SSD drive and frame rates
- Thread starter Paul_Bert
- Start date
Kennilworth
Active member
Hi
I rebuilt my computer last year and installed a new SSD for trainz. The old install on the HDD was still in place so I decided to try running the same built in session from each drive. To my surprise there was virtually no difference in frame rates. Where the SSD is much faster though is in installation, patching and running an EDR which it completed in 40 minutes instead of 4 hours. Trainz also loads up faster from the SSD.
My conclusion was that on my computer the SSD made very little difference to the running of trainz but that it saved a lot of time with such things as an EDR and reloading the asset database. It may be that faster hardware would show more benefits from the SSD but I have no regrets about installing one and am considering another one to replace the HDD in my laptop. This would probably show more benefits as the HDD in that spins at 5400 RPM rather than the desktop ones which were 7200 RPM so the speed difference may be more noticable if I replace it.
Regards
Brian
I rebuilt my computer last year and installed a new SSD for trainz. The old install on the HDD was still in place so I decided to try running the same built in session from each drive. To my surprise there was virtually no difference in frame rates. Where the SSD is much faster though is in installation, patching and running an EDR which it completed in 40 minutes instead of 4 hours. Trainz also loads up faster from the SSD.
My conclusion was that on my computer the SSD made very little difference to the running of trainz but that it saved a lot of time with such things as an EDR and reloading the asset database. It may be that faster hardware would show more benefits from the SSD but I have no regrets about installing one and am considering another one to replace the HDD in my laptop. This would probably show more benefits as the HDD in that spins at 5400 RPM rather than the desktop ones which were 7200 RPM so the speed difference may be more noticable if I replace it.
Regards
Brian
FPS will not change. They are based on what the video card has in its screen memory. What might change is stuttering as Trainz historically struggles to load scenery from disc as the train is in motion. Here the video card is fed a smooth sequence from the SSD compared to the wait times involved with a mechanical disc.
johnwhelan
Well-known member
When I installed TS2010 I had a boot up SSD so installed it on that before installing it on a raptor to compare the two frame rates. So clean install in both cases but only running the built in .ja files. There was a small difference of one frame per second I think one was 26 and the other was 27. Some scenery items popped up a little quicker so a smoother appearance.
When we looked at Trainz with perfmon some years ago there wasn't much disk activity once Trainz had loaded.
Trainz uses lots of small files so an SSD with its low latency should be an advantage. Chris, windwalkr, is a believer in them and I think one or two others have also said they are a good thing. Currently my TS12 folder is 180 gigs, I suspect I have some tiding up to do. So one problem is how big an SSD do you buy?
It's basically a balancing act. Having the CPU, memory, disk subsystem, video card and video card memory roughly in line. If you have more than 2 cores the operating system can sit on one, which might improve the frame rates as Trainz no longer has to compete with the operating system.
With physical drives there is an advantage of giving it its own drive, less head movement but with an SSD this doesn't matter there is no head movement. On pricing there is the cost of the controller then memory, so a 512 gig SSD costs less per Gig than a comparable performance 128 gig drive. I quite like the Samsung 840 series but that's just a personal point of view.
Cheerio John
When we looked at Trainz with perfmon some years ago there wasn't much disk activity once Trainz had loaded.
Trainz uses lots of small files so an SSD with its low latency should be an advantage. Chris, windwalkr, is a believer in them and I think one or two others have also said they are a good thing. Currently my TS12 folder is 180 gigs, I suspect I have some tiding up to do. So one problem is how big an SSD do you buy?
It's basically a balancing act. Having the CPU, memory, disk subsystem, video card and video card memory roughly in line. If you have more than 2 cores the operating system can sit on one, which might improve the frame rates as Trainz no longer has to compete with the operating system.
With physical drives there is an advantage of giving it its own drive, less head movement but with an SSD this doesn't matter there is no head movement. On pricing there is the cost of the controller then memory, so a 512 gig SSD costs less per Gig than a comparable performance 128 gig drive. I quite like the Samsung 840 series but that's just a personal point of view.
Cheerio John
I run TS12 on a dedicated 256GB Crucial M4 SSD.I initially installed it on my 128GB M4 system drive, but that filled up to capacity fairly quickly. I can't say how it runs compared to an HDD as I've never installed it on one, but I remember the stuttering and caching when I had TRS04. As stated before, things like Database repairs go very quickly, a clean install and patching to SP1 with hot fixes takes about 3 1/2 hours for me. Another plus with the game on it's own drive is that if I want to do a reinstall, after I do my backup I just reformat the drive instead of going through the uninstall process.
It definitely makes a difference with the stuttering. SSDs don't affect framerates. Keep in mind the game can still be slow to load, even on an SSD. It depends on how much content you have. But it's better than a hard drive.
If you do consider a drive, look at the Samsung 830 or 840.
If you do consider a drive, look at the Samsung 830 or 840.
SSD drives seem like a great idea with all their plusses, but my main concern is their reliability and cost. If they can have the longevity, size, and reliability of the older platter drives with the same cost, I'd consider one but right now they fail often and quite miserably. In addition there is no way of recovering the data from them, which I have had a very bad experience with recently when I lost 500GB of pictures during my recent trip out west.
Now having said this, there are the server-quality drives with 1TB capacities and decent reliability - pretty close to platter drives, however, the cost is bit on the real high end which I don't think anyone here could justify for home use to your family and spouses.
John
Now having said this, there are the server-quality drives with 1TB capacities and decent reliability - pretty close to platter drives, however, the cost is bit on the real high end which I don't think anyone here could justify for home use to your family and spouses.
John
Only time will tell about that. The primary reason I recommended the Samsungs earlier is that they have a good track record - especially the established 830 series. I have an OCZ Vertex 3 128Gb. It's record is not-so-solid, and mine already wiped itself once (although I was able to get it working again and copy some backups) but I bought it mainly because it was cheap ($50 on rebate) and it has a great performance record. It's under warranty for 2.5 more years, so I'm not too worried. I only use it for RUNNING Trainz, not for route-building, and a I keep multiple backups of all my routes, source files, etc. (which one needs to do anyway, regardless of whether one owns an SSD.)
The moral of the story is, if you're just going to play Trainz, it's a worthwhile investment for a relatively small-capacity one. I would not advise one for route-building, and there is no real benefit to having one in that case - you're paying far more per GB then you would for a hard drive, with no benefit, and more risk. Oh, and keep backups. Multiple backups. No matter what kind of technology you use.
I've heard the good things about the Samsung drives as well. As you said back ups are a good thing no matter what media one uses. They wouldn't be good for me Trainz wise because I'm a route builder and have a lot of content (10 year's worth to be exact!).
The drive I have suffered a weird glitch as I was copying files to it from my camera to an ASUS Transformer. The Asus tablet (droid) rebooted its self in the middle of the data transfer and in the process killed some pictures from 3 days before. I was in a hotel room in North Platte, Nebraska when this happened, otherwise I would have copied them to my PC instead where they would have been safe. We had been everywhere those days from eastern Colorado all the way up into southern South Dakota, and in and around Goodland Kansas where I saw a haboob and a very dusty super cell thunderstorm. This was some of the best pictures I had taken especially of some really interesting scenery and storms in northern Nebraska. I also had some of a BNSF coal train as it ran along the former CB&Q line. I was lucky I had saved one shot because I had emailed it to someone first. Other than that the rest of those pictures is history.
John