ssd vs. platter-based drives and FPS performance

[siefex]

I just purchased a Corsair Performance 3 128 GB SSD. Just curious what, if any, framerate benefits users here are experiencing from using SSDs with DCS vs. platter-based drives. If you do not know the specific increase in FPS, did you experience any noticeable increase after switching over to SSD?

 

Aside from simple FPS increases, I'm getting a good bit of stuttering (which I think is due to the fact that I have a 500GB platter-based drive nearly full of data). So I'm hoping a clean SSD will help resolve some of the stuttering; although some of the stuttering is due to DCS.

 

Anyway, I'm curious to hear people's thoughts on this.

[EtherealN]

SSD's should not be expected to improve FPS. They are a storage medium, not a processing unit. What they might give is shorter loading times thanks to higher access speeds and faster sequential transfer.

[Mugenjin]

I agree with EtheralN.

You should look at your other pc parts (CPU/GPU/enough RAM?) which could be upgraded to get higher FPS.

[siefex]

SSD's should not be expected to improve FPS. They are a storage medium, not a processing unit. What they might give is shorter loading times thanks to higher access speeds and faster sequential transfer.

 

Thank you for your response. Please allow me to nuance my statement: I am experiencing a series of loading stutters in-game which I believe MAY be due to an overcrowded hard drive. My hope is an SSD will smooth out my performance. I read of one or two users who said they saw a slight increase in FPS with SSD so I also wanted to confirm if that was true at all given that textures can "technically" be loaded faster. However, I am doubtful of this, especially based on your comment.

 

My primary goal is to smooth out my performance. I suppose that's what I'm most curious about: has anyone else experienced such a benefit from moving to SSD?

[siefex]

I agree with EtheralN.

You should look at your other pc parts (CPU/GPU/enough RAM?) which could be upgraded to get higher FPS.

 

Here's the odd thing: I have a powerful system and still only get like 20 FPS or below on the ground and around 50 FPS in the air. I'd like to be getting at least 30 FPS on the ground but don't want to compromise graphics settings. Here's my setup:

 

Win 7 Ultimate 64-Bit

Asus M4A78T-e Mobo

Phenom II 1090T @ 3.2 Ghz

8 GB DDR3 RAM @ 1333 Ghz

2 XFX 6950s 2 GB each in Crossfire (but I'm in windowed mode so only can use one since I use Helios)

500 GB WD hard Drives. (going to be adding an SSD soon)

Claro Halo Sound Card

Antec 750 Watt PSU

3x24" Dell U2410s at 1920x1200

1 Acer 23" T230H Touchscreen

 

I'm running DCS A-10 in windowed mode with Eyefinity a resolution of something like 5870x1200. I don't have my exact graphic settings for DCS available right now but most are on Med to High.

 

So mainly I'm trying to correct the stuttering but, even if the SSD doesn't correct that, then it will still allow me to run windows 7 much faster.

 

Also, please feel free to point out anything in my system you think could be bottlenecking my performance.

Edited March 2, 2011 by siefex

[Mugenjin]

Maybe crossfire profile not working correctly?

Also performance in windowed is lower compared to fullscreen.

 

I also experienced some stutter problems in Beta, which were caused by totally wrong RAM timings. SPDs were useless so I had to look them up on the website.

[siefex]

Maybe crossfire profile not working correctly?

Also performance in windowed is lower compared to fullscreen.

 

I also experienced some stutter problems in Beta, which were caused by totally wrong RAM timings. SPDs were useless so I had to look them up on the website.

 

I'm curious about this. What do you mean by "SPDs?" and how would you recommend I go about looking up RAM timings? I know mine should be set to 9-9-9-24. Are you suggesting I go into BIOS settings and confirm that my mobo actually has these timings correct? I never did that. I can try that when I get home tonight.

 

Anyway, great idea; that may smooth out my performance.

[wtfisgoingon]

siefex: Might be worth taking a look at the post in my signature if you haven't already. Best of luck!

