Long Load Times in Games

[Fern]

Another annoyance. Particularly after some difficult jumps. Ooops, I missed, now I'm dead and gotta watch this SOB reload again for 20-30 seconds. Play 2 seconds, die, reload etc.

I understand system mem won't help here. Whats needed, a faster HDD? Like a 10K rpm drive?

Fern

 

[Bar81]

Originally posted by: Fern
Like a 10K rpm drive?

 

[Machine350]

Actually, one the biggest improvements that I noticed after upgrading to a gig of ram was level load times were much shorter.

 

[Bar81]

Oh crap, I didn't even notice the RAM. Definitely upgrade to a gig first.

 

[MisterChief]

Originally posted by: Machine350
Actually, one the biggest improvements that I noticed after upgrading to a gig of ram was level load times were much shorter.

:thumbsup:

 

[blckgrffn]

agreed. 10k helps, but not nearly so much as more ram. Been there, done that

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: blckgrffn
agreed. 10k helps, but not nearly so much as more ram. Been there, done that

My load times in far cry where cut in half when I went from 512 to 1gig ram. I noticed gains in other games but not as signifigant, though that could be that far cry was, by far, the slowest loading game I have.

-spike

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Fern
Another annoyance. Particularly after some difficult jumps. Ooops, I missed, now I'm dead and gotta watch this SOB reload again for 20-30 seconds. Play 2 seconds, die, reload etc.

I understand system mem won't help here. Whats needed, a faster HDD? Like a 10K rpm drive?

Fern

NF7-S v2.0 and Mobile 2600+ (11X215)
Corsair Twinx 3200LL (2 x 256)
Maxtor 60 gig ATA 133 7200 rpm
BBA 9800 Pro
Enermax 420 Watt Noisetaker
Win2k Pro sp4

there's your problem [in bold] . . . . add another 2 x 256 Corsair Twinx 3200LL and you'll significantly shorten load times.

 

[Dman877]

I don't know if more ram will lower initial load times, but it will definitely help reload a level if you die a lot at the same place.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Dman877
I don't know if more ram will lower initial load times, but it will definitely help reload a level if you die a lot at the same place.

that is probably more correct then my general "more ram will shorten load times" comment.

however, the OP especially mentioned "reloading" a level.

 

[Ben88]

Don't die

 

[zakee00]

Originally posted by: Ben88
Don't die

:laugh:
seriously though, don't waste your money on a Raptor or a super fast hd. get at least a gig of ram nowdays.

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: Fern
Another annoyance. Particularly after some difficult jumps. Ooops, I missed, now I'm dead and gotta watch this SOB reload again for 20-30 seconds. Play 2 seconds, die, reload etc.

I understand system mem won't help here. Whats needed, a faster HDD? Like a 10K rpm drive?

Fern

NF7-S v2.0 and Mobile 2600+ (11X215)
Corsair Twinx 3200LL (2 x 256)
Maxtor 60 gig ATA 133 7200 rpm
BBA 9800 Pro
Enermax 420 Watt Noisetaker
Win2k Pro sp4

there's your problem [in bold] . . . . add another 2 x 256 Corsair Twinx 3200LL and you'll significantly shorten load times.

No, you won't. Assuming the OP even has 4 DIMM slots, if he maxes those out, his system is going to force his memory to run at a command rate of 2T, which is noticeably slower for gaming. I don't know what it will do to his load times, but I imagine that would slow down as well, and negate the effect of having a gig of memory. He's going to need to move to 512MB sticks.

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

He's got an NF7-S v2.0..three dim slots. If I were the OP I would get two 512 sticks and run them in dual channel. I've had two of the Abit's and i've never experienced slow load times. I did notice that having a gig in dual channel did help speed things up some but even with two 256 sticks it was still quick as hell.

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal
He's got an NF7-S v2.0..three dim slots. If I were the OP I would get two 512 sticks and run them in dual channel. I've had two of the Abit's and i've never experienced slow load times. I did notice that having a gig in dual channel did help speed things up some but even with two 256 sticks it was still quick as hell.

Never had an NF7, but there you go. Physically limited to three, and maxing out the slots will result in 2T command rate. The only solution, again, is to get two 512 sticks. You'll notice the difference.

 

[cyclohexane]

:thumbsup:

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Avalon

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: Fern
Another annoyance. Particularly after some difficult jumps. Ooops, I missed, now I'm dead and gotta watch this SOB reload again for 20-30 seconds. Play 2 seconds, die, reload etc.

