**The Rise and Fall of USB 3.0: A Gaming Storage Experiment**

At Harbor Canucks, we're always on the lookout for the latest advancements in gaming technology, particularly when it comes to storage solutions. Recently, we stumbled upon a 128 gigabyte HyperX Savage USB Drive with a first-generation USB 3.1 interface. We were curious to see how this drive would perform in our gaming setup and if it lived up to its promise of fast loading times.

**The Spec Sheet**

So, what makes the HyperX Savage so special? For starters, its bold and angular red body design gives it a sleek profile that's perfect for surrounding USB clearance. It's also surprisingly slim, making it easy to fit into our gaming setup without any issues. But, let's not get too excited just yet - we should note that this drive is actually using first-generation USB 3.1 technology, which means its theoretical maximum speed is limited to 5 gigabits per second. Compared to the newer USB 3.1 Gen 2 standard, which promises speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second, it's clear that this drive is holding back a bit.

**The Testing Process**

To put the HyperX Savage through its paces, we formatted the drive to NTFS and installed Steam on the actual drive. We were expecting a smooth installation process, but what we got was a lengthy and occasionally glitchy experience. The transfer of our current played games onto the drive took an unusually long time, with the allocation of disk space being one of the slowest parts of the process. There were also some weird freezes on Steam that resolved themselves after a few moments, which was a bit concerning.

**Gaming Performance**

Now that we had our games transferred to the HyperX Savage, it was time to put it through its paces in some popular titles. We started with 3D Mark, just to see if there would be any significant differences between loading onto the USB drive versus an internal SSD. And while the results were interesting, we didn't notice a huge difference in terms of score. However, when we switched to playing CSGO, things took a bit of a turn for the worse. The game loaded into an offline map in 61 seconds on the USB drive, compared to just 55 seconds on our SSD. While not a huge difference, it was still noticeable.

**Transistor: A Surprisingly Smooth Experience**

However, our experience with Transistor, a smaller and less graphically-intensive game, was a different story altogether. The game loaded fairly quickly - taking just 2 minutes and 21 seconds to load onto the drive. And when we started playing, there were no issues whatsoever. No glitches, no lag, just smooth, seamless gameplay.

**Rise of the Tomb Raider: A Quick Load**

Another popular title that we tested was Rise of the Tomb Raider. While it took a bit longer to load onto the drive than Transistor - 2 minutes and 21 seconds compared to just 1 minute and 45 seconds on our SSD - the results were still impressive. The game loaded quickly, and when we started playing, there were no issues.

**The Verdict**

So, what did we learn from this experiment? While the HyperX Savage USB Drive showed promise in terms of speed, its performance was not as consistent as we would have liked. There were some notable freezes on Steam during installation, and while these resolved themselves after a few moments, it's clear that this drive is not without its quirks.

However, for casual gamers or those who only play games occasionally, the HyperX Savage could still be a great option. The fact that it can offload data onto an external drive means that you can store your entire gaming library on an internal SSD, while also having access to your games on a portable USB drive. And as we mentioned earlier, the drive's performance in games like Transistor and Rise of the Tomb Raider was actually quite impressive.

**The Future of USB 3.0**

So, what does the future hold for USB 3.0? With the advent of newer technologies like USB 3.1 Gen 2, it's clear that the speed limits of first-generation USB 3.0 are starting to look a bit outdated. While we're still waiting for the benefits of USB 3.1 Gen 2 to manifest in our everyday lives, one thing is certain: this drive has shown us what's possible with current technology.

**A Word on Cache Storage**

Finally, it's worth mentioning that the HyperX Savage could also be a great option as a cache storage device for video editing. By offloading previews and other rendered data onto an external drive like this, you can free up space on your internal SSD (or even hard drive) without sacrificing performance.

**Conclusion**

In conclusion, while the HyperX Savage USB Drive may not have lived up to our expectations in terms of performance, it's still a great option for those looking for a fast and portable storage solution. With its sleek design and offload capabilities, it's sure to be a hit with casual gamers and videographers alike.

