Purchasing a SSD for Gaming [MMOs] --> Feel Free to Delete^_^

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Mireli

Member
Apr 28, 2010
65
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Hi there,

Planning on purchasing a SSD for general gaming use. Specifically FF14, WoW, SC2, Diablo 3, etc.

I am consistently last to load for SC2, which seems odd for my HDD setup- I'm tired of being held back with my system. So, it's time to upgrade the last thing I can realistically upgrade.

Here is my current system:

i7-930
5970
3x2gb
2x 1TB Samsung in RAID

Here is a HDD test I did with my RAID:

http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/9421/hddtest.jpg



So.. my question is: Which should I be getting? I would like to get at least 100 Gig, preferably 128~+. I can wait until September 20th or so.

What are my options? What would you do? =o How much of a performance difference will I notice?
 
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Shmee

Shmee

Memory & Storage, Graphics Cards Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 13, 2008
8,052
2,994
146
odd that the raid is being slow. I wonder if it is b/c you are using the marvel controller, not ICH10R. Anyways, I have 2 750GB samsungs in raid, but performance isnt as good on the sequential reads, which looks pretty good there.
 
M

Mireli

Member
Apr 28, 2010
65
0
0
I have no idea if the HDDs are performing as they should, I just know I load slow in SC2 and I should not consistently be the last person loaded with my setup.
 
M

Mireli

Member
Apr 28, 2010
65
0
0
I am so confused with that list.

I found the first two, both $800, way out of my price range.

I am hoping to spend anywhere from $200-400 (CAD). I tried to find the third, the Vertex, but there were seemingly fifty different 100GB Vertex drives...

Should I be RAIDing my SSDs? I really have no idea.
 
S

sub.mesa

Senior member
Feb 16, 2010
611
0
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A good SSD can benefit some games yes. The loading of such games, inside the games itself but also framerates can be affected by disk I/O. The most apparent example of this would be World of Warcraft, especially when you leveled up and enter 'Dalaran'. Here you can experience well how your disk I/O affects framerates considerably. And RAM is very important to keep the read data in cache; if you only have 4GB the cache is not large enough; 8GB would be great. With 8GB RAM you could cache all the active parts of WoW's ~20GB data files.

Other games have much less benefit, because they do not load stuff while gaming so an SSD here only lowers the game loading time. And it depends on the game whether SSD or HDD will be a huge difference. If the HDD can load things sequentially it should be very fast as well; but often the HDD has to seek which is very slow and the SSD would be a world of difference.
 
taltamir

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
13,576
6
76
Mireli said:
I am so confused with that list.
Click to expand...
How can you possibly be confused by it? on the left is the name of the drive, on the right its score. the higher the score, the faster it is.

I found the first two, both $800, way out of my price range.
Click to expand...
Then don't buy them.

I tried to find the third, the Vertex, but there were seemingly fifty different 100GB Vertex drives...
Click to expand...
The third drive on the list is "ocz vertex 2 100gb"... typing that exactly into newegg I get exactly 3 results:
1. OCZ Vertex LE (Limited Edition) OCZSSD2-1VTXLE100G 2.5" 100GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
2. OCZ Vertex 2 Pro OCZSSD2-2VTXP100G 2.5" 100GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
3. OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTX100G 2.5" 100GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

from the link : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...+100gb&x=0&y=0

mmm, lets see... #1 says "vertex LE", that is different than the "vertex 2". #2 is "vertex 2 pro", that is different than the "vertex 2"... and #3 is exactly the right name...

for extra clarification, anandtech bench specifies that it is SF-1200SE MLC. This is actually something harder to understand if you don't know anything about SSDs. MLC is a type of chip, the other option is SLC. And SF-1200SE stands is the name of the controller.

Should I be RAIDing my SSDs? I really have no idea.
Click to expand...
no, you shouldn't RAID your SSDs, at the moment that interferes with TRIM.
 
A

Auric

Diamond Member
Oct 11, 1999
9,591
2
71
Perhaps the large game files are fragmented. Try a good defragger. Also, you don't specify the arrangement, but performance is better with the OS on a different drive.
 
M

Mireli

Member
Apr 28, 2010
65
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0
Where is the Phoenix on the benchmark? It's not listed, how does that compare? They just came back in stock on Newegg and is in the perfect price range.

