The game isn't running smoothly.
The game isn't running smoothly.
Hey, I noticed your Warzone performance is fluctuating between 100+ FPS and around 80. It seems like the frame rate drops noticeably. Your setup includes an i7-6700K, GTX 1080, 16GB RAM, and a HDD—planning to switch to an SSD later. Let me know if you want tips to smooth things out!
HDD is the main concern first; cores/threads are next, as Warzone uses up about 60-80% of my PC's capacity on my system. I experience no stutters and keep over 100 FPS with my current summer OC on a Ryzen 7 1700 paired with R9 Fury X. Warzone runs smoothly on an SSD, but when it does use HDD, the process becomes slower. Online games involve many moving parts and are already demanding on the CPU. Whenever a sprite appears that isn't in RAM or VRAM, the CPU must request it, then load it from HDD into RAM before showing it on the screen. HDD combined with CPU (which is likely near its limit) causes the issue.
HDD is the initial issue. Placing it on an SSD (for gaming) would significantly cut down the time spent waiting on the spinning drive versus the speed of a non-moving storage device. The CPU might not become a real bottleneck in this scenario, especially when playing online. This relates to online gaming where data streams from the internet and must first be stored in RAM before being fetched by the CPU. If it hasn't been cached yet, the HDD has to spin up, which is much slower than an SSD. Removing the spinning drive would likely improve performance.
Consider your needs carefully: M.2 NVMe SSD offers speed, while Samsung 860 QVO V-NAND provides durability and reliability. Choose based on performance requirements versus longevity.
There are many choices available. If your board includes an M.2 interface that supports NVMe, you can use it. For gaming, you won’t feel any difference between an NVMe drive and a SATA III SSD. Keep in mind that if you choose NVMe, the M.2 must be NVMe-compatible; M.2 is just the slot, while NVMe uses its own protocol. M.2 SSDs with SATA III have different connectors, so an NVMe drive won’t fit unless it’s specifically designed for it. Personally, I opt for the most budget-friendly option. Recently I received a $43 512gb Team Group SATA III M.2 to add as another game drive on my Ryzen Rig 1, because its open slot was available and it was the cheapest price at that size.
The device I own is an ASUS Maximus VIII Hero with M.2 SSD support, though it doesn't work with NVME or SATA III interfaces.