Why the performance difference?

pbze

pbze

pbze

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16 Feb 2007
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Hi all, just wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to why my computer loads into games a lot slower than a friend's similar system (everything is at standard clock speeds):

My system:

Core 2 Duo e6600
Gigabyte GA 965P DS3
2GB Geil 4-4-4-15
Western Digital 250GB SE16 (16MB cache)
8800 GTS 640MB


My mate's:

Core 2 Duo e6600
Asus P5B (P965)
2GB Corsair 5-5-5-18
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 17 160GB (8MB cache)
x1900xt 256MB


I have some ideas but I'll see what other people come up with first. When I bought my system I assumed it would be faster in terms of loading games but it seems not. TIA
 
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I have the same CPU, Mobo, and Geil, but i use a raptor and x1650pro, im usually first in the CSS server and among the first in BF2142. Perhaps the 8800 needs more time to sort its technology out or non-optimised drivers. Oh, I also use Omega drivers.
 
i would put it down to hdd accses times as he has a smaler hdd the acsess times are quicker
 
Glad to see some responses

About the 8800GTS taking longer to load textures etc, I also thought that but then we do have exactly the same settings in game so I'm not overly sure

we've both run 3Dmark 06, I got 2000 more points so it seems to be a problem purely with loading rather than graphics.

For example during loading of BF2 my hard drive makes a lot of noise, it isn't NCQ but then I don't think his is (although his ICH8R chip supports it)

what synthetic benchmarks are there out there that may simulate game loadings with respect to hard drive performance?
 
Only thing I can think of, is that the game has detected your more advanced graphics card, and is loading more textures, and stuff into the graphics card. Your card has 640, his has 256.
 
I've found out that my mate runs 2 hard drives. He has an 80GB hard drive with windows on and the 160 GB one for games

I have one 250GB hard drive with everything on atm
 
artaxerxes said:
You cheat!

You didn't tell us the true specs!

That seems like a resonable reason.
Click to expand...

could you maybe expand on that?

how exactly would that help? I haven't got a secondary hard drive atm (only an external USB 2 one)
 
If the game is accessing the swap file and the game files simultanously then there will be a bottleneck.

Having windows and the application files on seperate drives is an old optimisation trick.
 
Yep seems like a sound enough reason to me. I have an 80gig pata harddrive for windows/ apps and an 80gig sata for games. If it bothers you that much that he loads a little faster maybe try getting a new hardrive for games only :)
 
artaxerxes said:
If the game is accessing the swap file and the game files simultanously then there will be a bottleneck.

Having windows and the application files on seperate drives is an old optimisation trick.
Click to expand...

Would this work the same if you partition a large drive instead of using two smaller drives ?
 
wiggyuk said:
Would this work the same if you partition a large drive instead of using two smaller drives ?
Click to expand...
Not unless you parititioning the drives gives you two physical drives.

If any thing, partitioning a drive can slow down a mache.

Hard drive, unpartitioned
<C===================>

Hard drive, partitioned
<C=========D=========>

So if you put Windows on C, games on D - the hard drive's head will now have to travel further (read: not very efficient) slowing down any access times further.

Two physical drives - well you've got two drives, and both can be accessed at the same time. None of this waiting for the hard drive head to return to the C or D partition. :)

My primary drive is used for games/applications/Windows. The secondary drive is used only for backup - emails, MP3s, software, documents, etc.
 
that would seem to be the reason then

seems odd though as his 80GB one is an ancient SATA 1 drive. I may even try installing my games on my external USB 2 drive and running them

so if I were to get another drive what would you guys recommend? a smallish, say 80 or 160 GB NCQ drive?

oh and another thing, 16MB cache (apposed to 8) or NCQ?
 
Budget guides every spec mate. Tell us how much you would like to spend and i'm sure someone will spec you a great drive.
 
well my budget will not stretch to a Raptor so the best 80 or 160GB drives (say under £50, although I'm open to all suggestions)
 
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2013311,00.asp

If you have an old PATA drive lying around and you dedicate that to your swap file that will do just as well.*

Or you could just go mirror raid with your current set up and a further identical drive (Western Digital 250GB SE16 (16MB cache)). This doesn't increase your space as it has an identical copy on each drive. However it does do back up and allows simultaneous access to your swap and your app. It will be a touch slower WRITING to both drives, but READ speed, and hence game loading will be accelerated.

*As long as the old drive is greater than half the speed of the other drive this will give a perfomance increase.
 
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Its the difference between my system and a friends, he has windows on an 80gb with games etc..... been testing his system, so 1 drive.....

Me, windows on a raptor, games & aps on another drive, then another for storage.

He has my old x1800xt, and i have an 7900GS, the rest of the system is pretty much identical, yet if i run the x1800xt i can run games smoother at the same details he uses. Yes, same drivers.

I've always thought having seperate drives worked really well (pure personal choice), and i've since had time to compare the difference and agree its worth it.

Though in regards to the raptor, its purely my windows drive because its the smallest, if i had more drives, the 160gb (games & aps) drive would be my windows drive........... it does really well in the read and write benchmarks (sata2 16mb cache for those curious) and it does not make that worky worky noise like the Raptor does.

Point is, using 1 drive does drag down performance compared to multiple drives.....

Managing the pagefile is also worth looking into to...... google if you're interested.

Turning off services not needed may help to...... need system restore?....no?... turn it off.... etc etc...
 
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