Spiral Knights - Can Flash Drive Help With Smoother Game Play?

Can Flash Drive Help With Smoother Game Play?

11 Réponses [Dernière contribution]

mer, 09/19/2012 - 07:12

Gaidal

I have a Gateway Windows 7 PC with 4GB RAM, live in the U.S. and for a long time have never had any performance issues playing this game. However, the past month or so I will many times be at 2 bars while playing.

I've updated my drivers per the sticky note instructions. That seemed to help the first couple times playing, but now back to 2 bars. I've done disk defrag and disk cleanup and unistalled all unnecessary programs but my physical memory is still in the 40%+ range before starting SK.

So my question is: Can a flash drive help speed up my computer and translate to less lag and smoother game play? I read online that you can use a flash drive with 1GB available space and use the "Speed up my system using Windows ReadyBoost" option. Will this help? I only have a 256MB flash drive from years ago, but am considering buying one to see if it will help with SK. I can easily buy one for less than $10. If you think this will help, does brand matter or will the cheapest 8GB or 16GB flash drive do?

Thanks

mer, 09/19/2012 - 08:32

Geekfox

Windows ReadyBoost speeds up loading times when you launch certain programs. It does not speed up your internet connection nor improve any connection lag you may be having.

Are you saying you had full 4-bars before it went down to 2-bars?

mer, 09/19/2012 - 08:43

Gaidal

Yes, I had full 4-bars before

Yes, I had full 4-bars before and now often get 2-bars. My internet connection is always at the highest and I'm playing off the US servers. I thought that the Windows ReadyBoost would help SK/Java to run smoother since it is taking up so much of my memory.

mer, 09/19/2012 - 09:58

Trying

That wont help since your flash drive is tiny and you seem to have an internet problem. Are you sure you're set to the US server?

mer, 09/19/2012 - 10:14

Gaidal

I said I would buy a new

I said I would buy a new bigger one, like 8GB or 16GB. And I do not have an Internet problem. Never. Full bars when browsing Internet. I live in the US so I don't have the problem of living in some remote hole far from SK servers.

When I occasionally play on my "work" computer (at home), a Dell 4GB RAM Windows 7, I NEVER have performance issues in SK. So, it's not an Internet problem. It's something with the Gateway computer. I always have 4-bars in SK with the Dell.

The problem seems to me that SK/Java requires a lot of memory to run and for whatever reason my 4GB RAM on the Gateway is having a hard time. My questions stands: will a 8/16GB flash drive using Windows ReadyBoost help?

mer, 09/19/2012 - 13:01

Writhes

Modern hard drives have a higher read and write speed than flash drives. The only exception is if you are using a really old hard drive for some odd reason.

If you really want to know you could figure out the model of your hard drive and your flash drive and search for their read and write speeds.

If you already have a decent amount of ram then there is no reason to try to use storage devices as a memory crutch and if you don't have much memory it would be better to buy ram than a flash drive.

mer, 09/19/2012 - 13:25

Trying

Having 2 bars when you normal have 4 is clearly an internet problem.

mer, 09/19/2012 - 14:25

Gaidal

Take a look at these numbers

Take a look at these numbers on my two computers. These are the scores for the Windows Experience Index for the Dell (no performance issues in SK) and the Gateway (performance issues):

Processor - 6.9/4.9
Memory (RAM) - 5.9/5.9
Graphics - 4.9/3.9
Gaming Graphics - 5.9/5.2
Primary Hard Disk - 5.9/5.9

Do these numbers mean anything? The Gateway scored well in RAM and Primary Hard Disk which makes me think that Windows ReadyBoost will not help. However, there is a significant difference in processor and graphics. I've already installed the latest video driver per the sticky note instructions. What else can I do? Why would I have issues with one computer and not the other with the same Internet connection?

Also, with the Gateway, sometimes while playing SK (in full screen mode) my computer (laptop) will sometimes randomly go to my desktop, except only the bottom 90% of my screen is showing my desktop and the top (more top-left) 10% or so is showing the very bottom of SK. And my mouse is stuck in SK, the part that I can only see 10% of. I can't do anything on my desktop, but that's mostly what I see. I have to Ctrl+Alt+Delete and shut down Java (not just SK) and re-log back in, which brings me back to exactly where I was. It's very hard to describe, but only happens on the Gateway.

I appreciate all of your responses.

mer, 09/19/2012 - 18:01

Trying

It's not your hardware. Compare your stats to my crappy computer

Processor - 4.4
Memory (RAM) - 5.1
Graphics - 3.5
Gaming Graphics - 3.3
Primary Hard Disk - 5.9

jeu, 09/20/2012 - 03:50

Daemiax

I have tried installing game

I have tried installing game on my SSD. While loading was about 2-3 sec faster, nothing else changed. The game is being killed on it's own, with slow servers causing major lag. I have 20mbit connection, Quad Core CPU and GPU with more than 1gb of RAM. And still, game is not working as it should. Funny.

Reinstall your OS mate, that might help. At least you will be able to play with some lag, without other issues ;)

jeu, 09/20/2012 - 07:39

#10

Little-Juances

4gb is more than enough to run the game.Ï only have 1.5 :P
It has to be something else. If the memory was faulty, your computer would have lots of other problems too.

Anyways, ReadyBoost is nowhere near an actual RAM stick, no matter how big the USB is. It's good for small tasks, but will have a hard time keeping up with something like a videogame. It's not a matter of capacity, but a matter of speed.

ven, 09/21/2012 - 09:17

#11

Blakknite

Dust.....

Have you noticed your laptop putting out excessive heat recently? You could just have a dust build up, which believe or not could lead to performance issues and damage hardware. Try to use a can of compressed air to blow out your vents, you can also buy a laptop cooling fan to help disperse the heat. Either that or you have a virus/ malware and I would definitely run a scan to be on the safe side.

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Can Flash Drive Help With Smoother Game Play?