What SSD for DCS?

I want to get today a dedicated SSD just for DCS (HDD takes FOREVER to load) is 256GB enough? Don't want to spend more tbh...

If you right click on your DCS folder and click properties it will tell you the size of the DCS folder. Mines currently at 165GB but it depends on modules installed etc.

I want to get today a dedicated SSD just for DCS (HDD takes FOREVER to load) is 256GB enough? Don't want to spend more tbh...

256 could be enough if you have no more than 2-3 Maps .. but I can assure you, if you really like DCS, you will regret purchasing a small drive :) .. there are several more Maps that will be coming up this year, and each one takes 30-50 GB of drive space.

Another advantage of a 480 GB drive, is that it would allow you to place on it not only the DCS software, but also your Saved Games settings and liveries

250GB will be too small pretty quick once you start collecting.

I would even say, go 1TB these days if you somehow can.

If your system support, go for M.2, There is't much price difference b/w SATA and M.2, but read speeds will be much better.

Also, go for a minimum 512GB, That will give you enough space, even you can move windows to that drive.

Yeah, at the store now, picking up a 500gb

Yeah, at the store now, picking up a 500gb

Much better. 256GB makes no sense these days. You'll love the load times. Have fun! And remember, you can just copy the entire folder and fire it up. Just make sure you edit the shortcut to point to the new SSD.

My PC has a flight sim/OS drive and a backup drive. With DCS and X-Plane 11 taking up most of my space on the main drive, I have about 150 GB left over out of 500. 256 GB is just barely enough for DCS alone I'd say. Go 500 minimum.

With all the additional maps and things planned I'm going to aim for 2 TB for my next PC. Probably overkill, but I won't have to bother with managing drive space hopefully.

I don't know if you've already bought a SATA but the price on NVMe has really come down in the last year. If you have an ASUS Z-370 I assume your Motherboard supports it. If not they make ones that you can put in a PCIe slot.

512 GB is currently $70 on Newegg and Amazon for the M.2 form factor.

That's enough for Windows and DCS. Your system will boot and DCS will load faster than you've ever seen it. Definitely worth $70 bucks.

I don't know if you've already bought a SATA but the price on NVMe has really come down in the last year. If you have an ASUS Z-370 I assume your Motherboard supports it. If not they make ones that you can put in a PCIe slot.

 

512 GB is currently $70 on Newegg and Amazon for the M.2 form factor.

 

That's enough for Windows and DCS. Your system will boot and DCS will load faster than you've ever seen it. Definitely worth $70 bucks.

I already have an nvme, check my signature, i have like 5 disks :p almost one disk per game i play :p

Just installed it, i can play DCS properly now... Literally all the problems i had was because i was running it on an HDD

Just installed it, i can play DCS properly now... Literally all the problems i had was because i was running it on an HDD

These days the only use for an HDD is data storage (i.e. documents, photos and such).

:megalol:

So true !

:thumbup:

My ED folder is 174GB and I do not have all the modules, I have it on a 500GB 860 Evo SSD.

And like was mentioned somewhere above it is almost getting to 1 SSD per game, which reminds me I need a few extra drive cages for my new PC, 2 1TB M.2 NVMe on the MoBo, 2 SSD and 2 HDDs for pictures and documents etc.

I did have a 5 disk JBOD on an eSATA for extra storage but my new MoBo does not have an eSATA to hook it up to.

My ED folder is 174GB and I do not have all the modules, I have it on a 500GB 860 Evo SSD.

 

And like was mentioned somewhere above it is almost getting to 1 SSD per game, which reminds me I need a few extra drive cages for my new PC, 2 1TB M.2 NVMe on the MoBo, 2 SSD and 2 HDDs for pictures and documents etc.

I did have a 5 disk JBOD on an eSATA for extra storage but my new MoBo does not have an eSATA to hook it up to.

You could take the 2 HDDs out into a NAS Box and get 2 more SSDs into the case this way.

* or sell some of your SSD based drives and replace them with BIGGER ones ;)

Well, DCS requires something like 150GB of "preallocated space", in case you install every single module and a big update is released.

If you want to migrate your OS to it, go for a 1TB SSD. It's quite an investment, but worth it.

You could take the 2 HDDs out into a NAS Box and get 2 more SSDs into the case this way.

 

* or sell some of your SSD based drives and replace them with BIGGER ones ;)

I did have a Windows Home Server (a modified Siemens Scaleo 1900) that I used for my cinema and to store my music and videos on but after a few years I took it down and reallocated the storage to the JBOD as I was the only one really using the server, it was getting too much like work keeping it up to date and such.

Sell the SSDs? nah, stick them in the wife's laptop that would speed it up a bit ;)

Not a full blown OS, rather a Synology or QNAP 2-4 bay device. Very easy work involved over the years.

I use a 4 bay PRORAID enclosure that was less than $100 and use "archive grade" drives in a redundant raid array as a share drive for movies and storing irreplaceable photos. Easy Peasy. Haven't had one drive crash yet and going on 4 years now. You can hook it up to your your router directly via USB. But I've found it writes movies faster hooked up to an old gaming laptop I use as a media/HTPC.

That hilarious video Demon posted reminded me of when I have to reboot it as it still has the OS on an HDD. I just stare at the screen "COME ON, this is taking FOREVER". You get spoilt when the OS is on NVMe. It boots so fast you only have a couple seconds to tap F2 to get into BIOS. The new ones for PCIe 4.0 on the new AMD chipset are supposed to be faster, but apparently they get even hotter. The NVMe drive and PCH are the hottest parts of my motherboard.

My wife's laptop and mine are about 10 years old, almost the same spec Lenovo X201T, mine has an i7 8GB RAM and an SSD, wife's is an with i5 8GB RAM, and HDD, I use mine in the car as a moving map for off road driving which I really needed the SSD for.

You really do notice the difference in boot times between the 2 machines and my wife does complain about it too, Ach, maybe one day I'll relent and get her an SSD... well it's cheaper than a new touch screen laptop :megalol: