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SSD for Gaming

L

Linkz

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 30, 2008
Messages
362
Hey everyone, been a long time since my last post and last time buying parts. But i have a SSD/HD question. My current set up looks like this

1x Intel SSD 80 gb
1x Western Digital 1 TB 7200RPM
2x Western Digital 2 TB 7200RPM

Windows 7 Ultimate installed on the Intel SSD. Also I have 6x SATA 3.0 ports and 2x SATA 6.0 ports.

I'm wanting another SSD for gaming maybe like a 240 or something and don't want to spend more then $200ish.

Ideas? Suggestions? Things I should look for?
 
Anyone second that? Is that the latest and greatest? I'm assuming SATA III is something I need.
 
Yep, Samsung 830. Unless the Crucial M4 price drops down to $160 again, like it was earlier this week.
 
I'm assuming this is what you are talking about? And what makes one better then the other?
 
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SATA III is sata 6.0 and I think someone has called it sata3 at some point too... frustrating but that's faster than sata2 which is sata 3.0 (heh).

Anand has some nice charts somewhere but honestly, in the real world, you'll be hard pressed to feel the difference between the M4 and the 830 and the 520 and and and .... benchmarks are benchmarks though.
 
I've tried putting a few games on my Samsung 830... it generally made no noticeable difference. Most games just don't seem to benefit from it, especially once you're past the initial load time.

Games where I did notice a speedup: anything made by Bethesda. Most MMO's

Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Oblivion, and Skyrim have always been bottlenecked by disk IO due to Gamebryo's horrible resource streaming system, and adding mods / texture packs only makes a bad situation worse. Introducing an SSD works around the problem and can seriously reduce stuttering in these games. MMOs tend to not have the greatest resource streaming either, and games like World of Warcraft and Second Life will run noticeably smoother from an SSD if you're running around from area-to-area.


My suggestion? Get a 128 or 256gb Samsung 830, use it as a boot drive. Keep a hard disk around for most games. Move the few games that do benefit from an SSD to the boot drive (either install them there or use something like Steam Mover to move them over).
 
I use a Samsung 830 256GB as my dedicated Steam/Origin drive and it works fantastic, even on my SATA II board!
 
Yeah on my 1TB WD 7200rpm, I have my main Steam Folder and I have a few small games sym linked to my Intel SSD like CS:GO

I want to put Guild Wars 2, League of Legends, CS: GO, and maybe a few more on the new SSD. It seems like the samsung is the winner. Now opinions on weather I should reinstall windows and put it on the samsung as well as the new games and sell the Intel SSD or keep the install like it is and have the samsung SSD only for games?
 
I'd put the OS and games on the Samsung and sell the Intel drive. No real reason not to put the system on the newer drive, and less drive fiddling.
 
I just bought the 830 128GB variant today at CompUSA for $110 and it seems like a great drive and even on a temp MSI H61 SATA II board Win7 loads are less than 10 seconds. I came from a M4 64GB I had for about 6 months that I sold for $45 that I never had any issues with that was blazing fast and reliable for the duration I had it.

You can't go wrong with either drive, but the fact that the Samsung is built all in house with their components and works with all laptops kind of seals the deal on the 830 being the best overall consumer SSD IMO.
 
QQ

If you're stuck between an Small SSD and a larger HDD, is it better to install Windows on the SSD and use the HDD for gaming. Or would you install Windows on the HDD and install the gaming files on the SSD?

I'm guessing the SSD for Gaming...
 
Unknown-One said:
I've tried putting a few games on my Samsung 830... it generally made no noticeable difference. Most games just don't seem to benefit from it, especially once you're past the initial load time.
Click to expand...

You're right very few games benefit from SSDs once they have already loaded, but it's still nice being able to start up a game or load levels faster. Because of how fast I load in L4D2 I am always the first one in, and get to grab the katana before anyone else can :p

There are some games where using an SSD offers no real benefit though. For example in World of Tanks of Mechwarrior Online you have to wait for others to load before the game begins, so with an SSD you'll be waiting for others to load, instead of waiting for yourself to load. Even with a 7200rpm drive in those games you'll load faster than most people too, because so many people use very slow 5400rpm (or even 4200rpm) laptop drives.
 
Humm good points.

I tested this out on SWTOR using a dying 5 year old HDD. And I did notice it taking just a few seconds longer to load, but then once loaded it really didn't make much of a difference than from when I was running off the SSD.

I'm torn between getting a 1TB WD Black Edition Or a Samsung 830 128gb

I already have a 64 Gig SSD. But I dont really need the space. I just use this crap for gaming. I might just stick with the Samsung 830 128gb - only because I like the silence of a SSD vs the clicking clack of a eff-ing HDD
 
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You might also want to consider the Crucial M4 128gb, it's usually at a great price.
 
Fahim said:
Meh Tomato Tomäto
Click to expand...

Look at some benchmarks and reviews, the M4 appears, at least spec wise, to be a faster drive. You would be fine with a Caviar Black but I really like windows loading fast as well as the overall performance of an SSD for a boot drive, and using HDDs for files.
 
DJ Big T said:
Look at some benchmarks and reviews, the M4 appears, at least spec wise, to be a faster drive. You would be fine with a Caviar Black but I really like windows loading fast as well as the overall performance of an SSD for a boot drive, and using HDDs for files.
Click to expand...

The Samsung 830 and Crucial M4 are pretty even overall. Each has their stengths and weaknesses. The read speeds are very similar for both random and sequential writes, and you'll probably spend most of your time reading files rather than writing them. When it comes to writes the M4 is faster at random writes, while the 830 is faster in sequential writes.

The differences between good SSDs is really pretty minimal, especially if you are talking about a difference you'll actually notice, rather than just benchmark numbers. Any good SSD will leave a traditional hard drive (even Velociraptors) in the dust. Honestly, I'd just buy whichever one you can get the best price on that week.
 
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