Question for the people running super machines

[AnkH 2,268]

I'm just using logic here but I think the OS and P3D should be on the same drive. Why?

 

P3D accesses many files that reside in your C: Users folder and other hidden folders associated with the OS. Why not have them on the same drive?

 

I have my OS separated from everything else (including other games) since years, also when I was running a HDD only setup. Why? Because of the possibility of drive failure. And because of space. I run my OS along with all system-related software and office software on a separate 128GB SSD. FSX and now P3D was first on a 250GB SSD, now on a 500GB SSD. Like this, I basically have a running system and if space gets limited for FSX/P3D or other games, I simply replace the dedicated SSD without bothering what's going on with my system disk. If my system disk has a failure, I can replace it easily using my backups without bothering what's going on with my dedicated simulator/games-disc. Just more convenient. And no, accessing files on your C: drive is no reason, using SSDs, this is so fast that the miliseconds you would gain by having both P3D and OS on the same disk are not a reason...

[JimmiG 244]

I'm just using logic here but I think the OS and P3D should be on the same drive. Why?

 

P3D accesses many files that reside in your C: Users folder and other hidden folders associated with the OS. Why not have them on the same drive?

 

It doesn't really matter, these days.

In the olden days, when people still stored data on spinning, magnetic disks, it made some sense to keep the sim and OS on separate drives. If the "sim drive" was busy reading "sim things", and a request came in for some operating system file to be read or written, the "OS drive" could service that request in parallel, without affecting the sim. If they were on the same drive, the read/write head would have to physically travel to a different location to read that OS file, then swing back to read the sim-related files again.

 

These days it doesn't matter because:

SSD's have such low access time, and the data is spread out across all the flash chips anyway on purpose (wear leveling).

Modern OS's have advanced cache mechanisms and systems have 16 - 32GB of RAM, so most likely everything the OS might need is already in RAM

Even HDD's are quite fast these days due to the high data density

 

It's more a matter of preference these days. One advantage of the separate drives strategy is that you can reinstall the OS without erasing the sim installation. However you'll probably still need to re-install the sim and addons to get all the registry settings etc. back.

 

As for loading times, it depends a lot on the scenery. Photo-realistic areas, high-detail airports etc. will obviously take longer  than if you start in the middle of Antarctica with default scenery. Haven't timed it but it's probably a minute or so for me with OrbX scenery, running a 4770K @ 4.5 GHz, 16GB RAM, P3D installed on a Kingston V300 SSD, OS on a Samsung Evo 850 SSD.

[neumanix 114]

JimmiG hit the nail perfectly, just what I was about to write.

 

One thing earlier that caught my eye though... (OT I know but anyway):

 

 

 

i7 4770K @ 3.5 ghz (factory speed)

 

Do yourself a favour and overclock that thing, it's a K model for crying out loud. It's made to be overclocked.

[Michael Moe 495]

JimmiG hit the nail perfectly, just what I was about to write.

 

One thing earlier that caught my eye though... (OT I know but anyway):

 

 

 

 

Do yourself a favour and overclock that thing, it's a K model for crying out loud. It's made to be overclocked.

 

 

Indeed , Gain is about 30-40% and takes under 1 minute with a super cooler offcause

 

(I7-4770K@4,6GHZ)

 

Michael Moe

[dmarques69 316]

On my 4970k@4.4ghz via 500GB SSD it takes more or less 30 to 40 seconds even with tons of 3d party sceneries. But i would mind of waiting 10 minutes as long as i had a full free micro stuttering flight expirience

[dgraham1284 92]

 

 

These days it doesn't matter because:
SSD's have such low access time, and the data is spread out across all the flash chips anyway on purpose (wear leveling).

 

Now get multiple SSD's in RAID 0 (I have 4) not including the OS and really watch it fly.