SSD for OS or games?

[Aniallation]

So right now in my desktop is a single 750GB 5400RPM drive from a laptop. Yep.

 

I just got a 128GB SSD today. However the only thing I do with my computer aside from play games is going on the internet, which isn't that dependent on disk drive speed. Startup times are perfectly fine for me, and the slight stuttering in Windows that is present doesn't really bother me that much, even compared to my SSD-based ultrabook.

 

The thing that does bothers me a lot though is the loading times I get in some games, since they're loading off the same slow drive as the OS is on. CS:GO takes forever to load a match and COD:AW isn't even half-finished loading by the time the cutscene ends. Other older games though like GTA IV do have acceptable loading times.

 

At this point, wouldn't it just be a better idea to leave the OS on my HDD and install games with currently hideous loading times on the SSD instead?

 

Btw it's either one or the other, my OS+programs along with the games on the SSD won't fit. I've tried.

 

Thanks!

[JeffreyEagan]

OS

[Gofspar]

OS

[Aniallation]

OS

OS

 

Any particular reason as to why OS on the SSD would be better? Games will still be on the HDD with the same awful loading times. Boot times and general responsiveness/snappiness don't bother me anywhere near as much as loading times are at the moment.

[tmlhalo]

I would personally make it a cache but probably a lot more complicated than what you're looking for.

[Gofspar]

Any particular reason as to why OS on the SSD would be better? Games will still be on the HDD with the same awful loading times. Boot times and general responsiveness/snappiness don't bother me anywhere near as much as loading times are at the moment.

Throw a few games on the 120gig along with OS, I fit BF4 with ALL DLC on it.

[MegaDave91]

I guess others only read the title; if the boot times are acceptable for you, then throw your games on the SSD.

[Aniallation]

Throw a few games on the 120gig along with OS, I fit BF4 with ALL DLC on it.

All the games that I want to reduce loading times on won't fit on the SSD. It's CS:GO along with a few other newer titles, which are getting larger and larger as newer ones are released. COD:AW is like 40GB, DA:I another 30, NBA 2K15 a whopping 55GB

[Gofspar]

All the games that I want to reduce loading times on won't fit on the SSD. It's CS:GO along with a few other newer titles, which are getting larger and larger as newer ones are released. COD:AW is like 40GB, DA:I another 30, NBA 2K15 a whopping 55GB

Put CSGO and AW, CSGO doesn't load any faster on a SSD though.

[tmlhalo]

All the games that I want to reduce loading times on won't fit on the SSD. It's CS:GO along with a few other newer titles, which are getting larger and larger as newer ones are released. COD:AW is like 40GB, DA:I another 30, NBA 2K15 a whopping 55GB

If you take the complicated way of setting up a cache it will dynamically copy commonly accessed applications and store them on the SSD. Since the storing is dynamic, the performance is based on how often you play the game vs other games. Games you play a lot will have the most amount of their data copied. Games that you play the least will slowly be replaced until they are gone. None of your data is disappearing from the hard drive. At the same time caching memory address allows you to not have to have 100% of the game taking up space on the SSD. If you have an Intel chipset the caching software is free, if you are on AMD the best caching software I know of is Primocache which isn't free but has a 90 day trial if you're interested.

[Aniallation]

Put CSGO and AW, CSGO doesn't load any faster on a SSD though.

AW isn't the only game that I play though

 

If you take the complicated way of setting up a cache it will dynamically copy commonly accessed applications and store them on the SSD. Since the storing is dynamic, the performance is based on how often you play the game vs other games. Games you play a lot will have the most amount of their data copied. Games that you play the least will slowly be replaced until they are gone. None of your data is disappearing from the hard drive. At the same time caching memory address allows you to not have to have 100% of the game taking up space on the SSD. If you have an Intel chipset the caching software is free, if you are on AMD the best caching software I know of is Primocache which isn't free but has a 90 day trial if you're interested.

Thanks, I will definitely look into that. I am on AMD so looks like third-party software will be required.

[tmlhalo]

AW isn't the only game that I play though

 

Thanks, I will definitely look into that. I am on AMD so looks like third-party software will be required.

It is getting a bit late here, so if you don't mind I'm going to type down everything for basic set up and use in case you had questions while I was gone. Everything is reverisble if you decide it isn't worth it or you rather another option.

