I'm just curious about how large or maybe how small your SSD is and how you are using it.

 

Do you have all your Windows7 OS on the SSD?

Do you have FSX on the same SSD or a different one?

 

What make and size SSD are you using? Make and Model?

 

Do you have any recommendations for buying and using a SSD for FSX?

 

Depending on sale prices, are two smaller SSDs (2 - 128 GB) better than one larger one (256 GB), or vice versa?

 

Thanks, I am buying components for a new PC build and looking for the latest thinking of FSX users.

 

Ray

I have a Crucial 256mb M4 in my system. It is reserved for the normal Windows 7 OS and the associated programs. I have my FSX on a WD 1TB Caviar Black 6gb/s hard drive.

 

I don't want to put a lot of dynamic files on the SSD as they have a limited number of read/write cycles.

 

My system boots extremely fast and FSX boots very quickly also.

I have a single OCZ 240 with the OS, FSX, and all FSX addons installed on it. My original 1TB HDD is just backup and storage right now. At some point, I'll get another SSD when space becomes tight.

 

I personally don't think you would benefit from a 2 SSD setup. I went to an SSD not expecting any significant improvement on FSX performance. The benefits are with load times, building FS Commander/Plan G databases, no need for defragging. So my suggestion is get the most from your SSD by putting everything you can on it, and enjoy!

Ray,

 

I have lots of Addons... I also have plenty of phototextures. So for me, even the 256G SSD is not going to be enough.

 

So I have 128Gb for OS (not really required for FSX)

 

I have a 256GB for FSX and some addons like Airport scenery and Orbx and So cal Photo scenery (My often used location)

 

I also have a 1TB 6GB Black WD where I have all the other addons sceneriees so I do not consume the FSX SSD.

 

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If you do not have too many addons, then yeah, load your SSD with everything and hope that you would not run out of space. ;)

 

Manny

I just installed my new Samsung 830 128Gig SSD last night.

 

Cloned over my old Vista64 install to it.

Cut/pasted my fully loaded FSX dir to it.

Mklink redirected the FSX directories via the excellently done Tips in this forum.

All works great BUT....I'm not impressed.

 

Windows boot/shut down time are faster but not by a lot - 53sec vs 1:20 / 26sec vs 32sec

FSX load times are barely faster - 45sec vs 52sec

 

Note - I was running both OS and FSX on a Raid 0 HHD setup prior to SSD install.

I have two SSDs on my computer:

 

- 256GB OCZ Agility III with Windows, apps, FSX, some sceneries, aircraft, etc.

- 512GB OCZ Agility IV with FSX scenery exclusively.

 

I remember the days when i had about the same setup with HDDs and... it gives me shivers.

Cloned over my old Vista64 install to it.

 

Your numbers for Samsung seems low. If I remember right.. (I could be wrong.. I need to check back when I go home this weekend) My numebrs in the 300s for the Seq.

 

Manny

Windows boot/shut down time are faster but not by a lot - 53sec vs 1:20 / 26sec vs 32sec

FSX load times are barely faster - 45sec vs 52sec

 

That is really slow m8, it takes me longer to go through my Bios than waiting for windows to boot. When i take out the bios stuff my windows boot time is less than 14 seconds and its about 15 to 20 seconds to go through the bios.. gigabyte board for you but if i can speed up the bios i reakon i could shave 10 seconds of my load time.

 

My shut down time is probably less than 10 seconds.

 

Are you running the ssd in AHCI mode in the bios ??

All works great BUT....I'm not impressed.

 

FSX load times are barely faster - 45sec vs 52sec

 

Note - I was running both OS and FSX on a Raid 0 HHD setup prior to SSD install.

Are you still on your E8500?

With the SSD in place it's now mainly your CPU that's limiting your load time.

You need more cores to cut your load time.

Load time improvement in FSX when going from single-core to dual-core is actually not that much. It's when you have more than 2 cores that you'll get a good improvement.