Also, are my benchmarks on my RAID performing as they should? I got my friend to do the same benchmark and I got quadrouple his score, however he regularly loads faster than me in SC2.

What else could cause the slow loading?
 
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Nintendesert

Nintendesert

Diamond Member
Mar 28, 2010
7,761
5
0
I'm hesitant on getting an SSD right now for gaming just due to size. I'm hoping the die shrink will start showing some benefits in the products out there. I want a 256gig drive but don't want to pay current prices.

Especially in regards to MMOs, those things eat up massive amounts of HDD space. Get a few of those installed and that 100gig SSD just doesn't cut it.
 
M

Mireli

Member
Apr 28, 2010
65
0
0
Right now:

WoW: 18 (30 after expansion)
SC2: 8 (15 after expansion)
FF14: No one knows for sure, recommended is 15 + 6 in My Documents. 30 is a safe number after expansions
Win7: No Idea, 20?

So, totalling: 70~ before expansions and 95 before expansions. Leaving me enough room to install one other game if I desired. For example, whatever game I was going to be playing I could install, then remove and install a different one when I'm done.

Am I missing something? I know it's going to be somewhat tight, but by the time it gets to be too much couldn't I just buy a second SSD when a new wave of them comes out?

So, any opinions on the Phoenix? Or is it included in any benchmarks?
 
Anubis

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
78,712
427
126
tbqhwy.com
Mireli said:
Right now:

WoW: 18 (30 after expansion)
SC2: 8 (15 after expansion)
FF14: No one knows for sure, recommended is 15 + 6 in My Documents. 30 is a safe number after expansions
Win7: No Idea, 20?

So, totalling: 70~ before expansions and 95 before expansions. Leaving me enough room to install one other game if I desired. For example, whatever game I was going to be playing I could install, then remove and install a different one when I'm done.

Am I missing something? I know it's going to be somewhat tight, but by the time it gets to be too much couldn't I just buy a second SSD when a new wave of them comes out?

So, any opinions on the Phoenix? Or is it included in any benchmarks?
Click to expand...

wow wont be 30 gigs when cata come out, current wow install is also only ~15 gigs with zero addons. cata beta is about 12 gigs but its a reinstall of the full game. itll only end up being about 5 or so when it goes live as itll just patch over your existing install.

my opinion on SSDs is to wait until the new gen comes out which should bring prices down. if you don't want to wait id suggest something that's at least 120gb with what you want to install onto it. you could however if you wanted get one of the Hybrid drives, as they preform much better then normal HDs and are cheap compared to SSDs

as for Phoenix tech powerup reviewed the larger one 240gig pro model
http://techpowerup.com/reviews/GSkill/Phoenix_Pro_240_GB/7.html
 
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MagickMan

MagickMan

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2008
7,460
3
76
I'm a WoW addon whore, and my install is only 18.5GB. With Cata beta, it's only 24.
 
M

Mireli

Member
Apr 28, 2010
65
0
0
Yeah, I was being very generous with the expansion sizes, I don't expect them to get that big =)
 
M

Mireli

Member
Apr 28, 2010
65
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0
I don't really want to settle for a Hybrid, the main reason I am doing this is for the SSD experience, I don't really want to cut corners, I want to feel what the full jump feels like =)

As much as I like the performance on the 240GB, it is out of my price range =(
 
M

Mireli

Member
Apr 28, 2010
65
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0
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LokutusofBorg

LokutusofBorg

Golden Member
Mar 20, 2001
1,065
0
76
Mireli said:
I know this isn't a very good point, but the Phoenix Pro has 100% 5 star from customers on newegg, while the OCZ Vertex 2 is only at 55% five star and 28% 1 star.

Should this be relevant to my choice?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3332167&SID=

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...SSD2-2VTXE120G

Am I looking at the right Vertex 2?

Also, would the C300 128GB be a choice? I pretty much only need this for reads don't I?
Click to expand...
You have the right links there. You shouldn't extrapolate anything significant from that number of reviews on those two drives.

The C300 128GB is a viable alternate choice. Don't go below 128GB with the Crucial drives or you see too much of a performance drop compared to other drives at the same relative size.

My personal hierarchy would be as follows:
> 128GB go Crucial
~ 120GB go SF1200
< 120GB go SF1200 or Intel
 
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