Sony PS3 500GB Super Slim Console (PS3)

Product Information

A multitude of tiny files are transferred across en masse, making it perhaps the sternest install-based workout available. Freeing up space on the flash chip takes an absolute age, to the point where deleting the Rage install took over nine minutes, with the SSD clocking in at just 16 seconds and the hard drives completing the same task in under 60 seconds. Next up, id Software's Rage - a lengthy install in its own right, but also the strongest in-game stress test we could muster for our storage test subjects. The almost instant performance of the SSD is still missing, but the improvement overall is noticeable, as this video hopefully demonstrates. It's a little disconcerting to find a digital video interface not transmitting its output losslessly, and some members of the more hardcore AV fraternities believe it is visible to the human eye, something we didn't agree with - so we put it to the test.

Textures are faster to resolve and the jarring effect of watching pixellated artwork coalesce into their higher-resolution versions is less of an issue. Or you can just stick the drive into the slot on its own with a dab of Blu-Tack and hope for the best, if you like to live life on the edge.Initially, it was believed that Sony had simply gained access to an inventory of small capacity SSDs and would ship them in the PS3's traditional hard drive bay, where it could be replaced with any other 2.

The deletion issue could also further intrude on the user experience - deleting installs can take an absolute age and with the limited storage available, you'll need to do this a lot if you're shuttling between various games. But even in these tests, we found that selected games actually load data faster, though deletion speeds on the flash storage are dire.All the ports and sockets remain as they were, so in areas where Sony might have been tempted to make cutbacks (removing the Toslink audio output for example), we find that the firm has commendably restrained itself. inch hard drive, so perhaps the biggest surprise upon receiving our 12GB unit was the complete absence of anything in the expansion slot. This has been replaced by a flimsy-feeling, ridged cover, which slides back to reveal the mechanism.