Which SSD should I buy?

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Mintalie, Jul 25, 2019.

  1. Mintalie Augur

    My motherboard is:

    ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0 AM3+ AMD 970 + SB950 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

    I have a small SSD that I will be keeping Windows on:

    ADATA Premier Pro SP920 Series 128GB Solid State Drive - Internal - 2.5", SATA 6Gb/s, Read 560MB/s, Write 180MB/s, Silver - ASP920SS3-128GM-C


    Have verified that the motherboard has a port to accommodate an additional SSD drive. Want to purchase a larger SSD to move EQ and its assorted support programs onto. Motivation is lag reduction. Also doubling RAM from 8 to 16.

    The computer runs great and I have absolutely no issues with it whatsoever. Even though the motherboard is five years old, it is more than sufficient for my needs (this computer is used solely to play EQ and store photos).

    Want to buy something in the 500GB size range. I have a 1TB hard drive also installed so plenty of storage space for other files.

    I repeat, my sole motivation in these upgrades is lag reduction. Yes, I've read every lag reduction guide in existence and have done everything suggested but still getting lag, so I'm doubling my RAM and getting a better SSD (currently the support programs run from my standard HD).

    Would like to spend less than $100 for a new SSD.

    Feedback, oh great FQ braintrust?
  2. Nolrog Augur

    Although EQ can be I/O intensive, I did not see a huge improvement when changing my laptop to an SSD (zoned a smidgen faster, but not that much faster than my regular PC with a regular HD.).

    IMO the RAM will help a lot more
    Riou and gotwar like this.
  3. gotwar Gotcharms

    https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsun...ata-solid-state-drive/6178650.p?skuId=6178650

    The 1tb one is only $129.99, btw. It's definitely worth putting down the extra $30 over budget if you play any other games. EQ doesn't even get that much out of an SSD. I know that's the exact opposite of what everyone says, and the performance increase is going to vary from system to system, but I don't even keep EQ on my SSD.

    Most lag these days on any modern system playing EQ is server-side, unfortunately.
    Riou and Mintalie like this.
  4. Duder Augur

  5. Mintalie Augur

    The jury is definitely out on RAM versus SSD versus whatever. At the very least, running the support programs from the standard HD to the SSD should help them be more efficient. I do not play any other games so the 1TB feels like overkill.

    Is the Samsung faster than my old ADATA SSD?

    Thanks for the recommendation!
  6. gotwar Gotcharms

    I guess I forgot to ask, but I'm assuming you're looking for a SATA SSD, which is going to be limited by the SATA 3 connection. Yes, it's probably faster than the one you're using now, but not by much. Mostly recommended the Evo because it's inexpensive, reliable, and Samsung drives have been used as the "gold standard" for SSDs lately.

    You'd have to go to an NVMe drive to really see a massive increase, but your motherboard only kind of supports it. You'd have to use an adapter and you still wouldn't get all the performance you're paying for out of it.

    https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...upports-pcie-nvme-ssd-as-boot-device.2820971/
    Mintalie likes this.
  7. Mintalie Augur

    All of this is well above my nerd level so I'm relying on others to tell me what my motherboard is capable of. So your recommendation is likely exactly what I'm looking for. A friend suggested an M.2 but my motherboard doesn't support it, and I don't want to overcomplicate things. I think the Samsung you suggested is likely exactly perfectly what I need.
  8. svann Augur

    I usually go here when building a build:
    https://pcpartpicker.com/list/
    It does a good job of telling you if your parts have any incompatibility and also gives a comprehensive list of possible choices with the going prices. IDK if it will list your motherboard as it is pretty old. If its not being sold anymore then maybe not. You can also go here to ask questions:
    https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/
    Mintalie likes this.
  9. I_Love_My_Bandwidth Mercslayer

    So, I am going to be the unpopular opinion here...but don't put another penny into that machine.

    Buy a new pc. That old rig is holding you back.

    I've recommended to many people to purchase from ibuypower. Their pricing and configurations are insane. Just sort all desktops by price, then configure accordingly.

    Seriously, do yourself a favor and cut that old system loose.
  10. Mintalie Augur

    Appreciate the input but I'm really quite happy with the computer. I built it myself five years ago with input from the entire EQ community. I ordered the recommended Samsung SSD for now. We'll see if it helps. At the very least, I'll have more storage if and when I build a new machine. :) But an entirely new build at this point is not in the budget, but I'm okay to spend $75 today...
  11. mackal Augur

    The Samsung drives are considered the best, well the pro versions are. The non Pro are still very good, and a bit cheaper. Another really good option is the Crucial MX500 drives, which are similar to the non-Pro Samsung drives and a bit cheaper.

