Performance Improvements with an SSD?

[DarthMord]

Hey I was curious if anyone got the Corsair Neutron GTX 240 Gig SSD and if so if you noticed much of a performance improvement in SWTOR. I currently have an older hybrid and while it works okay I'm hoping a full SSD will give me at least a little boost in my gameplay and load times.

 

Thanks!

[Moestuin]

No, I moved the game from a regular HDD to a SSD to see if the load times would improve and it was almost the same. The game's loading time is from something other then actually loading the data.

[rafter]

Hey I was curious if anyone got the Corsair Neutron GTX 240 Gig SSD and if so if you noticed much of a performance improvement in SWTOR. I currently have an older hybrid and while it works okay I'm hoping a full SSD will give me at least a little boost in my gameplay and load times.

 

Thanks!

 

You'd be better served getting more ram and using Unleased than buying an SSD just for ToR. Your hybrid is already giving you the performance you will see with the SSD. I've had both Windows and ToR installed on my SSD and also with using my SSD as a cache drive (which is what your hybrid does) and there is virtually no difference.

[Shingara]

Not quite as simple as just throwing an ssd in a machine, think of it like a dam made out of match sticks, its only as strong as its weakest link.

[rafter]

Not quite as simple as just throwing an ssd in a machine, think of it like a dam made out of match sticks, its only as strong as its weakest link.

 

I'm not really even sure what that means. It really is that simple.

 

Just about any computer out there will benefit greatly from an SSD, from a top of the line gaming rig to that piece of junk $200 laptop I have in my closet. SSD's aren't dependant on the rest of your computer. And games, regardless of the PC's power, will benefit in terms of load times with an SSD...even that $200 laptop. Unfortunately, ToR isn't most games and it benefits little to none from an SSD.

[Shingara]

think of it like this then, you have the best ram in the world, the best gpu in the world and the best ssd, yet your running on the cheapest motherboard going. the pc will only run as fast as the motherboard allows. this is what i mean when i say it will only be as strong as its weakest part.

 

So yes you might see an improvment on general read and write times but you could be wasting money because the pc cannot use the ssd to its best potential. And your a little wrong, if your junk laptop can only do sata 2 then its going tobe slower then if it could run sata 3 and thats just a base example. Of course it will run faster then an old hdd that the junk laptop had but its no where near as good if the ssd cannot run within its set range.

Edited April 21, 2013 by Shingara

[DAMossimo]

I have an Intel SSD in my rig and I zone in a second or 2 before my son does (he has a regular platter drive) when we raid together and jump through the gate simultaneously, so yeah a little difference but not earth-shattering.

 

I also have 4 GB ram more than him though which probably plays into it. My experience fwiw.

[MidichIorian]

I originally had it on SSD but decided to move everything when I downloaded PTS. Didnt notice any difference and from the look of things I'd say that I'm still loading instances significally faster than the majority of people I come across (enter at same time but it takes them an extra 20 secs to load)

[HiltoftheDragon]

think of it like this then, you have the best ram in the world, the best gpu in the world and the best ssd, yet your running on the cheapest motherboard going. the pc will only run as fast as the motherboard allows. this is what i mean when i say it will only be as strong as its weakest part.

 

So yes you might see an improvment on general read and write times but you could be wasting money because the pc cannot use the ssd to its best potential.

 

Hmmm......you just posted an elaborate description for a bottleneck.

[Shingara]

Hmmm......you just posted an elaborate description for a bottleneck.

 

yup basically, but you say bottleneck to people who think throwing a gtx 680 on a 6 year old pc is gonna make it a radical earth shattering pc and they go huh.

[Cernow]

Thanks to those who've confirmed that SSD only improves loading times a little over HDD. I've long felt that the long loading screens are a server side issue, not a problem with loading data client side. Whenever I'm on a guild raid everyone seems to share the same long loading screens regardless of how fast their PC is. Some are quicker than others, but never by much.

 

Loading screens seem to be longer since 2.0 too, even on pre 2.0 content.

[Doctoglethorpe]

The problem is loading screens have more to do with bringing in all the streaming information rather then the stuff on your drive. In fact, the world actually loads pretty fast regardless and the "loading screen" is just pasted over it while it loads in things like character models and all the important information that comes along with them. Ever noticed that little sliver the loading screen forgets to cover on the side of your screen?

 

Actually, have you ever noticed when you see somebody zone into an area the game says they're there, icon on the map and all, before their character model actually loads in and even when they aren't invisible anymore it takes a bit longer before they have any control. That happens to all of us, while that loading screen is up. Its hiding that process from us while the world around us is already loaded. That world loading is what your HDD is doing, the other stuff is all on the game's servers, which takes up most of loading times. So thats why transferring to an SSD doesn't really make any difference, it doesn't effect the majority of the loading screen's processes.

[Shingara]

I think thats more todo with the number of people playing, since 2.0 hit ive seen a major increase in population across the servers.

 

i have the new series vortex 512 ssd's and my loads have increased so its defo server side.

Edited April 21, 2013 by Shingara

[Alec_Fortescue]

I am clueless but my guild mates told me that TOR installed on ssd won't improve fps, but decrease loading times of areas and objects.

[Kampori]

I have a 500GB SSD on my PC (at least, I did. Its stopped working and have had to move everything to my other, standard HD).

 

I'm one of the most computer illiterate persons you could meet, so forgive me if its something else (as someone else said about RAM, I think I have like 16GB RAM which is apparently more than needed? So maybe its that)

 

But on my SSD, load screens were non-existant. Even on planets like Alderaan, or EV first cutscene, it would load in under 2 seconds. FPS didn't increase, game didn't actively run any better, but the loading screens was drastically different.