[siefex]

siefex: Might be worth taking a look at the post in my signature if you haven't already. Best of luck!

 

Thanks, I did already look at your post and disabling power saving on my ATI card did help somewhat. Still though, my performance in DCS, and other games like Bulletstorm, is not consistently smooth. I think I have multiple factors going on here. Perhaps the SSD will help, perhaps not. It's worth a shot though given that I'm running out of options at this point.

[ShadowVonChadwick]

Siefex

If your 500meg HD is full and is a single patition it will be working hard at times as it will be jumping all over platters, consider setting up patitions next time around if you havent allready.

SSD with A-10 on will help but dont expect a fps boost, maybe less load/access stutter.

[Bodo]

Yup, best to have your OS on its own partition on a dedicated drive.

 

I have windows 7 on an 80GB partition, with another 100GB partition for random storage/backup, nothing too critical.

 

I have 3 other SATA drives. One for audio work. One for audio libraries and so on. Then I have a 1TB drive divided into two. The beginning 200 GB is for games/sims, this is where I've got DCS stuff. The rest of that drive is for more random backup/music/videos/docs etc. I rarely store anything of importance on the main OS drive and partitions as if that drive goes down, all I'll have to do is reinstall windows and the progs I use. I won't lose anything I'd really rather not have. Also, being into audio work, I rely on an external drive to back up projects.

A nicely defragmented partition on a separate drive is best so that it can be dedicated to just the reads and writes that DCS needs available, without ever being interupted (as much) by anything windows might need to do if they were having to share the same drive.

Edited March 3, 2011 by Bodo

[Mugenjin]

I'm curious about this. What do you mean by "SPDs?" and how would you recommend I go about looking up RAM timings? I know mine should be set to 9-9-9-24. Are you suggesting I go into BIOS settings and confirm that my mobo actually has these timings correct? I never did that. I can try that when I get home tonight.

 

Anyway, great idea; that may smooth out my performance.

 

You can use CPU-Z to read out the timings. Or BIOS works as well.

[siefex]

Yup, best to have your OS on its own partition on a dedicated drive.

 

I have windows 7 on an 80GB partition, with another 100GB partition for random storage/backup, nothing too critical.

 

I have 3 other SATA drives. One for audio work. One for audio libraries and so on. Then I have a 1TB drive divided into two. The beginning 200 GB is for games/sims, this is where I've got DCS stuff. The rest of that drive is for more random backup/music/videos/docs etc. I rarely store anything of importance on the main OS drive and partitions as if that drive goes down, all I'll have to do is reinstall windows and the progs I use. I won't lose anything I'd really rather not have. Also, being into audio work, I rely on an external drive to back up projects.

A nicely defragmented partition on a separate drive is best so that it can be dedicated to just the reads and writes that DCS needs available, without ever being interupted (as much) by anything windows might need to do if they were having to share the same drive.

 

That's a great idea! When I reinstall everything, I will re-evaluate how I have my data partitioned and stored. My problem is I have a 500 GB drive with everything running off of it in the same partition and the thing is nearly full. It has to be impacting my performance to some degree I figure; even if it is a small hit to performance.

[Breakshot]

Btw, guys have any of you tried any of these puppies?!:

 

http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-revodrive-pci-express-ssd.html

 

Im curious how they stack up to normal SSDs, as it seems that the PCI-E interface removes some of the bottlenecks as compared to legacy SATA (at least the older SATA standard). Oh and it can also be made fully bootable as long as the motherboard can support it :)

 

This is, in theory, should be as good as any high end RAID 0 SSD setup (of 2 drives), if not better, in terms of overall performance and latency, and cheaper too. No longer is this tech limited for high end servers only, as they seem to be targeting the end user now with decent price ranges. The RevoDrive 1 goes for about 300+ US for 120gigs... There is also RevoDrive X2, but thats probably an overkill IMO...

 

I think we are heading soon to a unified RAM/Storage on our PCs! Thats the next logical step, IMO...

