Xbox One vs PS4 Game Install Time Comparison

Watch a new video showing a game install time comparison on PS4 and Xbox One.

[GribbleGrunger]

Why does it take 4 minutes longer to install on the X1?

[GarrusVakarian]

I know, that's weird. Can you play while you install with the X1?

Damn that's quick on the PS4, i hated the installs on PS3.

[Kayant]

@Lukas_Japonicus

iirc yes but it's only after a certain percentage

"Call of Duty: Ghosts reportedly takes around 10 minutes to install 51 per cent of the game, after which point you are then able to play."

http://www.eurogamer.net/ar...

[darthv72]

It seems that if a game requires a patch that is available at the time you first insert the disc....the xb1 downloads and installs the patch during the install process.

If you disconnect from the internet, the game can be installed prior to patching but if you go online then it will get the patch before playing.

My view is both platforms should have kept the option to play from the disc with the choice to install if needed. Both are using newer and quicker bluray optical drives.

[ProjectVulcan]

Bluray 6x read is a constant 27MB/s. If the drive runs for over 5 minutes at full speed just installing it should be at least 8Gb read off the disc.

But I don't think thats the problem, I think there has to be a software flaw here, I read reports of people having extremely slow installs far beyond anything that should be happening.

OS bug? Updates problem? Disc errors? Who knows.

[FANTA1180]

at some point yes,.

[user5575708]

well looks like that cloud processing is hard at work

[BitbyDeath]

Sony has a secondary chip which it offloads a lot of work to, Xbone does not.

[vigilante_man]

If you are the owner of a new sparkling XBox One today I guess you do not give a damn if it takes a little longer to install just as long as you can play your new next gen games!

As I jealous PS4 fan still waiting in the UK I can only offer my best wishes to all XB1 owners on their fantastic launch. Here's hoping there are no major issues.

Today is Microsoft's Day. A big congratulations to them and all new XB1 owners. Let the games begin...

[irepbtown]

@vigilante_man

I'm on your boat, still another week until our release.

The PS4 is faster but not by a big amount which is good news for any folks getting (or have) the X1. And I'm sure whatever console you've chosen, you wouldn't mind a few minute difference.

Totally agree @Lukas_Japonicus, PS3 install was bloody annoying on the PS3. From what I'm reading about the PS4, it's pretty quick.

[ShinMaster]

XBOX ONE HAS A SLOWER BLU-RAY DRIVE.

Mystery solved.

[NewMonday]

so far the PS4 has..

faster installs
faster browser
organized UI
simple to use live stream
better audio support

the PS4 is winning the services category the XBone was built for.

[UnHoly_One]

NewMonday I have to disagree with you on the "organized UI" bullet point.

I think the PS4's UI is absolutely horrible.

I never liked the XMB either, though.

At least this is marginally better, but I predict it will get to be quite the cluttered mess once you build up a library of downloaded games.

[LonDonE]

@vigilante_man and @irepbtown

I too live in UK and man waiting one more week is killing me, what makes it even worse is my work colleagues booked time off on the launch day, so i will be stuck at work from 7am till 8:30pm so by the time i get home I AM SHATTERED!!! so most likely wont even be able to play it much!
And its the same for Saturday, i have Sunday off, so Saturday night onwards i will be playing it non stop LOL

So annoyed i didn't book it off earlier, knowing my mates they will msg me with vids pics etc! aaaggghhhh!!!! either way at least i can say i have my own job,my own house, wife and kids, and so bills to pay! while most of them live at home with their mums and have had their mums buy it for them LOLOL

So technically its not even their PS4! LMAO

[FamilyGuy]

They said they wanted to make everything faster on the PS4, that secondary chip is doing an amazing job.

It's been said that downloads, system updates and patches all happen in the background, even while in standby mode thanks to this low-power secondary chip. What I was curious about was whether uploads continue in the background while in standby mode as well because I didn't see this mentioned. I was going to bed and my video wasn't done uploading so I tested it out. Tried it last night with an upload of a Resogun video and it works!

Loving the PS4 more each day.

[snipermk0]

another comparison with Call of Duty Ghosts:

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[mikeslemonade]

Haha whatever happen to XBL being the better service?? I mention XBL because the zealots usually mention that they don't need to install games because it installs during while they download.

[OrangePowerz]

Could have something to do with the Xbox One originally being designed to run games only from the HDD and not from the disc. The plan was that the discs are only used for installation and the game would work without the disc. They might not have changed that function, so it would need to install more data before it is playable.

