SSD not reducing loading times on games at all

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Bast

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Jul 27, 2013
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Hey all,

I just got a Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD and installed it on my home built system yesterday. Here's a link to the rest of the parts in my system: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3rAJF (note: my actual motherboard is an Extreme4, not an Extreme3 like the link says. They discontinued the Extreme4 and I can't find it on PCPartPicker anymore, but the Extreme3 was close).

I installed the SSD, unplugged my old hard drive, changed my SATA mode to AHCI, fresh installed Windows 7 on the SSD, performed complete Windows Updates, checked my device manager to make sure everything had updated drivers, installed Samsung Magician, updated to 4.3. At this point everything looks good to my knowledge. Rebooting takes a matter of seconds which is where I can largely see the SSD impact.

So then I wanted to see it's impact on the load times in games. So I fresh installed Diablo 3. I opened the battle.net launcher and launched Diablo 3, but loading the game, entering the game, and traveling between zones did not show a decrease in load times at all. I just want to emphasize that I was not expecting an increase in FPS, only a decrease in load times.

You can see in this video what I am expecting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH1NvU9NIT0
It shows side by side comparison of load times between HDD and SSD for the game. My old HDD load times looked like the ones in the video. However, my Samsung SSD load times ALSO look like the load times of the HDD in the video.

Does anybody know where the problem may be? I'm wondering if it has something to do with using an AMD CPU? In the video he is using Intel ... other than that my rig I think has enough performance to see similar load times than in the video. But if not the same as in the video, at least some improvement.

Did I miss some steps in setting up my SSD? Changed to AHCI, installed magician software suite and updated. Magician indicates I have the latest firmware. Some other setting I need to tweak maybe? Thanks for your help, and sorry about the long read, just wanted to give as much info as I could.
 
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Bast

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Jul 27, 2013
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When I go to the motherboard's website here http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?cat=Download&os=Win764&Model=990FX%20Extreme4 it looks like there IS an "All-in-One AMD drivers". It's a pretty big file though, and I can't decide if it's just a combination of all the drivers on the list below it or something I don't have yet. Furthermore, if the Extreme 4 has been discontinued, are these drivers even up to date for AMD? I can't find any other location that has up to date drivers for AMD FX-4350 CPU and ASRock 990FX Extreme4 mobo. I lookd on AMDs 's site but couldn't find anythign regarding the fx-4350 drivers.
 
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Y0GI

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Jul 22, 2013
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After looking at Asrock's site and AMD's site, the Asrock "All in 1" looks like your best bet. I'm no AMD expert, but if it were me, that is what I'd do.

Yogi

 
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Y0GI

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Jul 22, 2013
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I was under the impression that Magician didn't work so well on AMD systems and especially Rapid Mode. Did Samsung fix all of that?

Yogi

 
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Bast

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I tried it with and without RAPID enabled, it had no effect. I haven't used Magician to move over any old data or programs, only to make sure firmware is up to date and monitor the SSD. I'm nervous about the AMD All-in-one because from what I can tell it's a graphics card driver. Since I'm running an nVidia GPU I'm concerned installing those drivers might mess something up, so I'd like to save that option for a last resort.

As far as using Magician to "optimize SSD and Windows" I have it set for "Maximum Performance". I tried other settings too with no luck.

I wonder where to update the FX-4350 drivers outside of my motherboard's website?

I have confirmed that TRIM is enabled.

Still having the same slow loading times. Any other suggestions?
 
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Bast

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Found this on AMD drivers and Samsung EVO:

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2006962/conflict-samsung-ssd-amd-chipsets.html

which led to this

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/samsungssd/downloads/Samsung_Magician_43_Installation_Guide.pdf

What I can't determine from this sinformation is if the problem is the compatibility of the SSD itself or if it's just the software. I wonder if I would see a change if I uninstalled Magician? Would uninstalling Magician disabele TRIM?

Page 5 of the second link says AMD chipset with AMD drivers are not supported.... but AMD Chipset with nVidia or Windows drivers are. It also says "The DOS Utility is not compatible with pure SCSI or SATA NVIDIA/LSI/AMD chipsetdrivers."

Can anybody explain what this means exactly? How do I determine which drivers I have? Is it referring to GPU drivers?
 
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Joe Yahchouchi

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If you are on windows 7, is it possible to open the resource monitor while the game is loading? See if you have any bottlenecks, for instance, check the disk active time, see if it is at 100(I doubt it would be), then check the cpu, see if any one core is at 100% or if all is at 100% etc... check for anything unusual or choking. It might help.
 
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DanKem06

DanKem06

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"Rebooting takes a matter of seconds which is where I can largely see the SSD impact." So we agree that everything is working fine, its not JUST the HDD that makes load times faster for games, there is more to it than just that. like steam games still have to connect to the server.
 
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Bast

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Jul 27, 2013
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I assume you meant the SSD and not the HDD. Just because I'm seeing faster boot times doesn't mean "everything is working as intended". While server communication is sometimes applicable in online games, it's definitely not responsible for the same loading times as loading from the old HDD. Skyrim's loading screens, for example, exist not for server communication, but from loading maps and textures from storage. Same thing for D3: it's not waiting for the server to respond that's keeping me on the loading screen. The video in the original post exemplifies this.

Furthermore, many Steam games can be played in offline mode. Loading times in these games have no network communication and still show similar HDD times. I do not believe it is network communication causing the same old loading times.
 
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Bast

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I can check when I get home but I don't think it's there. No stutter in games, significantly decreased boot times, but a bottleneck when loading a game? I can check it out, but I'm still pretty sure the problem is somewhere between SSD interaction and not a bottleneck somewhere else in the system.
 
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DanKem06

DanKem06

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Feb 24, 2014
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I just hit too many D's... my thinking was "hard drive" regardless of type is not solely responsible for load times. I just find it really hard to believe the boot time is that fast and you are not seeing change on gameplay. I feel like there is either another problem, or expecting too much.
 
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Bast

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Yeah, again, boot times and program launch times have had a significant decrease since I upgraded to SSD, but my loading times in-game have not. The expectation I have is demonstrated in the video I linked. I think it's most likely to be a compatability issue with my AMD CPU, but it still seems like something is missing since I'm seeing a decrease everywhere else except for in game. Still looking for more feedback on possible solutions!
 
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Joe Yahchouchi

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I think I know. You either have a core i7 cpu or a core i3 cpu but not a core i5. Games are single threaded and the cpu is hyperthreading but giving less power per core. So the bottleneck in loading a game is the cpu. I have seen it happen on my computer on games I moved from hdd to ssd that were not faster.

Go to the bios when first starting the pc and turn hyperthreading off. Then try the game. After you are done, if you want, you can turn hyperthreading back on.
 
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Bast

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Thanks Joe, but like I said, my CPU is an AMD FX-4350, not Intel. I suspect perhaps the fact that it is AMD might be the culprit, but I am looking for confirmation there. Good thoughts though :)

Still having the same slow loading times btw. I know it's been a while since I posted :p
 
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Joe Yahchouchi

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Alright but the same logic applies. I myself have a quad core i5 now without hyperthreading. All my games see improvements on my ssd except rome 2 total war. Turns out it only uses one core. One core can only load so much. It was already bottlenecked on the hard drive and it became more so on the ssd. It's likely the same thing.
 
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Brian1234132

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From my experience with Diablo 3, it may just be poor optimization? I mean I run an I7 rig, HD 7950 Boost with 16gb ram and all that jazz. Still takes god awful long to load first map. Not to mention the damn poor FPS on the bridge in act III....
 
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