{"video_id":"ywAAHuCshnA","title":"The Ultimate Storage Drive for Gamers? - Dimmdrive Review","channel":"Linus Tech Tips","show":"Linus Tech Tips","published_at":"2015-05-07T14:53:29Z","duration_s":476,"segments":[{"start_s":0.32,"end_s":7.44,"text":"The concept of RAM discs or RAM drives is not exactly a new one. And the idea","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":5.359,"end_s":10.559,"text":"behind it is pretty simple. If you have more system memory than your","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":8.8,"end_s":14.88,"text":"applications require, you can use software to allocate some of it to make","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":12.559,"end_s":19.92,"text":"a lightning fast storage device that your system sees exactly the same way it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":17.84,"end_s":24.32,"text":"would any other standard hard drive or solidstate drive. Meaning you could use","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":21.92,"end_s":28.88,"text":"it for anything. Sounds cool, right? Well, we do lots of cool stuff on this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":26.8,"end_s":32.8,"text":"channel. We've even got a Razer Siren review coming soon. So stay tuned for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":30.32,"end_s":40.48,"text":"that. But for now, roll the intro, then we'll tell you more.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":40.48,"end_s":46.32,"text":"Cooler Master's Case Mod World Series is your opportunity to show off your","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":44.32,"end_s":51.52,"text":"modding skills and win great prizes. Entries close February 7th, 2015. Click","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":48.96,"end_s":56.079,"text":"now to learn more. Now, the first time pretty much anyone hears about RAM","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":53.76,"end_s":60.879,"text":"drives, their mind starts buzzing with ideas like, \"Oh, snap. I could put my","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":58.559,"end_s":64.239,"text":"operating system on it or like I'm gonna put all my games on it so I'll be the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":62.559,"end_s":69.2,"text":"first one to the heli in Battlefield. But life is never that simple, is it?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":67.04,"end_s":74.32,"text":"System memory is usually at least an order of magnitude more expensive than","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":71.76,"end_s":79.36,"text":"even high-end storage drives. So those multi- gig application and game installs","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":76.72,"end_s":83.439,"text":"get really expensive real fast. And even if you did want to buy as much RAM as","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":81.52,"end_s":89.439,"text":"you can fit in your motherboard, unless you're buying a server grade board, that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":85.92,"end_s":91.2,"text":"won't be as much as you might hope. And","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":89.439,"end_s":96.56,"text":"the list of disadvantages actually keeps on trucking here. RAM is what is known","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":93.439,"end_s":99.68,"text":"as volatile storage, which means every","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":96.56,"end_s":101.759,"text":"time the system powers off, it empties.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":99.68,"end_s":106.72,"text":"That means that most RAM disk utilities need to essentially recreate the drive","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":104.72,"end_s":110.88,"text":"when they're launched. And every time you boot, the drive needs to be refilled","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":109.119,"end_s":115.36,"text":"with whatever you want to store on it from a reserved spot on your system","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":112.88,"end_s":120.56,"text":"drive. A process that is bottlenecked by the aforementioned system drive and can","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":117.759,"end_s":124.24,"text":"therefore be quite slow. Then if you update anything while using the RAM","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":122.56,"end_s":128.16,"text":"drive, it will need to commit those changes back to your system drive when","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":126.079,"end_s":132.08,"text":"you shut down by dumping them from the RAM disk. And then of course if the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":129.92,"end_s":136.959,"text":"system shuts down unexpectedly then you're in for a real problem because any","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":134.16,"end_s":143.12,"text":"changes not committed like a a save game or a file are just gone. But in spite of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":140.8,"end_s":147.52,"text":"all those challenges many performance enthusiasts and gamers remain committed","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":145.52,"end_s":152.64,"text":"to trying to make RAM drives as practical as they can be. And one such","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":149.76,"end_s":157.76,"text":"enthusiast startup Tim on Twitter thinks he's finally done it at least for gamers","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":155.12,"end_s":162.0,"text":"with a product called Dim Drive. Now, to be clear, the underlying technology is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":159.68,"end_s":167.28,"text":"exactly the same here. There's no voodoo magic, but the claims that Dim Drive","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":164.48,"end_s":171.92,"text":"makes about simplifying the process and optimizing the application itself for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":169.519,"end_s":176.239,"text":"gamers intrigued me. So, I got on the phone with Corsair, had them send me a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":173.84,"end_s":181.44,"text":"32 gig kit of their Vengeance LPX DDR4 2400 MHz RAM, which I ran in