HDD clocks out at 100% while under load.

[andy_mk3]

Not to discredit any of your findings but to me it just seems like a waste for my situation when an SSD would provide way more benefits over a HDD

It is a waste of time with SSDs now. Readyboost was a bandaid repair for Vista systems that were woefully slow running a nasty old 5400rpm spinner on 512MB/1GB ram. A £20 SSD will improve system performance beyond anything else.

To the OP: Depending on the game you're playing, additional RAM may be a benefit too.

 

[Kosong]

It is a waste of time with SSDs now. Readyboost was a bandaid repair for Vista systems that were woefully slow running a nasty old 5400rpm spinner on 512MB/1GB ram. A £20 SSD will improve system performance beyond anything else.

To the OP: Depending on the game you're playing, additional RAM may be a benefit too.

We play a number of MMO's including Swords of Legends, Final Fantasy 14 and retail WoW. We know when the problem is happening because various assets in the games will fail to load in like walls and buildings for example.

 

[JasonM]

Not to discredit any of your findings but to me it just seems like a waste for my situation when an SSD would provide way more benefits over a HDD

Not for me, as this computer has over 6TB of enterprise HDD's. And that amount of storage in SSD's would cost a lot.

 

[Kosong]

Not for me, as this computer has over 6TB of enterprise HDD's. And that amount of storage in SSD's would cost a lot.

That's the thing though. The point of this post was an attempt to troubleshoot my system because I am unable to enjoy playing video games with my partner. In absolutely no circumstance would I ever need 6TB worth of HDD's.

 

[JasonM]

That's the thing though. The point of this post was an attempt to troubleshoot my system because I am unable to enjoy playing video games with my partner. In absolutely no circumstance would I ever need 6TB worth of HDD's.

You were saying Readyboost does not work, and I posted this to prove that it does work - Showing it working on a 64GB system should end all argument about it working.

And the OP would still get an instant benefit, he just had to pick up an USB memory stick thats laying around his house to try. And everyone has a USB stick somewhere in their house they can format and try.

 

[Kosong]

After reading about it, it does seem like it's designed to help give you a boost if you're lacking on the memory front. However, 8gb of memory really shouldn't be an issue for games that don't require a Nasa PC to run

At no point did I say Readyboost doesn't work. I am simply putting Readyboost and an SSD side by side and weighing the pros.

 

[JasonM]

At no point did I say Readyboost doesn't work. I am simply putting Readyboost and an SSD side by side and weighing the pros.

I was not trying to be argumentative, but you said it only really benefits computers with 2GB or under, this of course is not true.

The reason I mentioned ReadyBoost is it's a very quick (30 seconds) way to get a benefit, and it will improve your C drive and any other HDD's in the system. Plus most people have a USB memory stick available to try.

Perfect world is all your storage on SSD, but that's cost, plus time to install / setup new Windows and software. That said it's surprising quite quick when using a quick USB stick, as Readyboost moves small random access files to the stick, and keeps larger storage data on the HDD. It's surprisingly quite a fluid improvement once the Readyboost has cached it's data.

It's also quite fascinating to watch in performance monitor, as once enabled you see all the cached data building, then you can watch all the cache hits that are happening. If nothing else it's an education just to test.

 

[Kosong]

I was not trying to be argumentative, but you said it only really benefits computers with 2GB or under, this of course is not true.

The reason I mentioned ReadyBoost is it's a very quick (30 seconds) way to get a benefit, and it will improve your C drive and any other HDD's in the system. Plus most people have a USB memory stick available to try.

Perfect world is all your storage on SSD, but that's cost, plus time to install / setup new Windows and software. That said it's surprising quite quick when using a quick USB stick, as Readyboost moves small random access files to the stick, and keeps larger storage data on the HDD. It's surprisingly quite a fluid improvement once the Readyboost has cached it's data.

It's also quite fascinating to watch in performance monitor, as once enabled you see all the cached data building, then you can watch all the cache hits that are happening. If nothing else it's an education just to test.

That was the other person trying to help me who said that.

I'm perfectly happy with spending the money for an SSD but I am also not completely dismissing your idea of Readyboost. I just see an SSD as a long term solution for as simple as playing video games.

 

[Alister Ross]

Absolutely yes. Windows 10 runs like a dog on a HDD, it will be at 100% load as soon as you ask it to do anything as it's generally very IO intensive.

This - as my 11 year old laptop can testify. I only use it for office work these days before I try and update to a SSD.

Have you tried removing anti-virus and firewall software too? This will also bottleneck your HDD. I saw immediate improvements when uninstalled mine and only use Windows Defender. As long as you’re sensible with the websites you visit you shouldn’t require them.