[ethomaz]

PS4 runs the game from HDD only too.

[Kayant]

@ethomaz

No it doesn't. How do you explain how people can play it while the game installs in the background?

Edit - Ahh I see what you mean there. Yh after initial installation that's true.

[DARK WITNESS]

surely if the original idea from the beginning was that all games would be installed and run from the HDD, then shouldn't it be a lot faster on the xb1.

I can understand that installing and then starting to play may be affected but regardless. If the xb1 was always intended to install then it should be optimized to do that in the fastest possible time, it should be faster then the ps4 if anything... Not slower

another question, are the stall sizes exactly the same for both systems? I think everyone just assumes that they are, but has anyone actually checked ?

[ethomaz]

@Kayant

The games runs only from HDD... it install the first amount of data to start to play the game so after that it use this game to play and in background install the additional to progress in the game... after the full disc is installed no BD read is done anymore.

Games on PS4 are full installed on HDD too.

Cerny explained that pretty well.

Edit - @DARK WITNESS, the install sizes are close... just 1-2GB different.

[despair]

@ethomaz

Not true, you can start playing killzone less than a minute after inserting the disk and textures are massive, no way would it have copied enough resources to pay the game by then, it runs from both until it is fully cached on the hdd.

[OrangePowerz]

The PS4 still loads from both disc and HHD after the files are installed, hence why you don't need for it to reach 50% in games like CoD before you can play.

[Sevir]

The PS4 Caches data for fast loading, you are still required to have the disc in the drive to play, UNLESS the game is digital!

I tried switching from Resogun to Battlefield 4 while Injustice:GAU was in the drive and a message popped up saying,

"proper disc not inserted"
And I had to eject Injustice and insert BF4.

[cell989]

I think it's all software, Sony really did a number on Microsoft, they are ahead on everything. I sure as he'll see how the trade off for no mp3 at launch was the right choice, in exchange for twitch streaming and smooth game installs. Sony did not F around this time

[Bathyj]

Got me a Hybrid drive. Interested to see what difference it makes.

Edit
That comparison is bizzare.
There are a few instances where the Stock drive is quicker. and apparent Black Flag boots 37 and 47 seconds quicker on the stock than the Hybrid and Solid State respectively. Thats a huge amount.

Yet they claim Hybrid offers the best combination of performance boost, storage size and price over all but some of those numbers seem weird.

Oh well, its what Im using now. I think I've actually got the same Seagate they used in the test so I should be good.

[Eonjay]

There is a comparison on IGN:
http://www.ign.com/wikis/pl...

[ABizzel1]

It should knock off a few seconds on just about everything you do.

How bid is the SD in it?

[Eonjay]

Its not what it seems and I don't think IGN pointed out the obvious. With Hybrid HDD you have to let the drive cache data to NAND to utilize its speed boost. So basically, the first boot of Resogun may be slow, but subsequent boots will be much faster than HDD. This includes system cold booting.

[GameSpawn]

@eonjay

That is also assuming that the "redundant" data doesn't exceed the size of the SSD cache (8GB on most hybrid drives).

So as long as the data that is constantly being accessed from the hard drive stays under 8GB you'll notice near SSD performance as the data is being pulled from the SSD cache and not the conventional drive. Once you have a cache miss (data not on the SSD portion) then you get MUCH slower access times due to the failed attempt + subsequent data retrieval and caching.

The goal is to minimize cache misses. Inevitably you are going to have a cache miss, but if the data set your working with is small enough your hits will far outweigh the misses giving closer to real SSD performance. If it is the other way around though you can actually get WORSE performance than a conventional hard drive alone because you are performing two read requests for each cache miss instead of one.

[The_KELRaTH]

Unfortunate not nearly as much as it could have due to saving a few pence and not supporting SATA III

[My_Outer_Heaven]

PS4 is more powerful.

[stuna1]

Those 3 OS's are bogging down the Xbox1 as a whole! One would have to figure there would have to be some type of conflict between the different Operating systems, even on standard PC's with more than one OS tweaks have to be made! I don't see why the same wouldn't apply to the Xbox1 as we'll.

[123pol]

The ps4 has a x8 bluray and xbox one has a x6

[tigertom53]

maybe ps4 has a faster drive

[crazyclown]

Reason why the PS4 is superior and the XBONE is inferior :)

Hate all you want, this is my opinion (and a fact). Dislike it? GTFO!

