12gb or 500gb

[xpronic]

I only plan to play 4-5 of the PS3 exclusive games plus GTA 5 that are coming out later this year, but I'm not sure if 12gb will be enough or go big and get the 500gb version.

[Aexl]

You could always buy a used one and just buy a 2tb HDD and put it in there. If the games you're getting are on physical discs you don't really need to install them, just play off the disc.

[xpronic]

Oh. I thought you were required to install some part of the game to the hard disk on PS3 games. 12gb should be more than enough for save games and 1 or 2 dlc's for GTA lol.

[mepbowles]

Most games require at least a semi install. Some games like Gran Turismo 5 require betyween 4-10Gb depending on whether youinstall everything or not. Most games are only between 1-3Gb so you can easily get by on 12Gb. You can always delete game data to make room but it just means you'll be having to install the games each time you want to play.
Aexl suggested buying a 2Tb drive which is excessive. I have a 60Gb PS3 fat that I have used for about 4/5 years without upgrading the harddrive. If you go no ebay you can get a low capacity harddrive for quite cheap about £10-15. Just make sure it's 7200rpm. If your not going to play it too much the maximum I would get would be around 160Gb. I have installed all my dlc and about 15 of my 20 games and its only taken up about 112Gb.
Bear in mind that if you want to play full hd files copied from the computer it is better to store them on the internal drive for better performance so you might want space for that even if your not going to use it for games or to store the movies there permanently.

[MadduckUK]

Buy the 12GB one and put a 64GB SSD in it

[mepbowles]

I remember seeing a performance test that showed putting an SSD in a PS3 showed very little performance increase over a regular 7,200rpm drive due to the lack of connection and power of the PS3 compared to a high power PC with sata 3. (You can find them easily by searching). Only in certain games did the SSD show improvements but for the added cost, and if your not going to be playing that much, it really doesn't warrant the extra money.

The PS3 uses SATA 1.5 Gbps (150 MBps) so this is the max bandwidth it can use.

[xpronic]

I guess I'll be getting a cheap 7200rpm drive from eBay. Thanks for the replies.

[Shin555]

You will also be needing the Mounting Bracket too, which is around £10.

I personally would have gone with the 500Gb, and then signed myself up to PlayStation Plus and get the free games.

[xpronic]

I guess, but I only got a PS3 for some of the exclusive games coming out this year, and to have a blu ray player.

[hugobosslives]

buy 12 and put a spare hard drive into it. or if you don't have a spare a second hand 200-300ish gb hard drive is more than enough and would be extremely cheap.

[krazy_olie]

I got the 12 and installed a 500Gb drive a couple months later in the mounting bracket which is an annoying £8 but still worked out cheaper.

[Will013]

Do what Madduck said and get a 64GB SSD instead of a hard drive to put into the 12GB one.

[qaz_92]

Get a 12gb and put in a hard drive. You'll need the extra space for updates and installing games on the hard drive.

[JollyJoe]

It'd probably be best to buy the 12gb, and if you need more space to buy the HDD as and when you need it. If your not going to download games or join PS+ then i don't see you needing the 500gb.

Its not worth shelling out almost double the price for a 500gb one. If you only want it for a few games, why not just buy a preowned older model?

[rtk_13]

Digital Foundry did a detailed analysis on the effects of different Hard Drives / SSDs inside a PlayStation 3 the effects of the increased bandwidth were minimal just get the Highest Capacity 5400rpm drive in your price range as you can add as many games as you want without having to worry about limits ect!

[SuperJag86]

A lot of games need installs and I'd get the 500 gig model unless the 12 gig is such a good deal that it's cheaper than the cost of getting a good drive to put in yourself later.