This comparison was made before Phantom Liberty and 2.0 update. Therefore the comparison may not represent the current state of Cyberpunk 2077 accurately.
Yes. If you're system can't handle HDD mode off then it might be more beneficial to turn it on. (Especially if you're hardware is below CP2077's recommended specs.) For those that can afford higher end systems should leave it off considering how many people complain about empty crowds and twinning npcs. (In most cases in the video it's a 5-10fps difference.)
This game has ultra aggressive streaming of assets, when too much is trying to load both pedestrians and cars get put on the back burner and city becomes empty, even with an SSD. With HDD off one at least gets a semblant of cyberpunk lore if only when walking around. NC supposed to be a crime ridden overpopulated stinkhole, game hardly ever shows it. Thanks for the benchmark, clears it up nicely.
I'm glad this was useful to you. So many performance guides recommend turning on HDD mode, but most people don't realize or talk about what happens to crowd density when it's on.
Using "Auto" option should let the system decide to turn it on or off. This video might be outdated now since this was made before the Phantom Liberty/2.0 update.
Just watching this vid and sad at the fact mod support won't come to Xbox Series X. I love Cyberpunk but I wish I could make the city feel more alive. I was walking on the freeway and didn't even realize until one car passed me by. Sucks.
Yeah its sad they opted away from bringing mods to consoles. HDD mode is actually an official implementation by CDPR. I'm not sure why it's not an option on console though. Could be hardware limitations.
@@BombadJedi It's hard to roleplay when the streets aren't bustling with crowds. But there are some moments when the game puts so many people in one spot that it makes it feel more alive. Then again, the city itself sounds quiet. Try standing in the square sometime. Listen closely, you'll barely hear something.
Hella late to this, but HDD mode also affects how traffic and pedestrians despawn. In short: HDD On: Traffic and Peds despawn / respawn the moment you look away. HDD Off: Nothing despawns until they are far from you. Spawning is usually at a distance and off frame.
@@tacituskilgore1051 Damn sorry for the late reply. Must have missed this, but i think that may be your culprit. HDD does not stream/load assets and textures as well as an SSD or NVME M.2.
I thought HDD mode is for when you installed the game on a HDD? If I installed it on SSD isn't it make sense to turn it off? I don't really understand what it is for after I read the description they gave in the game so I don't mind someone to explain a little too 😅😅
HDD mode from what I've seen affects crowd density, variations of appearance on crowds and loading crowds. Even if you're game is installed on an SSD you will still gain the performance boost at the cost of smaller crowds, slower loading of crowds and higher chances of twinning NPCs. You can see the comparison parts of the video to see the differences with crowds.
For me it was a 5-10fps difference. It seems like it has to do with crowd density and variety. With HDD on I notice less people, less clothing variety and higher chances of twins.
pretty sure HDD mode is to optimize the game if installed on a hard drive rather than a solid state drive (SSD). A hard drive has a very limited size of cache aka disk buffer - memory inside the drive. That could cause lags/ slowdowns and limit graphical potential of the game, since it can't give information to the computer just fast enough. IIRC HDD mode sends game assets to the video memory to free up the disk cache and thus optimize performance. TLDR HDD mode is for hard drives, shouldn't make much difference on an SSD.
Yeah, basically this game is not only gpu heavy and cpu heavy. But also storage drive heavy. Even I tried overclock the gpu and it didn't increase the fps. Problably cause the cpu itself already on the max.
Yeah also my CPU temp was 80+ in this video. I recently upgraded my GPU to a 4080ti so once Phantom Liberty comes out; I might make an updated video on this.
HDD mode is meant for people who have the game installed on a Hard Drive instead of a Solid State Drive. HDD mode seems like it reduces crowd density and character variety in the side by side comparison portion of this video.
@@BombadJedi Intresting, I have one more question I have cyberpunk downloaded on an SSD. However, the HDD setting is set to auto in game. Should I set it to off since I have it on an SSD or leave it on auto?
@@Joseph-wh5of Auto should automatically choose the right setting for you so it might already be off, but manually picking an option is safer. Be aware there is a performance impact with it off. For me it was on average a 5-10fps difference. (FPS counter is on in the video)
This comparison was made before Phantom Liberty and 2.0 update. Therefore the comparison may not represent the current state of Cyberpunk 2077 accurately.
Damn in this case you're better HDD mode off and low crowd density versus HDD mode on and high crowd density.
Yes. If you're system can't handle HDD mode off then it might be more beneficial to turn it on. (Especially if you're hardware is below CP2077's recommended specs.)
For those that can afford higher end systems should leave it off considering how many people complain about empty crowds and twinning npcs. (In most cases in the video it's a 5-10fps difference.)
Always curious about what the loud repeating “UUUH!” Sound is in this area. Never seen anyone point it out.
Sounds like it's part of the song to me
HDD mode ON downgrades NPC's in the game.
