SSD just for games.

lokiguesty

lokiguesty

lokiguesty

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Hi all

im currently running x2 150GB raptors in Raid 0

but i was wondering if i would see any difference in load times if i got a SSD and just installed the two games i play all the time onto it?

the two games are Lord of the rings online and Call of duty 4.

not really bothered about having the operating system on SSD (how often do u boot up?) and my raptors score 5.9 in the vista system thing anyway.

anyway the other thing i wondered was will the games run ok? i have never ran programs from a drive that didnt have the windows install on it, and how do you get on with updating the games as the updates usually look for the games in a standard place where the games wouldnt be anymore?

any info would be very appreciated :)

thanks

Loki
 
The installed path is set in the registry so patches etc find it right away.

An SSD for games is as pointless as RAID 0 and Raptors. You might get 3-4 seconds faster loads over a 7200rpm disc.

If you get an SSD use it for your OS, that's the whole point of them and where you feel the instant access times.
 
lokiguesty said:
but i was wondering if i would see any difference in load times if i got a SSD and just installed the two games i play all the time onto it?
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Yes, due to the lower seek times everything would load faster from the drive. How much though depends on a number of factors.
 
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The benifits will only be during loading though, once ingame there wont be any noticeable differences. Even then, you may not even notice the faster load time over raptors in RAID 0.
 
lokiguesty said:
i was wondering if i would see any difference in load times if i got a SSD and just installed the two games i play all the time onto it?
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Hey Loki,

it's a perfectly reasonable question but I am left wondering why somebody would shell out their mulla to speed up game loading times? :confused:

Sorry if its a silly question and we all spend our money as we see fit but am I missing something here? :D

Is it possible to get a competitive advantage from shaving a few seconds off loading times? if so which game is that because I've not seen that situation myself?

I would have thought a single 7,200rpm hard drive would be all anyone needed for gaming but there are plenty of peeps running RAID-0, Raptors etc and I am curious!

Are they all a bunch of muppets or is this a secret method of improving ones frag rate! :eek:
 
Given that SSDs trump card is access times, not transfer rates, I would have thought that putting your OS on it was the best use of a SSD?

I think SSD might be a waste of time for games.
 
If you see his list of games played, it includes LotR Online. This would lead me to believe the reasoning behind wanting it is to reduce the lag ingame caused by seeking and loading textures etc..

As everything is loaded as you encounter it in games like this, piece by piece, it is probably the only type of game that would really benefit from a SSD as the loading times affect you during gameplay not just during loading screens (Although during loading screens is good too. When you load to another zone and are sitting waiting for the area to load others can still see you / attack you - so very good here too).
 
Big.Wayne said:
it's a perfectly reasonable question but I am left wondering why somebody would shell out their mulla to speed up game loading times? :confused:
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Being stuck at a loading screen is no fun when you could be in there playing the game for an extra 10 seconds! At least my laptop loads Q2DM1 quickly! In all seriousness, if it loads games quicker, then you will probably notice a difference outside of games too!
 
i would imagine that there is very little actual competative edge to be gained from the faster load times.

i just like to try out the new technology and like to keep improving my system, i guess just always trying to have things faster.

my 8800gts was a lovely graphics card and played all the games i play well, but i decided to upgrade none the less, 4Gbs of ram worked just fine but why have 4 when u can have 8?

lol maybe i have an upgrade addiction :)

secondary question, if i get a new drive and want to move the 2 said games onto it, is it better to do clean installs onto the new drive or can i move the games onto the other drive? will this cause problems?

im thinking probably easiest to just uninstall the games and reinstall them designating the new drive (drive e i guess) as the destination?

thanks for all the advise so far guys

Loki
 
If you simply move the games from one drive to another, it doesnt change the registry entries associated with that game, and so any updates/patches/uninstaller programs will not be able to locate the game as it will be looking at its orriginal install location. If you want to put stuff on a new drive, uninstall it first and then install again on the new drive, this way all registry entries will be correct.
 