 

So with the SSD and HDD installed the first step is to make a new volume out of the SSD. Can do this by hitting start, typing disk management, if it prompts you for MBR or GPT then MBR as Primocache only works on MBR. Next right click and make it into a new simple volume and follow the wizard. The defaults should work and primocache doesn't care if it has a drive letter or not.

 

You can get the Primocache software from here (desktop edition) 

 

http://www.romexsoftware.com/en-us/primo-cache/download.html

 

Once you have it installed and open this youtube video does a pretty good guide. 

I will suggest one change and that is at 1:31 where it has Cache strategy, I would advise Read data only. Other than that you're done, just exit the program. It will auto run in the background on startup for you! 

[tmlhalo]

-snip-

*additional note. You might have 64 GBs left of the SSD as most caching software makes use of 64 GBs at most. So you'll have a spot for small games. 

[Captain_WD]

So right now in my desktop is a single 750GB 5400RPM drive from a laptop. Yep.

 

I just got a 128GB SSD today. However the only thing I do with my computer aside from play games is going on the internet, which isn't that dependent on disk drive speed. Startup times are perfectly fine for me, and the slight stuttering in Windows that is present doesn't really bother me that much, even compared to my SSD-based ultrabook.

 

The thing that does bothers me a lot though is the loading times I get in some games, since they're loading off the same slow drive as the OS is on. CS:GO takes forever to load a match and COD:AW isn't even half-finished loading by the time the cutscene ends. Other older games though like GTA IV do have acceptable loading times.

 

At this point, wouldn't it just be a better idea to leave the OS on my HDD and install games with currently hideous loading times on the SSD instead?

 

Btw it's either one or the other, my OS+programs along with the games on the SSD won't fit. I've tried.

 

Thanks!

 

 

Hey Aniallation,

 

128GB should be plenty for your OS and more demanding games. leaving about 35GB for the OS and another 15GB-20GB free (it is recommended for SSDs to have 12%-15% free space for optimal performance) should give you about 70GB free for a couple of more demanding games that give you trouble with loading times.

 

I would move the OS on the SSD as it brings great benefit to your system and boosts the overall performance. 

 

Captain_WD.

[rtpb5642]

Before i had the SSD space for games i used my HDD, TBH only a few seconds difference but then again i have raid 0 HDDs...

 

Use it for the OS and 1 of ur fav games.

[Aniallation]

128GB should be plenty for your OS and more demanding games. leaving about 35GB for the OS and another 15GB-20GB free (it is recommended for SSDs to have 12%-15% free space for optimal performance) should give you about 70GB free for a couple of more demanding games that give you trouble with loading times.

Thanks for the reply Captain_WD, unfortunately 70GB isn't enough for even two of the games that I want to reduce loading times on, so unfortunately it'd have to be one or the other, OS or games.

[tmlhalo]

Thanks for the reply Captain_WD, unfortunately 70GB isn't enough for even two of the games that I want to reduce loading times on, so unfortunately it'd have to be one or the other, OS or games.

Caching also reduces OS boot times so you don't have to pick between the 2. Sandisk offers a caching kit. Even though you don't own this kit. Caching works in much the same way across brands so these benchmarks can provide you some insight. The only difference being cache capacity (20 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB).

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/10/17/sandisk_readycache_32gb_ssd_review/1#.VMKBPEfF89Y

[paprikman]

SSD has a very limited number of read/write cycles, so u might wanna use it only for OS.

[FSBAlston]

OS. makes the entire system snappier. Only put choice games that load heavy assets (mmos, open world games like skyrim) on ssd, everything else on hdd. That's how I have it.

[DirkW]

SSD has a very limited number of read/write cycles, so u might wanna use it only for OS.

 

Read is actually not limited, and also the write limitation is much more than most people think. With a modern, quality SSD and normal usage you will not get into these limits for years.

[Aniallation]

Read is actually not limited, and also the write limitation is much more than most people think. With a modern, quality SSD and normal usage you will not get into these limits for years.

It's a Toshiba SSD. This one http://www.scan.co.uk/products/128gb-toshiba-hd5d-25-ssd-sata-iii-slim-7mm-6gb-s-19nm-mlc-flash-read-552mb-s-write-502mb-s-80000-io

[Captain_WD]

Thanks for the reply Captain_WD, unfortunately 70GB isn't enough for even two of the games that I want to reduce loading times on, so unfortunately it'd have to be one or the other, OS or games.

 

In that case, as it was suggested, you can always use the SSD for caching the HDD which would also give you a great performance boost and reduce the loading times. 

 

Captain_WD.