HDD`s effects game play more than you think

[stk2008 14]

Hi all I have been trying to get ARMA2 to run well for years if I must be honest.

I have a fairly good rig

Q6700

ATI 4890 1gb

4gb ram

etc etc

Well I have a HD that I was given from a friend its a SATA drive and I found out today its all most 5 years old.

Well with this info I did a few benchmarks and the results where shocking.

Transfer rate

minimum = 14MB/s

Maximum = 55MB/s

Average = 43MB/s

Access time = 14.6ms

Burst rate = 53MB/s

When I play ARMA2 I get frequent stutter etc and FPS drops.

I have put this down to ARMA2 loading all the textures,models as I am driving around because if I drive slow and get a huge fps drop and I stop driving then look around after a while the fps comes back and I get real smooth movement again.

I there for want to get an SSD can some one please tell me what it was like coming form a normal SATA drive to an SSD in ARMA?.

Thanks

[pendragonuk 0]

The simple answer is "Blooming marvellous" depending on what version of Windows your using you are going to need around 30GB of the OS, windows gets fatter with time. Around 10Gb for ArmA unless you like big mods then you will have to budget some more. Windows XP needs a little work to get the best out of an SSD but Windows 7 sets it up automatically. So get a 60Gb SSD and have some fun :) My system will go from desktop restart and back to desktop in less than 60 seconds.

Having a small SSD and a bugger drive for your stuff can be a bit of a bind. You are always having to fight off stuff just wanting to install to the C: drive. I have around 16GB free after four months or so. I'm losing the battle :)

One small thing of note, your hardware is a little old, what type of SATA dose your motherboard support? I,II or III ???

I'm looking at a pair of these as a possible replacement for my Intel SATA II 80Gb drive. My hope is to dump mechanical drives all together in the next few months. These two in a RAID configuration should do nicely. (Then the Intel can go in my netbook and give that a boost! Linux on an SSD will be greased lightening lol) I'll need an external enclosure for my ITB drive but that's no bother...

Edited June 23, 2011 by PendragonUK

[EDcase 87]

I was using an OCZ Vertex 2 30GB SSD just for ARMA.

I recently upgraded my machine and the SSD won't work for some reason so I installed to a normal 7200rpm HDD (separate partition).

It does take a bit longer to load the game and missions but to be honest it does not affect gamplay at all that I can notice.

No stuttering even flying low and fast in a jet.

I think you have reached the limit of your CPU and GFX card.

Loading will be quicker but I don't think it will play any smoother with an SSD.

Try texture detail on NORMAL and memory to DEFAULT and see if that helps.

Good luck

Edited June 24, 2011 by EDcase

[pendragonuk 0]

As an alternative to SSD's as they are so expensive. Do some research on a hard drive partitioning technique called "Short Stroking". At the very least you can get the type of high performance of a special Rapter drive on a regular cheap one. You just lose a lot of space.

Note to Edcase, were you just running ArmA on the SSD or Windows as well?

I have run tests with ArmA installed on a regular SATA II mechanical drive and an SSD. The difference was very noticeable. In particular micro stutters (long frames) and LOD issues. I can only talk from my own experiences and say that an SSD makes a very large noticeable difference to the way ArmA plays.

stk2008 is complaining about those very things, without have to change his whole rig an SSD would make a difference to ArmA. As well as improving the whole Windows experiences, it's almost like getting a new computer. A 60 GB SSD is less than £100 now so I say if you can then you should!

[liquidpinky 11]

As an alternative to SSD's as they are so expensive. Do some research on a hard drive partitioning technique called "Short Stroking". At the very least you can get the type of high performance of a special Rapter drive on a regular cheap one. You just lose a lot of space.

Alternatively you can use software such as Disktrix that will allow you to choose files to put on the outer edge of the HDD to make them faster.

I will have to look into this short stroking thing, I can't believe a partition making a drive faster as it usually makes them slower.

SSDs still run the game better, this has all been properly tried and tested to death already with A2 and they do make a performance difference.