 

To answer the OPs original question. I have a 160GB SSD with Windows and FSX on it. But as I quickly ran out of space when I sarted to enjoy photo scenery I've now invested in a 1TB Velociraptor for my photo scenery. FSX and the OS stays on the SSD.

Having a large SSD for everyting would have shaven off another few seconds load time but the budget I allowed myself would only have allowed me go get an 256GB SSD. And I'm sure I would have outgrown that one fairly quickly. Photo scenery takes up loads and loads of space.

 

SSDs are good in the way that you don't need a separate drive for the OS but it also works fine to use more than one SSD should you wish. But there's no improvement in the same way as there is for a mechanical HDD to keep FSX on a separate drive.

 

I don't want to put a lot of dynamic files on the SSD as they have a limited number of read/write cycles.

I wouldn't worry about the "limited" read/write cycles for personal use. If you run a server with loads of writes 24/7 I would care. You don't have to worry for consumer workloads.

Your numbers for Samsung seems low. If I remember right.. (I could be wrong.. I need to check back when I go home this weekend) My numebrs in the 300s for the Seq.

 

Manny

You are on SATA III Manny. He is on SATA II if his PC's Specifications are accurate.

Just some advise to people wanting to cut load times with the help of an SSD or getting a faster SSD to achieve this. Try this with your old setup first.

 

Restart your computer.

 

Start up FSX (before superfetch kicks in) and then load a flight. Time how long this takes.

 

Exit FSX with CTRL+C. Windows will now keep all the data needed to load that flight cached in your RAM.

 

Start up FSX once again and time how long it now takes to load that same flight. This is now loaded straight from your RAM and not from your storage.

 

Is the difference between the two times large? Investing in a faster SSD will benefit your load times. If the time difference is small, its your CPU that's holding you back. Remember that however fast SSD you get, It'll never beat the load time you get loading straight from the RAM.

 

Edit: Sorry for hijacking your thread Ray :o

I just installed my new Samsung 830 128Gig SSD last night.

 

Cloned over my old Vista64 install to it.

Cut/pasted my fully loaded FSX dir to it.

Mklink redirected the FSX directories via the excellently done Tips in this forum.

All works great BUT....I'm not impressed.

 

Windows boot/shut down time are faster but not by a lot - 53sec vs 1:20 / 26sec vs 32sec

FSX load times are barely faster - 45sec vs 52sec

 

Note - I was running both OS and FSX on a Raid 0 HHD setup prior to SSD install.

 

Your partition is not aligned, you need to start over, simply cloning from the HDD won't work right.

You're score shows you have it plugged to a SATA II port, which is not really a issue.

It also looks like AHCI is enabled, so you need to solve the alignment part and check TRIM is enabled

Just some advise to people wanting to cut load times with the help of an SSD or getting a faster SSD to achieve this. Try this with your old setup first.

 

Restart your computer.

 

Start up FSX (before superfetch kicks in) and then load a flight. Time how long this takes.

 

Exit FSX with CTRL+C. Windows will now keep all the data needed to load that flight cached in your RAM.

 

Start up FSX once again and time how long it now takes to load that same flight. This is now loaded straight from your RAM and not from your storage.

 

Is the difference between the two times large? Investing in a faster SSD will benefit your load times. If the time difference is small, its your CPU that's holding you back. Remember that however fast SSD you get, It'll never beat the load time you get loading straight from the RAM.

 

Edit: Sorry for hijacking your thread Ray :o

 

This is good stuff and what it is all about. Hijack it anytime with interesting information. I have been reading reviews about SSDs all day. Prices are dropping like crazy.

 

Ray

120GB...

 

FSX only... all the Orbx stuff, my favorite aircraft addons, and a lot of scenery. Things I don't put on the SSD are FEX cloud textures and GEX backup textures. Also I don't put separate programs like ADEX, Garmin software, AI Carriers plugin, SB4/Pilot Edge software etc etc onto the SSD.

64 GB.. Kingston SSD.

 

My entire FSX directory is on it, and nothing else.

 

It is fast, smooth, and quiet

 

B)