SSD now???

[Redemption 77]

Hi all! I am still on the fence about SSD drives. I mainly game on my PC and load times don't really bug me as much as it does others. Are there any other valid reasons (keeping in mind that I am a gamer) to go SSD?

 

[Puffnstuff]

If you're happy with what you've got then don't worry about it. Some people like really fast load times and I can appreciate that especially while gaming on a large map where disc access might be required to refresh the map as you travel about.

 

[It's Not Lupus]

If you play games, like WOW, which load the environment as you play, your min FPS (and your average FPS) should increase.

 

[tweakboy]

If you play games, like WOW, which load the environment as you play, your min FPS (and your average FPS) should increase.

No it won't. If he has enough ram it wont.

 

[Redemption 77]

hmm. I play alot of Borderlands 2, BF3, The Secret World. I have over 130 games on Steam. I already have an upgrade planned for tax time. I am getting the FX-8350 CPU and I am thinking about another GTX 670. I was gonna go with a new SSD but if it only affects load times, then I guess I can't see the point. I just want to be ready for all the new 2013 games. My Phenom is showing it's age and I think it (other than my HDD) is bottlenecking me with some games.

 

[Phynaz]

Adding an SSD is the best performance increase you can give your computer.

 

[groberts101]

Adding an SSD is the best performance increase you can give your computer.

period and exclamation point! :thumbsup:

these days.. an enthusiast based computer..no matter what you do with it.. is just not considered to be a performance oriented computer without one.

 

[Redemption 77]

I suppose it depends on your definition of performance. Some will say that it is the speed at which something operates, and others (like me) define it as the smoothness at which something operates. I don't care if I am pushing 120 FPS in BF3, if it is skipping or choppy, it is no good to me. This was one of the reasons I switched from AMD to Nvidia. The 7970 GHz edition can push some serious frames but the smoothness between its min FPS and max FPS are all over the place. I guess performance mean consistency to me. Will SSD make things smoother or just faster?

 

[beginner99]

Will SSD make things smoother or just faster?

depends what you mean with "things" For gaming it has little benefit (shorter level load times) and certain games as mentioned might profit too but in general putting games on an SSD is not worth the money they cost.

However putting the OS (and most commonly used applications like browser, ...) will help a lot. The important part is responsiveness. Systems with HDD tend to "hang" or "stutter" randomly at times. Does not happen with SSDs. it makes the PC work like you would expect it to. Hence you will notice the biggest difference after using a PC with SSD and then going back to one with a HDD.

 

[Redemption 77]

...

Systems with HDD tend to "hang" or "stutter" randomly at times. Does not happen with SSDs. it makes the PC work like you would expect it to. Hence you will notice the biggest difference after using a PC with SSD and then going back to one with a HDD.

This is what I experience now. It takes a full almost 5 mins for my system to boot and then be fully usable after loading everything. Also I notice in allot of my games, random times of hanging or stuttering. I went through the whole thing of driver sweeping then reinstalling, disabling then uninstalling antivirus, getting rid of non essential apps and drivers and checking all my hardware for defects, and it never seems to clear up. I know that some games with DX11 will run that way no matter what because of bad optimizing on the part of the developer but even in games that should run like butter on my system, don't. Some people say it is my CPU holding me back, but I don't know. that is why I have turned my attention to SSD drives.

 

[Blain]

I am still on the fence about SSD drives. I mainly game on my PC and load times don't really bug me as much as it does others.

Are there any other valid reasons (keeping in mind that I am a gamer) to go SSD?

You're a patient person, who's relatively happy with your HD performance.
There's no reason for you to purchase a SSD.

 

[MrX8503]

I think for any kind of top end machine, an SSD is a requirement.

 

[Phynaz]

This is what I experience now. It takes a full almost 5 mins for my system to boot and then be fully usable after loading everything.

Get an SSD and turn that into less that 30 seconds.

On my system, an Intel i7 870 with 3gbs SATA, Windows just finishes it's startup animation before the login screen hits.

On my kids' system, an i7 3570k with 6gbs SATA, the animation barely gets started before he is at a login screen.

Both systems are immediately usable after login.

That's the kind of speedup you will see.

 

[zCypher]

It's easy to feel that current performance is OK, because you're used to it. If you install an SSD, I very much doubt you would be OK with ever going back to your old hard drive. With a regular HDD, whatever is loading occupies the majority of available disk performance. With an SSD, you can be loading something, and you still have tons of available performance available to load other things simultaneously. So you don't have any of that hard drive crunching hanging up your system anymore.

Let me put it this way, I installed an SSD in my mother's computer and even she would never go back to an HDD. She is not a techie person either. You don't need to be an enthusiast or power user to appreciate the benefits of an SSD.