Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | PC Support |
Will a 7200 RPM hard drive improve frame rates? |
DVA6626
Captain, MD-11
Joined on November 07 2008
Six Century Club
Million Mile Club
""PROFILE CLIMB"" Las Vegas, NV
753 legs, 2,288.9 hours
28 legs,
55.2 hours online 747 legs,
2,255.7 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
April 04 2009 16:53 ET by Michael Pare
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I was wanting to upgrade from a 5300 to a 7200 RPM hard drive, or should I just stay with the 5300 to save money?
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DVA6983
Captain, B737-800
Joined on February 07 2009
Century Club
""Can't, never did anything.."" Phoenix, AZ USA
125 legs, 233.4 hours
4 legs,
7.2 hours online 125 legs,
233.4 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
April 04 2009 17:24 ET by Dale Westlund
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If your HDD is running faster, then it would be logical to think that it can find files faster than a slower RPM model.. I'm no computer wizard but, I would think that since things are installed on your "hard drive" then a faster hard drive would speed up FPS simply because it's not having to take as long to find the files it needs.. This goes hand in hand with defragging also.. But I'm sure there are others here who know a ton more about this stuff than I do..
Cheers..!
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DVA7096
First Officer, MD-11
Joined on March 10 2009
Century Club
London, ON Canada
102 legs, 314.3 hours
56 legs,
170.9 hours online 100 legs,
311.3 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
April 04 2009 23:42 ET by Richard Howell
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Just keep in mind that the Mother Board speed needs to be high as well. If you have a Bus on the mother board that is only 133 mhz or lower, there is so much info you can push through. I agree with Dale that the faster the driver the faster the info is past, but it will not solve all your issues if you have a small bus on the mother board.
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DVA5544
Captain, A320
Joined on February 07 2008
"I'm at a 15° chin-up attitude." Spiez, Bern Schweiz
34 legs, 58.3 hours
24 legs,
34.9 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
April 04 2009 23:45 ET by Alexander Kolb
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I'm with both Dale and Richard.
One super thing will not make a computer. It's a balance of all-arround good things. Having to build/buy a well-balanced computer may mean that you can't upgrade any individual part to a super-de-duper part, but overall you'll be much more satisfied.
Alexander KolbCaptain, A320
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DVA7096
First Officer, MD-11
Joined on March 10 2009
Century Club
London, ON Canada
102 legs, 314.3 hours
56 legs,
170.9 hours online 100 legs,
311.3 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
April 04 2009 23:48 ET by Richard Howell
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I agree
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DVA6626
Captain, MD-11
Joined on November 07 2008
Six Century Club
Million Mile Club
""PROFILE CLIMB"" Las Vegas, NV
753 legs, 2,288.9 hours
28 legs,
55.2 hours online 747 legs,
2,255.7 hours ACARS
|
Posted onPost created on
April 05 2009 01:23 ET by Michael Pare
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i am looking at this hard drive store, you plug in what you have and they give you options and one for me is a 7200 rpm drive, but I can't decide if it would be woth the extra money if there is no real benefit.
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DVA5204
Captain, MD-11
Joined on November 11 2007
Century Club
"Aviate, Navigate, Communicate." Southeastern United States
113 legs, 494.9 hours
109 legs,
485.4 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
April 05 2009 02:25 ET by Nathan Harwood
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In my humble opinion your hard rive RPM will have little to no effect on frame rates. What it will improve (probably imperceptibly) is initial aircraft / scenery load times, texture region changes etc. FS loads as much of the graphics information it can to you graphics card then to system RAM. On many flights I actually hear my hard drives spool down and go into standby mode while in cruise flight. Graphics card / memory, system RAM, system processor speed will all have huge impacts on your FPS. I suspect you'll probably get better performance gains from a good hard drive defrag than a 7200 RPM drive.
Now, all that being said, it's 2009! Get yourself a 7200 RPM hard drive! You can get a 750 GB, 7200 RPM SATA hard drive for about $62 (shipping included) online from a reputable dealer. If you need a new / bigger hard drive for other reasons, get the 7200. If your current hard drive still works and is big enough, spend that $62 elsewhere.
Just my .02 cents - my opinion is worth as much as you paid for it (and quite possible less!)
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DVA6626
Captain, MD-11
Joined on November 07 2008
Six Century Club
Million Mile Club
""PROFILE CLIMB"" Las Vegas, NV
753 legs, 2,288.9 hours
28 legs,
55.2 hours online 747 legs,
2,255.7 hours ACARS
|
Posted onPost created on
April 05 2009 02:35 ET by Michael Pare
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I think the loading of the texture is slowing down my frames as it stutters ever so slightly. I have a 500 gig external HD so storage is not really an issue. I forgot to mention I fly with a Dell Inspiron laptop, for now till I can get a desk top.
