Is my HDD causing stuttering in games? Should i get an SSD?

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SpicyHippo

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Sep 16, 2016
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So i have looked at other threads and none provided any good information so i am creating this one.

My question is; Is my HDD the cause for my games stuttering?
My specs are;
CPU: I7 4790 (NOT kabylake)
GPU: GTX 1060 6GB Zotac mini edition.
PSU: 750 Watt EVGA 80+ bronze supernova
MOBO: Crap OEM acer aspire-tc 765 ( i think thats the model)
RAM: 2 sticks of 6GB Kingston ram (Runs good and i love this ram)
This leaves me to my HDD if im not missing anything.
My HDD is a 2tb western digital (i think green) piece of scrap metal always at 100% unless idle for HOURS and first click will instantly max it to 100%
The games i stutter on are; GTA 5, RUST (This has the worst stuttering, that makes it unplayable,) battlefield 1, fallout4, and more.

I am planning on getting a crucial mx500 500gb for games only, because i think the HDD is the cause of all this stuttering.

What do you think?

EDIT: This is my HDtune Benchmark: https://imgur.com/a/UCI32 Compared to ones i saw when i looked some up this looks bad? i know NOTHING about HDD's so sorry!
 
Solution
photonboy
A very SMALL number of games have stutter caused by insufficient streaming speed of textures.

GTA5?
I have it on an HDD with no issues... when I do get stuttering it's a VSYNC issue (i.e. dropping below 60FPS on 60Hz monitor). I forced on Adaptive VSYNC for this game only so that it disables VSYNC if I drop below (get some screen tear but not added stutter).

Fallout 4:
I believe this is one game that you can get some stutter if you have the HD texture pack or whatever it is called. I believe I moved my game from HDD to SSD and that fixed the issue.

*YOU CAN TEST THIS EASILY*
1) get an SSD
2) in Steam library.. setup a new folder (i.e. "F:\Steam")
3) in Steam move the game to the new folder (game->properties-> local files->"move...
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indsup

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Apr 26, 2015
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An ssd will help on games if the cause for the stuttering is the hard drive. You shouldn't have any more issues. Sounds like there's other problems that the drive is having though. Check and make sure you don't have an virus or windows indexing taking up all the drive's abilities. Also make sure the drive doesn't have bad sectors and the likes that will cause this kind of problem also. Green drives are only 5200rpm drives of which could be part of the problem also. look at your resource monitor and see what process is taking up all of the drives time. That will help you see what is going on.
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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A very SMALL number of games have stutter caused by insufficient streaming speed of textures.

GTA5?
I have it on an HDD with no issues... when I do get stuttering it's a VSYNC issue (i.e. dropping below 60FPS on 60Hz monitor). I forced on Adaptive VSYNC for this game only so that it disables VSYNC if I drop below (get some screen tear but not added stutter).

Fallout 4:
I believe this is one game that you can get some stutter if you have the HD texture pack or whatever it is called. I believe I moved my game from HDD to SSD and that fixed the issue.

*YOU CAN TEST THIS EASILY*
1) get an SSD
2) in Steam library.. setup a new folder (i.e. "F:\Steam")
3) in Steam move the game to the new folder (game->properties-> local files->"move install folder")

If it doesn't help maybe move the game back to save space for other games.

OTHER:
a) the newer PREY game (two years ago?) had severe stutter for me until I used an SSD
b) careful moving games if they have MODS (may have to record mods to reinstall or whatever)
c) SKYRIM and a few other games benefit from the faster load times especially as they have constant loads (building, map point jumps etc)

Less than 1% of the games I've own have stutter that an SSD fixes. It's pretty rare.
 
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Deadromon

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Dec 27, 2015
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So, what does an SSD have over a reg HHD. Well, if you switch to an SSD, your load times into matches and games will shorten since the file transfer will be faster. For example, lets say your loading into a CS:GO match. in HHD it will take 45 sec, on SSD it will take 25 sec (this is not accurate, just example). Thats what it helps with. as @photonboy said, not alot of games have a hard need for stream loading in games.

sSince you mentioned stuttering. The main issue could be that you have a virus, cookie infestation, or just some bad files here and there. On steam, verify your game files.

Also, make shure that you dont have any old programs running that you dont use anymore in the background. And open task manager, and shut down alot of the extra stuff.

Here is an article detailing more information about this

https://macpaw.com/how-to/how-to-make-computer-faster

And this also, it details ways to get rid of viruses and malware.

https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000179.htm
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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RUST doesn't seem to benefit from an SSD beyond initial and level loads, so as suggested above it may be a different issue.

An HDD can be failing and cause stutter by the way it interrupts the CPU (or something similar) despite the code being loaded into system and video memory.

UPDATE:
Yes, you have an HDD problem as I reread and see the "100%" usage etc. That's not normal and probably means the drive is dying.

I would strongly consider:
1) buy another 2TB+ HDD, then
2) CLONE the contents, then
3) RMA if possible, then
4) TEST
5) optionally get an SSD for the reasons I discussed above but in general it doesn't help much beyond load times
 
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Deadromon

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Dec 27, 2015
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Welp he said it.
Since he already told you the general rundown, I am going to make a recommendation for a new drive. I personally use this. Its a hybrid and it sports better data transfer than a reg HHD. Its 2T for under 100$. I love it.

Drive:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/NpBrxr/seagate-firecuda-2tb-35-7200rpm-hybrid-internal-hard-drive-st2000dx002


 
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SpicyHippo

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Sep 16, 2016
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Also when my HDD is at 100% its max read and write speeds are usually 8Mb/s read and 6Mb/s write

Benchmark in HD tune https://imgur.com/a/UCI32
 
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Deadromon

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Thats just standard. Overall, I personally do not like to go over 75% capacity of my HDD. Mainly because it starts to slow down all other functions. I recommend the hybrid that I mentioned. Its a good replacement for anyone looking for a fix.
 
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SpicyHippo

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Sep 16, 2016
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I meant usage, I'm below 50% storage used. Also that hybrid is not a good choice for me since im Canadian i could just buy an SSD for that price. Sorry for the inconvenience.
 
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Deadromon

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Dec 27, 2015
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Don't wanna b weird, but I love Canadians. Anyways, here.

SSD, it's around 100$
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/8jH48d/sandisk-ssd-plus-240gb-25-solid-state-drive-sdssda-240g-g26
its round 1/4 of a TB/
Here is an SSD w/ 2TB
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Lb8H99/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e2t0bam
it's around 670$.
Unless they have crazy ass sales up in Canada, I don't see ya getting an 2TB SSD for cheap. That's why I like hybrids. There better than HDD and cost way less than SSD of the same size.
Anyways, I hope I helped.
Chears.
 
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