[Thulack]

Originally Posted by CmaN [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

That's not really what a ramdisk is. A ramdisk, is, as the name suggests, allocating part of your memory as a filesystem. The EQ directory, for example, could be assigned to a portion of your available ram. This means that all zone and model files have essentially been 'preloaded'. It simply removes the latency that occurs from disk access->ram that normally occurs. You wouldn't be loading your entire OS into ram ala a liveOS or something like that.

In reality, the zone files/model information are not that large, and shouldn't take an abnormal amount of time to load, even for a slow, standard HDD. I think some people with HDD's though, might be surprised to learn that their actual read/write speed is much slower then what it is advertised as for the unit in question. Crystalmark or others can show you that information. Typically indicative of an issue with IDE/AHCI settings, driver issues, or hard drive health. Additionally, as a HDD fills, so does the physical placement of the data on the platter, read and write times will increase.

SSD's are neat, ram disks have their niche uses, but neither should be required for acceptable loading times (given a stable internet connection) for everquest, by a long shot.

SSD's and Ramdisk have been proven to greatly increase loading time. Just saying. And yes i know you wouldnt be loading your entire OS onto RAMdisk that why i was saying get a SSD because it will improve the load times on your OS and EQ as opposed to just using a RAMdisk for EQ. Either way SSD or Ramdisk will help OP load EQ quicker. Both will cost him money.