SSD and Games question

V

VolvoR

Gawd
Joined
Jan 28, 2004
Messages
878
Ok, so my main drive is a Corsair Force Series 128gb SSD. I've installed only some small programs on it, such as Spybot, etc.

My second drives are WD640AAKS Black drives. (and some 2tb storage drives for media)

Is there any benefit to me installing Steam onto the SSD and all my games? Will the load noticeably faster that if they were installed on the Black drive?

Thanks
 
When I was browsing to get an SSD (which I didn't) games did load faster according to many reviewers. I would not, however, use it to store downloaded games.

Perhaps someone can share some real life experience:)
 
Yes, you buy an SSD to accelerate your program start-up times. Games are programs. So the SSD will make the game launch exponentially faster, as well as level loading while in game.

The only reason to not put a game on an SSD is because you don't have enough space to put all your games on there, and so you must choose which games to go on and which to stay off.

Ideally, you want all your programs on the SSD, and all your data (media, documents) on an HDD.
 
I don't like multiplayer games, so my personal experience is limited to single player games.

From what I've read in the forums here, most people say it's pointless to install multiplayer games like Team Fortress or so on the SSD. The reasoning is that the faster loading times aren't a benefit because you're still waiting on the majority of other players to catch up before the game starts (and you're also limited to your internet speeds).

From my experience, single player games enjoy a huge benefit (especially older ones). Any game that has a long pause in between levels will see the biggest boost. I just finished the first two Assassin's Creed games and upgraded to an SSD midway through. ...it was like night and day. I went from waiting about 2-3 minutes at loading point to about 10 seconds.
 
While I agree to part of what you are saying, which is that you'll definitely see a big improvement in single player games, I do not agree with the generalization regarding "multiplayer games."

1. The game being on SSD will make it launch much faster.
2. Level-loading is still beneficial to games that don't wait for a minimum amount of players to join, plus it's probably more satisfying from a user perspective instead of looking at a progress bar.
3. Levels/maps are generally located on your computer, so I don't see how internet connection would mitigate or cap the SSD's benefit in level-loading in a material way.

I'd still take games I play the most and put them on the SSD whether they are single-player or multi-player. If pressed for space, I guess you could make the argument that the single-player games would give you more benefit per megabyte of space taken up on the SSD. But if you have the space, put them both on because a faster launching program/game is one of the primary reasons we all purchase SSD's.
 
Valaire said:
While I agree to part of what you are saying, which is that you'll definitely see a big improvement in single player games, I do not agree with the generalization regarding "multiplayer games."
Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification! I was paraphrasing comments I read in the forums here and your detailed explanation provides a much better response.

I do have one downside to the single player side though... The hints/tips and random stuff you see during loading screens goes by too quickly to read.
 
yeah games on the SSD will run so much faster. I have portal istalled on a SSD and on a 7200rpm drive and load times are much quicker on the ssd
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top