SanDisk ReadyCache 32GB SSD - faster game loading?

[Jinx]

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Desktop-Caching-SSD-SDSSDRC-032G-G26/dp/B008U3038I/

I've been considering this little guy as an upgrade since I saw it, but I'm having trouble finding any specific game-related benchmarks. I'm primarily interested in reducing loading times in games. Mine are hardly bad, but if it would cut them down and speed up the rest of my system that would be great.

I know it won't be as fast as putting games onto an SSD, but this thing is $47 vs double that for even a 120GB SSD. And I a) wouldn't have to shuffle games on/off it (they are on a 3TB drive) and it would speed up my entire system, not just things installed on it (you don't install anything on it, it is used for cache kind of like a hybrid HDD).

So has anyone used it? Did it have a noticeable impact on your loading times for games and game levels?

Or has anyone seen a gaming-oriented review anywhere? I haven't been able to find much of anything. The closest was the HardOCP review, which suggested it was almost 3 times faster for loading game levels, but it didn't mention any specific games!
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/10/17/sandisk_readycache_32gb_ssd_review/7#.UVI_pldfszZ

Also found this half-decent Amazon review, but again I'll like more info:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2SKYXSV7RXQWH?_encoding=UTF8&asin=B008U3038I&cdForum=Fx2KVB2PRY2Y9CJ&cdMSG

Any feedback would be appreciated, thanks gang!

[[☥] - CJ -]

Yes it is worth it.

I have one myself and i had actually gotten it about 2 months ago for the same reason you are wanting to get it.

If you have BlackOps 2 you may know how long it takes for the maps to load in Multiplayer, and the same for BF3. For BO2 im 98% of the time the first person to load on the map. with the ReadyCache its near instant loading when it comes to Single Player games.

on L4D2 on an RPG VS server with 10v10 and Co Op with a max of 16 Characters, when the map changes i load in before the server is even able to load the bots and the majority of the actual people so yes it makes quite a difference.

The speeds between ReachyCache and SSD HDs are actually quite similar in some cases depending on your setup. as long as you have a good SATA III motherboard the speeds will be similar for the most part. Even if you have a SATA II motherboard the speeds will still be increased compared to a normal Hard Drive.

Now the thing is, depending on how many games you play the ReadyCache SSD can get full easily, so only have it active for games that you actually want to speed up loading time with. When the SSD gets full it automatically empties it to make room and within the ExpressCache software itself it gives you the option to clear the SSDs storage.

The best part of the ReadyCache SSD though is all you have to do is plug it in like you would any other Hard Drive, dont have it as your boot drive of course, log into Windows, download the program and install it, reboot 2-3 times for your startup and OS to be cached to the SSD and thats it. You dont need to do any extra stuff in order to get it to work, its pretty much a plug n play type deal.

This is what the program looks like and how much space ive used/have left(keep in mind in the time ive had it i did have to clear it 2 or 3 times).

http://i46.tinypic.com/k997o4.jpg

Now you say you have a 3TB HD, hopefully its not full of games that you play cuz as i said depending on the games it can get full pretty quick. Another thing, make sure the SSD always has a few GB of space left, for me everytime the SSD is near full and i shut down or reboot, when i turn it back on i get a Windows was shutdown improperly msg. Your system isnt hurt or anything by it, but its an early sign that the SSD may be getting a little full.

If you think that 32GB may not be enough for you, you can check out the larger Cache SSDs that are available on that site you posted and go from there.

Simple fact is, $50 for an SSD that REALLY speeds up your system is WORTH it. i had gotten a $50 giftcard for Amazon last Christmas and i had absolutely no idea what to do with it. Well im sure you now know what i did with it and it was worth it.
-

PS: going through your games list, the majority if not all of those will be sped up, Guarenteed.

[Jinx]

Thanks so much for the feedback! I have a lot of games installed (a few hundred gigs) but like most people I only play a few frequently, and many I'll play through once then put aside for the most part.

Can I tell the cache drive to ignore certain files/drives? Or ignore everything on a drive except for folders you tell it to consider caching? That would make it easier, because then I could have it ignore older games I don't play much, and data-only drives that I am not concerned with when it comes to speed.

It seems like worst case, you could purge the cache after installing a large new game so that the cache gets rebuilt to reflect your current usage?

I also read somewhere that it helped framerates, or at least lag- for example, sometimes if I turn around quickly in Skyrim the system lags as it loads stuff behind me. Or is that more a video-ram issue?

Thanks again!

[Jinx]

Oh, and I do only have a SATA II motherboard, though my newest drive (the 3TB for games) is SATA III. Maybe I can get a controller card at some point. I'm guessing it would still be a big boost.

*edit* ORDERED. Should get here Fridayish, hurray! Thanks again, CJ!

[[☥] - CJ -]

Yeah unfortunately it caches everything, but you can purge it and start from scratch if you choose to.

As for Skyrim thats more of a general performance issue not really having to do with the HD. But anything having to do with file access will be sped up by the Cache.

Keep in mind that you'll have to run what you want to be cached 2-3 times before the files will actually be cached.

It would help even more if you had SATA III, but as i said even with SATA II things should still get sped up decently enough especially boot times.

