A YouTube comparison video demonstrates how replacing the hard drive in your Xbox One with an SSD or SSHD can lead to improvements in both boot-up and loading times.
This may seem a little obvious, at least to those of you in the know about such things, but replacing the conventional hard drive in your Xbox One with a solid-state drive (SSD) or solid-state hybrid drive (SSHD) results in a not-insignificant improvement in performance. A faster drive means faster boots and faster loads, right?
Even so, it’s kind of cool to see it in action, which we may now do with just the click of a mouse thanks to YouTube user Brian Williams, who posted a three-in-one comparison of the console equipped with all three drive types. In a cold boot, the SSD offers a roughly ten percent improvement over the standard drive, while the SSHD comes in at about five percent faster; loading Call of Duty: Ghosts sees a more significant difference, as both the SSD and the SSHD load the game around 20 percent faster.
Despite the performance kick, there are two major drawbacks to going to flash-based storage with the Xbox One. First and foremost, installing one of these drives voids your warranty, so mistakes will be expensive, and second, they ain’t cheap: 2.5″ SSDs from Newegg start at around $300, a heavy price for a relatively modest performance boost. SSHDs are a lot cheaper – 500GB units start around $80 – and a far more cost-effective solution if you’re willing to compromise a bit on performance.
Source: YouTube
