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How Much Does Defrag Help?


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I only overclocked the cpu not the gpu. And I thought OC cpu is supposed to help. Didn't know it could be an issue.

Quick question no one asked.

 

Is it only with DCS? does it do this with other games that require power to run?

Ive had this problem with WarThunder, where you get these like Stutters(ill leave a youtube link at the bottom,and you tell me if its the same kinda thing.

 

and if it is the same issue,there is a slight problem as no one knows what exactly is the cause,In Warthunder, where im running High Settings at 70+fps Ill get 3 "Stutters"lasting 1 second each every 70 or so seconds.And still occurs even if I run the game at Lowest Resolutions,Graphics,Old Graphics Support cranking out 205FPS still happens,no diffrence,and if it is only with DCS (as mine is only with WarThunder) it is a major problem.

 

One Fix that some noticed, which you should try, before you start DCS Unplug EVERYTHING but your mouse, then go in a game to see if the stuttering is still there(odd yes but some people found usb drivers un/re-plugging repeatedly during game Cause it.Some.

${1}

Edited by Soulres
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Quick question no one asked.

 

Is it only with DCS? does it do this with other games that require power to run?

Ive had this problem with WarThunder, where you get these like Stutters(ill leave a youtube link at the bottom,and you tell me if its the same kinda thing.

 

and if it is the same issue,there is a slight problem as no one knows what exactly is the cause,In Warthunder, where im running High Settings at 70+fps Ill get 3 "Stutters"lasting 1 second each every 70 or so seconds.And still occurs even if I run the game at Lowest Resolutions,Graphics,Old Graphics Support cranking out 205FPS still happens,no diffrence,and if it is only with DCS (as mine is only with WarThunder) it is a major problem.

 

One Fix that some noticed, which you should try, before you start DCS Unplug EVERYTHING but your mouse, then go in a game to see if the stuttering is still there(odd yes but some people found usb drivers un/re-plugging repeatedly during game Cause it.Some.

 

Microstuttering is usually caused by the game, graphic card incompatibilities, SLI, RAM/VRAM issues and slow HDDs. I suppose overheating, clocking and other stability issues could also be the cause or excessive background processes.

 

In case of any disorder in a game you should always start checking your CPU/GPU/RAM/VRAM and HDD use using the Task Manager/Resource Monitor and MSI Afterburner (works with non-MSI products) first.

 

There are tons of troubleshooting steps that are commonly mentioned everywhere that never helps anyone though.

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Few notes on HDD defragmentation from me:

- prevents slowdowns (no constant FPS increase) ; only defraggers with smart placement mechanisms and system file defrag at boot time make sense

- has nowhere near the positive impact switching to SSD has (even of not latest generation)

- there are two important techniques to combine with defragmentation: smart placement and short-stroking. Regarding the first - read on the Ultimatedefrag (Disktrix), or better yet, read its manual. The latter (short-stroking) may have huge impact on performance when access times matter (most scenarios!) ; you can also format your partitions with higher block size / allocation size

- pagefile min and max values should be equal to prevent it creeping all over HDD

- you can disable pagefile ; if a stoneage program refuses to work without it, you can place the pagefile in a RAMdisk

 

 

"SSDs suffer performance hit from defragmentation to a lower degree"

It's not a question of 'small performance hit for SSDs'. For SSDs fragmentation is not an issue. Period! You don't defrag them (ever!) and you don't even think about placement or arrangement or whatever of your data.

 

"SSDs give no framerate increase"

By preventing short-term slowdowns at loading new assets:

*They increase average FPS by only a small margin, true, but

*They significantly increase minimum FPS. Which is essentially what "preventing short-term slowdowns" means.

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Microstuttering is usually caused by the game, graphic card incompatibilities, SLI, RAM/VRAM issues and slow HDDs. I suppose overheating, clocking and other stability issues could also be the cause or excessive background processes.

 

In case of any disorder in a game you should always start checking your CPU/GPU/RAM/VRAM and HDD use using the Task Manager/Resource Monitor and MSI Afterburner (works with non-MSI products) first.

 

There are tons of troubleshooting steps that are commonly mentioned everywhere that never helps anyone though.

