Widescreen Gaming Forum

You can pull the HDD and look on the label. That would at least verify the speed of the current drive. If the drive speed is 5400 or 7200, then I would question that as the issue - especially 7200.

There are plenty of programs to test hdd speeds and things.

I recomend HDTune for speed test, and something like sandra or everest can tell you what HDD is in your system.

For the record here is the results for my notebook hdd:



For the record a 7200rmp drive (especially new ones) dont really get much hotter than a 5400rpm drive. Since they can read faster on average they are in use for a shorter duration and thus the heat stays about the same.

However the best is what I have, a 250gb or 300gb 5400rpm drive because its so data dense the read speed is nearly on par with a 7200rpm drive, but with even less heat/battery power used. Also they are larger and cheaper. 200gb is the current limit to a 7200rpm drive.

Also as far as hdd speed limiting games.... thats an open issue. Most games just load up at start, from there everything is in your ram. Games that have active loading in the background will need the faster hdd I suppose, but also more ram may help resolve the problem. I run 2gb right now due to some issues I have with my 2gb sodimm, but when that is resolved I will use 3gb of ram.

_________________
ViciousXUSMC on the Web - YouTube :: FaceBook :: Website

Just another viewpoint (aka guess): I know (and experienced in other games) that if your game is going to the HD, youll get a HUGE slowdown, or stutter. But with 2gigs of ram, i just don't see why you'd have to go to the HD, i have 1 gig (still) and never used to have stutter of any kind even with my old 9600pro. Although i havn't played Bioshock yet, it seems like all of the needed info should be in the RAM already.

Just some other ideas
I'd suspect chip-set drivers or video or a bug in the code itself mainly. I think the first thing to do would be to check your RAM usage while the game is running. If its not being utilized fully, then theres got to be a problem with hardware drivers or perhaps the code itself. This while remembering that the OS should keep some ram free for its own potential needs. Perhaps look on laptop forums and find someone elses setup with the same amount of RAM and memory in the GPU and see if their game is playing ok, then you'd be able to cross "not enough memory" off your list of possible problems. HD's should never be accessed for immediate game data needs, but for loading levels or something in the background that doesn't affect framerate...

http://www.terryscomputertips.com/computers/speed-of-virtual-memory-vs-RAM.php

Hope none of this leads you down the wrong path.

While I can't possibly know about the specific problem causes, if you are looking for a fast hard drive for a laptop that WILL enchance performance, especialy for games, you can't go wrong with a Hitachi 7200 drive. Don't know the current models, but the one I bought about 2 years ago for my Presario 2816ea (a 2002 model mind you) gave such in increase in speed that was VERY noticable. No more skipping and shit. Though that laptop is almost a museum piece now (no pixel shaders support on 7500 at all, thank you ATI...) eh, forgot what I was about to say.

You can pull the HDD and look on the label. That would at least verify the speed of the current drive.

That's not what I meant. I'm assuming the drive is 4200rpm, and I know how to check it. I wanted to know if there was a way to find out if replacing it with a 5200rpm one would have a chance of making a difference or not.

-ToryS
Thanks for the RAM checking suggestion. I'll try it next time I visit. Which could be months, unfortunately.

If you are going to replace it, replace it with a 7200.

I have another question. My friend does have an external 3.5" drive, connected with USB 2.0. Would it be worth a shot to try moving the swap file to the external hard drive?

I don't know if the swap drive will work from there, but you might want to try install the game on the external drive.
Make sure the drive supports USB 2.0 and that it is 7200 drive.

I think the USB interface will bottleneck the bandwidth even if it does work. You would want e-sata or firewire 800 to get optimal performance.

_________________
ViciousXUSMC on the Web - YouTube :: FaceBook :: Website

I think the USB interface will bottleneck the bandwidth even if it does work.

If he/she installs the game on a good 7200 external drive (Iomega for example) and the OS on the C drive (4200 speed), he will see improvement in speed. I know, I have done it in the past.

Not as much if he installs a 7200 drive as C, or what you said, but he will see difference.
That doesn't mean he will stop having his current problem, since I am not 100% what is causing it.