quad","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":178.48,"end_s":186.72,"text":"channel on an ASUS X99EWS motherboard for a basically as good as it could","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":184.0,"end_s":191.68,"text":"possibly get scenario for DIM drive to really prove to me if it's worth the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":189.519,"end_s":195.599,"text":"money. So, first a quick tour of the product, though. On the main screen is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":193.599,"end_s":199.599,"text":"an autopop populated list of the Steam games that you have installed. The star","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":197.68,"end_s":203.599,"text":"allows you to easily sort whichever ones you want to the top. The size shows you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":201.76,"end_s":207.76,"text":"how much RAM you'll need to cache that game. The wrench to the far right lets","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":205.68,"end_s":212.64,"text":"you choose whether to autoload that game and whether to enable real-time file","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":209.68,"end_s":218.879,"text":"synchronization, which should, knock on wood, protect you from progress loss in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":216.159,"end_s":223.519,"text":"an unexpected shutdown scenario and a less RAM option to show DIM drive where","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":221.519,"end_s":227.519,"text":"the important files are to cache for this title. So you can boost performance","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":225.599,"end_s":231.519,"text":"potentially without caching the entire game and therefore getting a little bit","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":229.36,"end_s":236.0,"text":"more mileage out of your RAM. Finally, the slider next to the wrench tells that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":233.68,"end_s":240.959,"text":"game whether to cache or not. In the apps tab, you can add non- Steam games","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":238.4,"end_s":245.2,"text":"or any other applications you want by manually uh dragging them onto the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":243.36,"end_s":249.599,"text":"window or right-clicking and clicking add. Then the settings tab lets you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":247.68,"end_s":253.84,"text":"configure your drive letter, the size of your DIM drive, your startup options,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":251.519,"end_s":258.239,"text":"and your color scheme. Finally, at the very top of the window is the master","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":255.439,"end_s":262.479,"text":"slider to turn DIM drive on and off. And I'll give this to Tim. This is a lot","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":260.72,"end_s":268.32,"text":"simpler to configure than RAM disk software that I've used in the past. But","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":265.52,"end_s":273.52,"text":"even if it works as intended, is a RAM disk really a sensible upgrade for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":270.4,"end_s":275.84,"text":"gamers. Storage speed is well documented","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":273.52,"end_s":281.28,"text":"as having literally zero impact on your FPS. So, the thing to look at then is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":278.32,"end_s":287.44,"text":"loading times. We ran four different scenarios. a one terabyte 7200 RPM WDD","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":284.8,"end_s":293.759,"text":"black hard drive. A one terabyte Samsung 850 Pro SSD. That same SSD with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":290.72,"end_s":295.6,"text":"Samsung's rapid RAM cache enabled. We","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":293.759,"end_s":300.08,"text":"needed to show several results for this one, by the way, to show how it learns","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":297.199,"end_s":305.84,"text":"over time. And finally, DIM drive with the full game loaded into memory.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":303.28,"end_s":310.08,"text":"And this conclusion probably won't surprise anyone who has fooled around","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":307.44,"end_s":313.199,"text":"with RAM drives before, but it was still an interesting experiment for me to run","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":311.6,"end_s":317.6,"text":"and make a video about since I wanted to play around with the software anyway. I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":315.52,"end_s":321.36,"text":"really think that DIM drive has made enormous strides towards making RAM","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":319.36,"end_s":325.919,"text":"drives easier to use, but that doesn't change that the most compelling storage","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":323.12,"end_s":330.32,"text":"type for an enthusiast PC or gaming PC is still an SSD. It's only a few times","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":328.56,"end_s":334.56,"text":"more expensive than a hard drive and makes your entire system much more","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":332.24,"end_s":339.28,"text":"responsive, not just game or application loading times, and it costs about","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":336.639,"end_s":344.639,"text":"onetenth what you'd spend per gig to put your games in RAM every time you boot","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":341.44,"end_s":346.24,"text":"up. Now, if DIM drive was like 10 bucks","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":344.639,"end_s":349.6,"text":"and you're the kind of person who really only plays one or two games and enjoys","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":348.16,"end_s":353.52,"text":"being the, you know, the first one to the heli, like I said before, then it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":351.759,"end_s":358.72,"text":"would actually get a pretty strong recommendation. At $30 though, it's