Love it, then :)

[farhad2k8]

@UnHoly_One

Are you kidding me? If you put the PS4 and XB1 UI in front of a 60 year old man who has never had an electronic device in his life, he would find it much easier to navigate on the PS4. The UI isn't bulked up with random ads, random TV related prompts, it's straight to the point, and it revolves around the games of the PS4.

[Tapewurm]

The power of Teh Cloud! 8)

[TBONEJF]

and why are u all looking at FIFA? that's not a next gen game

[solid_snake3656]

It seems slow because it was compared to a superior console.

[SaturdayNightBeaver]

Jesus lets compare which power cord is longer? This is just pure BS

[shysun]

Why? It's always been this way...Why don't you like it now?

Im not saying we have to be this way but just go with it man. ;)

[Gekko36]

This is just a geek pissin contest.

Well I've got an Xbox One and a 9.5" nob. Does that mean I win?

[nosferatuzodd]

why indeed

[imdaboss1]

4 to 5 min is a big difference who the hell wants to wait that long??

[Demobot]

A loser with no life or woman.

[BX81]

Lmao go figure cod, I could play bf4 and ryse single player around 23%. The mp for bf4 I couldn't play till 100% download.

[Malacath]

Probably because a game patch is being downloaded during the install.

I agree though that game installs are annoying on any platform but unfortunately that's how it's going to be on both ps4 and xb1.

At least once the game is installed you don't have to do it again(unless you delete of course)

[iLemon]

It took so long to install NFS that I thought it was copying the entire disk instead of the 351MB it mentioned. It took less time to download the 500MB OS update over the internet.

[blackbirdi]

are talking about xbox one or ps4 ?

[MasterCornholio]

He's talking about Xbox One because the PS4s update is only 300MB in size.

Nexus 7 2013

[JackVagina]

whats the dealio? dont they both have the same 5400rpm HDD and 6x BD drive

[AgitatedOcelot]

Three Microsoft OS's running through virtualization and using the ntfs filesystem.

I'm guessing the PS4 is using EXT 4 since it uses BSD, Which is just a better, faster files system in my opinion.

[agibbis]

This!

Its not all about snazzy hardware, considering both machines are very similar.

The software the PS4 uses and file system is imo what puts the PS4 slightly ahead.

[GoodnessGreatness]

Add a faster harddrive like an SSD.

[Fishy Fingers]

Are there any benchmarks to compare? Based on current gen I believe that made little difference.

I personally don't see the fuss, if your installing the game your going to have to wait. So wait. I don't think knowing X console installs something 10% faster or slower is going to kill you.

[sak500]

Dont know about consoles but i've been using 128GB SSD as main o/s and i've noticed shortend boot time, increased response when opening o/s related apps like control pannel ones. Been using it since 2011.

I wish new gen consoles could have used a 32 / 64 gb ssd only for o/s and caching files.

[BX81]

I hated the ps3 wait but I got use to it. The Xbox one wait isn't as long but still sux and I'm already over it.

[My_Outer_Heaven]

From what I've seen theres no real performance benefit from doing that. Its better to go bigger rather than a bit faster.

[DoesUs]

A hybrid drive seems the best option, and you will see some really good gains over the stock drive.

[Bathyj]

Thats why I went Hybrid. Still 1tb but slightly better performance (should be comparable to a 7200rpm which I had trouble finding a good one) but less heat than that, and cheaper and more storage than a SSD.

[thehitman]

from the benches I seen as well I dont think its worth it to put an SSD. Especially since the size of the SSD will be MUCH less which is counter productive. Unless your willing to fork out like 500-600 bucks for a 1 TB SSD I wouldnt bother and still then I would rather stick that baby in my PC and not my ps4.

[MasterCornholio]

Wow the Xbox One is slow.

Nexus 7 2013

[sak500]

Wow ps3 had pretty long assed downloads/install/updates but did it stop it from selling?

[Swiggins]

That was 8 years ago bro, we're living in the future dammit!

[MasterCornholio]

Did having faster installs stop the PS4 from outselling the Xbox One?

[Deathdeliverer]

Swiggins I tried to agree but hit disagree on my phone in laughter lol.

[phoenix_dusk]

Wow. That's a dealbreaker tbh.

[MasterCornholio]

Imagine what the installs would be like with huge games?