**Rating: 4/5**

While the HyperX Savage may not have impressed us completely, we're willing to give it another chance in the future. After all, as technology continues to evolve, we can't help but wonder what advancements the future holds for USB storage solutions.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello everyone I'm Dimitri with Hara Canucks and we all know that high capacity hard drives are becoming readily available and value SSDs are dropping in price so you can migrate or grow your gaming library no problem but here at Harbor Canucks we're looking for the next hot thing when it comes to gaming and storage so today we're gaming off a USB see what yeah so this is a 128 gigabyte HyperX savage USB Drive with first gen USB 3.1 interface its gen 1 so we are limited to USB 3.0 theoretical maximum speed of five gigabits per second don't get confused by the USB 3.1 gen2 unbe cuz you could literally just see this as a USB 3.0 because USB 3.1 gen2 unn is a manufacturers specification label and nothing more now pretty sure kingston designed this savage for gamers in mind with its bold and angular red body auto keeping a very slim profile which is very important for surrounding USB clearance and for reference here's another HyperX drive that is also 128 gigabytes but with a larger profile causing a few issues in the past with blocking some nearby USB ports speed wise the HyperX averages between a hard disk and an SSD with very promising reading the right speeds but I am worried about very low 4k speeds but we'll see how that impacts on performance so now comes the fun part let's test this sucker first we need to format the drive to NTFS then I install Steam on the actual drive and it was actually quiet worrying because of the lengthy installation time and here's a sped up version of that I then transferred some of my current played games onto the HyperX average and luckily the discovery files portion was quick enough but the allocation of the disk space and the rest of the installation was considerably slower than expected with a few weird freezes on Steam that luckily resolved by itself and now that we have some games on the savage let's play some games now just for reference I ran 3dmark just in case and noticed no significantly lower score next I jumped into csgo loading into an offline map took 61 seconds on the USB and 55 seconds on my SSD so not a significant difference there however at the random times I experienced freezes so during the buying period or occasional hiccups during the match as well so gaming off a USB for competitive online may not be the best option however for games like transistor fortunately the only drawback here are the slightly longer loading times into the game but without any sort of freezes and I think maybe that's because the game is very small without any heavy graphics assets so it's 100% playable no lag or freezes whatsoever squad is also my recent favorite playing online where the 72 player map gave no glitches whatsoever with normal loading times now what about larger and more graphically intense games so rise of the Tomb Raider installed fairly quickly actually at 2 minutes and 21 seconds compared to an SSD and played flawlessly loading times are normal no glitches in game so that's awesome which leads us into the conclusion gaming often USB may not be such a consistent experience as you may expect not sure why we experienced all these type of glitches and freezes and csgo however no freezes or glitches and whatsoever in any of the other games that I played but that is definitely something to keep in mind and also don't forget that the gaming on such a USB Drive is definitely a luxury considering the price per gigabyte so if you want maximum speed internal SSD is your friend but the reality of having your gaming library on such a tiny USB stick it's pretty awesome especially if you happen to game on multiple machines all the time with this method not occupying on any of your internal storage I also found a really good use for the drive as a cache drive for video editing so I can offload those previews that are rendered onto the savage USB without filling up any of the storage on the ax machine and experiencing zero slowdowns on the USB itself and so the exciting part of this USB advancement is not really USB 3.1 gen2 unbe cuz that's literally just USB 3.0 speeds but when we're entering USB 3.1 gen2 then we're going to double the USB 3.0 maximum throughput theoretical throughput so again get ten gigabits per second and that's really exciting for content creators to utilize you know little USB sticks just like this for content creation on the go or having having to offload some of that data onto a USB stick and not exactly sure if there is going to be any benefits for gaming however most likely any of those hiccups that I experienced in csgo might potentially be solved with a faster drive and that is all I have to say but have you ever gained on a USB stick before leaving comments down below love to hear what you