a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":356.8,"end_s":363.68,"text":"little too much for me to buy for personal use, though. Speaking of things","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":361.28,"end_s":367.36,"text":"that cost too much, razors. But fortunately, today's episode sponsor,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":365.44,"end_s":371.84,"text":"Dollar Shave Club, has got that shiz taken care of for you. All you've got to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":369.44,"end_s":376.24,"text":"do is for a very affordable monthly fee, sign up for Dollar Shave Club and they","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":373.44,"end_s":381.039,"text":"will ship you razors and other shaving supplies straight to your door once a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":378.56,"end_s":385.759,"text":"month. So you don't have to get off your butt, go to the grocery store, find","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":383.28,"end_s":388.88,"text":"someone to unlock that freaking safe that they keep the razor blades in for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":387.52,"end_s":394.56,"text":"some reason. I've had people tell me, \"Well, Lionus, they don't keep the razors in a behind a lock and key at my","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":393.039,"end_s":398.4,"text":"store.\" Well, you know what? They do here. I actually have footage of it that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":396.96,"end_s":401.759,"text":"maybe we can find or maybe we can't. But the point is, it's a pain in the butt to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":400.479,"end_s":405.84,"text":"go get these supplies. And on top of that, you're paying way too much for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":404.08,"end_s":408.56,"text":"them. Dollar Shave Club's razors are high quality and they've got a bunch of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":407.28,"end_s":412.8,"text":"other great shaving supplies too, including their Dr. Carver shave butter","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":410.56,"end_s":416.96,"text":"as well as their aftershave and their one wipe charlies, which actually aren't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":414.4,"end_s":422.08,"text":"shaving supplies unless you were trying to clean your butthole so you could","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":419.599,"end_s":424.8,"text":"shave that. One wipe Charlie's are butt wipes for men, by the way, in case you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":423.52,"end_s":431.36,"text":"couldn't figure that. Anyway, I don't remember where I was going with this, guys. It's dollarshaveclub.com/Linus","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":428.4,"end_s":434.24,"text":"to start saving time and saving money on your shaving supplies. It's good stuff.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":432.88,"end_s":438.72,"text":"Check it out. It's linked in the video description. And I think we're pretty much done here. Can't believe I was","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":437.36,"end_s":443.28,"text":"talking about butthole shaving. I mean, what is this? What does this show come to? Anyway, guys, like this video if you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":441.84,"end_s":447.039,"text":"liked it. Dislike it if you thought it sucked. Leave a comment below and let me","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":445.039,"end_s":450.4,"text":"know about dim drives or if your feelings are just more complicated than","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":448.56,"end_s":453.039,"text":"this. As always, also linked in the video description, you can support us.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":451.84,"end_s":458.0,"text":"You can buy a cool t-shirt like this one. Give us a monthly contribution so we can make videos like this one. Or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":456.56,"end_s":461.919,"text":"just there's one other thing, right? Change your Amazon bookmarks one with our affiliate code. So, we get a small","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":460.639,"end_s":468.28,"text":"kickback whenever you buy stuff. That kind of stuff helps us out a lot. Thanks again for watching and as always, don't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":464.88,"end_s":468.28,"text":"forget to subscribe.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"The concept of RAM discs or RAM drives is not exactly a new one. And the idea behind it is pretty simple. If you have more system memory than your applications require, you can use software to allocate some of it to make a lightning fast storage device that your system sees exactly the same way it would any other standard hard drive or solidstate drive. Meaning you could use it for anything. Sounds cool, right? Well, we do lots of cool stuff on this channel. We've even got a Razer Siren review coming soon. So stay tuned for that. But for now, roll the intro, then we'll tell you more. Cooler Master's Case Mod World Series is your opportunity to show off your modding skills and win great prizes. Entries close February 7th, 2015. Click now to learn more. Now, the first time pretty much anyone hears about RAM drives, their mind starts buzzing with ideas like, \"Oh, snap. I could put my operating system on it or like I'm gonna put all my games on it so I'll be the first one to the heli in Battlefield. But life is never that simple, is it? System memory is usually at least an order of magnitude more expensive than even high-end storage drives. So those multi- gig application and game installs get really expensive real fast. And even if you did want to buy as much RAM as you can fit in your motherboard, unless you're buying a server grade board, that won't be as much as you might hope. And the list of disadvantages actually keeps on trucking here. RAM is what is known as volatile storage, which means every time the system powers off, it empties. That means that most RAM disk utilities need to essentially recreate the drive when they're launched. And every time you boot, the drive needs to be refilled with whatever you