What should I expect with current-gen games on a hard drive for load times?

[Paisley_H]

I just saw the leaked specs for the new console port, and they’re calling for a solid-state drive as a minimum requirement. My current rig still has a regular hard disk, and I’m worried the load times are going to be unbearable, maybe even cause stuttering in open zones. Has anyone tried playing a current-gen game with similar requirements on an HDD lately?

[Robert_T]

I actually tried a current gen open world game on an older HDD about six months ago. Load times were noticeably longer, like a full screen after every entrance to a new district, and sometimes textures would pop in as I moved.

[KyleC]

A friend did something similar on a PC with a newer title; the areas loaded fine most of the time, but between zones stuttered a bit as assets streamed in.

[Aubrey.R]

Do you think the bottleneck is the disk or something in the streaming pipeline?

[JerryC]

I tried an external drive for a test and the load times dropped a bit, but in busy zones the stutter still showed up.