[SOLVED] Storage and performance

Nonkii

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Hello. This might be a pretty dumb question but does downloading more and more games reduce your performance/fps?

Best Regards,
 
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Whether he notices or not doesn't mean there isn't a degrade in performance.


What i would have done with that external drive is open it and look at the usb to sata bridge. Most likely the ssd can be removed and used as a sata drive, much faster than a restricted usb ssd. If that was possible, i would install Windows on the ssd so games benefit faster pagefile, driver and directx initiations. Id wipe the hdd and use it for games and general storage. Ssd with Windows installed could have 1 or 2 games depending on size.

Point being, Windows being on the ssd would be so much better, especially since you only have 8gb ram. Windows consumes a bit of...

boju

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Full or near full on either hdd or ssd can affect performance. Either Windows is unable to utilise virtual memory properly (Since i know how much ram you have, with 8gb, the pagefile would be used quite a bit, probably around 5~8gb worth), or incase with an ssd, Trim isn't as effective. If OS was on a full ssd, it's performance wouldn't be the best.

Fps wise wont change but IOPS (In and Out Operations a Second) from a full hdd/ssd can slow down causing stutters.
 
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Nonkii

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Full or near full on either hdd or ssd can affect performance. Either Windows is unable to utilise virtual memory properly (Since i know how much ram you have, with 8gb, the pagefile would be used quite a bit, probably around 5~8gb worth), or incase with an ssd, Trim isn't as effective. If OS was on a full ssd, it's performance wouldn't be the best.

Fps wise wont change but IOPS (In and Out Operations a Second) from a full hdd/ssd can slow down causing stutters.
Ok. Since my friend has a great pc but he has an ssd with 125gb and its full.(he has os and everything else in there). He doesn't gets performance loss or anything like that. I deleted like 4 games last week and I have 2 right now😂. I am trying to get another game but I feel like my performance will decrease. I got a 1tb hard drive and a 120gb external ssd with 1 game on it lol. My 2nd game I have it on my hard drive.
 

boju

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Whether he notices or not doesn't mean there isn't a degrade in performance.


What i would have done with that external drive is open it and look at the usb to sata bridge. Most likely the ssd can be removed and used as a sata drive, much faster than a restricted usb ssd. If that was possible, i would install Windows on the ssd so games benefit faster pagefile, driver and directx initiations. Id wipe the hdd and use it for games and general storage. Ssd with Windows installed could have 1 or 2 games depending on size.

Point being, Windows being on the ssd would be so much better, especially since you only have 8gb ram. Windows consumes a bit of ram for itself, between 1.5~3gb, out of 8gb, doesn't leave much for games. What happens, the pagefile is used more and on a mechanical drive, that's not good for performance.
 
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USAFRet

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Ok. Since my friend has a great pc but he has an ssd with 125gb and its full.(he has os and everything else in there). He doesn't gets performance loss or anything like that. I deleted like 4 games last week and I have 2 right now😂. I am trying to get another game but I feel like my performance will decrease. I got a 1tb hard drive and a 120gb external ssd with 1 game on it lol. My 2nd game I have it on my hard drive.
A nearly full SSD has implications on that drives lifespan.

15-20% is what you should leave free.
 
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Nonkii

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Whether he notices or not doesn't mean there isn't a degrade in performance.


What i would have done with that external drive is open it and look at the usb to sata bridge. Most likely the ssd can be removed and used as a sata drive, much faster than a restricted usb ssd. If that was possible, i would install Windows on the ssd so games benefit faster pagefile, driver and directx initiations. Id wipe the hdd and use it for games and general storage. Ssd with Windows installed could have 1 or 2 games depending on size.

Point being, Windows being on the ssd would be so much better, especially since you only have 8gb ram. Windows consumes a bit of ram for itself, between 1.5~3gb, out of 8gb, doesn't leave much for games. What happens, the pagefile is used more and on a mechanical drive, that's not good for performance.
Oh ok thanks. My hard drive still has lots of space on it. I got to check how much but I am 100% sure it has a lot of space still since I am very "Picky" about storage. If I delete a program, I have to delete all the trace of it. So do you think I could download an extra game? I am thinking to changing to dual channel 2 8gb ram sticks. Will that help?
 

Nonkii

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More ram is better, capacity and dual channel doubling the bandwidth making cpu faster, you should have done that ages ago including turning that ssd into an internal drive.
Yup. I just don't know how to put the ssd into my pc. Thanks boju. Last question. How many drives you have? And what is their storage?
 

boju

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Im sure there'd be youtube vids showing how to convert an external ssd or hdd into an internal drive. Just a matter of opening the enclosure and seeing how the ssd is connected inside. Usually the drive is connected to a sata port. Removing the drive, mounting it either with cradle or velcro, connecting it to sata power and data cable (should have these i think) and off you go.

