mvandermolen wrote:Hey Everybody,
I thought I would share with you what I've learned. Like you guys I had the terrible stutter issue since I bought this system. However, I was able to completely resolve it.
The problem can be pointed at the included HDD, which is pretty slow. I recently bought a samsung 830 series SSD for my computer. So I tried swapping that drive for the one that was included with the system.
And now every issue is gone. Even Uncharted 3 is working like a charm now. Not only that, the system actually makes less noise now. I can only assume that this very low budget disc they included is the culprit. (Is that the right word? I'm Dutch.)
What was the brand and model of the stock HDD in your 500GB model?
I remember the the stock 40GB drive in my 40GB Phat was a Seagate. When i upgraded it first time to a 320GB Western Digital the system ran considerably cooler.
I guess Sony use a few suppliers for HDD's so a certain installed HDD model/brand maybe causing issues for some 500GB model users?
mvandermolen wrote:It's a 500GB Hitachi drive running at 5400RPM. The exact model is this: Z5K500-500.
I also found a link to a review of this drive: http://www.storagereview.com/hitachi_travelstar_z5k500_review_hts545050a7e380.
"The Z5K500 suffers considerably when it comes to performance, however; its read performance is middle of the pack but its write performance is downright awful. Furthermore it has a high average write latency, which hurts performance across the board."
Because games like uncharted are writing to the HDD almost all the time, it suffers from the above issue.
That's probably why some 500GB users are not reporting issues. They probably don't have that stock Hitachi drive installed.
Like i said before Sony source parts and HDD's from a few suppliers. It's pot luck if you buy a 500GB model with the Hitachi HDD. Some game's cache data on the HDD so if it's not doing the job correctly problems will occur.
MrRobofish wrote:I bought a brand new PS3 500gb super-slim today and have the exact same problem. Is the only fix seriously replacing the HDD?
Right on, Sony. Seriously, exemplary work there.
Have a look at the stock HDD installed if it's the Hitachi Z5K500-500 take it back. Chances are though like for like replacement from the same store you'll probably end up with the same Hitachi HDD.
I would personally opt for the 12GB model and install my own HDD. This can work out cheaper than 500GB if you shop around.
The Hitachi Z5K500-500 was slated for it's performance in this review.
http://www.storagereview.com/hitachi_travelstar_z5
Member
I have been searching endlessly trying to find a solution to Uncharted 3 in regards to the stuttering/skipping of the game.Uncharted 2 never had this issue and ran as smooth as butter. I have read many threads regarding the disc being faulty, HDD, PS3 model you name it. So i started to expirement to find out the problem as well as do a little research. I have come to the conclusion that Naughty Dog is really pushing the PS3 in uncharted to its potential which requires a lot of data to be streamed behind the scenes to the HDD. Unfortunatly the Default Hitachi HDD that comes with the superslim cannot utilize this data very well which is why you get stuttering during gameplay as well as audio sync issues. The Hitachi is just not capable to write the data fast enough. So as i said i did some research and i decided to purchase Seagates Momentous XT 750GB Hybrid drive. It utizlized HDD technolgy combined with SSD or solid state memory. This is very fast memory that can access files that are used often very quickly. This model comes equipped with 8GB of SSD not to mention 32MB cache. I have tested it out on uncharted 3 and i can tell you that after a long time searching i have finally cured the stuttering and audio issues. Uncharted for me is now running like uncharted 2. I decided to make this post that way it would give people looking for the same thing i was, a straightforward answer on what is really causing lag in Uncharted 3. Naughty Dog did not make a faulty game. We are just at the end of the consoles generation and the PS3 is being pushed to the maxed and some devlopers are turning to streaming content behind the scenes onto the HDD. So their you have it, take this information as you may and finally enjoy uncharted they way it was meant to be played. 
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