• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Trying to Reduce Hitching/Stuttering in Games

Leyawiin

Leyawiin

Diamond Member
I'm usually pretty good about Googling my tech questions, but this one I can't seem to find a definitive answer for this. I have a single 250GB 7200RPM WD SATA hard drive. I notice in some games I get a bit of texture loading stuttering or hitching. I've heard that RAID can help with this, as can just adding an additional HD and keeping the apps seperate from the Windows XP installation. I've also read that just a single Raptor would help.

My question is, what would be the ideal setup for my issue? I do have a fairly decent system - Athlon X2 6400+ paired with a GTX 260, so I don't think thats the source of my stuttering (just game at 1680x1050). And the stuttering isn't super bad, I just want to get the smoothest performance I can.

I also know that RAID 0 doesn't protect data in case of a single hard driver failing - thats not a big concern for me.

So whats the verdict guys? RAID 0 or 1, drop in a second drive and move my games to that or get a Velociraptor 300 GB?
 
You'll probably get a mixed bag of answers, but solving hitching can be a tricky task as overall system throughput must be considered. There are a lot of variables such as memory size, speed, fsb speed, etc. Even with an i7 920 oc'd to 3.7, 6GB 1600Mhz DDR3, a 300GB Raptor, and 260 Tri-Sli, I experienced hitching when swamp boating the rivers in Far Cry 2. An extreme example of where large amounts of data were suddenly being called for, but an example in any case. I grabbed a couple SSD's for Raid 0 and everything is smooth. Not saying that's the answer, just wanted to illistrate that even a 300GB Raptor may not be fast enough for some.
 
I have 4GB of DDR2 800 RAM, so thats more than enough for XP. All drivers are up to date as well (GPU, mainboard, hardware sound card, LAN) My games are primarily things like Oblivion, Fallout 3, Lord of the Rings Online. And when the stuttering occurs the HD does grind that few seconds as well. Again, its not terrible - probably just an average amount - I was just wanting to smooth it out more if there was a solution.
 
If the hdd is grinding that's indicative of your problem - insufficient memory. To completely fix it you'll have to bump up to 8GB and Vista64/W7. A really fast SSD (look at the G.Skill Titan drives) would give you better read speeds and reduce that few seconds significantly but I don't know if that would fix it completely or not.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top