A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then.

PCIE entities have been standardized, and although they have not completely pushed aside SATA entities, it is undeniable that their market share is growing, and that they have achieved colossal importance.

In this sense, the arrival of new generation consoles has also played a decisive role, and when these become the basis for all video game developments, we will see a full transition to this type of storage entities.

That transition It will not mean the end of conventional hard drives.

These will continue to have their place in the market, but their presence will be increasingly smaller in the gaming world because, in the end, they cannot compete in terms of capabilities with SSDs, and to play in good conditions it will end up being essential to have a storage unit of this type.

SSDs may not become, strictly speaking, an exclusive requirement, but yes in something specific.

What I mean by this is that, even if we have the option to continue installing games on an HDD, we will reach a point where this will end up being little or not at all advisable, because we will have to be prepared to accept some very long loading times, popping and texture loading effects and other problems caused by the long boot times, and low speeds, of these mechanical units.

SSDs have now proven that they can make a big difference in several areas, and one of the most important is the reduction of loading times in games, But what level do we reach thanks to the PCIE Gen4 x4 standard? I think it's a very interesting question, and to answer it I've decided to test some of the most essential games currently available under a next-generation interface.

In this test, we're going to focus on the loading times of each title, and we'll score both the boot time of the title and the loading time of a game.

Loading times in games: Background information

Before we get into the tests, I think it's important to be clear about which components can have an impact when we talk about loading times in games.

I know that several of our readers will tell me that The most essential thing is the storage unit because, at the end of the day, key points such as input times and reading speeds depend on it.

Yes, it's true, you are absolutely right., the storage unit is a key issue in this regard, so much so that to mitigate the slowness of the mechanical entities of PS4 and Xbox One, the programmers resorted to duplicating data in the facilities.

In this way, when a game is installed for these consoles that weighs, for example, 100 GB, almost half of that weight is duplicate data so that the HDD unit has an easier time finding the files it needs.

Loading times on both consoles are already pretty boring even with that trick, so imagine what they'd be like without it.

However, while the storage unit is a key pillar when we talk about loading times in games, other essential characteristics also influence, such as the processor, the RAM and our Internet connection in the situation of games that have to contrast and/or download things before starting.

This has a really simple explanation, and it happens that the processor, RAM and SSD work together to fill the loading process of a game.

The central processing unit transforms the information it receives from the SSD into rules and data that can be interpreted by the system, which are stored in RAM and also in the processor's own caches.

The stronger the processor, This development of "interpretation and translation" will be completed much faster. which starts with the game running on the SSD, and the faster the RAM the less time it will take to store and ready everything it needs to run the game.

A much slower processor with fewer cores will take much longer than a much faster one with more cores.

However, the difference a processor makes in loading times in games It can change quite a bit depending on each title. specifically, and also range from a few tenths of a second to multiple seconds.

Of course, in online games that require fill out a connection development with the servers, validate and download and also arrange files and patches, the speed of our Internet connection and the status of the servers themselves will also affect loading times in games.

On the other hand, also influences our game optimization, the anti-piracy system you use (Denuvo hurts performance, we understand now) and the foundation on which they were created.

This has been more than confirmed, since, for example, intergenerational transition games usually show a significant improvement when running on an SSD, but this is less marked than in those other titles that were developed exclusively for the new generation of consoles.

Cyberpunk 2077 is a prime example.

When running the PS4 version on PS5 under compatibility mode, Sony's next-gen console took about 25 seconds to complete the loading process.

With patch 1.5, which adapts the game to the new generation of consoles, Loading time is reduced to less than 12 seconds, that is, less than half.

A high-performance SSD represents a huge leap forward

Using a classic 7,200 RPM hard drive for gaming is no longer advisable in most situations, not only because the loading times of some games can go beyond a minute, while on an SSD we should only wait a few seconds, but also because in certain games these types of entities act as a major bottleneck, and develop unpleasant problems that range from from micro-pulls to popping effects very marked.

Cyberpunk 2077 is again another of the most notable examples, although it is not the only one.

All those games with an open planet type approach which allow us to examine large areas, triggering, depending on the player's actions, each and every one of the elements that cover it.

