Installing Games on a different partition, will it affect anything?

As you all know, default install path for most games (if not all) is program files in C drive... I tend to avoid that cos I've only allocated 30gbs to my C and unless it's a driver, I install all my software onto D: (another 100gb partition) including: games, media players, utilities etc....

just wondering if this will cause any differences in gameplay performance (ie do games run faster under C:\Program files ??)

So far I'm satisfied with my frame rate, I've been getting almost same FPS as other people who posted their results.... but it's just been this confused concept stuck in my head since high school lol :S

 

So long as the entire game is installed on the same partition it will not matter. I have 2 drives and 3 partitions on my laptop and I do this all the time. There are a few games out there that will not give you the option of where to install to so pay attention when you install any game to be sure you can select the install path. Other than that some game patches like to default to c: drive so you need to pay attention when patching games and creating shortcuts.

Cheers!

 

Thanks Reby!

 

Even if the game won't let you install to a drive other than c, you can always move the entire folder and then go into the registry and edit the install path, most games put an install path into the registry afaik anyway.

 

I don't think installing on the same hard drive on a separate partition will have any real impact on your performance versus having it all on the same parition.

Now, if you happen to install the game on a separate hard drive from your OS, you might notice a difference. I happen to install most of my games on an external hard drive with my OS on the internal. I find that load times a sped up a little bit, especially in cases where the OS is busy using the internal drive. This is because the game is installed on what is essentially a dedicated hard drive that doesn't also need to be working for the OS page file.

Really though, the difference isn't all that spectacular if you have enough RAM, just decreased load times.

 

I did this for years without problems. C: drive was reserved for Windows and drivers and games went onto my D: drive. Never had a problem. Only nuisance is that every installer defaults to C: drive.

 

I installed games on a separate partition for a few months but occasionally I would have a bit of trouble trying to patch the games so I reformatted and stuck to one partition.

Not really worth it IMO.

 

On my C:\ partition I only have Windows and Office installed (along with 1 or 2 programs that don't allow me to change the install directory) and on the D:\ partition I have everything else (documents, programs, games, songs, video, pictures, etc). I haven't to this day had any problems or performance issues with games that are installed on my D:\ partition.

 

The nice thing about having your files on a seperate partition is that in the case of needing to format and reinstall Windows you don't lose your important files like you would normally. Still, I have everything on one partition now.

 

C Drive - OS, Office, Drivers, and stubborn programs without installation options

D Drive - GAMES, Docs, etc...

Not a problem playing COD4, Gears of War, C&C3 Tiberium Wars. All have had their update patches added without any problems or headaches.