You would think that in this case,But sadly the "Stuttering" Doesnt even happen when Running DeadRising3 at Ultra settings (SUperlaggy) but that doesnt even have Micro stutters that act in the same way as the ones that I get playing WarThunder. Since that is a game Issue,Im wondering if DCS could have it as well for a small %of people.

 

"SSDs give no framerate increase"

By preventing short-term slowdowns at loading new assets:

*They increase average FPS by only a small margin, true, but

*They significantly increase minimum FPS. Which is essentially what "preventing short-term slowdowns" means.

if you take a HDD and SSD that are of the same speed and size.

The SSD would open files and startup slightly faster(second or two)

as for games, The FPS had little (not even a whole frame diffrence) to None frame diffrence when me and my friends compared them using Bf3.

In the current state, they are like CD's back in the '90s. They are the way of the future,but not just yet,Afew more years and then the Debat will be over.

 

If someone drops 300$ on a SSD they belive is better(to replace their older one HDD) of course its going to be better at gamming than the older drive.


Edited by Soulres
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To answer the OP.

 

Would disk defrag help much here?

Not much, unless your filesystem is heavily fragmented.

 

Should I invest in a disk defrag utility?

No. Invest in SSD instead, unless you're really stuck with HDD. Even in that case you'd be fine with some freeware defragger like this one for example.

http://www.iobit.com/iobitsmartdefrag.html

 

Payware:

Before buying any defragger I'd test short-stroking first!

If you feel you must spend money I'd recommend

http://www.disktrix.com/

It's the 'if you won't see the difference with this defragger no other defragger will do for you' kind of defragger. Downside: It has good automatic presets but it's a trap for any geek as it has massive set of (non-gimmick) tuning options. You could literally get addicted to defragging :D

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+1 on the SSD. I have a Samsung Pro 840 256gb SSD. Best investment hands down.

 

Massive improvement in DCS World, ArmA 2/3 + DayZ, Kerbal Space Program, ArcheAge, etc etc.

 

Anything on the SSD will load faster, and continue to be lightyears faster.

 

Basically any game that's a bigger sized installation can typically benefit from a SSD.

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I CAN CONFIRM IT ALL, FOLKS !

 

Started this thread while on HDD encountering occasional stuttering in DCS for years. Just made the switch to SSD, and voila ! The stuttering is gone!!

 

While it makes no diff to the FPS as expected, eliminating the stuttering truly makes a world of diff here. Silk-smooth FPS now most of the time.

 

Hope this thread helps point the way for those facing similar issue. It really helps.

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I CAN CONFIRM IT ALL, FOLKS !

 

Started this thread while on HDD encountering occasional stuttering in DCS for years. Just made the switch to SSD, and voila ! The stuttering is gone!!

 

While it makes no diff to the FPS as expected, eliminating the stuttering truly makes a world of diff here. Silk-smooth FPS now most of the time.

 

Hope this thread helps point the way for those facing similar issue. It really helps.

 

 

Wish i could say the same, recently switched it over to my SSD cause i was sick of the loading times. Still stuttering. :(

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I CAN CONFIRM IT ALL, FOLKS !

 

Started this thread while on HDD encountering occasional stuttering in DCS for years. Just made the switch to SSD, and voila ! The stuttering is gone!!

 

 

Am afraid got to take back some of these words! While there didn't appear to be any more stuttering during explosions and such, strangely sometimes (not often though) stuttering would happen, with some pauses lasting like half a second or so, with a series of pauses happening around the same time period (stretch of less than 10 secs), and then suddenly it would all be smooth again. Wonder what could be the cause?

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Am afraid got to take back some of these words! While there didn't appear to be any more stuttering during explosions and such, strangely sometimes (not often though) stuttering would happen, with some pauses lasting like half a second or so, with a series of pauses happening around the same time period (stretch of less than 10 secs), and then suddenly it would all be smooth again. Wonder what could be the cause?

If you have the other disk (HDD) connected check this one out

http://disablehddapm.blogspot.com/2011/12/disabling-hard-disk-drive-advanced.html

or disconnect it to test this.

 

If it's not this then you should definitely contact ED Support.

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Thanks Bucic. While I have my C drive as SSD and my D drive using normal HDD, not sure how each may affect another. Read the article but that one is to do with running apps on HDD.

