Where to implement a SSD for Gaming

[Monk33]

I an avid gamer, mostly RPG and FPS. Far Cry, Witcher, Deus Ex, Batman, etc. mostly go for all the AAA titles. The save game and level load times waste a lot of my life staring at progress bars so I was thinking of getting a SSD now that they are within budget. My question is: Where do I install/implement it for best results. I was thinking about getting a 500G SSD. I gave my Windows 7(64) install a 100G partition and it is almost full (93G OS!!!!!) thanks to the winsux folder. So I am concerned about using up all that 500G on MS's crappy architecture/OS. I have always installed my games and programs to a Data partition or separate drive. I'm getting the SSD so that my games will load faster but do I have to have my OS on the SSD as well? Will I lose out on the benefits of the fast SSD by not putting my OS on it? Can I run my OS off my 7200rpm drive and just install the SSD and use it to install all games and apps only? Will I see the dramatic improvement in level and save load times? Any knowledge you could spare on this would be really appreciated! Thank you.

 

[Gam3r01]

Dont give windows a partition of the SSD.
Ideally you should do a clean install of windows on the SSD (OS+programs is maybe 20-30gigs at most) then install the games you want on the SSD.

 

[James Mason]

Most of the benefits of having an SSD are from having your OS on it.
Partitioning it is... a waste of time, just more hassle than it's worth.
Also not sure how your OS is so big either, unless you forgot that the Program Files folders go on the OS drive and things that are installed there (like skype, 90% of other programs as well) will go there by default.

 

[Monk33]

Dont give windows a partition of the SSD.
Ideally you should do a clean install of windows on the SSD (OS+programs is maybe 20-30gigs at most) then install the games you want on the SSD.

Thank you for the feedback. So you are saying that if I keep the OS on the 7200rpm drive then the games that I install on the SSD, their load times won't see that great a difference?

I partition mostly for housekeeping but also if their is a error on the disk it gives me a chance of recovering my data partition more easily. When I installed Windows 7 it was a 12G install on a new disk. I install everything on my data partition not on the system partition. The 100G that I set aside for Windows was at 93G a week ago. I did a clean with disk cleanup and CCcleaner and that freed up about 6G! It is the winsxs folder. I thought the MS disk cleanup utility that they say to use would do some good but nothing. I know winsxs is a known issue. I'm straying from the info I need... If I just install the SSD as a secondary drive, install my games on there, I won't see a massive load time decrease? I have to have the OS on there? I hope you are wrong. I would set aside as I did before (even if just mentally and not use partitioning) around 100G which is 1/5th of my drive, a couple of AAA games and it would be full. Games coming out these days are 30, 50, 60 even 70+gigs. :-(

 

[Gam3r01]

I would say you would get better performance running the OS on the SSD as well.

You can try just using the SSD for games (without any windows partition) and see the load times you get.

 

[olin9]

The SSD will help with load times for the apps on it. Windows, office and games. Windows will boot in about 12-20 secs and your apps will load much faster. But once in the app or game it will run the same because it is running in ram. It will only speed up load time from the SSD.