Installing games on other partition or different HDD?

[RecasT]

Hello guys I need you suggestions/answers...I have this dilemma that needs to be addressed...I just built my new rig for the purpose of gaming, Im confused as to where to install my games for a better performance (loading times) with also a responsive/fast OS at the same time.
I have 3x HDD: 1x 500gb 7200rpm WD, 1x 250gb 5400rpm Samsung, and 1x 1TB External HDD WD...

My supposed plan is this:
> OS/programs installed to 1st partition (100gb partition) of 500gb 7200rpm HDD
> Games installed to 2nd partition (400gb partition) of 500gb 7200rpm HDD -> (same HDD of OS)
> Music files to 250gb 5400rpm HDD
> Movies/media and backups to 1TB External HDD

so can I have a better performance (loading times) of games and a fast/responsive OS with this setup?? or is installing my games to a different physical HDD other than different partition but same physical HDD of OS much better??
your help is greatly appreciated, TIA!

for more info I have this rig setup:
Intel i5 2320 @ 3ghz
Asus H61M-E
8GB RAM
3x HDD
Palit GTX 680 Jetstream
Silverstone 500W PSU
Windows 7 Ultimate Edition 64bit

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

Partitioning your drives isn't going to speed anything up. About the only thing I can see it doing is aiding in your own personal organization, and may help with future Windows installations, if all data is kept off of the partition that Windows is installed to.

Your best bet is to run a single partition on your 500 GB HDD and just install everything you want to have the fastest access times there, as your external drive and 5400 RPM drive are more than likely going to return much slower response times to random drive reads.

Partitioning adds an artificial barrier which can cause otherwise unnecessary extra movement of the heads, when they need to jump back and forth between the partitions to read OS DATA and game DATA. If you're not going to benefit from partitioning the drive, I don't see the need to do so.

What happens if your programs and Windows installation needs to grow beyond 100 GB?

 

[RecasT]

Your best bet is to run a single partition on your 500 GB HDD and just install everything you want to have the fastest access times there, as your external drive and 5400 RPM drive are more than likely going to return much slower response times to random drive reads.

Partitioning adds an artificial barrier which can cause otherwise unnecessary extra movement of the heads, when they need to jump back and forth between the partitions to read OS DATA and game DATA. If you're not going to benefit from partitioning the drive, I don't see the need to do so.

ok so you're saying that ill just install games alongside the OS and applications in the same HDD and the same partition? will it not interfere when gaming? the random reads and OS processes I mean...

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

No, you will not experience interference if you install everything to a single partition of a single drive. You will only lower performance by artificially partitioning when you don't need to. The unnecessary partition causes the read/write head to perform more travelling than it otherwise might, which will slow things down, as you will be separating things in a fashion that is unnecessary.