how much do SSD's help the game

So i have a Lenovo Y580 with a I7 and a GTX660M

Bench scores 3700 on laptop high 1080p. It has a standard HDD in there right now, i believe a 5400rpm

would i see a significant increase in the bench if i ran the game off of a SSD?

Only thing I noticed when upgrading to SSD was slightly faster load times for areas. Beyond that, there was nothing noticeable. That being said, the SSD is worth it for everything else involving Windows. Faster boot up times and everything's much snappier. For straight gaming though, doesn't make much of a difference, most people run their games off massive TB drives while keeping windows alone on their SSD.

A few people will install whichever game they're currently playing on SSD for the load time, but that's it.

"Slightly" faster load times? I load into any/all areas, including extremely high pop areas like Mor Dhona, in 4 seconds or less (approximately, never stopwatched it, just counting in my head). I suspect OP's load times into Mor Dhona are 2x or 3x that (or possibly more).

Anyway, 4 seconds or less when teleporting into any area vs. whatever you're seeing now. That's the difference. (Personally, I cringe seeing HDD folks load into anything. It takes forever.)

Ok, faster load times. Beyond that though, there's really no benefit. I went from a HDD to SSD, and like I said, it's faster. But to say it was significantly faster, eh. That being said, saving 4-8 seconds to some is HUGE and others, meh. Again though, for everything else non-gaming related, it's a fantastic upgrade.

It also means no annoying mechanical sound from the HDD when you play. Although you most likely will start to think the fan is too noisy once you get used to the silence of the SSD. :)

For this game you won't see huge difference on loading times cause it doesn't read huge files from disk like other games. It's fairly optimised for this reason to run on consoles. They avoided high res textures for that reason. It's not only that the consoles do not have the processing power for this but the loading times too. This game is only 15 GBs while other MMORPGs are around 40Gbs. You will see a difference with an SDD but do not expect the big difference you see in other bigger games.

With my HDD I load areas fast. I don't feel the need to get an SDD.

People need to stop getting premade computers with cheap 5200RPM HDDs and start buying quality 7200RPM+ drives.

So I wanted to jump in here and give a bit of information.

Working in IT I see a lot of HDD's and SSD's Come and go. Yes it would boost your area transitions and load times, however much of the games delays are network related, not hardware related.

On top of that, like Monty said, most people run windows from an SSD and then their programs from a HDD. The reason for this has nothing to do with performance, but maintenance. SSD's have a finite amount of Writes before they begin to fail. The technology is such right now that there's nothing that can be done with it. Always staying on top of firmware updates, keeping the drive defragmented, virus free etc.... These are all things SSD owners Need to do it stretch out the drives life as long as possible.

So while the gains are pretty appealing, the cons of it can sometimes be costly. One of the biggest cons is often when an SSD fails, there's no warning, No S.M.A.R.T Status notifications, nothing. It just fails on the spot.

If you really want to go the performance route, I'd suggest a Hybrid Drive. They can perform just as fast as an SSD with the reliability of an HDD. But just be aware if you get an SSD, weather it's OCZ or Western Digital... You could very well run into a drive that's high maintenance and more of a pain in the neck than it's worth. Moral of the story, keep an HDD handy just in case.

On a slight side note, the place I work for has been playing around with Mirror raiding an SSD and HDD with capasity matching and differential backup methods with a new Raid Driver that Seagate has put out that basically let's you mirror an SSD to an HDD and do the backup either on a timed schedule or deferentially so that the HDD doesn't reduce the speed of the SSD. Just something to think about for the more geek inclined on here lol.

In response to Rune_Crystalblade, while everything you said is true - and something the OP should consider - it's worth mentioning that video games have an extremely low read-to-write ratio. The amount of writes done for a non-patched game is on the order of O(1) - even considering save files, they are so small compared to the size of the game, you're still on an amortized cost of O(1) - while the worst case scenario for a patched game is one block of writes every 1.5 months on average. You get a lot more deterioration from things like databases, work files and god-forbid, web browsers (those things are constantly updating their settings and history). I would consider space to be a larger concern for a game like this. You'll need to pay a premium to support your OS, MMO, and any other software you have on your computer and be comfortable with the amount of space you keep in reserve. I'm constantly having to go through and judiciously clean my folders every time FFXIV updates (note to self, look into larger SDD).


