Drive Swaps in a PS4 Pro (LTT Community Opinion Request)

[PineyCreek]

Yeah, I know, this topic has been around...mmm...basically since the PS4 first launched.

 

To be clear upfront, I know how to swap the hard drive in a PS4 and I know what to do to get that drive working.  I'm specifically looking for the opinions from the LTT community.  An SSD would (for the most part) speed up load times, including in-game textures which would reduce pop in, and an increased drive size would enable more games to be installed on the drive itself.

 

I guess the main query is, considering the SATAII bottleneck of the PS4's interface, is it really worth it to go SSD, or would it just be better to get another mechanical HDD of a higher capacity?  If anyone's done that swap, did you feel the SSD made a distinctively marked improvement to your experience?

[Colty]

The PS4 OG/Slim have a SATA 2 controller/bus iirc. And the PS4 Pro is SATA 3 all the way through.

An SSD will help, but it'll vary from game to game. Heck, even an SSD is helpful on a PS3 for texture streaming.

At the end of the day, if the value is there for you (longevity, quieter/cooler operation, etc), go for it! I can't speak to specific load times, but you can probably find some comparisons online and figure out if it's a worthwhile performance improvement for the games you play/care about most. 

[PineyCreek]

11 hours ago, Colty said:

The PS4 OG/Slim have a SATA 2 controller/bus iirc. And the PS4 Pro is SATA 3 all the way through.

An SSD will help, but it'll vary from game to game. Heck, even an SSD is helpful on a PS3 for texture streaming.

At the end of the day, if the value is there for you (longevity, quieter/cooler operation, etc), go for it! I can't speak to specific load times, but you can probably find some comparisons online and figure out if it's a worthwhile performance improvement for the games you play/care about most. 

Huh...I was under the impression they hadn't upgraded the interface on the Pro.  I should have researched a bit more.  In my mind at least, that's a point in favor for SSDs.

[king_thenorth]

I wrote a piece on this on the forum about 2 years ago, on how to extend the life of the PS4 pro and Xbox one x with SSD upgrades during the ship shortag. I have upgraded both a Xbox one x and PS4 pro with a data SSD, both with 2tb Samsung qvo. The difference is night and day. Texture pop-in and loading stutters in games like call of duty, GTA, Jedi fallen order are gone. You load into games way faster, to the point where on games like overwatch before cross play you always got to pick your character first. Downloads are much quicker, and if you also take the time to clean out the cooler and replace the thermal paste, the machine is far cooler and quieter. Would definitely recommend putting an SSD in the system, the difference is incredible.

[PineyCreek]

7 hours ago, king_thenorth said:

I wrote a piece on this on the forum about 2 years ago, on how to extend the life of the PS4 pro and Xbox one x with SSD upgrades during the ship shortag. I have upgraded both a Xbox one x and PS4 pro with a data SSD, both with 2tb Samsung qvo. The difference is night and day. Texture pop-in and loading stutters in games like call of duty, GTA, Jedi fallen order are gone. You load into games way faster, to the point where on games like overwatch before cross play you always got to pick your character first. Downloads are much quicker, and if you also take the time to clean out the cooler and replace the thermal paste, the machine is far cooler and quieter. Would definitely recommend putting an SSD in the system, the difference is incredible.

Regrettably for now this project's been shelved for a bit since I had some more critical items that cost more need to be repaired, but I still very much want to do it.  Pretty sure this PS4 Pro will be the last console I buy anyway.