Recent SSD that works with Win7

[TDeacon]

Anyone know of a fairly recent SSD (last few years) which works with Windows 7 and Linux?  I am concerned about drivers. 

[Denniss]

you don't need drivers for them so they should all work, assuming they are standard SATA drives.

[100Coogn]

you don't need drivers for them so they should all work, assuming they are standard SATA drives.

Pretty sure this is correct.
I have a Samsung SSD that can be used bare-bones.
It does have some added software, if you one chooses to use it, but not necessary. 

Coogan

[TDeacon]

I've seen a few reviews of M.2 SSDs indicating that that Win7 didn't recognize the drives.  In my case I don't intend to put the OS on the drives, but only computer games. 

BTW, I was planning to use an M.2 connector, which my motherboard has 1 of. 

[100Coogn]

I've seen a few reviews of M.2 SSDs indicating that that Win7 didn't recognize the drives.  In my case I don't intend to put the OS on the drives, but only computer games. 

BTW, I was planning to use an M.2 connector, which my motherboard has 1 of.

You won't be sorry if you did put your OS on an SSD.  Windows runs very snappy on it.  Faster startup also compared to HDD.
That's all I have on mine is the OS.  My games and programs are on HDD. Since those are way cheaper, that's the route I went.

Coogan

[Pudgie]

Samsung 850 Pro SATA III SSD in any capacity you desire...............

 

[Bizman]

I've seen a few reviews of M.2 SSDs indicating that that Win7 didn't recognize the drives.  In my case I don't intend to put the OS on the drives, but only computer games. 

BTW, I was planning to use an M.2 connector, which my motherboard has 1 of.

There's some things you might not know but would like to:

• M.2 technology is the one potentially incompatible with Win7 and Linux, not SSD. Does your motherboard manufacturer provide M.2 drivers for Win7?
• Although there's a big difference in speed between SATA and M.2, SSD's are so fast that the difference can be measured with benchmarks only.
• Games don't benefit from being installed on an SSD. Not a single frame more will be obtained. It only makes them load faster. This is also true for the loading time for video episodes in some story based games.
• In fact, some games like AH3 may have issues on an SSD because of the way SSD handles updating single files both during version updates and the continuous in-game micro-/situational updates.

[Wiley]

• Games don't benefit from being installed on an SSD. Not a single frame more will be obtained. It only makes them load faster. This is also true for the loading time for video episodes in some story based games.

It depends what game.  Take Star Citizen for example.  When it loads in, it can take literally upwards of 5 minutes to load the game from an HDD, and microstutter as you move around.  On an SSD, both of those are greatly reduced.

Another example is PUBG.  If you've got an SSD stuff loads in sooner on your trip down to start the round, whereas on a marginal system with an HDD, you can be in a situation where stuff that's there hasn't loaded in yet when you get to it.

Same with the GTA games.  When you're moving around the map at high speeds, stuff needs to load in quickly.

You're correct though in that it doesn't help frame rate, but it can still have an effect on the game outside of that.

Wiley.

[Bizman]

As said, faster loading times. I'm not that familiar with games that I could name a game having lots of loading. Thanks for clarifying. 

[100Coogn]

As said, faster loading times. I'm not that familiar with games that I could name a game having lots of loading. Thanks for clarifying. 

Fallout 4.

Coogan

[Wiley]

As said, faster loading times. I'm not that familiar with games that I could name a game having lots of loading. Thanks for clarifying. 

I just realized I didn't quite state my point clearly.  By the way you're talking, I am guessing you're thinking in terms of shortening loading screens when you load into a zone or map where you've got a static screen and a loading bar.  On games like that, the SSD speed is a "nice to have" but doesn't really affect gameplay once the zone is started.

On open world games like Star Citizen, GTA or Fallout, where you are moving around a seamless large map, it doesn't load the whole thing in at once, so you've got the system loading assets as you move around.  If you're moving slowly, you don't notice it much but if you start moving fast, you can sometimes outpace the loading of the information off your HDD and you start getting horrible pop-in and microstutters, which usually has a huge impact on gameplay.

Fallout 4.

Coogan

Try pruning your savegame files, or move some you're not planning on using anytime soon to another location.  At least that helped me last time I played.  *moves 10 feet, saves*

Wiley.

[100Coogn]

Try pruning your savegame files, or move some you're not planning on using anytime soon to another location.  At least that helped me last time I played.  *moves 10 feet, saves*

Wiley.

+1

Yep, I just did that about a week ago.  I only keep about 5 saves on there now and just overwrite them as needed.
Made it much better than it was.  Used to take forever loading that game...

Coogan

[Wiley]

+1

Yep, I just did that about a week ago.  I only keep about 5 saves on there now and just overwrite them as needed.
Made it much better than it was.  Used to take forever loading that game...

Coogan

I pruned my savegames when I noticed the loading issue, it seemed to creep in after a patch.  If I recall correctly, I had a little over 2 gigs of save games...    I believe I got into that stupid habit when I did something in Morrowind I couldn't back out of that hooped me for the rest of the game, so I swore that would never happen again.

Wiley.

[100Coogn]

I pruned my savegames when I noticed the loading issue, it seemed to creep in after a patch.  If I recall correctly, I had a little over 2 gigs of save games...    I believe I got into that stupid habit when I did something in Morrowind I couldn't back out of that hooped me for the rest of the game, so I swore that would never happen again.

Wiley.

Yeah, I quick-save a lot.  I only hard-save after 1-2 hours, depending on if I've actually progressed much.
At least they got Skyrim right. 

Coogan

[TDeacon]

Bizman, note the following: 

(text removed)

On open world games like Star Citizen, GTA or Fallout, where you are moving around a seamless large map, it doesn't load the whole thing in at once, so you've got the system loading assets as you move around.  If you're moving slowly, you don't notice it much but if you start moving fast, you can sometimes outpace the loading of the information off your HDD and you start getting horrible pop-in and microstutters, which usually has a huge impact on gameplay.

(text removed)

Wiley.

The current alpha 3.0.0 Star Citizen release has microstutters which apparently go away when you put the game on a SSD.  See this thread https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/50174/thread/performance-comparisons/903190 , in the Jan 12 10:04am post, regarding test with game on SSD versus game on HDD.  These micro-stutters don't appear to have anything to do with moving "fast", and can most easily be seen by sitting in space and slowly rotating your ship around the fore and aft axis.  Presumably a design bug, but who knows when they'll get to it.  And as you say, for that game, a SSD helps with the 5+ minute game loading time. 

BTW, I have a pretty decent system, with Win7 Pro 64 bit, i7-6700K-4.0GHz, 32 GB DRAM, GTX 1070 8GB, 1080p 144 Hz monitor, etc.  You can see who I am on Spectrum by my avatar, which is the same as the one I use here ...

EDIT:  Some say Star Citizen's ship combat system is supposed to be "WW2 in Space".  I always refer people who use this ludicrous term to Aces High, so they can see what WW2 fighter maneuvering actually involved.