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Originally Posted by Rune_Crystalblade

keeping the drive defragmented

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Sorry, just noticed this, please please don't defragment your SSDs, defragmentation is deactivated by default on modern OSs when using an SSD for a reason, defragmentation requires a massive number or writes and will wear down your SSD faster than you can so "oops".

Ontop of faster loading times it can cut down on frame stuttering due to the game wanting to access new files and transfer them to your ram.

Either get an SSD or a hybrid drive. they are so cheap now I see no reason for a normal hard drive apart from storage beyond 1TB.

Crucial MX100 is a really reliable and low priced SSD.

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Originally Posted by Rune_Crystalblade

So I wanted to jump in here and give a bit of information.

Working in IT I see a lot of HDD's and SSD's Come and go. Yes it would boost your area transitions and load times, however much of the games delays are network related, not hardware related.

On top of that, like Monty said, most people run windows from an SSD and then their programs from a HDD. The reason for this has nothing to do with performance, but maintenance. SSD's have a finite amount of Writes before they begin to fail. The technology is such right now that there's nothing that can be done with it. Always staying on top of firmware updates, keeping the drive defragmented, virus free etc.... These are all things SSD owners Need to do it stretch out the drives life as long as possible.

So while the gains are pretty appealing, the cons of it can sometimes be costly. One of the biggest cons is often when an SSD fails, there's no warning, No S.M.A.R.T Status notifications, nothing. It just fails on the spot.

If you really want to go the performance route, I'd suggest a Hybrid Drive. They can perform just as fast as an SSD with the reliability of an HDD. But just be aware if you get an SSD, weather it's OCZ or Western Digital... You could very well run into a drive that's high maintenance and more of a pain in the neck than it's worth. Moral of the story, keep an HDD handy just in case.

On a slight side note, the place I work for has been playing around with Mirror raiding an SSD and HDD with capasity matching and differential backup methods with a new Raid Driver that Seagate has put out that basically let's you mirror an SSD to an HDD and do the backup either on a timed schedule or deferentially so that the HDD doesn't reduce the speed of the SSD. Just something to think about for the more geek inclined on here lol.

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That whole SSDs dying over time situation ended pretty much after the first generation of them...
Now a days you'll definatly just be wanting to buy a new one for the hell of it before anything.
Btw I have a few first generation SSDs still TODAY, and I've used them every day since they came out and they are working EXACTLY the same as the day I bought them.
(i.e. they will be 10 years old next year.)

You'll end up killing a HDD drive due to the fact that it has moving parts way before you have to worry about an SSD which you could throw and it will still work.


Just stay away from the 840 EVO, it has some issues. (even the firmware update isn't a 100% fix)

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Originally Posted by Hulan

Sorry, just noticed this, please please don't defragment your SSDs, defragmentation is deactivated by default on modern OSs when using an SSD for a reason, defragmentation requires a massive number or writes and will wear down your SSD faster than you can so "oops".

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Exactly, but now a days windows will optimize an SSD (I.E trim) it won't defrag it unless you use some sort of extra utility.

I personally would recommend a SSD, if you only store Windows, FFXIV and other applications that need to read a lot of data. I wouldn't be too concerned about the endurance of the drive if I'm honest unless you are writing GBs of data every day or are planning on running a datacenter off it.

While I dont use a PC, and cant say how useful they are (apart from what's already been said on the thread), theyre absolutely amazing on consoles.

I, as a PS3 user, suffered from long load times and lack of unrendered NPCs. You can pretty much imagine the hell that is going into Garuda EX as a tank, only for her to dissapear (in your screen) and being unable to target her due to being invisible.

