External SSD and Games.

Azgard · 4 May 2013 at 04:30

Is it possible to have your games on a external SSD and have them boot up from that? Mainly looking to save space on my HD and reduce load times.

I'm about to purchase an Alienware but i'm not paying their high prices for one.

Thanks.

Hyburnate · 4 May 2013 at 04:37

You'd limited by the USB Controller, in my eyes, it wouldn't be worth using it via USB, look at eSATA or something...

Why would you buy alienware when you can get a much better bang for buck PC here?

People that use this forum for advice and never buy from here -_-

Azgard · 4 May 2013 at 05:46

I'm actually planning on purchasing a rig from OC, this is for my laptop. Thanks anyways.

Hyburnate · 4 May 2013 at 06:04

Azgard said:
I'm actually planning on purchasing a rig from OC, this is for my laptop. Thanks anyways.

In that case, what connections does your laptop have/will have?

Kotu · 4 May 2013 at 08:04

it works fine, I have done it before, just bear in mind that usb is a lot slower than sata1 so loading times will be a bit slower, so it depends on the game. Normal games with loading screens will just have longer loading screens, mmos will likely be faster in some areas (usb ssd will still be faster than sata mech drive for random access) and much slower in others as data here tends to be loading dynamically depending on whats going on around your character.

pgi947 · 4 May 2013 at 10:15

Sorry to slightly highjack this thread but I was looking for a similar storage alternative though using a larger mechanical external (probably a 2x1tb raid box of sorts)....should I be looking at esata, usb 3.0 or Ethernet?

Edit: I too want it for running games if possible.

MonsterMoshi · 4 May 2013 at 10:23

pgi947 said:
Sorry to slightly highjack this thread but I was looking for a similar storage alternative though using a larger mechanical external (probably a 2x1tb raid box of sorts)....should I be looking at esata, usb 3.0 or Ethernet?

Edit: I too want it for running games if possible.

USB 3.0 is much faster and more flexible
Cant be sure but i dont think youll get brilliant speeds with ethernet

Rozzy85 · 4 May 2013 at 16:49

External drives will work, just expect it to be a bit slower. Which interface is better? Well that depends on what kind of data is being sent. Playing a game you'll be requesting a large amount of read/write calls with the occasional large load of say a map of other asset but then it really does depends on the game and how often it loads and unloads data between main memory.

eSATA would be the best choice, followed by USB 3.0 and then Ethernet. Also depends on the controller used for the HD.

pgi947 · 4 May 2013 at 20:07

I see, I'll get investigating if its worth it or not then. I just want to entirely remove my 5.25 bays for other things thats all