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Will running Skyrim off an SSD improve gameplay?


BavmordasMuffin

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They are a lot faster and decrease loading times and stuttering, but they are extremely expensive.

Paying 175$ for a 60Gb SSD (Croatian prices) just doesn't appeal me. :confused:

 

tigerdirect has a 120g for $120 after rebate but ill wait for Christmas sales.

 

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1068616&CatId=5300

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If you're taking money out of other areas to pay for an SSD then don't bother, it's not worth it. The single most important component is your GFX card, so ensure you spend as much as possible on that before even thinking about other areas.

 

+1 to this. Not to mention how unstable and expensive SSD's are. Not worth it yet, IMO.

 

Once good quality SSD's are below $1/GB, then I'll bite.

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If you're taking money out of other areas to pay for an SSD then don't bother, it's not worth it. The single most important component is your GFX card, so ensure you spend as much as possible on that before even thinking about other areas.

 

I wouldnt say that. Totally depends on what you're playing, and there arent many games today that demands crazy gfx-performance anyway (Unless you're running very high resolutions). In Skyrims case I bet an SSD will be more worth the money than putting extra money on the gfx-card, considering its consolish graphics. The horrible thing with the stuttering and fps-drops you often get with an HDD is that there's very little you can do about it. If you have a mediocre gfx-card or CPU, you can always lower the graphic-settings in order to get smooth performance. But with that HDD-stuttering, it doesnt matter how awesome the rest of your computer is or barely what graphic-settings you're running, the game still has to keep up with reading all that data as you run through the gameworld.

 

I remember the stuttering in Oblivion could make me insane at times, and it wasnt until I bought my first SSD 2 years ago that I finally found harmony with the performance in that game :P Same goes for other huge games I play a lot, like Fallout and ArmA.

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(exasperated sigh) What are "SSD" and "HDD" even supposed to mean?

SSD = Solid State Drive. New tech, much faster than...

HDD = Hard Disk Drive. The spinny-disk kind which is still viable, but slower. Also has much more storage space, for now.

 

That is all. :thumbsup:

Not quite...

 

SSD is great for reading data, but not good at writing it... or rather re-writing it. Each block on a SSD drive has a limited number of times that data can be written to it before that data goes bad. So for a situation where you might be frequently adding/removing data, a SSD can be a good idea in the short term but be bad in the long term.

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If you're taking money out of other areas to pay for an SSD then don't bother, it's not worth it. The single most important component is your GFX card, so ensure you spend as much as possible on that before even thinking about other areas.

 

I wouldnt say that. Totally depends on what you're playing, and there arent many games today that demands crazy gfx-performance anyway (Unless you're running very high resolutions). In Skyrims case I bet an SSD will be more worth the money than putting extra money on the gfx-card, considering its consolish graphics. The horrible thing with the stuttering and fps-drops you often get with an HDD is that there's very little you can do about it. If you have a mediocre gfx-card or CPU, you can always lower the graphic-settings in order to get smooth performance. But with that HDD-stuttering, it doesnt matter how awesome the rest of your computer is or barely what graphic-settings you're running, the game still has to keep up with reading all that data as you run through the gameworld.

 

I remember the stuttering in Oblivion could make me insane at times, and it wasnt until I bought my first SSD 2 years ago that I finally found harmony with the performance in that game :P Same goes for other huge games I play a lot, like Fallout and ArmA.

 

well i agree with both of you! i simply did not want to spent a extra 150 bucks on a gtx 580 so i got the 570! i already owned a SSD though! and if you keep it clean (only windows 7 and 1 game on it) you will have so much fun with a 60gb SSD!

 

i am planning on buying 240 gb SSD after i changed my pc case to a very silent one with gentle typhoon fans :)

 

SSD are worth every penny and not unstable if you treat her right :D, for me there is one thing i hate more then loading times and that is a pc that makes 2 much noise

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Not quite...

 

SSD is great for reading data, but not good at writing it... or rather re-writing it. Each block on a SSD drive has a limited number of times that data can be written to it before that data goes bad. So for a situation where you might be frequently adding/removing data, a SSD can be a good idea in the short term but be bad in the long term.

 

That limited number of rewrites is getting quite a lot bigger with every new generation though. And besides, if you're only using it for windows and/or game-installs, it's not exactly being stressed out with rewrites anyway ;) Use the provided tools from time to time to prevent it from wearing out some sectors more than others, while also maintaining overall performance. I know at least Intel has a 5 year warranty for this, so we're still talking about a lifetime of at least 5 years, which I'd say is just about the same period of time I can trust a regular HDD with sensitive data before I replace it :teehee:

Edited by Mr. Bravo
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I just scored a 32gb ssd for 34$ just for Skyrim, So that's close to a $ a gb :thumbsup: . Well I ordered mounting brackets for a few dollars too because I don't like anything sliding around my case but that was optional.
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But with that HDD-stuttering, it doesnt matter how awesome the rest of your computer is or barely what graphic-settings you're running, the game still has to keep up with reading all that data as you run through the gameworld.

 

Not true. You can just create a RAM-drive out of your existing memory specifically for Skyrim. If you have 8GB of RAM or more it would be more than enough for it.

 

Saves you a stupid amount of money on an SSD, and gives you better than SSD performance. Sorted.

 

I speak from a devil's advocate position. I have an SSD, and can guarantee you a better GFX card will do more for your games than an SSD does. I've just put another HD 5850 in to my system and crossfired them up and I can double the FPS. So £125 has doubled my FPS. An SSD would not double your FPS or do anything near as much for your gaming.

 

At the end of the day, I'd rather play Skyrim at full GFX settings, at 1900x1200 res with longer load times, than have to drop the graphics but have lower load times.

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Dark0ne: Do you have a link showing how one would "create a RAM-drive out your existing memory specifically for Skyrim"? I have 9GB of RAM on my computer and Oblivion still stutters sometimes. Thanks.

 

uhm how can you have 9 gb!

 

you should always have duo or triple slots!

 

so 3x 2 gb

or 2x 2 gb

not 2x4 gb and 1 spare 1gb or 2 spare 512 mb

 

 

thats not very smart! and since you don't know how to make a ram disc or google it, i am guessing you just added the 1 gb yourself without googling that!

Edited by BelgarionNL
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