The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    USB 3.0 External For Gaming?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by scottdx, Apr 6, 2011.

  1. scottdx

    scottdx Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Can games be run well off of external hard drives, USB 3.0 specifically? Would a large USB 3.0 Flash drive work as well? Thanks for the help.
     
  2. Greg

    Greg Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    7,857
    Messages:
    16,212
    Likes Received:
    58
    Trophy Points:
    466
    I don't see why not. Plenty of bandwidth, maybe some additional latency, but nothing that would be a serious impediment.
     
  3. scottdx

    scottdx Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Would a flash drive be more responsive? Thanks.
     
  4. fred2028

    fred2028 Sexy member

    Reputations:
    196
    Messages:
    2,205
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    56
    Depends on the read/write speeds of the eHDD and flash drives. And the game I guess. I wouldn't see why games like CoD wouldn't run well, you might experience longer loading times and stuttering every now and then when textures and whatnot is being loaded from disc or when progress is being saved. However, I am inclined to think that a 7200 PM USB 3.0 eHDD should be better than a flash drive for gaming, unless the flash drive is USB 3.0 as well
    .