Skyrim Ram Disk vs Harddrive Loading Times
This is a comparison of load times of a save game in Skyrim. The specs of my machine are: i7 930 OC @ 3.8GHz 12GB DDR3 1333MHz Triple Channel 9-9-9-24 RAM Nvidia GTX 560 Ti OC The test scenario was as follows: A saved game set at Lake Ilinalta, I chose this area because it is very large. From the second I clicked Load till the second you can see the world ingame is when I timed the loading times. Test 1: Data files stored on a 1TB SAMSUNG HD103UI hard drive, 5400RPM, 32MB Cache. A benchmark of the drives performance can be found here: http://gyazo.com/a9ea50de210fefe37a17718a19250589 As you can see, its pitiful and I should really move onto a better drive. From the video it may not be noticable but the loading screen at the start is a bit sluggish + once inworld it still lagged a little while it loaded the area. Test 2: I created a 6GB Ram Disk using RamDisk Plus. For those who don't know a ramdisk is a virtual hard drive made entirely of a portion of your RAM. That means it works like RAM, very fast i/o but if you switch off the computer, the data is lost. A benchmark of the 6GB RAM Disk is found here: http://gyazo.com/c75f690dc19f6c4c8a03058dc7c0e874 A massive difference in random access speeds/times. Overall everything felt smoother than slicing through an imperial's body. The load time is drastically improved, I'll post another video wandering around a city, load times going in and out houses are negligible. By the time the screen darkens it comes back instantly. The video compromises the full two tests, from the Bethesda logo loading till I am inworld. Feel free to more accurately measure the actual loading times from the video, they are unedited. In conclusion, its fast as hell. If you have the ram to do it, then DO IT! Pros: Reduced loading times, smoother UI, generally improved experience. Cons: Data lost on power off, RAM used for RAM Disk cannot be used for anything else. My advice, if your making a ramdisk, use steam mover to move the "Data" folder in "steamapps/common/skyrim" over to the ramdisk. This creates a hard link from one physical disk to the other (Like a shortcut). The data folder is around 6GB with no mods and no high res texture packs. So you can move it all over like I did if you have the RAM to spare. Remember to move it back over when your finished with the game otherwise when you power off you lose all the game files! Not apart of the test, but here is the benchmark of my Crucial C300 SSD connected to a Sata II interface on the same machine. http://gyazo.com/f9e8ae943cf3d3e5ba11cf9a0657f7ce
This is a comparison of load times of a save game in Skyrim. The specs of my machine are: i7 930 OC @ 3.8GHz 12GB DDR3 1333MHz Triple Channel 9-9-9-24 RAM Nvidia GTX 560 Ti OC The test scenario was as follows: A saved game set at Lake Ilinalta, I chose this area because it is very large. From the second I clicked Load till the second you can see the world ingame is when I timed the loading times. Test 1: Data files stored on a 1TB SAMSUNG HD103UI hard drive, 5400RPM, 32MB Cache. A benchmark of the drives performance can be found here: http://gyazo.com/a9ea50de210fefe37a17718a19250589 As you can see, its pitiful and I should really move onto a better drive. From the video it may not be noticable but the loading screen at the start is a bit sluggish + once inworld it still lagged a little while it loaded the area. Test 2: I created a 6GB Ram Disk using RamDisk Plus. For those who don't know a ramdisk is a virtual hard drive made entirely of a portion of your RAM. That means it works like RAM, very fast i/o but if you switch off the computer, the data is lost. A benchmark of the 6GB RAM Disk is found here: http://gyazo.com/c75f690dc19f6c4c8a03058dc7c0e874 A massive difference in random access speeds/times. Overall everything felt smoother than slicing through an imperial's body. The load time is drastically improved, I'll post another video wandering around a city, load times going in and out houses are negligible. By the time the screen darkens it comes back instantly. The video compromises the full two tests, from the Bethesda logo loading till I am inworld. Feel free to more accurately measure the actual loading times from the video, they are unedited. In conclusion, its fast as hell. If you have the ram to do it, then DO IT! Pros: Reduced loading times, smoother UI, generally improved experience. Cons: Data lost on power off, RAM used for RAM Disk cannot be used for anything else. My advice, if your making a ramdisk, use steam mover to move the "Data" folder in "steamapps/common/skyrim" over to the ramdisk. This creates a hard link from one physical disk to the other (Like a shortcut). The data folder is around 6GB with no mods and no high res texture packs. So you can move it all over like I did if you have the RAM to spare. Remember to move it back over when your finished with the game otherwise when you power off you lose all the game files! Not apart of the test, but here is the benchmark of my Crucial C300 SSD connected to a Sata II interface on the same machine. http://gyazo.com/f9e8ae943cf3d3e5ba11cf9a0657f7ce