    Note, I'm talking about Samsung 860 Pro or Samsung 860 Evo, not the Samsung 860 QVO.
    Mintalie likes this.
  12. I_Love_My_Bandwidth Mercslayer

    Totally get it. Enjoy that Samsung. They're zippy!
    Mintalie likes this.
  13. Mintalie Augur

    Having GINA and Gamparse on there will surely be a much faster experience at the very least! :)
  14. Dhurgan Augur

    Is GINA lag what you're experiencing? Just curious.
  15. Mintalie Augur

    Not exactly. I am not getting delayed ATs, however my overall in-game lag is less when GINA isn't running. (It's also obviously less without logs running, but that isn't an option.) My theory is that putting GINA on the faster SSD will help the in-game lag...
  16. Smokezz The Bane Crew


    If I'm reading this right, EQ is already on an SSD. SSD speed is not your issue.
    Mintalie likes this.
  17. Bottle Journeyman

    A SSD is in my experience more than recommendable. You have one, so you are good - even it is 4 times slower in writing then the usual industry standard but the IOPS are around 90k/70k which is sufficient as a SSD. Nobody should suffer with a normal harddrive anymore. If it is for boxing then a HD is meant to be a problem or you need to store every account in an extra EQ-folder - even that can be critical. It is not the data transfer but the IOPS which are important and a SSD is partly over 600 times faster in access than a HD. An M.2 is additionally around 5-6 times faster then a SSD (assuming quality stuff like Samsung 8x0 vs. 970 Plus) so running a M.2 means factor 3000-4000x faster than a HD (in IOPS), transfer data may be around 10x but is not important for that application and is surely overkill even for an average boxer. Transfering from HD to SSD was the best thing I could do.

    The Samsung 8x0 Evo for SATA is the best recommendation for the best "bum in da bang". If an M.2-Slot is present then the new Samsung 970 Evo Plus is a standard in reliability and speed. I sell Samsung SSDs for years and had not even one RMA issue. All other SSDs didn't made my customers happy on the long run. So I always stay on reliability and long-levity. Lag is always a problem where the bottleneck is. 8GB Ram is no bottleneck in EQ as long as it goes for a solo play. AMD970 has around 4400 Passmark - no reason for lag too as long is it is solo play except perhaps for heavy raiding with 54 3D models jumping around. An i950 has around 5500 passmark and can play 12 eq clients at once and a 6box without big issues.

    Boxing is completely different. GPU-Ram, Standard-Ram, SSD, CPU-Power (EQ is mainly CPU-heavy) and a fast ping (LAN/Provider) are the keys to check. If that does not help then it is on DGBs side.

    The usual data for running a client depends on the graphics preferences. Mine are at moment around estimated 250k in GPU-Ram, 1GB in Standard-Ram. Assuming the GPU is around 1GB and standard Ram is around 4GB+ then everything is good for a standard EQ client. HD is a possible bottleneck for sure. GPU-Power mostly not. Onboard graphics has sometimes strange glitches. A solid Nvidia or AMD card (whatever chip and speed) should be enough too. NVidia is mostly a bit better in stability of the drivers. In cases of heavy action with a fullsize raid on the screen I would ask for CPU-Power and a SSD.

    After checking this points there is no reason for lag except the provider and the ping. If that is really bad then perhaps a check for the latest LAN drivers could make it better. Some LANs with original Microsoft drivers are really crappy. I recommend using latest drivers directly from the producers of the chips or at least from the MBP producer. This has made a factor of 5x+ in some cases especially on onboard LAN. But not every onboard LAN has special drivers from the chipset manufacturer and you have to go with the latest mainboard drivers. Never - I say it again - never use the original Microsoft Windows drivers if you want to have a reliable stable and fast system! If everything is checked then only the provider and the server at DGB are left.

    Last resort: change the provider is the last option for reducing lag if everybody else has no lag but you.

    Perhaps this are some useful ideas here. ;)
    Mintalie likes this.
  18. Mintalie Augur

    You are reading right, but I'm moving EQ to the better SSD and everything else which has been on the regular HD. Hope springs eternal...
  19. Tanols Augur

    Make sure any AV software you are using is NOT trying to scan each "write" to logs. I know several people in RA were having issues with Windows Defender and had to create an exception to scans of anything going to logs.
    Also go through your chat filters ... change them so you only log what you need or want to vs everything.
    Same can be said for GINA ... if your guild is anything like mine we usually have 1 person who creates triggers and then shares them with the entire guild. It's possible you have a bunch active that you don't need to be or you don't use anymore. You can also play with your log interval to give your system a slight delay of a second or two.
    Lastly go through all settings and make sure you are optimized for lag reduction. IE: you don't always need to see player names, pet owner names, merc owner names, spell and song counters, etc. For raids set hide afk to always and have majority of raid go afk (make sure its also set to not auto drop). If your lag issues are specifically in Maeratas raid then GL because that event just plain has massive lag issues :p lol
    When i swapped to an SSD the main thing I noticed was faster zone load times. Lag during game play didn't change significantly I had to resort to other measures to improve that.
    Bottle likes this.
  20. Mintalie Augur

    Service provider is golden, not worried about connectivity speed.

    Lots of useful ideas, thank you! I have most if not all of the in-game graphics turned off (except for character models, sorry, I can't take the old ones) and I'm running the following:

    single character in 54 man raid
    GINA
    GamParse
    Discord

    I keep all other characters signed off, no Chrome, no anything else when I'm raiding.

    If I self-parsed only, I'm well aware that it would likely fix my problem... but parsing the raid is part of the driving force behind how I play. So the log stays on for all!