Stuff loads quicker when you install it that is really the only difference.

I install all 360 games I'm currently playing to my hard drive. Not because of the shorter loading times (don't care about them), but because my 360 becomes as silent as my PS3. Since then I don't think I'm living next to a starting airplane.

I've installed one game onto my harddrive, but I'm not going to keep it on there; once I've completed it I'm going to delete it.
It does make a difference, some of the loading times are much quicker and sometimes during the game, where if I didn't install it, it would lag a little because there was so much on the screen, I don't seem to have that problem anymore.

the blissfulness of quiet ahhh yes

I only have a 20GB hard drive so I only download games that I'm going to play for many hours, ex. Fallout 3. The main reason that I download the games is so that the disc drive doesn't have to work as hard and will hopefully last longer than my last one.

It depends upon the game whether you see an improvement or not by "ripping" it to the HDD. Older games won't see as much of an improvement as games built to take installation into account; indeed, Bungie warned Halo 3 players that installing to the hard drive will actually increase load times due to the disc caching system they used to speed up reading from the DVD.

That being said, I put Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, and Mirror's Edge on my drive and noticed less pop-in and faster load times. Though Fallout seemed a bit "crashier" afterwards when coming back from quicksave...

The quieter and cooler running is a nice bonus, but if I don't see a performace boost after installation I'll just delete the image from my drive and run from the disc.

-- Steve

I haven't tried installing to my HD so I wouldn't know, though nothing, outside of perhaps the lower chance of over-heating, would really convince me. I mean loading time wise surely you spend a similar amount of time downloading the game to HDD in the first place, but I've never been too fussed by loading times. After all I managed to make it through Fear Effect without killing any controllers :P

yeah but ive only installed halo 3 because I can't fit anymore in

i haven't bothered installing anything because i didn't want new features, i don't have time to install things, i didn't bother to find out how to do it, and i don't care about the noise

I havn't really noticed an improvement on loading times however it completely cuts out the sound of my noisy cd drive. My xbox no longer sounds like its about to take of

fable 2 and rise of the argonauts work extremely better after download. they both were freezing on me b4 and both had glitches and frame rate problems.after i put them on the hard drive they were fine

GLaDOS V 2.1:
yeah but ive only installed halo 3 because I can't fit anymore in

Uninstall it. Seriously, performance-wise you're worse off running Halo 3 from the hard drive than you are straight from the disc, according to the engineer who designed Halo's loading system. (And according to tests posted on NeoGAF, too.)

Save that space for another game that can take better advantage of being installed, unless you really want the quieter running more than the faster loading.

-- Steve

The only one I've installed is fallout 3 and I haven't noticed any difference. Nice to have it quiet though.

TheDean:
i haven't bothered installing anything because i didn't want new features, i don't have time to install things, i didn't bother to find out how to do it, and i don't care about the noise

. Lol cos you're so busy all the time, dean?

I don't notice an improvement. I installed Madden 09 but I don't notice a faster time.

I've 'installed' Fallout 3 and there has been no difference at all, not in load times, noise or performance. Just seems like a waste of time really, maybe if we were actually installing the game as opposed to simply copying it.....

i did install Fable 2 and did notice difference...but then i also noticed how much space it took up on my small 20gb harddrive

I don't install any of my games to my hard-drive. I could if I wanted to, since I have enough space to fit them all, but I prefer not for some reason.

I have a pre-HDMI 360 that inexplicably runs quietly, doesn't scratch discs, and hasn't RROD'ed. I tried an install only once, for a game that had some scratches, it wasn't able to read even on repeated attempts so I gave up. (Friend's game, his ate it)

Pigeon_Grenade:
there is a HUGE Improvement when you put it on your Hard drive

That's not entirely true. Some titles do see a marked improvement on loadtimes, but there are also some publishers, Bungie for example, who have explicitly told Halo 3 fans not to install it as it will negatively affect gameplay.

If you're talking about the noise from the disc drive, then yes, it pretty much erases that.

Well, now that I've been more well acquainted with the hard drive installation, I have to say only do it for games that you are sure you're going to be playing for a while. For exampe, I did it with Mirror's Edge finally and while its not that big of an improvement, its great for me because I'm always playing it. I can't see doing it for a game that you may pop in here and there though, just doesn't seem worth the space or your time.

I've never been one to complain about the noise of a system either, but now that you mention it, I can't hear it at all =P

Any games though where your experience has been greatly improve or slowed down? I know about Halo 3, but I've also seen people comment about L4D being much faster with the load times. Any others?

You get silence. That's it own reward.
The machine stops buzzing, humming and wurring.

if i download the game to the harddrive will i still be able to play the game on the disk/will the program still be on the disk?

ffxfriek:
if i download the game to the harddrive will i still be able to play the game on the disk/will the program still be on the disk?

Yes, It just copies the information onto the harddrive for easier access, so it doesn't have to read it off the disc. It'll still be on the disc, don't worry. =P

I don't install my games to the harddrive. I don't care about the sound, I never hear it anyway, I can't remember the last time one of my disks ended up unreadable, and I don't care about load times either, they're fast enough for me already. And I like plenty of space on my harddrive.

anNIALLator:

TheDean:
i haven't bothered installing anything because i didn't want new features, i don't have time to install things, i didn't bother to find out how to do it, and i don't care about the noise

. Lol cos you're so busy all the time, dean?

As a matter of fact, yes, i am very busy. I have to go to school, do homework/revisiion, go to work, keep up with wrestling, chikara, trap door etc, play Left 4 Dead, listen to podcasts and ranorudo, it's a busy life Niall.

I installed Fable 2 on my 20 gig, worked alot better, less loading etc, that is until it killed my xbox. Third console now...

I have the Elite, so I have a large HD. The improvements in load times depends on the game. Some have a pretty good improvement some have nothing. GTA4 cuts load times by 50% almost. But realy the biggest improvement is the noise. Also, Oblivion would occasionally crash my 360, but not since I installed it.

DirkGently:
I'm still using one of the old-school HDDs, 12GB

MrBrightside919:
I still have the old crusty 10 GIG HDD that came with my 360.

Neither of those size HDDs are made for 360..

TheGhostOfSin:

DirkGently:
I'm still using one of the old-school HDDs, 12GB

MrBrightside919:
I still have the old crusty 10 GIG HDD that came with my 360.

Neither of those size HDDs are made for 360..

12GB was the standard HD about three years ago, if I remember correctly.

I only installed Fallout 3, but after it froze 3 or 4 times I went back to disk as I had no problems before and have had no problems since

Some games make NO difference, but others like Mass Effect make big differences!

Oh yeah, don't install Halo 3. It makes the load times WORSE.

Noise? what noise? that who gives a dam, taking off noise when your loading? that bugs people? =/

i never cared for that noise that much, normally i don't play my games on mute.

Mr.Pandah:
Do any of you actually install your games to the harddrive?

What?