I understand system mem won't help here. Whats needed, a faster HDD? Like a 10K rpm drive?

Fern

NF7-S v2.0 and Mobile 2600+ (11X215)
Corsair Twinx 3200LL (2 x 256)
Maxtor 60 gig ATA 133 7200 rpm
BBA 9800 Pro
Enermax 420 Watt Noisetaker
Win2k Pro sp4

there's your problem [in bold] . . . . add another 2 x 256 Corsair Twinx 3200LL and you'll significantly shorten load times.

No, you won't. Assuming the OP even has 4 DIMM slots, if he maxes those out, his system is going to force his memory to run at a command rate of 2T, which is noticeably slower for gaming. I don't know what it will do to his load times, but I imagine that would slow down as well, and negate the effect of having a gig of memory. He's going to need to move to 512MB sticks.

my point was to get more sys memory

i really can't bother with the ramifications of old Athlon boards . . . . . having intel for years . . . . mine has no trouble with 4x256MB latiencies whatsoever. . . .

OK, isn't that MB THREE slots? . . . . just add a single 512MB stick (if so) . . . DC isn't very important for the Athlon XPs and i think the improved load times would more than make up for any performance loss - the videocard makes the most difference in gaming performance anyway . . . . and you then have your 512 stick to add another later.

Fern, you're talking about PK/BOoH, right? With 1 GB PC 3500 my REload time typically were 15-20 seconds. Going from 512-1GM has definitely improved reload times im most new games including HL2 (having fun with the gg yet?). 1 GB is becoming "manditory" for games.
Of course you could always set up Win98SE on another partition

edited

 

[Error Macro]

Wait a minute, what about newer boards? If I get an nForce 4 board, and run 4x512 modules in it, will it cause slower ram timings?

 

[Pete]

Possibly--that many sticks adds a lot of room for error, too. You're better off just selling your current RAM and buying two sticks of fast, matched RAM.

 

[RelaxTheMind]

newegg had/has mushkin 2x512 value ram for ~$120

sweet deal if u ask me

 

[wahoyaho]

wait, what is this 2T command rate

 

[Gamingphreek]

Command rate refers to when data is transmitted. With a 1T command rate data is transmitted on the rise and the fall of the clock. With a 2T it is only transmitted on the rise of the clock, thus being significantly slower.

Next, upgrading to a 10K RPM Raptor will get you maybe 2 seconds in loading time. Even in RAID 0 Raptors only get about 2-3 seconds better than the rest of the competition. If you are really worried about your load times, like everyone said get some more memory. Also disable Virtual Memory/Paging file and run a defrag on the drive (Then turn virtual memory back on).

-Kevin

 

[Keysplayr]

Definately do the RAM first, but the very best thing you can do for performance is a RAID(0) setup. If you took 2 or more 7200 rpm drives and connect them to a IDE/SATA RAID controller (depends on if you have IDE or SATA drives) It would theorectically cut your current load times in half. It reads/writes to two drives as if they were one.
Make sure you backup your data when you have a RAID 0 setup as it offers no fault tolerance at all.

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: Error Macro
Wait a minute, what about newer boards? If I get an nForce 4 board, and run 4x512 modules in it, will it cause slower ram timings?

Yes, even the newest s939 boards suffer from 2T command rates when all DIMMs are populated. This goes for Intel as well, AFAIK. It DOES cause pretty big performance hits. For instance, when I was overclocking my sempron, and was stuck at 2T @ 2.4ghz at one point, I was benching 79FPS in HL2 at 10x7 4x/8x. Managed to get it down to 1T somehow, and my framerate jumped up to 90.4fps, so it defnitely makes a difference. I would not drop a 512 stick in the NF7 if that will max the DIMMs. Since you're on an AXP platform, that should cause an even larger performance hit than what I was seeing, since memory bandwidth isn't so much an issue for my A64 platform.

You'll need to go 2 x 512MB.

 

[Gamingphreek]

It would theorectically cut your current load times in half. It reads/writes to two drives as if they were one.

Theoretically yes. Actually in real world, no; it does virtually nothing.

Yes, even the newest s939 boards suffer from 2T command rates when all DIMMs are populated.

This is not a problem with the boards but rather a problem with the A64 Processors onboard memory controller. It is rumored that the E0 and E4 revisions fix this (when they come out).

-Kevin