 

Now, on my standard HD, ofc with same RAM, load screens on Alderaan take the 'standard' 2 mins+, and it just gets ludicrous, especially after being so used to my SSD. So I can say that with my SSD active, it was so much better (loading screen-wise)

[xandax]

I've got plenty of RAM and an SSD and still get stupidly long load times.

The game loads to like 20%, then stalls for a time, then starts loading again. And I've had this pretty much since 1.2.

 

It's not always a computer issue, the game does have technical issues and for some there's definitely something wrong in the client(s).

Edited April 21, 2013 by xandax

[DarthMord]

Wow thanks for all the replies. My hope was that the SSD would improve my load times, sounds like it might. I'll just have to wait and see. I've been wanting to update my HDD with an SSD for a while. So this gives me an idea of what to expect.

 

Thanks a ton!

[Kampori]

Wow thanks for all the replies. My hope was that the SSD would improve my load times, sounds like it might. I'll just have to wait and see. I've been wanting to update my HDD with an SSD for a while. So this gives me an idea of what to expect.

 

Thanks a ton!

 

Well for me the SSD worked an absolute treat, but the guy above says his didn't. So, try it and find out

I can't recommend an SSD more in general, anyway! I'm only using a normal HD til I get mine fixed (SSDs are meant to be unbreakable.. so no idea how that happened )

[Doctoglethorpe]

I have a 500GB SSD on my PC (at least, I did. Its stopped working and have had to move everything to my other, standard HD).

 

I'm one of the most computer illiterate persons you could meet, so forgive me if its something else (as someone else said about RAM, I think I have like 16GB RAM which is apparently more than needed? So maybe its that)

 

But on my SSD, load screens were non-existant. Even on planets like Alderaan, or EV first cutscene, it would load in under 2 seconds. FPS didn't increase, game didn't actively run any better, but the loading screens was drastically different.

 

Now, on my standard HD, ofc with same RAM, load screens on Alderaan take the 'standard' 2 mins+, and it just gets ludicrous, especially after being so used to my SSD. So I can say that with my SSD active, it was so much better (loading screen-wise)

 

Sorry, but I call BS. Theres no way you load Alderaan, or any world, in 2 seconds. Neither excessive RAM or an SSD can give you that. Nothing can.

[Doctoglethorpe]

Wow thanks for all the replies. My hope was that the SSD would improve my load times, sounds like it might. I'll just have to wait and see. I've been wanting to update my HDD with an SSD for a while. So this gives me an idea of what to expect.

 

Thanks a ton!

 

Honestly, SWTOR just isn't worth it to buy an SSD. You might see marginal differences, like shaving a couple seconds off a 1 minute loading screen. BFD right?

 

Now that said, getting the SSD for your OS and other frequent programs would be great. It will make a huge difference overall for your computer. SWTOR is the rare exception of something it won't benefit, not the rule. If you got one big enough that it can fit swtor along side everything else, like a nice 120+ gb card, then knock yourself out. But I would prioritize just about anything else on it first, even other games. Something like Skyrim with a lot of loading screens will see a LOT of improvement on an SSD. I have a big enough card (250) to keep swtor on it AND a handful more games I play frequently (sometimes I put them on temporarily while I play em then move em back to HDD for storage), but if I ever really need space for more permanent data then SWTOR is gonna be the first thing I move. Thats like 20ish GBs just taking up space for no real reason at this point.

[RodneyMcNeely]

yup basically, but you say bottleneck to people who think throwing a gtx 680 on a 6 year old pc is gonna make it a radical earth shattering pc and they go huh.

So, I have a water-cooled Alienware with an i7 quad core @ 2.67 GHz and an SSD. If I upgrade my GeForce 640 to a GTX 680, will I notice any performance increase?

[TripleMe]

I experienced a massive decrease is loading times with an SSD. The SSD does nothing for fps, but that is expected. But fleet / ops etc load in 5 - 10 sec instead of the 30 sec - 1 min they used to take earlier. The difference is night and day.

 

I have the main OS, pagefile / hiberfile, frequently used programs, etc stay on SSD. User profile (like my documents, appdata), large or infrequently used programs and games are installed on the HDD array. Any games I am actively playing are copied to SSD and symlinked to the original location. This provides the most efficient use of the precious SSD space

Edited April 22, 2013 by TripleMe

[Uvirith]

yup basically, but you say bottleneck to people who think throwing a gtx 680 on a 6 year old pc is gonna make it a radical earth shattering pc and they go huh.

Yeah, I see that alot in my job. Alwasya makes me giggle

 

@TE

No, you will not gain any perfomance-increase.

In terms of loading times SSD vs. HDD. There is an improvement (ca. 5-10 secs. depends on if the old HDD was already 7200rpm or slower), but the loading times are still really slow.

imho the bottleneck for ToR is the Game itself. There is nothing you can do to further speed up the loadingtimes or the lags when having too much people around fighting.

[Horem]

If you are realy that intrested as to why the "load times" take so long, try renaming the Loadscreen pictures. (.......Program Files (x86)/Eletronic Arts/Bioware/Star Wars - The Old Republic/swtor/retailclient/LoadingScreens)

It's quite amusing to see how the game engine "loads up".

[Prysha]

Ive a Quadcore AMD Athlon X4 750K , 8GB DDR3 Ram and a Gigabyte HD7770 gfx card, runnign the game with full fettings liquid...

 

no need for SSD or any tweaks.

 

and the Parts i mentioned are cheap...