WoW on a SSD. Is it OK?

[Traumatic]

I just got my first SSD a few days ago. I've been happy with how much faster it makes my system feel, using it as an OS boot drive and putting some of my most used software on it.

My question is about whether playing WoW from the SSD will damage the drive or shorten its lifespan. I have heard WoW is a drive read/write intensive game, and that too many writes in particular can damage a SSD. Do I have anything to worry about?

I have heard mixed opionions. Some people say the read/write issue with SSDs is a real risk. Others say it has been overblown, especially with newer drives which tend not to have the problem. Which is the truth?

For the record, WoW load times are significantly faster on the SSD. Zones and instances pop up quickly, versus taking longer on my 7200 rpm hard drive. Actual game performance isn't any different, obviously. But the loading difference is a nice quality of life upgrade. But I don't want to ruin my new drive in a few months just to have the game load faster.

The drive in question is a Samsung 840 Pro 128 GB.

Thanks in advance!

[frequency]

While a SSD will eventually, theoretically "wear out" you are overly concerned with it. You will tire of WoW before your drive does.

[phred754]

It is fine on an ssd, the read/write issue is not an issue anymore.

[Deleted]

I refer to this thread
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1128184

Only slowdown will be launching the game client and the first logon.
The files that "can safely" stay on the SSD are read-only files, which does not damage the SSD.

While the new tech on the 830/840's might "overpower" the lifespan issue, why take the risk if you can avoid it?

[frequency]

I refer to this thread
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1128184

Only slowdown will be launching the game client and the first logon.
The files that "can safely" stay on the SSD are read-only files, which does not damage the SSD.

While the new tech on the 830/840's might "overpower" the lifespan issue, why take the risk if you can avoid it?

That like saying I got a Ferrari but I'm keep it in my garage and drive around my Toyota because I may crash...

[Deleted]

That like saying I got a Ferrari but I'm keep it in my garage and drive around my Toyota because I may crash...

Keeping a Toyota for 50 years is better than crashing your Ferrari after 2 months imo.

[Roia]

I wouldn't worry too much about overusing your ssd. By the time it wears out under normal home use (windows/games/etc) you'll probably have already upgraded to something better anyway. Using an ssd in WoW makes a huge difference on load times, you'll honestly will never want to go back to a disc drive again.

[protput]

I read a forum post a while back about a dude who had been benchmarking his SSD for months without stopping. He was over a petabyte if I remember correctly (not sure ) and the SSD was still running fine.

[n0cturnal]

Keeping a Toyota for 50 years is better than crashing your Ferrari after 2 months imo.

We are hardly talking about 2 months when it comes to a Samsung 830.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...=1#post5155598

He managed to write over 6 Petabyte before the drive went bad.


This is my own drive that I have used since Feb last year, I run windows and some games including WoW on it.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Only writes shorten the life-span of the SSD. You can read the data as often as you like.

[Soisoisoi]

I recently got an SSD, it's made the loading up, login and loading screen times a hell of a lot faster. I originally had Windows on it too, but it was a bit too small and it just annoyed me having less than 2gb left.

[n0cturnal]

I recently got an SSD, it's made the loading up, login and loading screen times a hell of a lot faster. I originally had Windows on it too, but it was a bit too small and it just annoyed me having less than 2gb left.

The recommendations I've read is that you're supposed to leave 10-20% of the SSD free for best performance, however I question your decision to not run Windows from your SSD. Running your OS from the SSD is the biggest performance benefit you get from it.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

The recommendations I've read is that you're supposed to leave 10-20% of the SSD free for best performance, however I question your decision to not run Windows from your SSD. Running your OS from the SSD is the biggest performance benefit you get from it.

Don't most SSDs reserve some space for the SSD to move stuff around to optimize space utilization anyway? I'm pretty sure I can only use 120GB out my 128GB M4.

[Deleted]

People worry too much about drive degradation on SSD's, your drive will be obsolete long before it slows down or go bad, especially with the new models.

[n0cturnal]

Don't most SSDs reserve some space for the SSD to move stuff around to optimize space utilization anyway? I'm pretty sure I can only use 120GB out my 128GB M4.

SSDs have reserved space for switching out bad blocks not for performance reasons. The more data you put on an SSD the less performance you get out. There are several test around you can read more about that.

[Elian]

i only have a 250gb SSD
should i be worried?

[n0cturnal]

i only have a 250gb SSD
should i be worried?

Worried about what?

[mercutiouk]

As far as size goes it's the same as any other drive. You should make the smartest use out of it you possibly can. Have the O/S and your most played games on it, leave other stuff on mechanical storage.

250gb is becoming fairly affordable, personally I'm still trying to talk myself out of a Sata 3 "top end" boot/OS SSD (probably only a 128GB) and a couple of older/budget ones for the steam folder with a 4 disk hardware raid 5 to take mass media stuff (dvd rips etc). Currently running an older 120GB boot/OS and the raid.

[vesseblah]

Modern SSD write degradation is complete FUD. It will take around 20-30 years to hit the maximum write count on 120-250GB SSD when using it for OS + games only. Heavy database use can wear down SSDs in five years or so, but nobody does that on gaming computer and very few parts of a gaming computer remains un-upgraded for five years in the first place.

[Deleted]

It's highly beneficial to put WoW on an SSD, it's one of the games that benefits most from fast secondary storage.