Generally speaking, since there's 1000 system configs out there that could all be different, how much of a benefit would a solid state hard drive be for FSX performance?

I'm mulling over a new computer (this time likely a desktop replacement class of laptop) and I've read in a number of forums that installing FSX on its own dedicated drive is recommended for better performance. Ok, well if that's true then I suppose the faster the drive the better, and you can't get any faster than a solid state drive. Yeah it's expensive, but if there's a real performance boost then in the long run maybe it's worth it.

However, some (most?) sources say an SSD is great for initial loading of a program, but not necessarily for performance improvements while it's actually running. Does this hold true as well for FSX (and FS9 for that matter)? Or are we constantly accessing the HD as we fly along (I would think yes especially on long flights covering a lot of geography)? I'm wondering if a solid state drive would present an overall performance boost to FSX, or does it just get you from configuring a flight to the tarmac faster?

One more thing please, if one were to dedicate a drive to FSX and little else, how much space would you think is needed if a few complex addon planes plus things like UTX, GEX, improved mesh, etc were expected to be installed? I'm currently still on FS9 and have no idea how big a full install of FSX + Acceleration plus the mentioned addons is. Since SSDs are still an expensive proposition drive capacity is a huge factor in cost.

Hi MetalMania,

I've been running FSX on a 64gb SSD for around 6 months now and have to say it certainly speeds up loading times. As for an actual performance increase while flying im not so sure. I think it gives a boost when flying over heavily built up areas. But it goes hand in hand with the rest of the system. If the CPU and GPU can't handle the speed it will cause bottle necks. It doesn't matter how fast your hard drive is if the CPU can't process it and the GPU can't display it. Im running an i7 920 OC'd to 4.2ghz on water cooling with a GTX260 and 6gb of RAM. I have my frames locked at 60fps and it very rarely drops much lower than 50fps unless in very heavily build up areas. To be honest I would spend the extra money the SSD costs on getting a better CPU. FSX is all about CPU speed, so get it as high as you can!!

BR

Rich

I bought a 80gb x-25m g1 and installed FSX and a few add on planes and some scenery. I can't tell a difference in frame rate, but loading time are about 30% faster. I came up with 30% after doing direct comparisions, many of them against my 10,000 RPM 150gb WD Velociraptor.

To me, it was worth it. I actually moved all of my sims onto it and they all load extremely fast now.

I think my fsx installation with add one is around 25gb. I have ears of some people having nearly 100gb, but remember, that's gonna take a lot of money to ever accumulate that much scenery, so you should have an idea how much you ever would.

As far as framerate goes, I recommend reading up on Nick's guidehere:

http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?tid=29041