Technically it's possible that a seemingly not used HDD causes a halt at spinup. The reason I wrote that is... it's possible and quick to check. Also disable any overclocking and test again. Yed, you read that right :) Then a support ticket.

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  • 4 years later...

Been wondering this myself...... it has always seemed that it takes a long time and megatons of file activity to frag a HDD drive noticeably. A lifelong friend's career has been focused on top-speed data storage and retrieval on huge-capacity systems; says fragmentation is pretty low on the concerns list, can be scheduled for anticipated low-activity times.

However, the SSD info here is appreciated...... another friend insists the benefits are perfectly applicable in this realm. While stuttering can be alleviated by settings changes, I wonder the extent to which an SSD can quicken those mission load times...... in this and other graphics-heavy games? I see in responses "drastically faster loading of Windows and all applications...." I'd like to see a chart to demonstrate SSD's benefit to loading missions...... in 80%, 60%, 50% load times?

I once scoffed at the advice of a tech who'd said loading hard drive up with tons of libraries of stock graphics, music, etc. simply raises the strain as the read heads scan the drive...... error detection, validation, etc. on files we seldom access kills efficiency in terms of cumulative time. When my boot drive gets down to low-end free space the sluggishness gets ridiculous. This being in agreement with Soulres' tip on unwanted temp files...... 5,000 ringtones, 10,000 cliparts, 114,947 mp3's....... just bog it down. I sometimes wonder what it is I find so entertaining in crawling progress bars :)

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Why resurrect a 5 year old thread, was it really necessary ?

 

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You can safely turn off Pagefile with 16GB RAM, unless you are a power user that uses software that uses that much RAM ( VMware, Rendering SW, Maya, CAD etc.. ).

 

Bit

 

Even though DCS looks like it is only using 8-12 GB of RAM, it is also using the page file - I did extensive testing, and with 32 GB installed it still uses the page file.

 

I’ve just had my DCS SSD die, and found I had some minor stutters running on a HHD which I quickly replaced with a new SSD. The SSD reduces load times by half. And, DCS does access the SSD during missions.

 

The biggest performance win I’ve had is from the CTL ALT DEL Task Manager, setting DCS.EXE to use all cpu cores. This changed my multiplayer VR experience from painful to magic.

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Even though DCS looks like it is only using 8-12 GB of RAM, it is also using the page file - I did extensive testing, and with 32 GB installed it still uses the page file.

 

I’ve just had my DCS SSD die, and found I had some minor stutters running on a HHD which I quickly replaced with a new SSD. The SSD reduces load times by half. And, DCS does access the SSD during missions.

 

The biggest performance win I’ve had is from the CTL ALT DEL Task Manager, setting DCS.EXE to use all cpu cores. This changed my multiplayer VR experience from painful to magic.

 

 

This thread is 5 years old..... BitMaster posted that way back in 2014. DCS is a lot different now. He would have a different opinion about this today.

 

You can find him in the PC Hardware and Related Software section talking about this stuff.

 

 

-

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Chuck's DCS Tutorial Library

Download PDF Tutorial guides to help get up to speed with aircraft quickly and also great for taking a good look at the aircraft available for DCS before purchasing. Link

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Yes I do !!!

 

32GB ‚dedicated‘ SSD pagefile and 32GBRAM

 

 

 

 

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If you are sitting in the pit and shooting stuff your HDD (theoretically) is no longer being used. Everything needed by the application (world database, mods etc..) are loaded into RAM by the time you start flying. Any heavy HDD activity during flight is either another app on your machine or lack of RAM resulting in the app having to swap data to and fro your HDD/memory (assuming you don't have any 3rdparty DCS mod's/scripts that are dumping data etc.. to disk).

 

Defrag helps load times but once you've done it once I wouldn't expect any further need to (from the game perspective) to do it again The vast majority of the load time is the world database and your mods, if they don't change regularly then they are unlikely to drift into a fragmented state. SSD's help with load time only, in game they have no effect on performance.

 

DCS loads stuff all the time. Look at the size of you game folder, there is no way you can fit all of that in an average machine.

 

SSD and 32GB RAM is the way to go.

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