my 8800gts was a lovely graphics card and played all the games i play well, but i decided to upgrade none the less, 4Gbs of ram worked just fine but why have 4 when u can have 8?
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Because pretty much all games are 32bit and can only address 2Gb of ram... Don't bother upgrading to 8Gb if games are you motivation.
 
righty o

i have ordered the 30GB OCZ SSD V2 and nipped to erm a shop and got 2.5 to 3.5 bay coverter thing.

so i will be testing out and seeing what the load times are like most likely tomorrow.

i will uninstall and reinstall the games as suggested so i can get ready for a hours worth of downloads hehe :)

final question, if i install on the secondary harddrive will the games still appear in the vista game browser?

thanks again all

Loki
 
lokiguesty said:
righty o

i have ordered the 30GB OCZ SSD V2 and nipped to erm a shop and got 2.5 to 3.5 bay coverter thing.

so i will be testing out and seeing what the load times are like most likely tomorrow.

i will uninstall and reinstall the games as suggested so i can get ready for a hours worth of downloads hehe :)

final question, if i install on the secondary harddrive will the games still appear in the vista game browser?

thanks again all

Loki
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Do it like this for LOTRO :
Copy the entire LOTRO folder to a new folder on your existing drive.
Uninstall LOTRO
Reboot
Install LOTRO to the new drive from your DVD
Reboot (probably excessive but I did it anyway)
Copy all the files from the backed up LOTRO folder to the new folder on the new drive, let it overwrite all files.

So what will appear in your new drive is your old install neatly installed, but all the registry entries etc etc all intact (and pointing at the new drive).

Ps. I undertand where you are coming from, I have had 2 x 32GB (RAID 0 )SAMSUNG SSD's running World of Warcraft and FSX for about 4 months now. Does it make a difference? I like to think so given the 400 quid I spent on the damn things (grr they like 290 for a 128GB now ).

In games where seek times can make a differnce, then you will see a better responsiveness (both WoW and FSX load on the fly, and yes it is a lot quicker than my old 7200 WD drives.)

That said, I also now have my OS installed to 2 x 320GB WD aaks models, for a 640GB drive, and for comparison I have WoW on there too. Its ever so slightly slower, but not noticeably.
 
Ooo nice tip thank you.

i have all the stand alone patches for lotro backed up but even after that all the pre patching takes over an hour so your method sounds like it would work much better :)

i will back up the necessary folders tonight then im ready to rock tomorrow!
 
I would rather wait 3-5 seconds extra every time I load a new level/map in a game than pay the very high SSD prices >_>

But thats just me :p
 
i know they are expensive i can see your point.

but their not as expensive as my GTX280 was.

and my 150gb Raptors were pretty damn expensive when i brought them.

tbh, i dont smoke, i rarely drink, buying pc upgrades is my one vice.

it makes me happy and keeps me out of trouble lol

Loki
 
MooMoo444 said:
I would rather wait 3-5 seconds extra every time I load a new level/map in a game than pay the very high SSD prices >_>

But thats just me :p
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if you're playing LOTRO, it's not just the load times, you get stuttery game play all over the place. running LOTRO from an SSD sorted this problem for me.
 
I would be very interested in hearing from anyone, inc ih8modem, who plays FSX a lot and its performance SSD vs HDs. Im planning to purchase a new PC within the next 2-3 months as my current system is not very good in dealing with the likes of FSX. So I'm looking to build a pure game PC mainly for FSX.

So my question is mainly on how does FSX(esp with addons like FEX,UTX etc) on either some decent HDs vs SSD. Just wondering if its worth the extra cost running it mainly for FSX.

Thanks in advance.

PS. would also very much appreciate any hints/tips on other PC parts (CPU, GFX Card, M/B, Memory etc) worth getting in order to run FSX as good as I can (I know CPU power is a major thing).
 
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