Sony hasn't said much about the PlayStation 4 Pro since it was revealed, with much of its attention being focused on PlayStation VR over the past few weeks. But one thing it has clarified following an interview with Japanese website 4Gamer.net is that the new system will support SATA 3 hard drives, unlike its predecessor.
For those out of the loop, the SATA 3 standard has a maximum data transfer rate of six gigabits-per-second, which should result in faster loading and game installs should you upgrade. The current PlayStation 4 supports the SATA 2 model, which has a threshold of three gigabits-per-second. Good news for the impatient among you, then.
[source 4gamer.net, via gematsu.com]
Comments 24
I'm hoping that places like yourself and Digital Foundry review the unit before release because I'm considering GAME's trade in offer but I need to know about the benefits for someone that has a 1080p TV.
@adf86 We will for sure. At the very least one benefit you're going to get on 1080p TV is supersampling; if you've ever taken a large image and scaled it down, you'll know what this means.
There will be other advantages, though.
Well that seems like a weird thing to leave out of the Slim, why buy 2 sets of ports, just pick one and buy in bulk.
And yes, PSVR overload this week, looking forward to it being over, though I completely understand it, and I do like the Taco Bell commercial. Probably another week or 2 and they'll be trying to sell Pro. Have there been any game bundles announced for it yet? Consoles don't seem to be sold without games anymore, so I'm expecting at least digital codes in the box for either FFXV, ROTTR or U4. Maybe CoD I suppose, but something for $399.
@adf86 Same - although I'm not in a big rush, I plan on getting it in time for FF15 if the differences are substantial enough.
I will get a 4K telly too, but I figure screw it - best wait until the good ones drop below a grand. Really won't take long.
It's all about the drives read/write speed. Still, be good to bang an SSD in and use it at its true pace
I'm guessing the installed drive is still SATA2 though?
Can someone please explain to me how is up to 3 gig per sec more than 6 in real life terms; surely it doesn't make that much difference as that is pretty fast anyway...?
@adf, kyle - I'm doing the same, and have a 1080 (Sony) TV, too.
@Finalstan,
You'll only see a (noticible real world) difference, if any, if you upgrade to an SSD. Traditional hard drives typically never get close to that throughput.
'which should result in faster loading and game installs should you upgrade' Come on guys not probably it will, fact. An SSD at Sata 2 has a huge impact on the PS4 console Sata 3 will be significantly better.
I currently use a 1TB Samsung Evo SSD in my PS4 at SATA 2 and it dramatically improves the load and access times. I was really hoping for SATA 3 support on the PRO but didn't expect it so it's fantastic news.
@finalstan It makes a big difference as it is double the speed. It is not just about loading games it also greatly benefits games that use asset streaming whilst you play, data is loaded much quicker thus you get less hitching and pop up as you play which gives a far smoother experience overall.
I use a 1TB Samsung Evo in my current PS4 and its made a huge difference to my gaming experience I now couldn't use one. The Pro's Sata 3 will be twice as good.
@Timewarp87 Most Sata 3 SSDs read and writes are around the 450 - 500 mark now, there's very little difference between them.
This is interesting, remember when Fail0verflow hacked the ps4 and said the SATA drive ran through the USB bus, not sure if it was 2.0 or 3.0. But if this is pure SATA3 now, SSD should be much better this time round, sweet
Thanks guys, if only SSD were a bit cheaper...
I am just hoping they have increased the cage size and therefore can put in a larger capacity internal HDD! It would be great to support an external HDD but until Sony actually catch up with the other devices in this area, the ability to replace my internal HDD with more than 2TB would be most welcome.
SSD is really the best option its just not cost effective to have one.Just upgraded to 2tb thats plenty of space for me.
@get2sammyb I'm sure their are, just need to see it for myself. Normally I wouldn't be interested but the chance to get it at half price is tempting.
@bamozzy I'm hoping not because I've got a 2TB HDD in my current PS4 that would have to be swapped out.
It boggles my mind that they don't let you use a external HDD.
@Splat It is quite unacceptable that Sony still refuses to properly support external hard drives, that is one massive negative strike against them at the moment...
@Neolit Thats where the 4K went I guess.
This is good news. I should have a better job by Black Friday 2017, so I may just end up buying a PS4 Pro, along with a new 2TB+ HDD.
Speaking SATA throughput, how does the PS4 install huge games in a matter of seconds?
I was installing a few games the other day and everytime I hit the eject button, I could hear the drive spindown to eject.
Should I have waited for the drive to spindown on it's own before ejecting? I'm worried that I now have a series of half installed games due to changing discs too quickly...
@finalstan
Think about it. You don't need to be a tech wizard because it's common sense. Just strip way all the geek blurb.
Speed 6 is twice as fast as speed 3, so theory if a game takes 30 seconds to load at speed 3, it's going to take 15 seconds to load at speed 6. Is that a worthwhile improvement.
A 1TB Samsung 850 Pro SSD will be almost $400... Why aren't SSD prices falling?!?
Reasons to go pro has increased. I can already imagine how long large scale RPG load times will be...cough cough* FF15.
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