Delareon Posted April 19, 2021 Posted April 19, 2021 Hi, im currently thinking about where to place my DCS installation on a new PC. The SSD Space is limited ofc but i have plenty of HD Space available. With roughly 250GB for a DCS installation (let alone if you want to install OB and Stable) im curious if an SSD actually helps in Terms of Game Performance or if it only helps in initial Loading Times. So i ask you to share your knowledge regarding SSD vs HD in Terms of actual Game Performance.
unlikely_spider Posted April 19, 2021 Posted April 19, 2021 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Delareon said: Hi, im currently thinking about where to place my DCS installation on a new PC. The SSD Space is limited ofc but i have plenty of HD Space available. With roughly 250GB for a DCS installation (let alone if you want to install OB and Stable) im curious if an SSD actually helps in Terms of Game Performance or if it only helps in initial Loading Times. So i ask you to share your knowledge regarding SSD vs HD in Terms of actual Game Performance. My understanding is that the Preload Radius will determine how much of the actual environment DCS will load to RAM before starting the mission. So the lower it is set, the more often it will have to read from disk. That said, I'm not sure I'd put something like DCS on a spinning hard drive if I could avoid it at all. Though I haven't tested the difference personally. SSDs are quite affordable these days, compared to the cost of most other components. Edited April 19, 2021 by unlikely_spider Modules: Wright Flyer, Spruce Goose, Voyager 1
Delareon Posted April 19, 2021 Author Posted April 19, 2021 So you basically say it depends on the Preload Radius if it has an performance hit or not? I know they are affordable but you dont have to waste SSD Space if you can use it for other stuff which is way more dependant on this. So its not so much a question about Money the question is if there is a Technical Reason beside initial Loading Times to put it on a SSD
unlikely_spider Posted April 19, 2021 Posted April 19, 2021 3 minutes ago, Delareon said: So you basically say it depends on the Preload Radius if it has an performance hit or not? I know they are affordable but you dont have to waste SSD Space if you can use it for other stuff which is way more dependant on this. So its not so much a question about Money the question is if there is a Technical Reason beside initial Loading Times to put it on a SSD If you have a lot of RAM, (maybe someone else can specify whether it's loaded mostly to system RAM or VRAM), then you can afford to increase the Preload Radius further, which will decrease the chance it needs to read from disk. But whether or not it ever will likely depends on where you end up flying. 1 Modules: Wright Flyer, Spruce Goose, Voyager 1
Mr_sukebe Posted April 19, 2021 Posted April 19, 2021 Despite having 64GB of ram, I do believe that DCS is still reading from storage during missions, meaning that having an SSD will improve performance. Be careful of setting pre-load too high. I did that, and ended up with stutter. I’m currently running pre-load at around 45% 1 7800x3d, 5080, 64GB, PCIE5 SSD - Oculus Pro - Moza (AB9), Virpil (Alpha, CM3, CM1 and CM2), WW (TOP and CP), TM (MFDs, Pendular Rudder), Tek Creations (F18 panel), Total Controls (Apache MFD), Jetseat
Delareon Posted April 19, 2021 Author Posted April 19, 2021 My RAM will be at 64GB, thanks for the Tip regarding Preload. Wasnt aware of that Setting. So it seems like an SSD will improve actual Game Performance. Might not be the greatest factor but a factor.
dburne Posted April 19, 2021 Posted April 19, 2021 Anytime the game need to fetch something from disc, SSD will be a lot better. There are no platter drives in this rig. Don B EVGA Z390 Dark MB | i9 9900k CPU @ 5.1 GHz | Gigabyte 4090 OC | 64 GB Corsair Vengeance 3200 MHz CL16 | Corsair H150i Pro Cooler |Virpil CM3 Stick w/ Alpha Prime Grip 200mm ext| Virpil CM3 Throttle | VPC Rotor TCS Base w/ Alpha-L Grip| Point Control V2|Varjo Aero|
Delareon Posted April 19, 2021 Author Posted April 19, 2021 Thats for sure but the Question is IF the Game has to fetch something to keep on running smooth, which is still not confirmed. There are some educated guesses but nobody actually tested it, everybody just assumes SSD has to make a difference but it seems like nobody really knows.
dburne Posted April 19, 2021 Posted April 19, 2021 6 minutes ago, Delareon said: Thats for sure but the Question is IF the Game has to fetch something to keep on running smooth, which is still not confirmed. There are some educated guesses but nobody actually tested it, everybody just assumes SSD has to make a difference but it seems like nobody really knows. Different factors involved. With DCS and it's complexity I think it is safe to assume at some point it will be fetching from disc. I would highly recommend both Windows and DCS reside on a SSD. Don B EVGA Z390 Dark MB | i9 9900k CPU @ 5.1 GHz | Gigabyte 4090 OC | 64 GB Corsair Vengeance 3200 MHz CL16 | Corsair H150i Pro Cooler |Virpil CM3 Stick w/ Alpha Prime Grip 200mm ext| Virpil CM3 Throttle | VPC Rotor TCS Base w/ Alpha-L Grip| Point Control V2|Varjo Aero|
Myrsnipe Posted April 20, 2021 Posted April 20, 2021 Preload radius determines how much the game caches on initial load, I have 64gb of ram and set this to max and never ever experience midflight stutters (I have a 2nd computer with similar specs to my main one, but with 16 gb of ram and a platter disk, the game was constantly stuttering to read from disk). Preloading will also increase initial load times, not really noticeable on a ssd but a platter disk I experienced a diff of almost 2 minutes despite having a lower preload radius. An SSD wont improve fps, and you will still get stutters when you need to load, but that stutter will be shorter than with a platter disk. To remove the stutter you need more ram and increase precaching. In the end I think SSDs are a quality of life thing where its hard to go back once you are used to it 1
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