This game has ultra aggressive streaming of assets, when too much is trying to load both pedestrians and cars get put on the back burner and city becomes empty, even with an SSD. With HDD off one at least gets a semblant of cyberpunk lore if only when walking around. NC supposed to be a crime ridden overpopulated stinkhole, game hardly ever shows it. Thanks for the benchmark, clears it up nicely.
I'm glad this was useful to you. So many performance guides recommend turning on HDD mode, but most people don't realize or talk about what happens to crowd density when it's on.
Nice vid, have you tried the "Auto" option for HDD mode? I wonder if it differs from being fully on.
Using "Auto" option should let the system decide to turn it on or off. This video might be outdated now since this was made before the Phantom Liberty/2.0 update.
Just watching this vid and sad at the fact mod support won't come to Xbox Series X. I love Cyberpunk but I wish I could make the city feel more alive. I was walking on the freeway and didn't even realize until one car passed me by. Sucks.
Yeah its sad they opted away from bringing mods to consoles. HDD mode is actually an official implementation by CDPR. I'm not sure why it's not an option on console though. Could be hardware limitations.
@@BombadJedi It's hard to roleplay when the streets aren't bustling with crowds. But there are some moments when the game puts so many people in one spot that it makes it feel more alive. Then again, the city itself sounds quiet. Try standing in the square sometime. Listen closely, you'll barely hear something.
Hella late to this, but HDD mode also affects how traffic and pedestrians despawn. In short:
HDD On: Traffic and Peds despawn / respawn the moment you look away.
HDD Off: Nothing despawns until they are far from you. Spawning is usually at a distance and off frame.
this setting is set to auto by default, i had to look it up to see what it does since the explanation sucks. thanks
Glad this helped! HDD mode essentially helps performance by reducing crowd density.
Did you have the game installed on a SSD or HDD?
The game was installed on an SSD. Specifically a 1tb Samsung 970 EVO Plus.
My streets are empty XDDDD. And when it's in off, the streets renders literally 3 meters ahead of me. What do u recommend?
Do you have mods installed that might affect crowd density? What do you have Cyberpunk installed on?
@@BombadJedi nothing XD. It's vanilla
@@tacituskilgore1051 is your game installed on an HDD?
@@BombadJedi yep
@@tacituskilgore1051 Damn sorry for the late reply. Must have missed this, but i think that may be your culprit. HDD does not stream/load assets and textures as well as an SSD or NVME M.2.
I thought HDD mode is for when you installed the game on a HDD? If I installed it on SSD isn't it make sense to turn it off? I don't really understand what it is for after I read the description they gave in the game so I don't mind someone to explain a little too 😅😅
HDD mode from what I've seen affects crowd density, variations of appearance on crowds and loading crowds.
Even if you're game is installed on an SSD you will still gain the performance boost at the cost of smaller crowds, slower loading of crowds and higher chances of twinning NPCs.
You can see the comparison parts of the video to see the differences with crowds.
@@BombadJedi
I have a GeForce RTX 3050 4GB with 8GB Ram on SSD.
Should I leave it on or off?
Thanks.
Do i see a notorious performance increase when HDD is set to on? Maybe it's related to characters shadow or stuff like that..
For me it was a 5-10fps difference. It seems like it has to do with crowd density and variety. With HDD on I notice less people, less clothing variety and higher chances of twins.
pretty sure HDD mode is to optimize the game if installed on a hard drive rather than a solid state drive (SSD). A hard drive has a very limited size of cache aka disk buffer - memory inside the drive. That could cause lags/ slowdowns and limit graphical potential of the game, since it can't give information to the computer just fast enough. IIRC HDD mode sends game assets to the video memory to free up the disk cache and thus optimize performance.
TLDR HDD mode is for hard drives, shouldn't make much difference on an SSD.
Except you still get a perf boost on a SSD with HDD mode o
n
Yeah, basically this game is not only gpu heavy and cpu heavy.
But also storage drive heavy.
Even I tried overclock the gpu and it didn't increase the fps. Problably cause the cpu itself already on the max.
Yeah also my CPU temp was 80+ in this video. I recently upgraded my GPU to a 4080ti so once Phantom Liberty comes out; I might make an updated video on this.
What's your PC spec ?
AMD Ryzen 9 5950x
Nvidia RTX 3080ti
4x8 (32g) RAM
I don't get what it is supposed to do.
HDD mode is meant for people who have the game installed on a Hard Drive instead of a Solid State Drive. HDD mode seems like it reduces crowd density and character variety in the side by side comparison portion of this video.
@@BombadJedi Intresting, I have one more question I have cyberpunk downloaded on an SSD. However, the HDD setting is set to auto in game. Should I set it to off since I have it on an SSD or leave it on auto?
@@Joseph-wh5of Auto should automatically choose the right setting for you so it might already be off, but manually picking an option is safer. Be aware there is a performance impact with it off. For me it was on average a 5-10fps difference. (FPS counter is on in the video)
@@BombadJedi Thanks for all the info!
@@Joseph-wh5of No problem! Glad to help!