Advice please on hard drive setup for gaming

[TimCee]

Hi I've been looking into optimising my existing computer for gaming. I have a couple of questions about hard drive configuration. My current setup has the following drives which I could utilise for gaming -

120GB SSD - Operating system. It has 65GB free currently
600GB VelociRaptor (10000rpm) Mostly empty at the moment
Western Digital WD Green WD20EARS 2TB - Mostly full of my my data (music photos etc)

The game I've bought is Titanfall which is a large game. Basically what I want to know is if I should install it on the SSD which could be a squeeze? Or should I install it on the fast 600Gb HDD?
This setup will ONLY be used for games as I have a separate operating system on another SSD that I use for work (Photoshop/Lightroom) & everything else.

Basically I've never used a PC for gaming so I'm new to to this. I know a lot of this has been answered from doing research but just wanted advice regarding what people would do for my particular setup?

I hope that makes sense! Thanks in advance for any help 🙂

 

[Videographer]

If you've got space you could put it on the SSD but I dont think its going to matter much, games are designed to pre load and run from RAM mostly, so it will probably reduce loading screens a little but not actual performance like fps by much

 

[Claus1707]

installing titanfall on the fast 600GB hdd seems like a good idea. At least I would not care if the game loaded a little slower than if I would have installed it on my SSD.

And if you later on find out you want do duel boot another OS, the ssd would come in a good hand

 

[TimCee]

If you've got space you could put it on the SSD but I dont think its going to matter much, games are designed to pre load and run from RAM mostly, so it will probably reduce loading screens a little but not actual performance like fps by much

installing titanfall on the fast 600GB hdd seems like a good idea. At least I would not care if the game loaded a little slower than if I would have installed it on my SSD.

And if you later on find out you want do duel boot another OS, the ssd would come in a good hand

OK thanks. I would probably put titanfall on the SSD with windows, but it will then be almost at capacity as it has an apparent 48GB install size!!! If it is only loading times that will be affected then I think I will put it on the fast HDD.

Another quick question - When it comes to the fast 600GB HDD, it says that it is SATA 6.0Gb/s. Isn't that as fast as an SSD or am I mistaken?

That obviously means it needs to go into a SATA III port. Slightly annoying as I don't have a spare SATA III port :-( I would have to get a PCI card with more ports on.

Thank you both for your help 🙂

 

[Videographer]

SATA 6Gb/s refers to the port speed not the actual speed you will get from the device plugged into it. Its like USB3 vs USB2 - you wont get max speed just because the port supports it. A SATA2 port wont handicap a hard drive much but it will cap the faster SSDs max read speeds so if anything put the SSD into a SATA3 (6gbs) and dont worry where the HDDs go

 

[TimCee]

SATA 6Gb/s refers to the port speed not the actual speed you will get from the device plugged into it. Its like USB3 vs USB2 - you wont get max speed just because the port supports it. A SATA2 port wont handicap a hard drive much but it will cap the faster SSDs max read speeds so if anything put the SSD into a SATA3 (6gbs) and dont worry where the HDDs go

Right OK I understand the limits of the port, I do have the SSD going into SATA III. I'm confused though. This is the hard drive I own -

Western Digital WD VelociRaptor WD6000HLHX 600GB 10000 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

What does the 6.0Gb/s mean when it comes to this drive?

Thanks again

 

[Videographer]

The 6.0Gb/s is telling you it "supports" SATA3 AKA 6Gbs, it doesnt mean it can actually max out the speed of the port though.

The Top speed for SATA2 is 300MBs and the top speed of that raptor is a BURST of 300 MBs,

in reality you wont see a difference, SATA3 would give the drive a tiny advantage so thats why support was added (and it probably helps sell drives too) but in use you wont need it as the drive can't max out sata2 for more than a fraction of a second, and even then its only just maxing it out

 

[TimCee]

The 6.0Gb/s is telling you it "supports" SATA3 AKA 6Gbs, it doesnt mean it can actually max out the speed of the port though.

The Top speed for SATA2 is 300MBs and the top speed of that raptor is a BURST of 300 MBs,

in reality you wont see a difference, SATA3 would give the drive a tiny advantage so thats why support was added (and it probably helps sell drives too) but in use you wont need it as the drive can't max out sata2 for more than a fraction of a second, and even then its only just maxing it out

Ok brilliant I get it now. I'm glad I asked! It means I can crack on with my existing hardware which is a bonus!

Thanks you've been a great help. Much appreciated 🙂

 

[Videographer]

No problem thanks