Or a more guilty example being hunts. Being a console player during hunts really hurts if you're using this route for gear progression. Almost never do your marks appear on screen. even if SE said that this was a bug that was fixed, this is still happening and it still hurts a huge number of players. Only way to solve this is with a SDD. dont think an SDD is just for hunts. Its good for numerous things, including load times and such.

SSD improves the speed at which things like divebomb markers (T5,9,13) and other warning markers load up which is absolutely key if you want some breathing room to be able to deal with mechanics. Honestly SSD is probably one of the best things you can think of to improve your gameplay experience.

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Originally Posted by Kyomagi

So i have a Lenovo Y580 with a I7 and a GTX660M

Bench scores 3700 on laptop high 1080p. It has a standard HDD in there right now, i believe a 5400rpm

would i see a significant increase in the bench if i ran the game off of a SSD?

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SSD only helps loading time and Shader Cache enabled by Nvidia. Again it's all about improving loading time, other games with constant swapping contents as you move in the area will also help to prevent some stutters.

FFXIV is not the case that SSD will fix stutter framerates. Only improve loading map which takes about 2-3 seconds instead of 10-45seconds.

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Originally Posted by MiniTofu

FFXIV is not the case that SSD will fix stutter framerates. Only improve loading map which takes about 2-3 seconds instead of 10-45seconds.

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Yes actually it is, MMOs tend to suffer MORE from a slower hard drive.
You know new characters are always coming into the zone, mobs are spawning and being killed. These things are not rendered untill they actually become visable on the screen.
Try playing on a 5200 rpm HDD and then say the game doesn't stutter.
(or playing it on a PS3. horrible HDD)

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Originally Posted by Monty

Only thing I noticed when upgrading to SSD was slightly faster load times for areas. Beyond that, there was nothing noticeable. That being said, the SSD is worth it for everything else involving Windows. Faster boot up times and everything's much snappier. For straight gaming though, doesn't make much of a difference, most people run their games off massive TB drives while keeping windows alone on their SSD.

A few people will install whichever game they're currently playing on SSD for the load time, but that's it.

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Slightly? it decreases load time immensely. Get an SSD your teleports and zoning will be less than 5 second.

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Originally Posted by Rune_Crystalblade

Working in IT

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keeping the drive defragmented

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These are all things SSD owners Need to do

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keeping the drive defragmented

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SSD

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Working in IT

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http://i.imgur.com/4DDyt8g.jpg

I find my SSD more useful for relaunching after crashes or rebooting after 90k, to be honest.
The zone loading time difference isn't large enough to be the sole reason for buying an SSD IMO. (Comparing my M500 with the Caviar Black I used to have)
It's not really instant, since, as some people have mentioned earlier in this thread, there is network-bottlenecked stuff.

It can definitely be the difference between making it to a hunt mark and missing it.

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Originally Posted by KaedrianLiang

Slightly? it decreases load time immensely. Get an SSD your teleports and zoning will be less than 5 second.

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The 20-30 seconds it knocks off booting windows? That's immensely. The 3-5 seconds gained from loading a zone? That's slight. Most 7200rpm HDDs load zones up pretty quick. Again, this is all what people perceive as massive gains or not. It's like people who spend tons of cash on GPU upgrades year after year for a slight FPS performance and slight AA tweak, but to them it's huge gains.

From a strict gaming point of view, is 4-5 seconds of load time worth 100-300$? (depending which size/brand of SSD you get).

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Originally Posted by Riardon

For this game you won't see huge difference on loading times cause it doesn't read huge files

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You don't get an SSD for the transfer rates you get it for the access time. Seeking a file from a chip is man many times faster than a ohysical head moving on a dsic. this is where SSDs shine.

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Originally Posted by Rune_Crystalblade

So I wanted to jump in here and give a bit of information.

Working in IT I see a lot of HDD's and SSD's Come and go. Yes it would boost your area transitions and load times, however much of the games delays are network related, not hardware related.

On top of that, like Monty said, most people run windows from an SSD and then their programs from a HDD. The reason for this has nothing to do with performance, but maintenance. SSD's have a finite amount of Writes before they begin to fail. The technology is such right now that there's nothing that can be done with it. Always staying on top of firmware updates, keeping the drive defragmented, virus free etc.... These are all things SSD owners Need to do it stretch out the drives life as long as possible.

