NXE Update Improving Game Experiences

by pastapadre
Posted November 19th, 2008 at 6:13 pm

One of the anticipated elements to the New Xbox Experience (NXE) is the ability to install the games to the hard drive. While the disc is still required to be in the 360 while playing, drawing from the hard drive is supposed to put less strain on the hardware as well as decrease loading times as the disc isn’t spinning or being read.

So I thought I would go through and experiment with some of the more recent sports titles to see what if any effect is had by installing the game to the hard drive. The actual installs took about 10 minutes each. I went through a few scenarios with NCAA Football 09, Madden 09, NBA 2K9, and NHL 09. Continue on to see the results.

Size of Install: 6.3 GB
Start-up of game into the menu screen: 1:10 (disc) vs 1:01 (hard drive)
Loading into a play now game: 24 seconds (disc) vs 16 seconds (hard drive)
Loading out of a game into the menu screen: 35 seconds (disc) vs 34 seconds (hard drive)
Total time saved: 18 seconds

Size of Install: 6.7 GB
Start-up of game into the menu screen: 54 seconds (disc) vs 38 seconds (hard drive)
Loading into a play now game: 41 seconds (disc) vs 37 seconds (hard drive)
Loading out of a game into the menu screen: 15 seconds (disc) vs 9 seconds (hard drive)
Total time saved: 26 seconds

Size of Install: 6.7 GB
Start-up of game into the menu screen: 57 seconds (disc) vs 42 seconds (hard drive)
Loading into a play now game: 29 seconds (disc) vs 22 seconds (hard drive)
Loading out of a game into the menu screen: 6 seconds (disc) vs 3 seconds (hard drive)
Total time saved: 25 seconds

Size of Install: 5.7 GB
Start-up of game into the menu screen: 43 seconds (disc) vs 38 seconds (hard drive)
Loading into a play now game: 27 seconds seconds (disc) vs 24 seconds (hard drive)
Loading out of a game into the menu screen: 2 seconds (disc) vs 1 second (hard drive)
Total time saved: 9 seconds

While the times were not reduced drastically there is some improvement seen from loading off the hard drive as opposed to the disc. Just saving a few seconds here and there is a good thing and can really add up.

Browsing through menus I found some cases where moving through them seemed a little more fluid, while other times it seemed the same as before with some occasional lag/stuttering. There have been reports of people believing that the games actually play better when running off the hard drive, though I did not attempt to evaluate that for this article.

The thing I noticed most while doing the comparisons is the noise that the 360 generated. When reading off the hard drive it was very quiet. Basically the same amount of sound the 360 produces when just sitting on the dashboard is what you get when playing the games that are installed to the hard drive.

So this has taken me to the conclusion that I need to upgrade my hard drive to at least the 60GB. There is the immediate benefits being seen of slightly quicker load times, potentially smoother menus and gameplay, and a quieter running 360. It seems well worth the investment now.

Tags: hard drive eval

aaron

i was wondering how much putting them on the hard drives would help thanks for taking the time to show us. ah now i need a bigger hard drive too.
aaron

i was wondering how much putting them on the hard drives would help thanks for taking the time to show us. ah now i need a bigger hard drive too.
Groundhog

Just happy to beat that SDot spanner. :-/
Groundhog

Just happy to beat that SDot spanner. :-/
Jbledyaboi

so when it says strain is reduced, does that mean that it reduces your chances of RROD?
Jbledyaboi

so when it says strain is reduced, does that mean that it reduces your chances of RROD?
Clinton

I played nba live on this does playing off the Hard drive Dumb Down The graphics at all it seemed weird to me?
Clinton

I played nba live on this does playing off the Hard drive Dumb Down The graphics at all it seemed weird to me?
ferris

it reminds me of wii with the avators and all
Kai Reckinger

^^^ probably because you played NBA 2k9?! : p
ferris

it reminds me of wii with the avators and all
Kai Reckinger

^^^ probably because you played NBA 2k9?! : p
ferris

@ Jbledyaboi:
i hope
ferris

@ Jbledyaboi:
i hope
Eric

Pasta, how long did it take to install/delete each of these games?
I’ve only got a 20GB hard drive, but I change games on about a weekly basis; I’m just wondering if the installation/deletion time is short enough to warrant making the install/deletes as frequently as I’d need to.
Eric

Pasta, how long did it take to install/delete each of these games?
I’ve only got a 20GB hard drive, but I change games on about a weekly basis; I’m just wondering if the installation/deletion time is short enough to warrant making the install/deletes as frequently as I’d need to.
smokez4Dayz

yeah, i gotta switch to a 60 GB. I’ve been putting it off. But the games on hard drive, stops that disc from spinning and making all that noise.
smokez4Dayz

yeah, i gotta switch to a 60 GB. I’ve been putting it off. But the games on hard drive, stops that disc from spinning and making all that noise.
pastapadre

