SSD Question - Recent Upgrade Project

[Xirek]

Hello all! First time posting in this section of MMO-C.

I'm currently in the process of building a brand new rig that is optimized for gaming (and of course WoW specifically). I've already got all the major components in-play, CPU, mobo, etc. The part that has me wondering is how best to leverage additional solid state drive(s) in the mix.

Current Setup

• Intel Core i5-6600K Skylake Quad Core LGA 1151
• HyperXFury 16GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4
• ASUS ROG Maximus VIII HERO
• 55 GB Corsair Force 3 SSD (Windows 10 & Drivers Only)
• 1 TB Western Digital Caviar Green (Steam games and other raw storage)

My thought is snagging an additional SSD (Crucial BX200 240GB)for just WoW, but the nagging doubt in my head is wondering is there really going to be that much of a bump in performance and enjoyment vs letting live on a drive with all the other stuff. I understand how SSD works and what not, I'm just wondering if anyone here has used one exclusively for the game since Legion launched and if it made any difference?

Cheers and thanks!

[Droodid]

Hello all! First time posting in this section of MMO-C.

I'm currently in the process of building a brand new rig that is optimized for gaming (and of course WoW specifically). I've already got all the major components in-play, CPU, mobo, etc. The part that has me wondering is how best to leverage additional solid state drive(s) in the mix.

Current Setup

• Intel Core i5-6600K Skylake Quad Core LGA 1151
• HyperXFury 16GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4
• ASUS ROG Maximus VIII HERO
• 55 GB Corsair Force 3 SSD (Windows 10 & Drivers Only)
• 1 TB Western Digital Caviar Green (Steam games and other raw storage)

My thought is snagging an additional SSD (Crucial BX200 240GB)for just WoW, but the nagging doubt in my head is wondering is there really going to be that much of a bump in performance and enjoyment vs letting live on a drive with all the other stuff. I understand how SSD works and what not, I'm just wondering if anyone here has used one exclusively for the game since Legion launched and if it made any difference?

Cheers and thanks!

It helps with loading times substantially. I'd do the opposite of what you're planning though. I'd use the 240 for OS/other files, and the 55GB for WoW. As far as a WoW specific SSD, probably won't see any difference with it being on it's own vs. being on an SSD with the OS. You'll only notice a difference if you put it on the HDD.

[Gorgodeus]

WoW loading screens are much faster on an SSD. That is the one major difference I have seen. Objects in the distance seem to load a tiny bit faster, but not as noticeable a difference as loading screen times. Other than those 2 things, you will not notice any other differences.

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It helps with loading times substantially. I'd do the opposite of what you're planning though. I'd use the 240 for OS/other files, and the 55GB for WoW.

55GBG is not big enough for WoW. When downloading expansions, the file size is much larger than that. Many saw their WoW folder hit 75GB+ while installing Legion. The downloaded files are then unpacked, and unneeded ones are removed.

[Fascinate]

The reality is that only the first load into WoW is noticeably faster. Subsequent load ins or onto alt characters are not much faster unless they are logged out in a different expansion zone. And of course outside of load times there is no performance to be gained with faster storage. That isnt to say an SSD isnt worth it, just letting you know what to expect.

[Droodid]

WoW loading screens are much faster on an SSD. That is the one major difference I have seen. Objects in the distance seem to load a tiny bit faster, but not as noticeable a difference as loading screen times. Other than those 2 things, you will not notice any other differences.

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55GBG is not big enough for WoW. When downloading expansions, the file size is much larger than that. Many saw their WoW folder hit 75GB+ while installing Legion. The downloaded files are then unpacked, and unneeded ones are removed.

I thought it might have, but hadn't kept up with the file size in a while since installing my larger SSD.

[Lathais]

The reality is that only the first load into WoW is noticeably faster. Subsequent load ins or onto alt characters are not much faster unless they are logged out in a different expansion zone. And of course outside of load times there is no performance to be gained with faster storage. That isnt to say an SSD isnt worth it, just letting you know what to expect.

That is not necessarily true. In a busy area like a city, where there are thousands of things to load due to all the different characters around, having WoW on an SSD can not only prevent the slow load-ins of character models but also prevents a little stutter while this is going on and improves FPS by like 5. It's not huge but it is there and you can test it yourself. Just load WoW from SSD and run through town making note of your high and low FPS. Then load it from HDD and you'll see that the min FPS is a little bit lower. Not much, but it is measurable. The stutter reduction is the most noticeable though.

This is really only a thing in MMOs though, as other games can just pre-cache everything as they know what is going to be needed. With all the different players though, WoW can not just pre-load all the different things it might possibly need, so in certain situations, the SSD actually does ever so slightly increase FPS. It also does this when flying up really high, since there is so much landscape to load all at once.



All that said, to the OP, I would not get a 55GB for OS and a separate SSD just for WoW. Just get yourself one 256/512GB SSD and put OS+WoW+Browser+Any other games you may play on it.

[Fascinate]

How is that different from what i said? The first load in is the big impact an SSD will have, subsequent load ins on the same character are probably 3-5 seconds slower on a quality hard drive. The FPS gains you are talking about are impossible (we have went over this lathias).

The stutter when first logging in has nothing to do with your storage solution, its hotfix data that disappears shortly after (ive experienced this before, nothing to do with storage confirmed by a blue):

http://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/t...page=4#post-74

[Lathais]

How is that different from what i said? The first load in is the big impact an SSD will have, subsequent load ins on the same character are probably 3-5 seconds slower on a quality hard drive. The FPS gains you are talking about are impossible (we have went over this lathias).

