upgrading desktop for games

Discussion in 'New Build / Upgrade Advice' started by lando, Oct 5, 2013.

  1. lando

    lando Geek

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    1) Are there other factors that improve startup times and loading times of games except the HDD?
    2) I have a WDC WD10EVDS-63N5B1 with
    sata 2
    931.5 GB
    7200 RPM
    how to determine the speed and the important factors of this HDD
     
  2. Wicked Mystic

    Wicked Mystic Big Geek

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    1: Mostly not. For example network card or broken network may increase startup time very much.
    2: That's about as fast as modern 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD's. You won't notice difference. On HDD's RPM affects most and while 10000 RPM HDD's are very rare, that 7200 RPM is fastest "standard".
     
  3. lando

    lando Geek

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    1) how to check if the network card is broken?
    2) so updating to an SSD wouldn't help much
     
  4. Wicked Mystic

    Wicked Mystic Big Geek

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    1. That means startup time will probably couple of minutes.
    2. I said HDD. SSD will lower startup time considerably.
     
  5. lando

    lando Geek

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    2. will I be able to put in an ssd next to my hdd? and how will this affect speeds? is it right assuming that if my OS is installed on it then booting is faster, but if instead i put all my games on it, loading those games will be faster
    3. will putting my OS on it make Virtual memory faster, thus improving overall performance? is this an important factor?
     
  6. Wicked Mystic

    Wicked Mystic Big Geek

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    2. Yes you can. You assumed right. Everything installed on SSD will load much faster. OS install to SSD without question. As for games, many have some kind on loading screens that may be slow.

    3. Will make it faster. If you have enough RAM, that won't be that important factor. Still having swap on SSD will speed up many things.
     
  7. lando

    lando Geek

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    I dont understand what you mean for games... do you mean some games will always load slow, or do you mean it depends on what SSD you use?
    Also what size is used for OS and what size do you recommend if I plan to use 50GB-100GB for games, data like movies,music and pictures will be on hdd
     
  8. Wicked Mystic

    Wicked Mystic Big Geek

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    Some games have loading screens that take some time to disappear. So if game has loading screens that show up to 40 seconds overall and loading game takes 50 seconds overall with HDD, you really cannot get much faster loading with SSD. This thing depends on game.

    I recommend 120 GB SSD. No need for partitioning, just put OS and games on that SSD single partition. Larger SSD's cost too much IMHO.
     
  9. lando

    lando Geek

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    Is this a good SSD for me, Sandisk 128GB (490 read 350 write Mb/s) or do i better go with Samsung 840 Pro (490-390 Mb/s) ? there seems to be a huge price difference 90 vs 130 euros.
    Also how much does the OS take in space and will I be able to move the OS simply from HDD to SSD without having to do a complete system reinstall.
     
  10. Wicked Mystic

    Wicked Mystic Big Geek

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    IMO Samsung is not worth price difference.

    Windows 7 will take about 30-40 GB. To transfer OS you need proper software. Many SSD:s come with some kind of software that does the trick. If not, google helps: transfer OS SSD

    I always recommend complete reinstall because Windows slows down after use and reinstalling takes all crap out of Windows.
     
  11. lando

    lando Geek

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    how much space should I leave open for Virtual memory? Would it be wise to buy 250GB version(Samsung 840 evo basic) for 150 euro? The games I would install are BF4, RTW2 ,Crysis 3,skyrim, the witcher 2 totalling 88GB
     
  12. Wicked Mystic

    Wicked Mystic Big Geek

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    Windows swapfile ("virtual memory") is usually somewhere around 2-8 GB.
     
  13. lando

    lando Geek

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    did you include this in your calculation already that windows takes 30-40 GB
     
  14. Wicked Mystic

    Wicked Mystic Big Geek

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    Yes and no. Windows 7 install with swapfile takes about 30-40 GB. That's rough but good estimate.
     
  15. lando

    lando Geek

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    and what if I put only my games on my SSD, not my OS ?
    1) will this still increase game loading times at the same rate? this is the most important factor for me, because in Battlefield 4 , Rome Total War 2 ... every 20 minutes or so you have to load a new map, but for other games as well...
    2) will I still be able to make windows use virtual memory on the SSD instead of the HDD
    3)knowing that loading times are only real important factor for me would you please be able to recommend an SSD of 120GB (please also tell me why), preferably one of these:
    http://www.ssdcenter.be/category/20...opvoorraad,opvoorraad&items=10&overridesort=y
    (I'm sorry for the site being in dutch)
     
  16. Wicked Mystic

    Wicked Mystic Big Geek

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    Not recommended. OS to SSD first. Then games if enough space.

    1. As already said, OS to SSD is first priority. Games load some OS stuff also. You can buy 240 GB SSD if 120 GB is not enough. I see no point putting OS to HDD if SSD is available.

    2. You can put swapfile whatever drive you want.

    3. 120 GB http://www.ssdcenter.be/product/259426/category-208062-ssd/kingston-ssdnow-v300-120-gb.html

    240+ GB http://www.ssdcenter.be/product/398996/category-208062-ssd/sandisk-ultra-plus-256-gb.html
     
  17. lando

    lando Geek

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  18. Wicked Mystic

    Wicked Mystic Big Geek

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    That Samsung is TLC crap. Not recommended. Stick with MLC drives.
     
  19. lando

    lando Geek

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  20. Wicked Mystic

    Wicked Mystic Big Geek

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    That test is accelerated btime. They predict that SSD will last 249 years. They tested it for couple of weeks. So that prediction is not valid. Also would you use already broken out SSD for data storage? I wouldn't.

    And another thing. TLC is cheaper to manufacture than MLC. Why anybody would make more expensive MLC discs if there is nothing wrong with TLC? No reason for that and still MLC discs are much more popular.

    SSD's are still quite new technology. If TLC is admitted to be much less reliable than MLC, would you take risk? I wouldn't.

    Finally, when TLC is cheaper to manufacture, TLC based SSD's should also be cheaper. If they are not, you are paying same price for less reliable device. Why? If it does not matter, you didn't save anything. If it matters, you would have got better at same price.
     

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