want to store on it from a reserved spot on your system drive. A process that is bottlenecked by the aforementioned system drive and can therefore be quite slow. Then if you update anything while using the RAM drive, it will need to commit those changes back to your system drive when you shut down by dumping them from the RAM disk. And then of course if the system shuts down unexpectedly then you're in for a real problem because any changes not committed like a a save game or a file are just gone. But in spite of all those challenges many performance enthusiasts and gamers remain committed to trying to make RAM drives as practical as they can be. And one such enthusiast startup Tim on Twitter thinks he's finally done it at least for gamers with a product called Dim Drive. Now, to be clear, the underlying technology is exactly the same here. There's no voodoo magic, but the claims that Dim Drive makes about simplifying the process and optimizing the application itself for gamers intrigued me. So, I got on the phone with Corsair, had them send me a 32 gig kit of their Vengeance LPX DDR4 2400 MHz RAM, which I ran in quad channel on an ASUS X99EWS motherboard for a basically as good as it could possibly get scenario for DIM drive to really prove to me if it's worth the money. So, first a quick tour of the product, though. On the main screen is an autopop populated list of the Steam games that you have installed. The star allows you to easily sort whichever ones you want to the top. The size shows you how much RAM you'll need to cache that game. The wrench to the far right lets you choose whether to autoload that game and whether to enable real-time file synchronization, which should, knock on wood, protect you from progress loss in an unexpected shutdown scenario and a less RAM option to show DIM drive where the important files are to cache for this title. So you can boost performance potentially without caching the entire game and therefore getting a little bit more mileage out of your RAM. Finally, the slider next to the wrench tells that game whether to cache or not. In the apps tab, you can add non- Steam games or any other applications you want by manually uh dragging them onto the window or right-clicking and clicking add. Then the settings tab lets you configure your drive letter, the size of your DIM drive, your startup options, and your color scheme. Finally, at the very top of the window is the master slider to turn DIM drive on and off. And I'll give this to Tim. This is a lot simpler to configure than RAM disk software that I've used in the past. But even if it works as intended, is a RAM disk really a sensible upgrade for gamers. Storage speed is well documented as having literally zero impact on your FPS. So, the thing to look at then is loading times. We ran four different scenarios. a one terabyte 7200 RPM WDD black hard drive. A one terabyte Samsung 850 Pro SSD. That same SSD with Samsung's rapid RAM cache enabled. We needed to show several results for this one, by the way, to show how it learns over time. And finally, DIM drive with the full game loaded into memory. And this conclusion probably won't surprise anyone who has fooled around with RAM drives before, but it was still an interesting experiment for me to run and make a video about since I wanted to play around with the software anyway. I really think that DIM drive has made enormous strides towards making RAM drives easier to use, but that doesn't change that the most compelling storage type for an enthusiast PC or gaming PC is still an SSD. It's only a few times more expensive than a hard drive and makes your entire system much more responsive, not just game or application loading times, and it costs about onetenth what you'd spend per gig to put your games in RAM every time you boot up. Now, if DIM drive was like 10 bucks and you're the kind of person who really only plays one or two games and enjoys being the, you know, the first one to the heli, like I said before, then it would actually get a pretty strong recommendation. At $30 though, it's a little too much for me to buy for personal use, though. Speaking of things that cost too much, razors. But fortunately, today's episode sponsor, Dollar Shave Club, has got that shiz taken care of for you. All you've got to do is for a very affordable monthly fee, sign up for Dollar Shave Club and they will ship you razors and other shaving supplies straight to your door once a month. So you don't have to get off your butt, go to the grocery store, find someone to unlock that freaking safe that they keep the razor blades in for some reason. I've had people tell me, \"Well, Lionus, they don't keep the razors in a behind a lock and key at my store.\" Well, you know what? They do here. I actually have footage of it that maybe we can find or maybe we can't. But the point is, it's a pain in the butt to go get these supplies. And on top of that, you're paying way too much for them. Dollar Shave Club's razors are high quality and they've got a bunch of other great shaving supplies too, including their Dr. Carver shave butter as well as their aftershave and their one wipe charlies, which actually aren't shaving supplies unless you were trying to clean your butthole so you could shave that. One wipe Charlie's are butt wipes for men, by the way, in case you couldn't figure that. Anyway, I don't remember where I was going with this, guys. It's dollarshaveclub.com/Linus to start saving time and saving money on your shaving supplies. It's good stuff. Check it out. It's linked in the video description. And I think we're pretty much done here. Can't believe I was talking about butthole shaving. I mean, what is this? What does this show come to? Anyway, guys, like this video if you liked it. Dislike it if you thought it sucked. Leave a comment below and let me know about dim drives or if your feelings are just more complicated than this. As always, also linked in the video description, you can support us. You can buy a cool t-shirt like this one. Give us a monthly contribution so we can make videos like this one. Or just there's one other thing, right? Change your Amazon bookmarks one with our affiliate code. So, we get a small kickback whenever you buy stuff. That kind of stuff helps us out a lot. Thanks again for watching and as always, don't forget to subscribe."}