Load times have plagued gamers ever since we moved from solid state technology (super nes, atari era) and entered into the world of CDs/DVDs and HDs.
HDs (Hard Drives) are the fastest of the lot but even so....we still suffer with long load times for some of the bigger titles out there. Most noteworthy of recent, Battlefield Bad Company 2.
The good news. Solid State is making a come back in the form of SSDs. Solid State Drives. They were very expensive but have recently fallen to a more reasonable price point that an avid gamer can afford.
a 40GB SSD goes for US$119.00
Intel 40 GB X25V Value SATA II Solid State Drive
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Value-Retail-Package-SSDSA2MP040G2R5/dp/B0031X8HG2/ref=pd_bxgy_e_text_b40GB ain't much but that's enough for the OS and a few of your current games. If you're like me, you don't play all your games all the time.
At any given stretch, you maybe playing three or four. 40GB is enough for precisely that.
Of course, if you've won lotto, you can spring for 80gb and 160gb versions and throw on all your games on this lightning fast speed demon.
The setup.
Install your SSD into your gaming computer.
You'll need one of these to so do:
SILVERSTONE SDP08 3.5 to 2 X 2.5-Inch Bay Converter
http://www.amazon.com/SILVERSTONE-SDP08-3-5-2-5-Inch-Converter/dp/B002BH3Z8E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=pc&qid=1270915537&sr=1-1It's cheap, only US$8.00
Then install your OS (Windows 7 recommended) to the new SSD.
You can then install your games/steam and voila.
Vastly reduced load times for both your Windows operating system and games.
Advanced users can use symlinks to relocate games to the SSD while keeping their steam on a large secondary hard drive.
Consider the Scenario as follows:
1) Games folder at c:\games (Drive C: SSD 40GB Primary lightning fast drive)
2) Steam installed at d:\games\steam (Drive D: Regular Hard Disk 500GB Secondary Huge but slow drive)
3) Battlefield: Bad Company 2 downloaded via Steam
4) Copy-paste the *entire* directory D:\games\Steam\steamapps\common\battlefield bad company 2 to C:\games\
5) Run the following command:
mklink /j "D:\games\Steam\steamapps\common\battlefield bad company 2 " "c:\games\battlefield bad company 2"
Now Steam will load the game from your SSD, nonethewiser that it isn't really located on your D: Drive.
You get the benefit of all the speed and keep the convenience of having steam and all your games on one huge drive.
Wash rinse repeat for any future games you want to give the performance boost.