Nexus 7 2013

[FANTA1180]

the install times suck... hopefully they can fix that.

not gonna complain too much its just a one time thing.

[Convas]

The Xbox One downloads Day One patches for these games first before getting to the game installation folks.

This is known.

[Neoninja]

Actually I did not know this so you taught me something new.
Not really a big deal to me though. As long as I can play the game and enjoy it, is all that matters.

[Tooly]

so does the ps4 is you go to the downloads on ps4 it downloads the game and installs it while downloading the patch

[KingDadXVI]

And many people that got the PS4 had exactly the same problem with having to wait for hours before playing their games.

[Tooly]

@king Not me my shit was done asap....

[LordDhampire]

Kingdad stop making stuff up, Ps4 had a few problems, but I haven't heard that complain once

[KingDadXVI]

This is all due to the fact that he Xbox One requires the download patch for the game first. If the download takes 5 minutes then that adds 5 minutes to the install time.

Some people will say that they should allow the game to install first and patch it later but I would argue that it makes more sense from the stand point of the game developer/publisher and console manufacturer to force the patch so that people don't shit all over the game or system for having a game full of bugs.

Either way it is a catch 22 as they will catch flak for either a slower install like some are experiencing or a game that drops frame rate or crashes.

[BISHOP-BRASIL]

I can be wrong so don't quote me on that (PS4 only releases hereon the 29th), but from what I've been reading, PS4 does the same process, installing patches and game data at once... Again, don't quote me on that, I'll only know for sure on the 29th.

[KingDadXVI]

I have heard the same. Whether it is true I cannot verify. The other thing to mention about this video is that the PS4 has been out for a week now while the Xbox has just been released. So the pressure on the servers for downloads of Xbox One games will create a bigger delay than for the PS4. Have fun with your PS4. I can't open ours until Christmas as it is a gift for my kids (and me LOL).

[BISHOP-BRASIL]

Man, I couldn't even imagine having a PS4 (or any new videogame console, really) on my house and waiting to open it... The first thing that came to my mind was to say "screw the kids!", but that's probably not the best parenting advice! LOL

Back on topic, I totally agree, if you have to download and install the patches along the gamedata, it will be a long time of extensive testing before we know for sure if there are significant differences in performance.

Quality of the online service from either console maker will affect this, as will number of people downloading it at the same time, it could also be something in our end like internet quality and setting (port forward may be in order)... And those are just a few variables on top of what's already being discussed here (BD Drive speed, filesystem, OS, etc).

It's simply not worth the trouble to even try and guess which one performs better at installs right now or based on a single game... And I doubt it will ever be worth it. I mean, I don't think this is irrelevant as we have to install every game now, but this is a one time deal per game (or multiple when the HDD is getting crowdded, but still) not something we'll have to do all the time.

[hawkeyejonjon]

When I got Killzone Shadow Fall and when it was installing the game data it was also downloading the patch at the same time. For digital games it would download the game and patch at the same time as well

Edit:I don't understand why Xbox One installing slower. As long as you can play it in the end it doesn't matter but I can possibly understand some(if any frustrations) going from optional installs(Xbox 360) to mandatory installs(Xbox One)

[N8]

I saw this first hand last night. My friend got an xb1 and we where playing my ps4 while we waited. Xb1 takes longer to install I was like wtf is just COD! It took longer though I dont know why.

[sak500]

Read the above comments it's already mentioned that it takes longer due to downloading and installing patch files first.

[jimbobbeers]

This is because the PS4 uses caching to the HDD, and the Xbox doesn't, simple. Essentially the PS4 will play games quicker but loading times will be reduced for the first 30 mins whilst its caching all the data from the disc. The Xbox plays the safer game of installing 50% to the hard drive before allowing gameplay.

Ultimately this means the PS4 will allow you to play games quicker but loading times will be longer than normal, and Xbox go for longer install times to reduce load time for the first 30mins.

[Deathdeliverer]

Well coming from someone with both systems that is not the case. PS4 does all patching and installing simultaneously. Just look at the activity when you put a new game in. It's simply faster all around. Installing, loading times after installing. Period. Does not mean that the Xbox is bad. Just means the facts are the facts.

[jimbobbeers]

Fact is PS4 caches, Shu says so.

https://twitter.com/yosp/st...

And multiple sites have confirmed load times are longer when the game hasn't installed a great deal. As I said.

