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?
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SSDs and Gaming?
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TickleMeElmo
macrumors regular
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
macrumors 6502
A SSD uses less power, but do not expect blazing fast loading times and the like. It's just a slight improvement.
gentlefury
macrumors 68030
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
macrumors 68000
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
macrumors 6502
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
macrumors 68030
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
macrumors regular
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
macrumors 68000
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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.
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.
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
macrumors regular
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.
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
macrumors regular
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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.