Gaming On USB 3.0 External

[Sambo110]

Does anyone do this? I understand the load times would be slower, but would performance be fine? With only a 256GB SSD in the rMBP, I might need to put some games on the external. Would this run fine though? Thanks!

 

[Jeffrosproto]

While I haven't gamed on it yet, I picked up a 2TB MyPassport USB3 drive because I'm in the same situation as you. My benchmarks saw it getting 100MB/s+ read/write, so I'd assume it'd be almost just as good - if not virtually indistinguishable from an internal (spinning) drive for gaming.

 

[will waters]

I run a USB 3 external HDD for my MBA for games like cod and it works perfectly fine...

 

[Nightarchaon]

I game off a 1.5tb USB2 drive, and have not noticed any major issues, i think 12gb ram helps, after the initial load time of an area in a game like Skyrim, the next pass through that area is pretty much instant, so i dont see USB3 making any difference other than for that initial load time.

Still, doesnt stop me looking at the drobo mini, thunderbolt attached, 120GB msata and 4xhigh speed 120ish GB SSD drives as my boot drive, yes please.

 

[Sambo110]

Thanks, sounds good! My iMac only has about 50 mb/s read/write, so 100 mb/s USB 3.0 would have to work I guess. I'll be grabbing the USB 3 My Passport too, hopefully all works out fine!

 

[XFactorer]

I'm doing it off Boot Camp Windows w/ a 1TB USB3.0 Seagate Backup Plus. Load times are reasonable for me.

 

[acastic]

I run a USB 3 external HDD for my MBA for games like cod and it works perfectly fine...

Do you use Stream? If so, any issues with using it from an external drive? I'm debating on upgrading the 64gb ssd in my 2012 air or just using an external drive.

Also, do you play if the battery with the external drive? Curious what kind of hit the battery will take running a game and powering a USB drive at the same time.

 

[will waters]

Do you use Stream? If so, any issues with using it from an external drive? I'm debating on upgrading the 64gb ssd in my 2012 air or just using an external drive.

Also, do you play if the battery with the external drive? Curious what kind of hit the battery will take running a game and powering a USB drive at the same time.

A friend runs Stream from an external HDD (from an iMac admittedly) but with Firewire 800 for games like portal and i think it works fine. I have not tried using stream game from it...

The one time i gamed on Cod using external HDD, the battery lasted about 1:15hr (best graphics settings) from full and full backlight, but normally I plug it in

I hope this helps

Will