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Yesterday we reported on Fallout 4 console performance, finding that both PS4 and Xbox One target 1080p30 gameplay - with somewhat variable results. Both versions have issues maintaining their frame-rate targets, but it's the Xbox One version that has a tangible disadvantage - there's a 'macro-stutter' issue that seems to be related to the game's background streaming technology. Entering new areas can see second-long pauses, and even switching weapons sometimes causes problems.The question is, what can be causing it? We know from performance profiling of the PC version that CPU load can increase substantially as new data is streamed from the hard drive - but this would not explain 1000ms frame-times. Similarly, a GPU issue is even more unlikely: after all, there's very little difference visually between the frames before and after the stall, where the tasks run by the GPU would be very similar from one frame to the next. By a process of elimination, the most likely culprit is therefore storage - and that's curious, bearing in mind that both PS4 and Xbox One both feature 500GB 5400rpm hard drives, and the Sony console has no similar problem.
After extensive testing, it does seem that the issue relates to a storage bottleneck on the Microsoft platform, but until this is addressed via a title update, there is a workaround - albeit a somewhat impractical one. Completely eliminating the issue - at least on the test areas used in our initial performance analysis - is possible, but it requires mounting an SSD into an external USB enclosure, then copying the game data onto that drive. This is not completely ideal for a number of reasons: SSDs aren't cheap, and the USB caddy required only adds to the expense. So we thought we'd try another couple of solutions - a 7200rpm hard drive and a hybrid SSHD. The latter consists of a 5400rpm drive paired with a smaller SSD cache. The results on both drives are intriguing.
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