Also, from what ive seen its also possible to format the SSD and use it like a normal SSD, but i suppose it would depend on setup as mine doesnt show up on the list, but being as its only 32GB wouldnt really be all that useful as a Windows boot disk.

[Jamebonds1]

- CJ - DSS eredeti hozzászólása:

Yeah unfortunately it caches everything, but you can purge it and start from scratch if you choose to.

As for Skyrim thats more of a general performance issue not really having to do with the HD. But anything having to do with file access will be sped up by the Cache.

Keep in mind that you'll have to run what you want to be cached 2-3 times before the files will actually be cached.

It would help even more if you had SATA III, but as i said even with SATA II things should still get sped up decently enough especially boot times.

Also, from what ive seen its also possible to format the SSD and use it like a normal SSD, but i suppose it would depend on setup as mine doesnt show up on the list, but being as its only 32GB wouldnt really be all that useful as a Windows boot disk.

Just like USB flash with Boost start?

[[☥] - CJ -]

No its not even close to a Thumb drive using Readyboost and they arent remotely the same, so dont compare the 2 if thats what ur suggesting.

[Jinx]

Well before this I'd considered getting a small one like this and assigning it as the Windows swap file. This seems like a better idea, though, and apparently it even uses 1GB of your RAM to supplement things. And if I got a bigger SSD to put my games on, it would be faster for loading them, but *only* loading them. I like this because it should give some performance gains all around.

This doesn't affect the need for a regular swap file, does it? tbh my load times are pretty fast as it is, I'm just being picky. I have multiple drives:

C: Windows
D: Data + Swap File
G: Game Installs

So when I'm gaming, in theory it should spread out access across the drives better. I haven't done any benchmarks, though, vs say having everything on a single drive. But it has always seemed a logical setup to me for someone with 3+ hard drives who isn't doing RAID.

[[☥] - CJ -]

Game loading and OS boot times are why i got the ReadyCache, and being as i actually own one unlike yourselves i can 100% say that it does what its supposed to and is essentially like having a boot SSD.

Lets keep in mind it IS an SSD and it has SSD SPEEDS, its not some Readyboost USB Thumb Drive knock off in a SATA3 costume, its the REAL thing a REAL Solid State Drive.

If any of you have BlackOps 2 and a normal Hard Drive you'll know how long it generally takes for Multiplayer maps to load, well with this Cache that is no longer a problem and it affects ALL games the same way.
-

For all you Non Believers, The ONLY problem with this drive is that its only 32GB, other then that it works flawlessly and does as its supposed to.

[BobaFett]

i have it and its great >.<
go get 1 now,
it was on sale last weekend for 39.99
at newegg

[[☥] - CJ -]

Yea ur a bit late lol
but it works great.

[MA☝Omgwtfbbqstfu™]

Meh the best price i can find right now is 46 with free shipping from bestbuy.

So hows your load times now? I ordered one

Yes I"d assume it caches everything but who loads more than 32gb of applications daily?:P

[[☥] - CJ -]

Load times are much better with it cached.. i havent timed it but id say windows loads within 10-15 seconds.

The thing is, if you play alot of games, say games with large files like BF3 and so forth you'll have to clear the cache now n then to make room. but its really not a problem.

[MA☝Omgwtfbbqstfu™]

☥ - CJ - eredeti hozzászólása:

Load times are much better with it cached.. i havent timed it but id say windows loads within 10-15 seconds.

The thing is, if you play alot of games, say games with large files like BF3 and so forth you'll have to clear the cache now n then to make room. but its really not a problem.

Ah ok thx, but why would you have to make room? Wouldn't the data age out or get replaced once other stuff merits it?

[[UFO] rad87gn]

Anything USB is not even close to a SSD SATA 3. No, gaming loading wise nothing SATA 2 with 2 good drives can't do. SSD with the OS is awesome. Fast as crap booting and snappy as you use it. RAID 0 with a few good 64mb drives is magic with games. IF you own a ton of games SSD is not cheap enough yet to run it for everything. RAID 0 is. I personally use a SSD for the OS and a few 1TB 64MB drives in RAID 0 for mass storage. Works awesome.

Serious Sam 3 is a good loading benchmark. My RAID 0 works fine. Only thing that can hang with me is Linux. Just cause it has less overhead (30 year UNIX nerd). I get 300MB/sec with RAID 0 HDD and 550MB/sec with SSD on Windows 64-bit. Only time it got anything on the SSD is snappiness and quickness on reboot and main apps. Gaming wise it made no difference.

[[☥] - CJ -]

MA☝Omgwtfbbqstfu™ #idle eredeti hozzászólása:

☥ - CJ - eredeti hozzászólása:

Load times are much better with it cached.. i havent timed it but id say windows loads within 10-15 seconds.

The thing is, if you play alot of games, say games with large files like BF3 and so forth you'll have to clear the cache now n then to make room. but its really not a problem.

Ah ok thx, but why would you have to make room? Wouldn't the data age out or get replaced once other stuff merits it?

When the disk gets full it clears itself, so either way itd get cleared eventually.. so itd be better to just manually do it yourself.

And no it doesnt go away after a period of time as far as i know.

Be sure to get the latest software from the sandisk site and not use the software that is provided from disk. the latest software no longer requires a key to be entered to use the software, the disk version still requires a key..

So using the latest software from sandisk is recommended.