About 10 mins to install, 1 second to delete
pastapadre

About 10 mins to install, 1 second to delete
alexguy96

so do you mean you still have to have that game disc running after you download to your harddrive to play the game? if it is then whats the point? its just the same as playing from the disc. Its just wasting memory room just for game time saved and quietness. Whats the point????
alexguy96

so do you mean you still have to have that game disc running after you download to your harddrive to play the game? if it is then whats the point? its just the same as playing from the disc. Its just wasting memory room just for game time saved and quietness. Whats the point????
johnshaft23

good thing i have a 120 GB HD on the Elite. I installed nba live 09 an dit’s very quiet and seemed faster and more fluid. As long as it reduces freezing and heating up of the box itself, I am good.
johnshaft23

good thing i have a 120 GB HD on the Elite. I installed nba live 09 an dit’s very quiet and seemed faster and more fluid. As long as it reduces freezing and heating up of the box itself, I am good.
johnshaft23

alexguy96 wrote:

so do you mean you still have to have that game disc running after you download to your harddrive to play the game? if it is then whats the point? its just the same as playing from the disc. Its just wasting memory room just for game time saved and quietness. Whats the point????

the disc probably needs to be there for piracy issues. it reads i guess the code on the disc , but the disc is not being read so it reduces acivity of the drive >>> less heating>>>>less loading times>>>> less freezing.
johnshaft23

alexguy96 wrote:

so do you mean you still have to have that game disc running after you download to your harddrive to play the game? if it is then whats the point? its just the same as playing from the disc. Its just wasting memory room just for game time saved and quietness. Whats the point????

the disc probably needs to be there for piracy issues. it reads i guess the code on the disc , but the disc is not being read so it reduces acivity of the drive >>> less heating>>>>less loading times>>>> less freezing.
scdb12

I have mixed opinions about this. It seems a little harder to navigate through everything. Liked the Avatars though. I installed NCAA on my HDD and I did notice slight decrease in load times.
scdb12

I have mixed opinions about this. It seems a little harder to navigate through everything. Liked the Avatars though. I installed NCAA on my HDD and I did notice slight decrease in load times.
http://pastapadre.com/ sdot

@ GHOG RELAX lil homie I WON’T be ON it like dat til FNRD4 DROPS

den U will see plenty of

if ur NOT 1ST ur LAST
http://pastapadre.com sdot

@ GHOG RELAX lil homie I WON’T be ON it like dat til FNRD4 DROPS

den U will see plenty of

if ur NOT 1ST ur LAST
acreyman

Yet another reason to switch to a bigger HD for me….Xmas is close!
acreyman

Yet another reason to switch to a bigger HD for me….Xmas is close!
Nick

Yay I get to save 20 seconds! This feature is pointless.
Nick

Yay I get to save 20 seconds! This feature is pointless.
Anthony

that’s quite an experiment, thanks Pasta
Anthony

that’s quite an experiment, thanks Pasta
Justin tuck

you probably have a slow connection pasta.

I heard it takes 5 mins to install to harddrive and sports games shouldn’t take that long to install.
Justin tuck

you probably have a slow connection pasta.

I heard it takes 5 mins to install to harddrive and sports games shouldn’t take that long to install.
adam

This is dumb. You still need the game to play it. Pointless. and no, it does not make the gameplay better..lol
adam

This is dumb. You still need the game to play it. Pointless. and no, it does not make the gameplay better..lol
Jonathon

got a 120 GB HDD…its pretty nice to be able to play a game in silence…and not have to crank of the TV volume to hear the action in the game….
Jonathon

got a 120 GB HDD…its pretty nice to be able to play a game in silence…and not have to crank of the TV volume to hear the action in the game….
Lalo418

i saved madden to my hard drive and i was playing on line and it booted it me out of every game i played….. and i was like whats going on so than im guessing its this stupid hard drive thing cuz its never happened before….anyone have any thoughts on that?
Lalo418

i saved madden to my hard drive and i was playing on line and it booted it me out of every game i played….. and i was like whats going on so than im guessing its this stupid hard drive thing cuz its never happened before….anyone have any thoughts on that?
P1stons23

I just played madden and nba live online tonight off HD and it was fine worked even better then normal more smooth
P1stons23

I just played madden and nba live online tonight off HD and it was fine worked even better then normal more smooth
BiggieFatz

Justin tuck wrote:

undefined

it has nothing to do with a connection. if he says it takes 10 min than its 10 min it looks like he loaded a lot of diff games, I believe he would know.
BiggieFatz

Justin tuck wrote:

undefined

it has nothing to do with a connection. if he says it takes 10 min than its 10 min it looks like he loaded a lot of diff games, I believe he would know.
BiggieFatz

Lalo418 wrote:

undefined

I would be willing to bet that its because you and the guy you are playing against aren’t getting completely synced up together due to the differing load times. my copy of ncaa football takes forever to load, so when I play online I get past the match up screen & I wait for the game to load, it takes a lil longer to load. I can even hear the other player over mic. but at the coin flip I get disconected.
BiggieFatz

Lalo418 wrote:

undefined

I would be willing to bet that its because you and the guy you are playing against aren’t getting completely synced up together due to the differing load times. my copy of ncaa football takes forever to load, so when I play online I get past the match up screen & I wait for the game to load, it takes a lil longer to load. I can even hear the other player over mic. but at the coin flip I get disconected.