SSDs and Gaming

[ubermonkey101]

Hey guys, I've got a dilemma that I need your help with. I'm running a decent gaming system with a Nvidia GTX 570 GPU and a AMD Phenon II 1100t Black Edition Processor. I'm currently using a 1TB HDD running at 7200 RPM and I want to add an SSD. I want to use it to hold my high performance games on such as ARMA II and Battlefield 3, but would it be better to have it hold the OS (Windows 7)? I don't really care about about boot times, only game load times and times when games need hard drive access us as when they are streaming textures. I would MUCH prefer not having to reinstall everything on my system as I'm at around 600 GB worth of data in total.

Quickie:
Does having high performance games on an SSD increase performance enough, or should the OS come with? (I would rather not have to re install everything).

The SSD I'm think of getting is the Intel 510 series 120 GB.

My Current HDD:

* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 48.314 MB/s
Sequential Write : 35.089 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 13.362 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 40.401 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 0.297 MB/s [ 72.4 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 0.494 MB/s [ 120.6 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 0.614 MB/s [ 149.8 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 0.439 MB/s [ 107.2 IOPS]

Test : 100 MB [C: 71.8% (668.9/931.4 GB)] (x2)
OS : Windows 7 Home Premium Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)

Link to Intel 510 Results:

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1563/5/

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Having a game on an SSD only speeds up level load times. You get not one extra frame per second. Having the OS on an SSD increases overall system responsiveness and makes your entire system feel faster.

I have an older 120GB Vertex 2 and with Windows 7 Ultimate x64, Office 2007 and other programs and 10 or 12 games I have about 33GB free. I use my WD Blacks for storage.

There is no point in getting an SSD just to put games on it. The real benefit comes from having the OS AND your programs/games on it.

 

[ubermonkey101]

Alright, Question #1: is it possible to port only the OS to a new drive without having to clear the rest of the data?

Question #2: Isn't it true that with games like ARMA and some othere, their game engines stream the HD textures off the drive? I know it would increase FPS but i think that it would decrease stuttering that sometimes happens. Do you agree?

 

[Deleted member 217926]

I think you can just move the OS but it will require the $50 retail version of Acronis. Much cheaper to just do a clean install. A clean install always results in a faster more stable system as well.

An SSD can reduce some stuttering caused by things running in the background. Here are a couple of articles that address your questions.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/battlefield-rift-ssd,3062.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-upgrade-hdd-performance,3023.html

 

[ubermonkey101]

So, if I were to keep the OS on my HDD and put games on the SSD, would there be any decrease in stuttering and or load times?

 

[ubermonkey101]

If I were to bring in the files from somewhere else (like a backup), would there be problems with missing registry files?

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Not enough to justify the cost of an SSD. You want your OS AND your programs/games on the SSD. That will give you the overall system responsivness upgrade that an SSD provides.

Read the articles I linked to. The only reason the SSD reduced stuttering and lag was because the backgroung files being accessed by the OS were all on the SSD. 120GB is plenty big for OS, programs and games.

 

[ubermonkey101]

Well I've used 743 GB on my HDD so far, and it's only going to get bigger. so i wouldnt be able to fit everything onto it. I do have a backup drive so would I be able to use that to place my data on to the HDD after the install?

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Yeah that should work fine.

 

[ubermonkey101]

Alright thanks for the help!