The stutter when first logging in has nothing to do with your storage solution, its hotfix data that disappears shortly after (ive experienced this before, nothing to do with storage confirmed by a blue):

http://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/t...page=4#post-74

The FPS gains are real though. They are not impossible. I have seen them happen. You telling me it is impossible is like telling me it's impossible for cloth to get wet. I've seen it happen, it happens. If the CPU is not having to take time wait for things to get loaded from storage to memory it can work on draw calls, and does, very slightly improving FPS.

Also, it's not just stutter at first log-in. It's as soon as you go to a crowded area, stutter can and does happen. With an SSD, that stutter is far less noticeable. Yes, there is stutter/freezing when logging in also, that is unrelated. This is something different. Even the blue post said, if the stutter lasts more than 60 seconds it's a different issue. There is more than one thing that can cause stutter, the one at log-in is just one thing that yeah, has nothing to do with an SSD and totally not what I was talking about.

Just try it, go somewhere and fly up as high as you can, after having been logged in for several minutes. If you do it from HDD, there will be a little stutter, especially when you change directions. From SSD, not there.

[Fascinate]

Your evidence is anecdotal, and nonsensical. Whatever you believe to be happening is likely attributable to your unique setup. Stutter in densely packed areas has nothing to do with hardware and everything to do with the games coding and it's network limitations.

Again i am a fan of SSD's, (especially if you found one cheap on black friday) but lets not give this person false information on what he should or should not expect when upgrading to one.

[Lathais]

Your evidence is anecdotal, and nonsensical. Whatever you believe to be happening is likely attributable to your unique setup. Stutter in densely packed areas has nothing to do with hardware and everything to do with the games coding and it's network limitations.

Again i am a fan of SSD's, (especially if you found one cheap on black friday) but lets not give this person false information on what he should or should not expect when upgrading to one.

Funny, because it also does this on my best friends system, another friend of mine who moved away sees the same thing happen to him and I have seen other people mentioning it happen as well. Have you tried it for yourself yet? I no longer have an active WoW account, but I will see if my friend will let me use his to make a quick video showing this happening. It does happen. Like I said, it's only about 5 or less FPS, but it is real and does happen.

It's a really simple concept really. CPU needs to make a draw call, but it can't because the textures are not loaded in to RAM, so it needs to wait for those textures to load before it can make the draw call. The faster that information is loaded, the faster it can get back to making draw calls. Yes, we are talking fractions of a second here and 99% of the time it will not have a noticeable affect. In crowded areas where it is having to load hundreds of thousands of textures at once though, it makes a very small difference that is really only noticeable if you are staring at your FPS meter. It's there though. I promise you it is there.

[jegerlee]

Hello all! First time posting in this section of MMO-C.

I'm currently in the process of building a brand new rig that is optimized for gaming (and of course WoW specifically). I've already got all the major components in-play, CPU, mobo, etc. The part that has me wondering is how best to leverage additional solid state drive(s) in the mix.

Current Setup

• Intel Core i5-6600K Skylake Quad Core LGA 1151
• HyperXFury 16GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4
• ASUS ROG Maximus VIII HERO
• 55 GB Corsair Force 3 SSD (Windows 10 & Drivers Only)
• 1 TB Western Digital Caviar Green (Steam games and other raw storage)

My thought is snagging an additional SSD (Crucial BX200 240GB)for just WoW, but the nagging doubt in my head is wondering is there really going to be that much of a bump in performance and enjoyment vs letting live on a drive with all the other stuff. I understand how SSD works and what not, I'm just wondering if anyone here has used one exclusively for the game since Legion launched and if it made any difference?

Cheers and thanks!

Techspot recently made a great video with real world performance in games with 3 harddrives; The 960 EVO, MX300 and a WD Red Pro 4TB: http://www.techspot.com/news/67222-s...ta-vs-hdd.html

Personally I've 3 x 240 GB SSDs:
1 x Windows and programs
1 x Blizzard games
1 x Steam + Origin

IMO, 55 GB doesn't cut it as OS disk. Windows 10 64 bit is ~20 GB, then there will be future updates, Office 2016 is ~16 GB and smaller programs like java, some sort of PDF reader, iTunes, VLC player etc they all add up.
I would say that 120 GB is minimum.

[pansertjald]

Hello all! First time posting in this section of MMO-C.

I'm currently in the process of building a brand new rig that is optimized for gaming (and of course WoW specifically). I've already got all the major components in-play, CPU, mobo, etc. The part that has me wondering is how best to leverage additional solid state drive(s) in the mix.

Current Setup

• Intel Core i5-6600K Skylake Quad Core LGA 1151
• HyperXFury 16GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4
• ASUS ROG Maximus VIII HERO
• 55 GB Corsair Force 3 SSD (Windows 10 & Drivers Only)
• 1 TB Western Digital Caviar Green (Steam games and other raw storage)

My thought is snagging an additional SSD (Crucial BX200 240GB)for just WoW, but the nagging doubt in my head is wondering is there really going to be that much of a bump in performance and enjoyment vs letting live on a drive with all the other stuff. I understand how SSD works and what not, I'm just wondering if anyone here has used one exclusively for the game since Legion launched and if it made any difference?

Cheers and thanks!

With that mobo i really hope that you are gonna be doing some REALLY heavy oc'ing or else that is a complete waste of money. Save some money on the mobo and use it for a bigger SSD og GFX card.

And for the 55 GB SSD for win 10, i would say that, that is too small. Get a big one for OS and games