Technical constraints and system design often restrict how fast games can load.
Technical constraints and system design often restrict how fast games can load.
Some games appear to load quickly at first, then the progress stops regardless of what you do. While the maximum speed is usually fast, certain titles have persistent loading screens that don’t change. This can happen due to server or network issues, so the speed you see might not reflect the actual performance.
It seems you're asking about the timing of a video or audio when it begins. Could you clarify what you mean by "time when you click play and when it starts"? Are you referring to a specific file, app, or situation?
MMO titles depend on server loading, which is a constraint. Have you experimented with 10 NVMe SSDs in RAID 0 and started the game there?
If the PC uses its own storage, queue size and speed will control performance (checkable with any solo game like Witcher 3). In multiplayer scenarios, it varies based on server requests for packets, connection checks (like p2p or dedicated lines), and how long it takes to adjust before starting the match. Half of GTA Online's load isn't map or weapon info—it's mainly about checking latency and exchanging character data.
Multiple tests confirm the cheapest SATA SSD and the 960 Pro perform similarly in games, which likely explains the mention of this limit.
Loading involves more than just transferring data from storage to memory for the app to run. The system must also boot up and configure itself so users can engage with it. Think of assembling a sandwich: simply presenting the ingredients doesn’t create a meal; you must put them together. Another challenge is when an app isn’t always aware of what it needs to load, causing delays before accessing storage again. For instance, when installing an operating system, only essential components like the kernel and basic services are loaded first. The kernel then identifies the PC’s hardware and loads drivers, progressing to other components until it reaches a stage where interaction becomes possible. What enables Windows Fast Boot is that the driver state is saved during shutdown, allowing the system to resume from where it left off instead of determining hardware and drivers on the fly. The overall speed depends on how quickly data can be retrieved from storage and how rapidly the application can initialize and reach an interactive state.