SSDs and Gaming?

[Ryukouki]

Well as theres a cheap SSD deal going on today, I'm looking to possibly make my gaming experience better (with Star Wars The Old Republic )! So what benefits to the gaming experience would an SSD have? Would it make the temperature lower than that of boiling water? Could it run a bit smoother?

 

[TickleMeElmo]

Well as theres a cheap SSD deal going on today, I'm looking to possibly make my gaming experience better (with Star Wars The Old Republic )! So what benefits to the gaming experience would an SSD have? Would it make the temperature lower than that of boiling water? Could it run a bit smoother?

A SSD uses 4-8W of power. A mobile hard drive uses about double that. The total power envelope of a MBP is under 85W (this is how much the power adapter provides). So you are optimally looking at about a 5-10% decrease in heat.

It will not effect your gaming performance beyond load times. You will not get more frames nor will you get smoother gameplay (other than not having to wait as long during load screens).

 

[barredfreak]

A SSD uses less power, but do not expect blazing fast loading times and the like. It's just a slight improvement.

 

[Ryukouki]

Awesome, thanks. I'm just more concerned over the heat thats currently being given out. If I can decrease that by a good amount I'm all for it.

 

[gentlefury]

A SSD uses less power, but do not expect blazing fast loading times and the like. It's just a slight improvement.

I get extremely fast loading times on my SSD. Skyrim goes into game in about 3 seconds. Several other games that people complain about load times also start up instantly. I've only had a couple games that take longer than 10 seconds to load.

 

[Dangerous Theory]

A SSD uses 4-8W of power. A mobile hard drive uses about double that. The total power envelope of a MBP is under 85W (this is how much the power adapter provides). So you are optimally looking at about a 5-10% decrease in heat.

Did you just compare power consumption linearly with heat? The hard drive emits a lot less heat energy than the CPU.

 

[barredfreak]

I get extremely fast loading times on my SSD. Skyrim goes into game in about 3 seconds. Several other games that people complain about load times also start up instantly. I've only had a couple games that take longer than 10 seconds to load.

I guess it also depends on what you're doing aside from playing the game. I always have After Effects, Lightroom and Illustrator open, so that might have something to do with it.

 

[gentlefury]

I guess it also depends on what you're doing aside from playing the game. I always have After Effects, Lightroom and Illustrator open, so that might have something to do with it.

yeah that would take down your bandwidth a bit. I only run games on windows. So I would never have anything interfering with it.

 

[TickleMeElmo]

Did you just compare power consumption linearly with heat? The hard drive emits a lot less heat energy than the CPU.

Linearly? If you mean did I equate power consumption and heat generation then the answer is yes. Effectively the power that comes from your power outlet into your computer is dissipated in three ways: light (screen), sound (speakers), and heat (everything else).

Since a laptop is not moving there is no mechanical energy. The spinning of the hard drive platter is effectively wholly converted into heat through fictive forces.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/advanced-format-1tb-hard-drive,3046-11.html

I never said that the HDD dissipates as much heat as a CPU but hard drives do emit quite a bit of heat.

 

[Dangerous Theory]

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Linearly? If you mean did I equate power consumption and heat generation then the answer is yes. Effectively the power that comes from your power outlet into your computer is dissipated in three ways: light (screen), sound (speakers), and heat (everything else).

Since a laptop is not moving there is no mechanical energy. The spinning of the hard drive platter is effectively wholly converted into heat through fictive forces.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/advanced-format-1tb-hard-drive,3046-11.html

I never said that the HDD dissipates as much heat as a CPU but hard drives do emit quite a bit of heat.

Linearly, as in, without bias to the components consuming the power. In other words, every component has different levels of thermal efficiency and the CPU is a far bigger contributor than the HDD (Just feel where the warm part of your laptop underside is, and you'll see).

I was calling you out for your indiscriminate calculation to come to the 5-10% conclusion based on 4-8W/85W. In truth, the 5-10% reduction in power consumption won't result in 5-10% less heat. But anyway, I'm just being a picky bastard. Either way the heat isn't going to be noticeable.

 

[phyrexia]

A SSD uses less power, but do not expect blazing fast loading times and the like. It's just a slight improvement.

Which model SSD are you using? Immediate, huge improvements come when switching from a 7200rpm HDD to even a SATA2 SSD, much less a SATA3 drive.

If you're running heavy duty applications when you start your games it's possible you're paging out the applications to make room for the games.

 

[houkouonchi]

Gaming is not a good reason to get a SSD. A lot of games load large single compressed files and the actual read throughput off the disk is not all that high.

Yes for some games it could make a huge difference but *most* games are CPU limited (Cpu limited due to decompress speed) when it comes to loading. I couldn't say what the case is for the game you listed but don't except game performance/load times to go down across the board by adding an SSD.

 

[TickleMeElmo]

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Linearly, as in, without bias to the components consuming the power. In other words, every component has different levels of thermal efficiency and the CPU is a far bigger contributor than the HDD (Just feel where the warm part of your laptop underside is, and you'll see).

I was calling you out for your indiscriminate calculation to come to the 5-10% conclusion based on 4-8W/85W. In truth, the 5-10% reduction in power consumption won't result in 5-10% less heat. But anyway, I'm just being a picky bastard. Either way the heat isn't going to be noticeable.

I said optimally as in if you were encoding a video, playing a game and running a disk benchmark at the same time.