Question about SSD drives

acctingman

Member
Oct 6, 2010
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I'm getting a new PC put together and it's for gaming ONLY.

What's the advantage to getting a system with a SSD drive?
What do I put on that drive? Just the OS?
Should I put what ever game I'm currently playing on it? Would it help game performance at all? (load times, etc...)

Thanks
 

Topweasel

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2000
5,437
1,659
136
I'm getting a new PC put together and it's for gaming ONLY.

What's the advantage to getting a system with a SSD drive?
What do I put on that drive? Just the OS?
Should I put what ever game I'm currently playing on it? Would it help game performance at all? (load times, etc...)

Thanks
OS and games you play. If you are bouncing in and out of a game throughout a week or two the last thing you want are long load times. If you are playing an MP game it makes even more sense to put it on an SSD. Games like CS and DoD allow first loaders to have first choice in certain things like, like teams and weaponry.

My setup in my game only pc is a 480GB SSD and a 1TB 7200 HDD. I have OS on the SSD and have the top 10-15 games that I am or will be playing on the SSD. I move any game I am finished, needlessly large games that I want to play sometime soon, and non-MP games that I play but occasionally where an SSD doesn't really help, all go to the HDD. Like for example I recently finished TR and Wolfenstien NWO, both those got moved to my HDD. Civ V is on my HDD. Max Paine 3 is on my HDD waiting for its turn on the SSD. When I am finished with A:I (early next week), it will be moved to the HDD.
 
Feb 25, 2011
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Would that apply to MMO's? (where most of it is server side)?

It's particularly helpful in MMOs. Yes, actions are server-side, but whoever loads the maps first tends to either see the map first, or have a few more seconds to duck for cover while the red team is still warping in.
 

acctingman

Member
Oct 6, 2010
126
1
81
So, it behoves me to get a SSD then?

What is a decent size? I'll have my OS and probably 2 games on there at the same time. Ones I play infrequently will be on the HD
 

Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
17,484
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What's the advantage to getting a system with a SSD drive?
1. Bootup and shutdown times.
2. Software installation and update times.
3. Loading directories and lots of little files (like waiting for that save game list), or cold-cache game data loading.
4. Etc.

What do I put on that drive? Just the OS?
Whatever. It's a question of space and money. I got a 480GB, and I can fit all the games I might want to play at any given time on it, with ~200GB to spare, at any given time. Saved games, and whole modded game install folders, get backed up to my HDD (when a 50+ hour save gets corrupted, you'll stop trusting that Steam cloud crap, and start rotating backups).

Oh, and make sure to not have any storage drives but the SSD connected, while you install the OS. Windows could enumerate the HDD first, and install the system reserved partition and bootloader there, which can turn into bad news at a later date. With no such options, it will put everything on the SSD, then you can add the other drive after the install.

Would it help game performance at all? (load times, etc...)
Will vary. Some games yes, most no, some if you're tight on RAM.

But, in general, don't spec a new PC without at least a 240GB SSD for the OS, unless it's a <=$600 one. At $100-120 for a good one every day, it will be worth the money. If you don't need more space than that, you won't even need an internal HDD.
 
Feb 25, 2011
16,992
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So, it behoves me to get a SSD then?

What is a decent size? I'll have my OS and probably 2 games on there at the same time. Ones I play infrequently will be on the HD

It's not worth not doing anymore, at least if you want a "midrange" or better computing experience.

250GB is kind of the sweet spot now, in the $110-$140 range, although 500GB drives are increasingly affordable. Even 120GB would probably hold your OS and a couple games, but it's nice to have breathing room.
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
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There was a time I couldn't justify buying a large SSD -- on the price point exclusively.

While they still cost more per GB than HDD storage, the performance advantage is so great it's probably worth it. So my rig has now an 840-Pro and MX100 totaling 1TB, and a 1TB SATA-II drive for media files, DVR captures -- that sort of thing.

ISRT is a decent Band-Aid to get 80% SSD speed out of an HDD for the extra price of a 60GB SSD, but once you taste the advantage of simple SATA-III SSD performance, you won't want to fiddle with ISRT in the future.
 

DigDog

Lifer
Jun 3, 2011
14,637
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i'm just butting in to say that an SSD is the most amazing upgrade i have ever experienced.

going from a P4 to a C2D was nothing, compared to sticking a cheap SSD in my rig.
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
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i'm just butting in to say that an SSD is the most amazing upgrade i have ever experienced.

going from a P4 to a C2D was nothing, compared to sticking a cheap SSD in my rig.

Well, I've said it before, and so have many others.

There is a long-established model of computing machines based on the von Neumann model. An expanded view of "storage" includes everything from CPU registers and caches, to massive electromechanical (HDD) devices and tape systems. It is a "pyramid" model.

So the most expensive "storage" -- registers and cache -- are the fastest with the least capacity. Capacity increases as you drop down level by level in the pyramid, while speed and expense decrease.

HDDs were always a bottleneck to PCs. With improvements in the SATA-controller capability, an SSD opens that bottleneck profoundly. With HDDs, you have "hourglass experiences" with windows. With SSDs -- not so.
 

Mantrid-Drone

Senior member
Mar 15, 2014
351
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91
I'm just about ready to install everything (W7) on my latest build and I added a SSD at the last moment. Only 120GB but big enough for my purposes.

What I'm interested in is whether it is a good idea to install the OS on a separate partition from Programs and maybe have a dedicated Games partition too? I intend to put my Documents/Data etc on a ITB HDD.

I've read conflicting advice about the former arrangement and I was wondering if having OS and Programs on different partitions would cause any practical problems, either setting it up or in actual operation.

I'm was also thinking just a separate Games folder would be fine to keep them separate from other programs.

Advice appreciated.
 

Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
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Don't bother separating the OS or anything. Just install big programs, like games, on the HDD, and but big files there. Setting your folders to redirect is quite a bit of work, and could blow up if you need to repair the OS, or your profile, at some point. You can just drag folders on the other drive into your favorites list in Explorer, and go on your merry way just fine.

You can install games and such wherever, too. I keep them in their own trees outside of Program Files, myself.
 

Mantrid-Drone

Senior member
Mar 15, 2014
351
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Sounds good to me; That's what I do with games myself on my existing set up. Thanks for the advice.
 

Carson Dyle

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2012
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I'd say the last question comes down to whether or not you anticipate space problems within that 120GB. I use a 128GB system SSD, with all programs installed in the default folders and all application data, caches, temp files, etc. on the SSD. That all takes up only about 50GB currently, but I'm not a gamer. You'll obviously want games on the SSD to take advantage of load times.

The things you want to keep on HDD are media library files that consume a lot of space and where access time doesn't matter much. Or application data folders that can potentially be very large (e.g. BitTorrent).