Edited March 3, 2011 by Breakshot

[Ssnake51]

I'll just chime in with what others have already posted here: don't expect an SSD to increase FPS in your flight sims or other games. It will certainly reduce the time it takes to open a program and make windows 7 overall much quicker.

Leastways that has been my experience. I actually went and got two ssd drives: one for my os and the other for just my flight sims. I have to admit to not thoroughly testing each sim to see if my FPS increased so I can't give you any hard datat but subjectively I've not noticed any difference other than the initial loading of the sim.

If you really think you need an ssd then I would suggest you get one to put your os on and most of your programs. Then put your flight sims on another mechanical drive.

[Bodo]

Yup, that's what i'd have thought, when all data is loaded into your RAM and GPU, processed by CPU, your maximum FPS will be exactly the same, whether or not you're running the sim from an SSD.

 

What you will find is that if at any point you see a stumble/glitch when it comes to loading that mountain in the distance or that building you weren't originally looking at, then yes, an SSD will allow that data to be loaded into RAM a hell of a lot faster than a typical moving platter drive, so your stutters may decrease. Having said that, though, a well partitioned set up or dedicated drive that's nicely defragmented, should limit those occasions by a siginificant amount anyway. That's my understanding.

 

siefex, yup I'd recommend buying one more HDD. Just get one that has the best pricing per GB and is 7200RPM. I'd recommend a Samsung F3 or F4. Partition the start of that drive for more critical apps, like DCS. Use the rest of that drive space to store all your random stuff.

[Madman777]

I got no noticeable FPS increase from switching to SSD. What I did get was really fast loading times. I have a budget Intel SSD 40GB. The newer SSD's are much better, I can only imagine how quickly some missions load with them.

[siefex]

Maybe crossfire profile not working correctly?

Also performance in windowed is lower compared to fullscreen.

 

I also experienced some stutter problems in Beta, which were caused by totally wrong RAM timings. SPDs were useless so I had to look them up on the website.

 

I've figured out my problem which was causing the stuttering: horribly messed-up RAM timings. Following Mugenjin's advice, I installed CPU-Z and noticed my RAM was several numbers off of the manufacturer's recommended 9-9-9-24 timings. In addition, my clock speed was at something like 1000Mhz when it was supposed to be at 1333 Mhz! After going into BIOS and manually setting my timings, clock speed, and voltage settings, my system runs at like DOUBLE the speed it did before while working in Windows. My stutters, in all games, have now decreased by like 90%. A-10 is now playable!

 

I figure that the remaining 10% of stuttering will disappear entirely once I setup my SSD drive. I purchased a Corsair Performance 3 128 GB drive. I'm going to load windows and my flight sims onto the drive and nothing else. I then have 2x500 GB WD drives which I will use to store all my other stuff, install other non-high performance games, and backup my windows install and documents folder. I figure that this will a.) increase my loading speeds considerably, both for games and Windows 7 and, b.) provide me with a good backup solution to preserve my data.

 

On that last point, what backup program do all of you like to use? I've used Norton Ghost in the past but am considering using Windows 7 Ultimate's backup utility this time around. Thoughts?

[Bodo]

I would just put your flight sims on the SSD, leave windows separate on one of the HDDs.

 

Even then, though, I'm sure it would be fine sharing them, I'd imagine it be better to just dedicate an SSD to DCS stuff?

[Ssnake51]

I would just put your flight sims on the SSD, leave windows separate on one of the HDDs.

 

Even then, though, I'm sure it would be fine sharing them, I'd imagine it be better to just dedicate an SSD to DCS stuff?

 

I wouldn't suggest that. The main advantage of an SSD is improved OS operation.

 

And as long as you have a large enough SSD, there is little to be gained by not puting it on the same drive as the OS.

[Bodo]

Got ya, k. I will bite the bullet n buy one soon.

[Ssnake51]

Got ya, k. I will bite the bullet n buy one soon.

 

Am sure you will be impressed by how fast Windows 7 is on an ssd.:)