think and would love to hear your opinion on this little experiment I'm Dimitri with heretics thank you so much for watching we'll see you in the next videohello everyone I'm Dimitri with Hara Canucks and we all know that high capacity hard drives are becoming readily available and value SSDs are dropping in price so you can migrate or grow your gaming library no problem but here at Harbor Canucks we're looking for the next hot thing when it comes to gaming and storage so today we're gaming off a USB see what yeah so this is a 128 gigabyte HyperX savage USB Drive with first gen USB 3.1 interface its gen 1 so we are limited to USB 3.0 theoretical maximum speed of five gigabits per second don't get confused by the USB 3.1 gen2 unbe cuz you could literally just see this as a USB 3.0 because USB 3.1 gen2 unn is a manufacturers specification label and nothing more now pretty sure kingston designed this savage for gamers in mind with its bold and angular red body auto keeping a very slim profile which is very important for surrounding USB clearance and for reference here's another HyperX drive that is also 128 gigabytes but with a larger profile causing a few issues in the past with blocking some nearby USB ports speed wise the HyperX averages between a hard disk and an SSD with very promising reading the right speeds but I am worried about very low 4k speeds but we'll see how that impacts on performance so now comes the fun part let's test this sucker first we need to format the drive to NTFS then I install Steam on the actual drive and it was actually quiet worrying because of the lengthy installation time and here's a sped up version of that I then transferred some of my current played games onto the HyperX average and luckily the discovery files portion was quick enough but the allocation of the disk space and the rest of the installation was considerably slower than expected with a few weird freezes on Steam that luckily resolved by itself and now that we have some games on the savage let's play some games now just for reference I ran 3dmark just in case and noticed no significantly lower score next I jumped into csgo loading into an offline map took 61 seconds on the USB and 55 seconds on my SSD so not a significant difference there however at the random times I experienced freezes so during the buying period or occasional hiccups during the match as well so gaming off a USB for competitive online may not be the best option however for games like transistor fortunately the only drawback here are the slightly longer loading times into the game but without any sort of freezes and I think maybe that's because the game is very small without any heavy graphics assets so it's 100% playable no lag or freezes whatsoever squad is also my recent favorite playing online where the 72 player map gave no glitches whatsoever with normal loading times now what about larger and more graphically intense games so rise of the Tomb Raider installed fairly quickly actually at 2 minutes and 21 seconds compared to an SSD and played flawlessly loading times are normal no glitches in game so that's awesome which leads us into the conclusion gaming often USB may not be such a consistent experience as you may expect not sure why we experienced all these type of glitches and freezes and csgo however no freezes or glitches and whatsoever in any of the other games that I played but that is definitely something to keep in mind and also don't forget that the gaming on such a USB Drive is definitely a luxury considering the price per gigabyte so if you want maximum speed internal SSD is your friend but the reality of having your gaming library on such a tiny USB stick it's pretty awesome especially if you happen to game on multiple machines all the time with this method not occupying on any of your internal storage I also found a really good use for the drive as a cache drive for video editing so I can offload those previews that are rendered onto the savage USB without filling up any of the storage on the ax machine and experiencing zero slowdowns on the USB itself and so the exciting part of this USB advancement is not really USB 3.1 gen2 unbe cuz that's literally just USB 3.0 speeds but when we're entering USB 3.1 gen2 then we're going to double the USB 3.0 maximum throughput theoretical throughput so again get ten gigabits per second and that's really exciting for content creators to utilize you know little USB sticks just like this for content creation on the go or having having to offload some of that data onto a USB stick and not exactly sure if there is going to be any benefits for gaming however most likely any of those hiccups that I experienced in csgo might potentially be solved with a faster drive and that is all I have to say but have you ever gained on a USB stick before leaving comments down below love to hear what you think and would love to hear your opinion on this little experiment I'm Dimitri with heretics thank you so much for watching we'll see you in the next video\n"