In order for the graphics engine to be able to develop its full capacity, the storage unit must be level, otherwise delays will occur in the loading of these elements, and this can cause us to not see certain elements of the map, or they may appear suddenly and give us a good scare.

A typical HDD can achieve a bandwidth of approximately 200 MB/s sequential read, But by using mechanical parts the latency created in input times is very high.

In contrast, a new generation SSD, supported by the PCIE Gen4 x4 standard, can achieve the following: 7,000 MB/s sequential read, and by not using mechanical parts, its entry times are very fast.

In the end, the difference that an SSD makes compared to an HDD is colossal, and as we have said, it harms several points, not only loading times in games.

For example, and continuing with Cyberpunk 2077, when running it on an HDD the loading time of a game is considerably longer, and when the loading process is completed It is easy to see that not all the elements were finished being produced and loaded. from the scene.

This "popping" effect continues as we play, and is accompanied by stutters and pauses in some areas, where it is necessary to reload data.

Loading times in games: Here's what we get with a high-performance SSD

We now have the basis that is required to appreciate, with a fairly technical cushion, the results of the tests that we will see now, but before going to see the results it is important to know the configuration of the device that we have used:

• Windows 11 as OS.
• Intel Core i5-12600K processor.
• Gigabyte Aorus Master Z690 motherboard.
• Corsair VENGEANCE RAM memory, DDR5 at 4,400 MHz with CL36 latencies in 2 modules of 32 GB each (64 GB in total).
• WD Black SN850 2TB PCIE Gen4 x4 SSD.
• GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics card with 12GB of GDDR6X memory.
• Corsair iCUE H150i Elite LCD Liquid Cooling System.
• Corsair RM1000x 80 Plus Gold Certified 1,000 Watt Power Supply.

The testing methodology is simple. We have measured the total time from the moment we click to run each game, or to load the save, until all of those processes are completed.

This means that at the beginning we count the time from the moment it is executed until the moment we reach the screen where we can perform the first action.

Keep in mind that certain games detail, until you get to that point, a lot of information that we don't have the possibility to skip, like DOOM Eternal, and what others do A very annoying anti-cheat and online verification development which adds essential lag, like Gears 5 for example. Red Dead Redemption 2 also loses a lot of time with Rockstar's client testing.

In each and every case, we have run the games from scratch, that is, rebooting the system after every start and load of the game.

This causes the RAM to be completely emptied, and allows us to achieve the most neutral, clean and reliable result possible. You can enlarge all the images by clicking on them.

I think the outcomes speak for themselves and are, generally, very good, except for certain unusual cases that, of course, They have an explanation.

Gears 5 has a very slow start time because it does, as I said at the beginning, a lot of tasks and previous checks, and it also has a very long waiting screen at the beginning that ends in a second loading screen.

However, the loading time of the games is fast.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is among the games that performed best in our game loading time tests, both in terms of start time and game loading time.

Several of the games They load the game in less than ten seconds with the device we used, although DOOM Eternal takes the cake with its record of less than 5 seconds.

Death Stranding, on the other hand, achieves the opposite result, taking a long time to load a game.

I think this may be caused by our game engine, or simply a glitch in the PC version.

If we use an HDD, loading times are multiplied.

For example, loading a game in DOOM Eternal It can take us between 20 and 30 seconds, depending on the agility of the unit we use, while with the WD Black SN850 The game loads in less than 5 seconds, as we saw.

In Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition things are even worse, as we are talking about loading times of between 60 and 90 seconds, that is, between one minute and one and a half minutes to load a game.

With the WD Black SN850, we now see that we have the possibility of loading a game in less than 15 seconds.

Performing these tests has helped me to confirm that an SSD makes a colossal difference, and that It optimizes the gaming experience so much that it is truly a must-have..

Without it, game startup and loading times can be frustrating.

On the other hand, these tests also made me realize how cumbersome and annoying the online verification processes, anti-cheat systems, and messages, logos, and credits that some developers display at the beginning of their games can be, and which we cannot skip in any way.

This clearly increases loading times in games.

Finally, I have also felt that There remains an essential path in terms of optimization, since many of these values can be improved, although we should not expect a significant evolution in this regard until game developments start completely from the new generation of consoles and completely forget about HDDs.

Read also : How to build a gaming PC.