ssd & gaming

[gunslinger690]

I'm currently running a evga x58, good system with a 300 gb raptor. I've been thinking of swapping to an ssd. I see all the stats and it leaves me kindda confused tbh. All I really use this rig for is for gaminig & surfing. will an ssd really make that much of a differance in gaming.

 

[thescreensavers]

Loading screens yes and loading the game yes, other then that no.

 

[Zap]

Hello gunslinger690, and welcome to AnandTech Forums.

The answer, of course, is maybe. The reason is that as with any other software, some may benefit from an SSD and some may not. For instance Steam starts up a lot quicker from an SSD than from a HDD, but that's just Steam starting up, not your games. Flight Simulator X and WoW see benefits from an SSD because they tend to load stuff dynamically as you progress through the environment. Other games that load everything into memory one time at the beginning of a map will probably not see any benefits during the game. Of course loading times may be a bit faster.

 

[Concillian]

Search youtube for HDD vs. SSD comparisons for the games you play.

Good chance someone will have a video up of a side-by-side loading. As has already been mentioned, loading is the main benefit, as games will usually have an entire level / map / area loaded into memory so it doesn't need to access the storage subsystem. If you play games that are an exception to this (MMOs and flight sims, as Zap mentioned) it will have some impact on how fast new things load into your screen. If you've played WoW and zoned into Orgrimmar or Stormwind, and your toon draws in, but other toons don't for a while... that pretty much goes away with an SSD.

 

[JumBie]

The thing that i noticed the most with a ssd was a enormous cut back on loading times for my games. All games nearly loaded instantly, Arma 2, Shogun 2, Bad Company, Starcraft 2, League of Legends, the list goes on. I know this because i have another WD 640GB black drive, and i transfered some of these games over a couple days ago to it, because i was running out of space on my SSD and the load time increased when i put it back on my normal drive.

 

[bradley]

You could always buy more memory, run Linux, install a ramdisk and load all of your games from there.

 

[aigomorla]

ummm

theres a BIG difference between loading up on a magnetic hard drive vs. loading up on a SSD.

I really didnt notice it until my cousin freaked out on how fast my system would load a VERY BIG Shogun2 war scenario vs his machine.

Its not just there, in FPS / MMO's latency is king, however so is loadup.
If you can load up faster then the others, you have a time advantage unless the server has a loadup timer, where it waits for everyone to load b4 starting.

I personally cant stand long load ups, so i dont think i can go back to the conventional magnetic disk for gaming.

 

[gunslinger690]

Well thanks for all the replays. I'm still undecided, I mostly play fps like fo3 & nv, crysis2 & moh multi. And looking foward to rage looks awesome.

Thanks again
gunslinger

 

[Seero]

Loading screens yes and loading the game yes, other then that no.

Other than loading, there are lots a SSD can benefit gaming. This benefit can be seen through MMOs as many objects are load on demand instead of preload, and the superb reading speed plus the low response time removes mini lags.

Some say faster RAM helps, some say discrete NIC helps. They do help, but its affects are not as visible as a SSD.

 

[thescreensavers]

^ your right, I forgot about mmos but still meh.

 

[DirkGently1]

It's not just about the fantastic load times. You never have to worry about background tasks interrupting your gaming session by thrashing your HDD when you are playing.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Aside from MMO's, there must be at least one game out there where actual gameplay is less hitchy/stuttery when using a fast SSD. If so there probably wouldn't be much of a FPS boost, but the game would sure look smoother. Intel says Assassin's Creed II is one such game, but the comparison sounds completely ridiculous. Just looks like more shoddy Ubisoft prgramming.

See video:
http://www.intelssdgaming.com/

 

[deimos3428]

I found when I switched to SSD I was consistently the fastest ready to play in multiplayer games...which really nets no advantage at all, if you have to then wait for everyone else.

 

[postmortemIA]

I found when I switched to SSD I was consistently the fastest ready to play in multiplayer games...which really nets no advantage at all, if you have to then wait for everyone else.

yep, you had to wait for them, which you have to do anyway. but in some games you get to pick side as being first. additionally, your load time prior to joining server is shorter.

 

[sticks435]

Well thanks for all the replays. I'm still undecided, I mostly play fps like fo3 & nv, crysis2 & moh multi. And looking foward to rage looks awesome.

Thanks again
gunslinger

Well considering FO3, NV and Crysis/Crysis 2 use a streaming texture system, you would benefit from and SSD.

 

[DirkGently1]

If any of you remember what it was like playing HL2 when it first came out, the flow of the game was constantly interrupted by long, stuttering load points. Playing it now it's just a blip before the game smoothly continues. Worth the money just for that!

 

[imaheadcase]

This would be a great anandtech article to do..two identical systems. One with standard hardrive, and one with SSD and compare loading times with wide range of games. Even have small 1-3min video with side-by-side playing each game so you could get a feel of it.

 

[Seero]

This would be a great anandtech article to do..two identical systems. One with standard hardrive, and one with SSD and compare loading times with wide range of games. Even have small 1-3min video with side-by-side playing each game so you could get a feel of it.

People tried, but its effect isn't really quantitative. SSD doesn't increase FPS most of the time, but you can simply see its effects as mini stutters simply disappears. This is more apparent to intensive players where .2 second is all you have between kill or be kill. Even a .05 second lag is OMG LAG!!! Yet it doesn't equates to 1 FPS. I will take 30 FPS with 0 freezes over 200 FPS with .1 second freezes occassionally, it is saves a lot of frusturating moments when I believe I should be blowing its head if it wasn't the lag.

Put it this way, there are no downsides from switching from HDD to SSD in terms of gaming.

 

[deimos3428]

yep, you had to wait for them, which you have to do anyway. but in some games you get to pick side as being first. additionally, your load time prior to joining server is shorter.

Well, for Dirt 2 it's just annoying...hurry up and wait. Though I do occasionally make it to the fridge and back before the HDD guys load up.