Project Reality Forums

Just ordered the OCZ Agility 3. What should I expect? Loading times should change how much if I'm using a first gen WD Raptor 150gb right now? Should I install Windows on this drive if it's already on my primary?

I think Litoralis has this drive and he can explain closely, but placing system on it would make it run much more smoother since its almost double faster than your raptor. But in time it may suffer from wear out, so you will endup reinstalling and reformatting it to restore speed as it was. Sure that wont happen very fast but in a year or such you will notice performance decrease.

Id rather place my games on this drive and leave system on raptor, especially if you play Arma.

[R-COM]MaSSive wrote:Id rather place my games on this drive and leave system on raptor, especially if you play Arma.

I was thinking of doing that, since the raptor is "fast enough" and I heard that the drive is slowed down the more information you write and delete from it. That won't be happening very much with my games or programs, so it should be fine if I only install games and not OS files, which change often.

Depends how often you play games, but in general its less R/W operation than having a complete system on it.

You can place Windows page file on it, and make it static size, depending on how much RAM you have but you should be ok with about 6GB of page file.

If you want to preserver more space on SSD you can place only Addons to it, with the help of symlink/hardlink extension but its a bit tricky thing to do, so if you're not tech savvy just install all on SSD.

I have the Vertex 3, and only the 64GB model. I will be forced to buy another SSD for my gaming rig soon.

The basic premise to maintain speed on the OCZ gen3 Sandforce SSDs is to never fill the drive over 60%, OR from the fresh start, only format the drive to 85% of the formatted capacity. The drive firmware shifts files around to balance out the read/write wear across all cells equally to extend drive life, when there is no free room, it starts shifting stuff around in very small increments, causing slowdowns.

IF you bough the 128GB or 256GB model, basically don't worry about it for now.
One guy I play Arma2 with has 50GB of JUST Arma2 and Arma2 addons on his SSD. It's crazy how fast Arma2 addons increase in size.

If you need to do hard links, google " link shell extension " + Arma2 and you'll find tutorials.
Link Shell Extension

painfully long thread with all info, Running Arma2 from SSD
I suggest looking for a more concise tutorial.

BEFORE I FORGET, ...IF YOU HAVE STEAM VERSION OF ARMA2 LET ME KNOW, link shell extension is a necessary step in installation if so.

I've got the OCZ Agility 3 60GB with my OS loaded on it. Windows takes around 5-10 seconds to load and I have had no problems with it...so far (knock on wood). I've heard of issues with OCZ, but this is my 2nd and I'm happy with them. Maybe later I'll buy a larger capacity SSD and flash my OS onto it and use the OCZ for ArmA 2 and DCS Black Shark 2 (since they're the 2 highest computer and graphic processing games I play.

Just curious, how long is BF2 PR loading time on an SSD?

Daniel wrote:Just curious, how long is BF2 PR loading time on an SSD?

My PRBF2 takes about 30 seconds or less to load each map. But it's on a HDD, not an SSD.

mangeface wrote:My PRBF2 takes about 30 seconds or less to load each map. But it's on a HDD, not an SSD.

Mine too.

Not sure if I should install my OS on my SSD or not. It's a 120 GB model, so it's not like it will take up that much space. What do you guys think? Is pretty much the only benefit to installing the OS on the SSD a fast boot?

OS on SSD is worth it from what I've seen. I have a 120gb SSD and I have installed OS, PS, 3DsMax, BF2 (+editor) on it and ARMA2 are my main things. If you do any modding, BF2 Editor is well worth installing on it, loads up in a split second but then saving loads of maps to it gets a bit of a problem but still worth the load times IMO

[R-DEV]Rhino wrote:OS on SSD is worth it from what I've seen.

I agree. The boot up time is silly.

NOT if u use the sleep mode (boots faster) and start up ur PC normal every 3rd time for example...

btw WHAT is loading-time-example for an average (or whatever, superslow or superfast, just mention it) SSD on BF2 PR (settings to max.) ???

Faster boot and snappier system in general. Applications installed on SSD along wit system will work much better/respond/open faster. Not sure if having a system and games on it will do you any good though. Especially Arma2. Try it if you want, its your call, cant know if you dont try right?

And 120GB with system and games on it might become very small in time. If you use a lot of addons for Arma2 you know what Im saying.

E: Ninja's :S

Daniel wrote:btw WHAT is loading-time-example for an average (or whatever, superslow or superfast, just mention it) SSD on BF2 PR (settings to max.) ???

My SSD is much slower than it was after all the punishment I've given constantly filling it up full but I can still get from pushing the shortcut on the desktop, to the join game button in 1min 10secs for my Falklands map

'[R-DEV wrote:Rhino;1762587']My SSD is much slower than it was after all the punishment I've given constantly filling it up full but I can still get from pushing the shortcut on the desktop, to the join game button in 1min 10secs for my Falklands map

Well, there's no comparing for me...

So the drive is due to arrive any day now, I am wondering if I should do one of the following (keep in mind that as of October I will be getting Windows 8, which I would like to clean format):

Install on the SSD Windows 8 Consumer Preview and dual boot both my Windows 7 and 8 from separate drives.

Install Windows 8 Consumer Preview on the SSD and clean format my WD Raptor (clean start over).

Install Windows 7 and clean start over.

Install just games and applications on the SSD and leave my partition of Windows 7 on the Raptor.

So many options, what do you think will offer me the greatest gain?

You dont want Windows 8 really. Its a waste of time and resources. I tried it, and its Win7 under shell with no start button, and other things. Explorer a bit refurbished and most of components for system control hidden. Stick with 7 Id say. If you want to try and see go ahead, but dont make this one your primary system, as I'm sure you'll be disappointed as I was.

Any special reason for doing reformat of Win7? If not keep it where it is and just add SSD and reinstall games on it. You can also move your system to it without reinstalling but is a tricky to do.

[R-COM]MaSSive wrote:You dont want Windows 8 really. Its a waste of time and resources. I tried it, and its Win7 under shell with no start button, and other things. Explorer a bit refurbished and most of components for system control hidden. Stick with 7 Id say. If you want to try and see go ahead, but dont make this one your primary system, as I'm sure you'll be disappointed as I was.

Any special reason for doing reformat of Win7? If not keep it where it is and just add SSD and reinstall games on it. You can also move your system to it without reinstalling but is a tricky to do.

Hm, well I guess at first I'll only install games on the SSD and then when the Window 8 Release Candidate or "Release Preview" comes out in the first week of June, I might jump on that and format if it proves to be worthwhile. Only time will tell, though.

Daniel wrote:NOT if u use the sleep mode (boots faster) and start up ur PC normal every 3rd time for example...

Daniel, doesn't sleep mode consume power still? I heard hibernate was the way to go.

I still power off my computer. If there is one thing PR has taught me, it is patience.