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DVA5204
Captain, MD-11
Joined on November 11 2007
Century Club
"Aviate, Navigate, Communicate." Southeastern United States
113 legs, 494.9 hours
109 legs,
485.4 hours ACARS
|
Posted onPost created on
April 05 2009 02:39 ET by Nathan Harwood
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Do you fly the PDMG MD11 and other payware or just freeware acft? Basically, do you get stutters even if you fly the default MS acft?
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DVA6626
Captain, MD-11
Joined on November 07 2008
Six Century Club
Million Mile Club
""PROFILE CLIMB"" Las Vegas, NV
753 legs, 2,288.9 hours
28 legs,
55.2 hours online 747 legs,
2,255.7 hours ACARS
|
Posted onPost created on
April 05 2009 02:47 ET by Michael Pare
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The PMDG MD-11 is the only add on aircraft I fly.
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DVA5204
Captain, MD-11
Joined on November 11 2007
Century Club
"Aviate, Navigate, Communicate." Southeastern United States
113 legs, 494.9 hours
109 legs,
485.4 hours ACARS
|
Posted onPost created on
April 05 2009 03:05 ET by Nathan Harwood
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Sorry Michael, I've never even tried to run MSFS on a laptop. I now think an upgraded hard drive might just help you out since you're limited in what else you can upgrade. How much RAM does it have?
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DVA6626
Captain, MD-11
Joined on November 07 2008
Six Century Club
Million Mile Club
""PROFILE CLIMB"" Las Vegas, NV
753 legs, 2,288.9 hours
28 legs,
55.2 hours online 747 legs,
2,255.7 hours ACARS
|
Posted onPost created on
April 05 2009 03:08 ET by Michael Pare
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I have 2 gigs of ram(the limit) the graphics card is upgradeable, but I would rather just put the money toward a new desk top, a new graphics card would run about $300, so it's not worth it. I can get a good Gateway that will run flight sim for around $800 at Best buy.
My hard drive might be on it's way out and that is why I might need a replacement.
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DVA5544
Captain, A320
Joined on February 07 2008
"I'm at a 15° chin-up attitude." Spiez, Bern Schweiz
34 legs, 58.3 hours
24 legs,
34.9 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
April 05 2009 09:21 ET by Alexander Kolb
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I think that is a good idea Michael. Upgrade your hard drive, but save the rest of your money so that you can buy a nice desktop. I took a look at that Best Buy gateway, and I think you'll be very happy with the results.
Alexander KolbCaptain, A320
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DVA6626
Captain, MD-11
Joined on November 07 2008
Six Century Club
Million Mile Club
""PROFILE CLIMB"" Las Vegas, NV
753 legs, 2,288.9 hours
28 legs,
55.2 hours online 747 legs,
2,255.7 hours ACARS
|
Posted onPost created on
April 05 2009 11:59 ET by Michael Pare
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That seems to be my course of action, keep the lappy alive until I get the desk top.
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DVA6983
Captain, B737-800
Joined on February 07 2009
Century Club
""Can't, never did anything.."" Phoenix, AZ USA
125 legs, 233.4 hours
4 legs,
7.2 hours online 125 legs,
233.4 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
April 06 2009 00:25 ET by Dale Westlund
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All of you guys I hear about running FS on a laptop.. How do you run it on a laptop when I have a computer that I built especially for FSX.. 1400 bucks worth to be exact and it struggles sometimes with generating it.. And how do you control your A/C..? Do you just fly with the keyboard or do you actually plug in a controler.. I really don't know anything about it but It blows my mind how many people are running FS on a laptop.. They must be making some pretty powerful laptops these days.. I've never owned one so I have no idea what they're capable of..
Just curious..
Cheers..!
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DVA6626
Captain, MD-11
Joined on November 07 2008
Six Century Club
Million Mile Club
""PROFILE CLIMB"" Las Vegas, NV
753 legs, 2,288.9 hours
28 legs,
55.2 hours online 747 legs,
2,255.7 hours ACARS
|
Posted onPost created on
April 06 2009 01:15 ET by Michael Pare
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The Dell Inspiron I use does FS9 pretty well for a laptop, but it is getting old and being a hard core flightsimmer, I need more performance. I will move to a desk top in the future.
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DVA6922
Captain, B737-800
Joined on January 14 2009
Century Club
50 State Club
B737 50 Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
"Takeoffs are Opt. Landings are Mand." Edmond, OK
147 legs, 291.6 hours
140 legs,
282.1 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
April 09 2009 07:37 ET by Jonathan Cope
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Yes the 7200 RPM ones are nice, but like others have said, getting a computer with overall specs makes everything perform better. As one person has said above, get above a 133 Mhz board speed, I was like wow, we haven't used those sort of speeds since the turn of the century or so Most new boards these days are like 1333 or 1266 or something, I can't remember the #'s right now, too early in the morning, not enough caffeine.
Jonathan CopeCaptain, B737-800
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