinker]

So basically I would get within the 200-300 MB/s range?

Most likely 266 MB/s

 

[Tr4405]

Most likely 266 MB/s

I also forgot to mention that the drive is DRAM-less. Would I still get these speeds with this drive in my ps4?

 

[X71200]

Just get an MX500 and be done with it, it has DRAM cache. Shoot for the 1 TB while at it.

 

[elghinnarisa]

I also forgot to mention that the drive is DRAM-less. Would I still get these speeds with this drive in my ps4?

You would get higher speeds than a spinning drive, thats about it. The PS4 is downright horrendous at utilizing an SSD. It manages to come out at slightly faster than a mechanical harddrive in performance.

 

[GerKNG]

the CPU in a PS4 is basically a low performance and low power architecture from 7 years after 9/11. and it clocks at half the speed...

the CPU is the bottleneck even when loading from a decent HDD.
you can see this in a lot of games like the witcher where a PS4 barely has any shorter loading times on a 870 Evo compared to the stock HDD.


for a console that is basically obsolete and costs (used) like 100€. i'd just buy a decent HDD and enjoy a lot more games without deleting and re downloading.

 

[QuietBob]

When it comes to loading games, more factors come into play than just the drive's raw speed. With an SSD attached to a SATA2 port, you should see around 240 MB/s read speed - but only when benchmarking sequential transfers or copying large files.

However, while you are launching a game or loading a save file, a lot more is going on than just files being moved between your storage and memory. The bulk of this process rests on the CPU, and this will be your primary limiting factor. And regardless of how fast the processor is, when loading a game, the real transfer rate of your drive will be much lower than its maximum sequential speed. Even the fastest NVMe Gen4 SSDs of today are limited by the CPU in this scenario.

In case of your console, you will see a difference going from an HDD, but not as pronounced as on a PC. As @GerKNG pointed out, the PS4 uses a 2013 CPU running at only 1.6 GHz. Your game load speeds won't see very big improvement due to the slow processor.

I would still recommend buying a cheap 1 or 2 TB SSD. Bear in mind that 512 GB just doesn't cut it for game storage today. Unless you only play two or three games at a time (or many older titles), you're going to run out of space very quickly. I wouldn't be worried about the lack of DRAM cache on the drive, though. You're very unlikely to see any difference when it comes to game launch times.

 

[Tr4405]

You would get higher speeds than a spinning drive, thats about it. The PS4 is downright horrendous at utilizing an SSD. It manages to come out at slightly faster than a mechanical harddrive in performance.

What speeds do you think I would get while gaming with it on PS4?

When it comes to loading games, more factors come into play than just the drive's raw speed. With an SSD attached to a SATA2 port, you should see around 240 MB/s read speed - but only when benchmarking sequential transfers or copying large files.

However, while you are launching a game or loading a save file, a lot more is going on than just files being moved between your storage and memory. The bulk of this process rests on the CPU, and this will be your primary limiting factor. And regardless of how fast the processor is, when loading a game, the real transfer rate of your drive will be much lower than its maximum sequential speed. Even the fastest NVMe Gen4 SSDs of today are limited by the CPU in this scenario.

In case of your console, you will see a difference going from an HDD, but not as pronounced as on a PC. As @GerKNG pointed out, the PS4 uses a 2013 CPU running at only 1.6 GHz. Your game load speeds won't see very big improvement due to the slow processor.

I would still recommend buying a cheap 1 or 2 TB SSD. Bear in mind that 512 GB just doesn't cut it for game storage today. Unless you only play two or three games at a time (or many older titles), you're going to run out of space very quickly. I wouldn't be worried about the lack of DRAM cache on the drive, though. You're very unlikely to see any difference when it comes to game launch times.

Would that SSD still be faster than the stock HDD while playing a game like RDR2?

 

[elghinnarisa]

What speeds do you think I would get while gaming with it on PS4?

It is faster, but its really not noticeable unless you sit there with a timer and time side by side on a loading screen or the like. Plenty of tests on youtube about it. I had a SSD in my PS4 pro since release and it's still as slow as a wet noodle. Your going to save time on loading screens, but your still going to time loading screens in 30 seconds or longer.

 

[Tr4405]

It is faster, but its really not noticeable unless you sit there with a timer and time side by side on a loading screen or the like. Plenty of tests on youtube about it. I had a SSD in my PS4 pro since release and it's still as slow as a wet noodle. Your going to save time on loading screens, but your still going to time loading screens in 30 seconds or longer.

So I tried to compare RDR2s loading screens with a SSD and HDD. With the HDD I watched a YouTube video and the HDD gave about 2:31 to load. My SSD only took 1:38.

 

[Hachi_Roku256563]

So I tried to compare RDR2s loading screens with a SSD and HDD. With the HDD I watched a YouTube video and the HDD gave about 2:31 to load. My SSD only took 1:38.

and what about a fast 7200rpm hd?

 

[Tr4405]

and what about a fast 7200rpm hd?

I unfortunately don’t have one. I only have this SSD and the stock 100 MB/s SSD.