[sackboyhappy]

the vid of the xbox looks like it has more colour to it, i hope that's just the way they captured the video, i dont want games that look like cod (dull, washed out greys and browns)

[ThatCanadianGuy514]

This must be a serious issue for xbox, right guys? I mean, you always said what a horrible piece of tech PS3 was for long downloads (not even this long) So Xbone must be a abomination, right guys? Guys where are you?

[JamieL]

At your mama's house, while the One's loading.

[Golden_Mud]

Unfortunately a patch have to be downloaded through the internet for every game , the over load of the servers are making a huge problem to make a little long times of install

[Hakoom]

wow 4 mins? oO

[BRAD-RIDGE]

I Think the xbone has an extra part for fifa over the ps4 but thats still a long wait. but i won't worry too much at least you can snap it right? And it should be a one time thing

[Mister_G]

Well done Sony :)

[sagapo]

Is the amount of data installed equal?? they don't mention that.
It's the same game tho, but if for some reason the Xbone version installs more data, the difference could be explained that way.

Still, installing games on X360 took ages ass well...

[explicitbaron]

I'm a patient person so I never minded dealing with installs on the PS3. I am surprised that the PS4 is faster for installs on the Xbox One. Everyone used to gloat about how Xbox doesn't need installs now it does AND it's slower than the Playstation.

[CaulkSlap]

If it weren't for 360 lacking a hard drive as standard we would have gotten used to installs a long time ago. And games would have looked as amazing as GTA5 much earlier. Streaming from discs is just so much slower than a hard drive and frees up more RAM for the actual game instead of caching.

Really gotta consider that the 6x Blu-ray drives are only 3 times faster, yet the system RAM is 16 times larger than before. Just doesn't cut it for streaming data if you want to continually utilize all of the RAM.

[GrandpaSnake]

Dude you guys should have seen my friend who constantly gloats about everything xbox, i was like you the x1 is slower than the ps4 he was like " hell NO!" then i showed him the video in he was like "that shit is a faulty xbox1" then when he got his x1 he brought it over confidently and we did a side by side comparison and he was like ready to cry!! holy smokes. i grew up with him so he is brutally honest and he was THAT guy always talking up the xbox.
Things like, xbox has better games, xbox sales more, xbox has faster DL times,xbox games look better,xbox has a better controller, xbox has a better UI... i mean this guy never stopped and this year PLAYSTATION totally flipped the tide around.

[GdaTyler]

More icing on the cake. Greatness Awaits.

[ironmonkey]

Man that xone is looking like shit and thats me being honest. Even worst than the 360.

[Themba76]

i personally think the 360 is better it catered to gamers more not casual media buffs

[BaconBits]

I did not even know you could install COD ghosts. I bought the disc but could not find and install option. Just put it in and played. Am I missing something?

[DJ]

PS4 and Xbox One games are full copied to their respective Hard Drives. The disc is only used as authentication afterwards.

PS4 lets you delete any game data off the HDD. Not sure if Xbox is the same. Can anyone fill us in? Thanks.

[brosephsmith]

Anyone remember weeks ago, xbox fans talking about launch lineup...ryse this, ryse that.xbox launch lineup was the best.RYSE!!! Bwahahaha have u read the reviews...game suuuuuuucks! Lmfao!

[qzp]

all this for 100$ more what a deal

[bigboirock]

it tells you before you install a game that it needs to download a patch first. i got 5 games at launch and all 5 needed to download a patch first witch all ranged up to 1gig.

thats the long part for me takes about 5 min to download patch and half that to install full game to hard drive

[alexmurur]

Why the installs... so much for "the next gen"..

[Mister_G]

Blu-ray is too slow to stream off the disk

[DJ]

I guess Sony's OS is just faster than the two OS's that Microsoft made for Xbox. This is probably the most bizarre news story regarding next-gen.

[ELpork]

lol, German ads...

[Dreadnort]

I think one of the most surprising things I learned is that both of these next gen consoles use SATA II HDD's. I mean come one SATA II really ??. I know that as far as copying a game to HDD is concerned it's governed by the speed of the Bluray player. But you'd have thought that they utilising SATA III would have been an absolute no brainer, apparently not.

Once a game was installed, a SATA III would have helped considerably I'd have thought to further reduce loading times. At least MS and presumably Sony too have ditched FAT32 in favour of NTFS, something that with large single XXGb size files to download or on disc was pretty much a foregone conclusion.

[GoPanthers999]

How long does it take to install Titanfall on PS4? = NEVER.