Would it be worth it to install The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to an SSD

[Kuram]

I am running it off a 7200rpm hard drive now. Would an SSD improve performance or would it just improve load times? Right now I suffer from 2second pauses when traveling in certain outdoor environments. I am assuming it is because it is loading a new area as I'm traveling. Would an SSD improve this or is a non needed expense right now?

[Shikamaru Nara]

Initial load times are indeed about the only real performance benefit which at this point the engine seems to be pretty good at compensating for. SSDs are cool for sure but for general in-game performance probably very little. I got a pretty massive performance boost from upgrading to an SSD, much more than I expected. I upgraded every part of my computer BEFORE I upgraded my 7200 to an SSD, and I guess I got accustomed to a bit of choppiness here and there.

[Badmannah]

If I start disabling CPU cores then the loading times skyrocket, extremely noticeable if you only enable 2 cores (my CPU is a triple core 3.2 GHz Athlonx64) even if the FPS in game does not alter. Task manager suggests it uses all of two cores + about 20 - 30% of the third on level load. Guess the game is highly compressed, or unoptimized. But at that rate my load times would only be ~ 2.5 seconds ~20% better (10.5) if I had the fastest drive if the CPU usage is anything to go by. I might be wrong. Might try installing in on my other drive that gets 70mb/sec and see what that does.

[DevenderD]

If you are using a HDD grab a copy of HD Tune and check your Accoustic Management settings. Most mechanical hdd have 'quiet' prioritized over 'fast' as factory defaults. You can usually gain 4+ ms seek time by having the disk platter actually spin at its manufacturer rated rpm. After using a uGrid value of 7, I started getting the odd stutter every now and again when running around exteriors, and a lot of stuttering when on horseback. I have recently found an awesome little tool that allows you to install Steam games to multiple drives, and I moved Skyrim to my SSD. Stuttering is non-existent now, even on horseback in wooded areas, and load times are noticeably faster!

[Halle]

I run 2 SSDs in my machine. An 80GB Intel that’s soley for the OS and Apps, and a 40GB Intel where I place my top 3 or so currently played games (or one that access the HD often). Games on a SSD make absolutely no difference at all performance wise- Zilch. You will not gain a single FPS. However, there are some slight exceptions. Maps and levels will load a bit faster (maybe by a second or 2). Also, certain games that stream data from the HD very often may show a slight overall improvement.