So while the gains are pretty appealing, the cons of it can sometimes be costly. One of the biggest cons is often when an SSD fails, there's no warning, No S.M.A.R.T Status notifications, nothing. It just fails on the spot.

If you really want to go the performance route, I'd suggest a Hybrid Drive. They can perform just as fast as an SSD with the reliability of an HDD. But just be aware if you get an SSD, weather it's OCZ or Western Digital... You could very well run into a drive that's high maintenance and more of a pain in the neck than it's worth. Moral of the story, keep an HDD handy just in case.

On a slight side note, the place I work for has been playing around with Mirror raiding an SSD and HDD with capasity matching and differential backup methods with a new Raid Driver that Seagate has put out that basically let's you mirror an SSD to an HDD and do the backup either on a timed schedule or deferentially so that the HDD doesn't reduce the speed of the SSD. Just something to think about for the more geek inclined on here lol.

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Lol, you 'work in IT' and you suggest defragmenting an SSD. Do you know why you defragment a hard disk and why it's not needed on an SSD. I feel sorry for the company you work at.

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Originally Posted by Monty

lolcharlimit.

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Look at it it this way. zone/teleport 10 times youve saved almost 1minute of time staring at a blank screen. zone 100 times youv'e saved over 8 minutes of time. Keep multiplying that number and the time saved just keeps adding up. Time is money my friend. Don't live in the moment and view the small picture, plan ahead and make purchases and upgrades to your machine with years of useability in mind.

Those seconds count given the current state of The Hunt.

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Originally Posted by Saccharin

dat IT guy

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I bet if we ask him what "IT" stands for he wouldnt be able to answer.

Everything that guy has written in his post can be read off the product description of the box. except this "[lolz defragging an ssd] These are all things SSD owners Need to do it stretch out the drives life as long as possible. "

Which he is probably only just reiterating from someone else, probably a geek squad member.

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Originally Posted by Monty

The 20-30 seconds it knocks off booting windows? That's immensely. The 3-5 seconds gained from loading a zone? That's slight. Most 7200rpm HDDs load zones up pretty quick. Again, this is all what people perceive as massive gains or not. It's like people who spend tons of cash on GPU upgrades year after year for a slight FPS performance and slight AA tweak, but to them it's huge gains.

From a strict gaming point of view, is 4-5 seconds of load time worth 100-300$? (depending which size/brand of SSD you get).

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Actually, depending on the health of the HDD (bad sectors, fragmented to oblivion, etc), the SSD can actually get more than 5 seconds per. With a game like this one where zoning is extremely frequent, it's quite the upgrade.

Guess I'm always multi-tasking when I'm playing (minus dungeons and such) that I've hardly noticed. Watching hockey, shows, browsing, etc. I suppose, if you're strictly focused on the game, and big into hunts and constantly zoning then I guess it does add up.

Either way, the general consensus here is that they're a good upgrade, some for gaming, some for windows, some for both!

Enough that it makes sense to use it if you already have one and the space on it. Not enough to go out and buy a SSD just for the game. Go buy one for you OS boot drive first and foremost.

Monty pretty much summed it up.

SSD's are more for Windows OS.

SSD's make a HUGE difference in this game, I'm still mainly on (the apparently hated) PS3 version of the game but upgraded the original HDD to a SSD and the load times are like 3/4 times faster on everything e.g. NPCs/Players, FATES, dungeons and zone load times haha like 2/3 seconds.
I havent noticed much lag, and frame rate is better then the orignal HDD but it does still sometimes drop when in the Shroud (those Ent/Tree monsters, so much animation lag).

When I get a SSD for my PC I'll maybe switch platforms but for the moment its load times are crippling :/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ006fUrTdc

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Originally Posted by Riardon

For this game you won't see huge difference on loading times cause it doesn't read huge files from disk like other games. It's fairly optimised for this reason to run on consoles. They avoided high res textures for that reason. It's not only that the consoles do not have the processing power for this but the loading times too. This game is only 15 GBs while other MMORPGs are around 40Gbs. You will see a difference with an SDD but do not expect the big difference you see in other bigger games.

