SSD vs HDD for gaming

Hey all, while in the shower, I was thinking about getting an external ssd drive, under 30gbs for gaming. I would be using it on games like Battlefield 2, and Test Drive Unlimited. I was wondering if it would be worth spending the extra money to get the ssd vs a hard drive, and wanted to also know if I would need an external power source.

 

gaming off an external will not work. Even with e-sata your internal drive wont be able to keep up.

 

Esata isnt as fast as internal drives?

EDIT: Was looking into a VelociRaptor for new internal drive, western digital says they are not designed for use in notebooks..

 

well, i dont know about those games, but i play guild wars off my ipod and it runs fine, no problems (through a regular usb 2.0 slot). i have to say i think you are wrong

 

Well, Guild Wars isnt as demanding as Battlefield 2, and what kind of Ipod do you have? The nano might be a bit quicker since it has flash memory, but usb 2.0 is limited to I think 25-30 mb/s so you must just be lucky.

 

Exactly its not a demanding game compared to most.

thats why I thought you were talking about external.

For internal if you want hdd go for a 7400rpm 320gb 2.5"

 

So its not worth looking into the VelociRaptor?

 

Will not improve performance. If that is the goal? No!

 

A fast drive will load games and levels quicker. It has very small effect on the fps in games.

Here are some game benchmarks comparing SSD with the fastest hard drives:
http://techreport.com/articles.x/15079/6

 

getting a better hdd will not improve gaming performance. this thing should be stickied.

 

Gaming off an external eSATA is as effective as an internal drive. Its the whole feat of the eSATA.
So to OP if you got a eSATA input on your laptop (or desktop), you will have just as fast transfer rates as an internal. Loading times after that depend on the hard-drive.

 

What I am looking for is loading times, I want to load BF2 maps faster.

 

Then it is all about read speed and you should get eather a 10000 or 15000 rpm hard drive and then it will sing. The max on a laptop is 7200 (from what I have seen) so it would have to on eSATA

 

Well, my only question is, if I buy an external 10k-15k drive, put it in an external enclosure, do I need an external power source too? I move my laptop back and forth with me each week from house to house (moms to dads) and I carry around enough cords/peripherals already.

 

Yes, if you get an external enclosure you will need an external power source.

eSATA would be just as fast as having an internal drive, but unfortunately the interface is not designed to supply power yet, so you would be stuck with having an external power source whether you went for USB or eSATA.

There are some 2.5" external HDs that can be powered from the USB port, but they are the same kind of HDs that are found inside laptops so you wouldn't be getting any performance gain over using a regular internal drive.

 

Ya, I will look for like a 5-10gb ssd drive that can be powered off of usb. I'm hoping I can find one for a good price, and I will make sure I dont buy the OCZ Core series because I have heard bad things about them. Thanks for all your help guys.

 

OCZ Core V2 might be good. Should be available soon.