PS4 Hard drive question

[RocheKat]

How are you having trouble loading? I have never been the last person into a dungeon and I am always waiting on one or two people...

[Luciano_Bozzelli]

If you have the money and it doesn't hurt you to get it, I would say get it. I have a Samsung PRO 850 in my system, and I'm usually the first in a dungeon, S ranks load all the players and the boss quickly from the draw distance, and when someone goes somewhere for a tele, and I use their tele, I can beat them on the other side, if not arrive at the same time.

To me it seems to make the game a lot smoother, not to mention I even enjoyed faster load times on Bloodborne, which I heard many people complain that the load screen was to long. Was ok and quick to me.

[BLaCKnBLu3B3RRY]

in my opinion, an SSD is totally worth it. i tried upgrading to an HDD with higher cache... the gain was nominal. i have tried an SSHD... again, the gain was very nominal. i put an SSD in the PS4 and FFXIV was loading super fast. warp times went from like 30~45seconds all the way down to like 10~12seconds. i would consider this a huge gain.

there are other areas of improvement besides load times. but they don't seem to as pronounced on the PS4 as they were on the PS3. probably due to better hardware.

i don't think this was mentioned, but you need to have at least a 240GB drive for the PS4 to utilize it. also, when shopping for an SSD... you don't need to get the best one on the shelf. the PS4 isn't able to utilize the full potential of an SSD, but it can utilize enough to make a significant difference.

[Kosmos992k]

in my opinion, an SSD is totally worth it. i tried upgrading to an HDD with higher cache... the gain was nominal.

Interesting, I put a 500GB 5400rm drive with a 64MB cache in my PS3 and it was quite successful, not as good as an SSD by any means, but on par with 7200 rpm drives. PS4 uses more up to date SATA than PS3 did, perhaps that, and a greater ability to cache HDD in main memory, offset the performance increase from the larger drive cahe.

[Nadirah]

What ever you do don't get a hybrid i have heard from countless people that they are not reliable. And honestly i would only go with an ssd if it would be on sale, otherwise i do not think it warrants the money that they are currently at.
Myself i upgraded to a 2tb drive about a month ago and am very happy so far and i got it on sale

PS stick to PS4 granted yes it does use older tech but is still very good, way better then xbot 1 and we have better exclusives then even PC :P
And no i will not debate, lol

Better exclusives is relative.

I only play RPGs, and very very rarely do I play JRPGs.

Most of the best ones are available on PC. And I hate controllers. *especially* Xbox controllers. Blech.

[mdha02]

Thank you all so very much for your helpful information. Looks like I'm going to be looking into getting a SSD! The video that Viuiji posted kinda made up my mind. I did laugh when I saw all the people in Revnant's Toll. Oh the days of pre-3.0. I remember selecting to teleport to Mor Dhona and then my DF popped and loosing the que because it took that long to zone in.

[Thandronen]

Bought a Samsung EVO 850 500GB SSD a couple of months before Heavensward hit and the loading times for all of my games, including this one are ultra fast. I absolutely love it and was so glad I made the decision to do it. For XIV especially if you find yourself teleporting a lot, which to get around in this game you'll find yourself doing often, it allows you to get things done so much quicker.

On average, loading into a zone on the HDD probably took 15-20 seconds on average with some taking 30 secs or so in a crowded area. With the SSD, it has been reduced to 5 or 10 seconds and maybe 15 seconds in crowded area but rarely does it ever take more than 10 secs... it's mostly 5 seconds max and you're in.

I'm certain someone much smarter than I am could determine, on average, how many times the active player teleports in a day/week/month etc. and just how much more playtime you actually get versus waiting to load in.

TLDR: The SSD is worth every penny.