Simple question: has anyone tried installing a SSD into their PS3? I'm curious about any performance bonuses. Thanks!

Is that even possible?

You can do it in the older model PS3's but I'm not sure of the newer ones. Anyway, for me the games run better, load faster, install faster, everything faster. System is also quieter. Probably why Skyrim doesn't give me any problems. If you can afford it go for it. Just make sure it will fit.

@mikey87144: Great to hear! I *may* have access to a really inexpensive SSD. I'm pretty sure the Slim has the same upgrade capabilities, but not 100% sure.

@usgrovers: I've heard it may not fit in the slims. Just check first.

Will it give you any form of performance increase though? Besides, unless you're running a 500gb SSD (for some godforsaken reason), won't you just run out of memory within weeks?

@Azteck: Not necessarily. The speed difference while deleting and reinstalling games on a whim probably make it a way less shitty experience.

You can totally do it (fat or slim) since it's just another 2.5" form factor drive, I think I saw some kind of test that someone did a while back which suggested that the over all gains weren't that huge.

It depends on the game. A game that caches heavily to the hard drive, or is installed to it? It'll get a pretty good boost. A game that loads off the disk? You're not going to see a difference at all.

Also, PS3 won't support TRIM. Performance on your SSD is going to degrade without it.

I have a 7,200 rpm hdd in mine and I'm satisfied with it

from the videos i watched i wouldnt upgrade to ssd unless i absolutely had the money to do so

Read somewhere on the boards a while back that Gran Turismo 5 showed like 25% load increases with an SSD or something along those lines.

Yeah, I've got 500 gig SSD in my slim ps3. Other than larger storage space I can't really tell any difference. People have probably done comparison videos but I doubt there is much of a difference.

@Witzig said:

Is that even possible?

Why it wouldn't? It's basically, logically a hard drive too.

@mikey87144 said:

@usgrovers: I've heard it may not fit in the slims. Just check first.

Why it wouldn't? It's the same 2.5" form factor as long as the height doesn't go over 9mm.

I have the Intel X25 80 gig SSD in my Slim. I have used a variety of HD's in the past and tested them regarding speed with various games, tasks, etc.

Regarding degrading performance with SSD: Even a completely full SSD is faster than the fastest normal HD, TRIM or not. HD platter speed in a PS3 is of no consequence because the PS3 limits any drive to 5400 rpm. You have to go big in HD size to increase the speed. The fastest 500 gig is still much slower than the slowest, smallest, much used SSD.

Performance increases I have noticed:

1. Topic of the Month. The Skyrim performance issue is greatly reduced with the SSD, by what I would arbitrarily count as mmm, 90% ? It was a stark difference after starting Skyrim with a normal HD and playing till an 8 or 9 meg save file after 50 hours or so. Another hundred hours tacked on after swapping and it still runs great, I can still see the need for a fix after starting a fresh character to test, though.

2. Rage: You know that texture de-rezzing and loading? Gone. I'm talking like 99% gone. Like the type of gone that is so quick you can probally only notice it if you try really hard to look for it. Huge difference.

3. Mass Effect 2, downloadable version: tested the difference between the 80gig SSD and a normal HD with a completed save file and loading between decks on the Normandy. Seconds of load time were in the 20's for the SSD and in the 30's for normal HD.

4. Most games with an install will benefit the same as Mass Effect( I.E. 5 or so seconds for levels, give or take.) Is it worth it? Ehhh, for me it was because I like tinkering with things like this. For most everyone else I would say probably not.

5. Save game access and messing with XMB is snappier with the SSD.

6. You wont really see any difference with total disk based games(Portal 2, Uncharteds, etc. Installing games from a disk isnt any faster either really because the limiting factor being the blu-ray drive speed. Downloading a game or demo then installing it is significantly faster though in the install part of that process.

Various comments:

The PS3 operating system does not support TRIM but the Intel SSD's are supposed have a built in memory controller thingy that is supposed to prevent a data file from being re-written in the same spot on the SSD to prevent a certain spot from wearing out over time at a greater rate than the rest of the disk. This may not be accurate but it is what I gathered from reading the info that came with the Intel disk.

The Intels have a 3-5 year warranty on them, something to think about.( The new ones have a 5 year warranty)

Mine is 1 year and 6 months old and I use it every day with not one problem this whole time.

This is my anecdotal evidence and remember, as always YMMV.