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Originally Posted by SekhmetM

With my HDD I load areas fast. I don't feel the need to get an SDD.

People need to stop getting premade computers with cheap 5200RPM HDDs and start buying quality 7200RPM+ drives.

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^Factually inaccurate, as explained by other responses.

I don't know why we have a 3 page long thread that was solved in 3 posts.

Anyone who thinks an SSD won't load a zone faster than an HDD has no idea what a "huge difference" means to begin with. I originally had FFXIV on my HDD, but I fixed that in less than a day because I hated the load times and quickly put it onto my SSD.

Is the difference between a 4 second load time and a 12 second load time "huge"? I would think that halving or thirding your load time would be considered significant. I certainly wouldn't want to do something like hunts without an SSD. Think the 8 seconds won't help? It will. Or if you have to port more than once, it adds up (going to Limsa, then Mist, then La Noscea? hey, SSD just saved you up to 24 seconds or more).

And I'm not talking about junk HDDs. I mean 7200 ones. Who even has the other? Seriously. (Edit: I guess all those Lenovo laptops do. Haha. A 7200 rpm HDD would certainly be a little faster, but the load time would still be significant, as I've seen on my own not-a-laptop. I've seen those Lenovos load a zone, and it takes foooorever.)

If you don't mind the load time on HDD being that long, obviously you don't care enough to have an SSD. If you feel going from 8-12 seconds to 4 seconds "isn't a big deal, because hey I'm eating popcorn guy" then fine. But does that help the OP? Nah. The OP has already been informed of the difference, and can make their own decision. The rest is just superfluous. Maybe you like watching that black screen between zones. I'd rather not. Maybe the OP doesn't either. Guess they can figure that out based on the math.

Similarly, many of you may think that having a better video card and more frame rate "just isn't a big deal". This thread wasn't an opinion piece, though. It was "how much do SSDs help the game" not "does random guy I don't know care about how much SSDs help the game". Really.

Anyway, I don't see why better load times would help your laptop bench better. First problem is having a laptop for gaming, but I guess for many that's unavoidable. Better keep that thing cold.

If you got the money to afford $250 for a 500GB SSD the decision to go for an SSD is no brainer. The benefits are drastic for many aspects besides the game. Disk I/O is one of the biggest bottleneck to system performance, SSD reduces that drastically. Additionally you get the benefits of better thermo, power, and acoustic improvements.

I recently upgraded from a hard drive to a brand new SSD, 1 terabyte. I think it's an 840 evo or something, I'm kinda forgetful. Was like night and day difference. Now, my hard drive might've been a slower version, but my SSD was top on the market. Costs me about 460, but it was money WELL worth it after I loaded it up. Lag was MUCH less and my computer was already upgraded in every other way, this just let it reach the limits it had. Every game I have now runs at lightning speed, hard drives can really hold you back with some stuff. Any lag I have now is all software related and optimizations.

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Originally Posted by Darus

I recently upgraded from a hard drive to a brand new SSD, 1 terabyte. I think it's an 840 evo or something, I'm kinda forgetful. Was like night and day difference. Now, my hard drive might've been a slower version, but my SSD was top on the market. Costs me about 460, but it was money WELL worth it after I loaded it up. Lag was MUCH less and my computer was already upgraded in every other way, this just let it reach the limits it had. Every game I have now runs at lightning speed, hard drives can really hold you back with some stuff. Any lag I have now is all software related and optimizations.

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Personally, I don't find much value in a very large SSD in most cases, for various reasons. But hey, that's awesome for you if you do (I'd love to do the same, if it weren't for personal outlook). It definitely is night and day with immediate performance differences. The lifespan is honestly the only thing of question with SSDs, but for most of us, the amount of time we usually spend with it before it fails or we decide to upgrade is worth the price.