How many drives you have? And what is their storage?

Just two, ssd for Win/games and hdd for general storage/downloads and some lite games.
 
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Nonkii

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Im sure there'd be youtube vids showing how to convert an external ssd or hdd into an internal drive. Just a matter of opening the enclosure and seeing how the ssd is connected inside. Usually the drive is connected to a sata port. Removing the drive, mounting it either with cradle or velcro, connecting it to sata power and data cable (should have these i think) and off you go.



Just two, ssd for Win/games and hdd for general storage/downloads and some lite games.
Oh ok. Their space right now? Are they almost full? And how many games do you have? But is it worth it converting it to an internal ssd? Its 120gb. For some reason its 111gb when I formatted it. And its almost full by just 1 game.
 

boju

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Their space right now? Are they almost full? And how many games do you have?

About a dozen games each on ssd and hdd. 230gb left on ssd (1TB, actual size 953GB), 777gb left on hdd (actual size 931GB). Depending on space and game, i move them around or uninstall so i can run big games, especially open world, off the ssd.

But is it worth it converting it to an internal ssd?

Worth having a look. Just having Windows on it (& maybe one game) and use your hdd for your remaining games would be better than how you have it now.

For some reason its 111gb when I formatted it. And its almost full by just 1 game.

 

USAFRet

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Oh ok. Their space right now? Are they almost full? And how many games do you have? But is it worth it converting it to an internal ssd? Its 120gb. For some reason its 111gb when I formatted it. And its almost full by just 1 game.
A "120GB" drive WILL read as 111GB in Windows.
This is normal and expected. You've not lost any space.

And being 'full' displays why a 120GB drive is a bad purchase.
The OS and a single game pretty much fills it up.
 
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Nonkii

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About a dozen games each on ssd and hdd. 230gb left on ssd (1TB, actual size 953GB), 777gb left on hdd (actual size 931GB). Depending on space and game, i move them around or uninstall so i can run big games, especially open world, off the ssd.



Worth having a look. Just having Windows on it (& maybe one game) and use your hdd for your remaining games would be better than how you have it now.



Thanks boju. I'll look into it.

Have a wonderful day! ;)
 

Nonkii

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A "120GB" drive WILL read as 111GB in Windows.
This is normal and expected. You've not lost any space.

And being 'full' displays why a 120GB drive is a bad purchase.
The OS and a single game pretty much fills it up.
Oh ok. Do you have any idea how much space is the os? Are they all the same?
 

USAFRet

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How much of that do you reckon, roughly speaking, would take up?
Depends on the system, the user, and how it is used.

My teeny Asus Transformer consumes about 15GB of its 32GB eMMC drive.
That system is basically just a browser and movie player.
The semi annual OS updates are a pain. Almost always, not enough free space to do it.

My wifes system consumes about 50GB of its 250GB SSD.
Very minimal use. Facebook, email, Solitaire.

My main system, the C drive is about 250GB consumed on a 500GB drive.
But that's including all my applications apart from games.


Given todays prices, there is NO reason to struggle along with a 120GB drive.
 
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Nonkii

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Depends on the system, the user, and how it is used.

My teeny Asus Transformer consumes about 15GB of its 32GB eMMC drive.
That system is basically just a browser and movie player.
The semi annual OS updates are a pain. Almost always, not enough free space to do it.

My wifes system consumes about 50GB of its 250GB SSD.
Very minimal use. Facebook, email, Solitaire.

My main system, the C drive is about 250GB consumed on a 500GB drive.
But that's including all my applications apart from games.


Given todays prices, there is NO reason to struggle along with a 120GB drive.
Ok. Thanks. I'm looking for a 120gb-500gb ssd on amazon right now. Thanks!
 

punkncat

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Aside from the free space/page file issue mentioned above, there is another issue that could cause performance issue.
Many games come with their own "loader", anti cheat program, and such that often times defaults to running the background. Every open program you have is utilizing at least a small amount of CPU usage and more importantly RAM space. I would check to be sure you don't have multiple instances of the 'host' program running, IE Steam, Epic, etc.
 
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Nonkii

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Aside from the free space/page file issue mentioned above, there is another issue that could cause performance issue.
Many games come with their own "loader", anti cheat program, and such that often times defaults to running the background. Every open program you have is utilizing at least a small amount of CPU usage and more importantly RAM space. I would check to be sure you don't have multiple instances of the 'host' program running, IE Steam, Epic, etc.
Ok thanks.

No smaller than 240/250GB.
Ignore the 120GB drives.
Oh. Could downloading another game in my external ssd start having performance issues?
 

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