[pendragonuk 0]

The Short stroking is a method of faster data transfer but also seek times. It's a valid method when comparing it to special fast drives like the WD Rapters. You buy a fast but cheap normal drive, 500GB whatever is cheap. Then using partition software, GParted would be good as it's free (OpenSource). You make a small 100Gb partition at the outer edge of the drive. The rest you leave blank! So you have a 100GB drive for £30 that is as fast as a 100GB Rapter for £200, simple :)

This method is still not as fast as an SSD but beats the hell out of them noisy and expensive speciality drives.

[stk2008 14]

The Short stroking is a method of faster data transfer but also seek times. It's a valid method when comparing it to special fast drives like the WD Rapters. You buy a fast but cheap normal drive, 500GB whatever is cheap. Then using partition software, GParted would be good as it's free (OpenSource). You make a small 100Gb partition at the outer edge of the drive. The rest you leave blank! So you have a 100GB drive for £30 that is as fast as a 100GB Rapter for £200, simple :)

This method is still not as fast as an SSD but beats the hell out of them noisy and expensive speciality drives.

Would you be able to write up a small tut on this as I would love to test this out.

I would like to get an SSD but it wont happen (I am poor :P) so have to make do with the stuff I have around

[b00tsy 28]

Alternatively you can use software such as Disktrix that will allow you to choose files to put on the outer edge of the HDD to make them faster.

I will have to look into this short stroking thing, I can't believe a partition making a drive faster as it usually makes them slower.

SSDs still run the game better, this has all been properly tried and tested to death already with A2 and they do make a performance difference.

Thanks for the software tip,downloaded the trail version and it looks like an excellent defragger. Seems that I have 25% fragmentation on my hd :)

[liquidpinky 11]

Thanks for the software tip,downloaded the trail version and it looks like an excellent defragger. Seems that I have 25% fragmentation on my hd :)

Plus it can put your chosen files on the outside edge of the platter without creating a partition like the Short Stroking method that PendragonUK kindly explained to me. So you get to keep the whole 500GB etc but get the benefit of faster speeds.

[b00tsy 28]

Yeah I am running the defragger first (takes 4 hours), haven't found the option to move files yet, but will lookin to it further :)

[stk2008 14]

Yeah I am running the defragger first (takes 4 hours), haven't found the option to move files yet, but will lookin to it further :)

Keep us informed of results mate if ya would.

Thanks

[[aps]gnat 28]

I have win7 64bit and my 2 HDD in raid seem to make little difference :(

[sethos 2]

The difference between my Samsung Spinpoint and my SSD is unnoticeable - Performance is exactly the same for me.

[liquidpinky 11]

I have win7 64bit and my 2 HDD in raid seem to make little difference

The difference between my Samsung Spinpoint and my SSD is unnoticeable - Performance is exactly the same for me.

This all depends on where Arma is on the drives, if either they were reasonably new when you installed it or you moved the files manually, then it will be near the outer edge of the platter anyway.

On a 2TB drive that is absolutely chocked full for example, with A2 on the inside of the platter however. Now that is a different story.

The SSD does still make a difference, just not as big an impact since BIS improved the streaming a while back. You won't see it as an FPS increase, just a reduction in the little stutters you get sometimes when a lot of terrain is getting loaded.

The biggest difference is that everything on an SSD is subject to the same read write speeds etc unlike HDDs and you don't have to fuck around with disk placement to speed things up.

[b00tsy 28]

Keep us informed of results mate if ya would.

Thanks

Well it definitely helped against stuttering, it plays noticable smoother now. The amount of fps I get is the same.

[stk2008 14]

Thats great mate I will try it.

I am fighting a loosing battle any way cus me HD is crap.

its running no faster than an old IDE hard drive I have in a diff pc so its one crap SATA drive thats for sure.

[EDcase 87]

I use Ultimate Defrag (free version) which allows you to choose what to put on the outer edge. (ARMA of course ;))

stk2008: If you get the cheapest 7200rpm drive and put ARMA on it then you'll get better performace for the lowest cost. I don't think it will be much better tho.

Edited June 24, 2011 by EDcase

[stk2008 14]

Im not really after more speed just maintaining the speed I have.

I get constant thrashing of the drive and I get stutter and pauses all the time and it is when loading.

I cant afford a new drive at the moment.