[SOLVED] Does SSD make HDD load games faster?

[mymommymom]

If the SSD is installed with windows, does that boost performance in such as ways as if the games are installed on the HDD, the games load from the HDD and the SSD boosts the HDD performances to make the games load faster? I'm answering this question because i don't have a really good HDD, and it takes a while to boot up into games.

 

[TJ Hooker]

No, it only improves the load times of games/applications installed on the SSD.

 

[Solandri]

On some Intel motherboards, it's possible to reserve part of the SSD to act as a HDD cache, basically turning your HDD into a SSHD. If you use the SSD as just a data drive, it's pretty straightforward.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/248828/how_to_setup_intel_smart_response_ssd_caching_technology.html
https://www.lifewire.com/intel-smart-response-technology-833444

It's also possible to set it up with the SSD acting as the OS drive (a small partition reserved as HDD cache), but it's a lot more work.

https://www.overclock.net/forum/20-hard-drives-storage/1404323-guide-using-1-ssd-system-drive-os-acceleration-drive-raid-smart-response-technology-ssd-caching.html

I haven't used Intel SRT in years though, so I dunno which current motherboards support it. If you do go this route, don't bother going above 32 GB as a cache (I believe 64GB is the max SRT supports). Even more than 16 GB is questionable. SATA SSDs are only about 4x faster than HDDs at sequential read/writes, but 30-100x faster at 4k (small file) read/writes. So the cache is used almost entirely to store small files. Meaning 16GB will go a very long way.

Do note that writes proceed at HDD speed on a SSHD or HDD cached with Intel SRT.