Last edited by MI6Labs (2006-03-20 11:39:58)
Thanks very much - this is very helpful - my gut told me that the external HAD to be slower.....but, I wanted to make sure I was not missing anyting.....MI6Labs wrote:
External is slower than internal, be it running off a USB or FireWire interface. However firewire would be a bit faster, however USB is better at handling constant streams of data.
So I'd recommend a USB external hard drive, however at the end of the day - you'd be better off with an internal one (as they are faster, no chance of driver conflicts, and it has been proven that some ext. USB HDDs can slow down computers with their drivers).
Ian.
Didn't even think of partitioning off a part of the drive. I figured a dedicated 60-80gb drive (for $50 at NewEgg!) would be the best way to go. I also thought this might help my in play quality....I am pushing my system right now (maxed out the RAM at only 1gb and using a 4 year old P4 2.4ghz). Already upgraded my graphics card NVidia GE Force 6800 and thought a new hard drive was the only other thing I could do. Just trying to avoid buying a new computer if possible......thanks for the advice.....chuyskywalker wrote:
ok no.
first of all, external will be slower. period. That's just the way it is. An external is IDE -> USB -> Motherboard whereas internal is IDE -> Motherboard. So, skip the usb/firewire at all. (And for the record, usb2 *is* faster than firewire 400, but by so little it doesn't matter.)
what you WANT to do is partition your drive. The only reason to dedicate a drive to BF2 is to stop fragmentation or the datafiles. Fragmentation can slightly slow down the loading process. That's the only difference you'll see, if it is even perceptible. You can just partition of a 10gb chunk of the drive and get the same exact effect as wasting your money on a new HD.
If you do buy another HD, make sure it's a Raptor (10,000rpm) drive or better, as that's where you'll see the improvement.
Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2006-03-22 14:23:09)
Thanks - after reading all....decided on an additional HD, that matches the specs of what I have (still don't know if I can put ATA150 in when I currently use ATA100....so went with the same, and not even sure what the difference it). Got an 80g drive and will try to only have some critical stuff on there and BF2. My current load times are LONG....so am hoping this helps....thanks.TheBigXerox wrote:
I used to run storage and games off of an External via a hevay duty gold plated firewire fore some serious speed. It worked wonders for me until I had a full system upgrade, then i replaced it for a Serial ATA Maxtor 250 gig. I would look into internals, its more efficient and easier in my opinion. I have a good friend who recetly just bought a cheap 40 gig raptor off of ebay for all of his games, he likes it and loads the BF2 maps before much of the other gamers (tank whore), so you might want to try that solution. Good luck with whatever choice you pick!
Not sure what that means....vjs wrote:
This is a trolling post right???
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