Question External SSD gaming viability?

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Rance Claire

Commendable
Jul 12, 2016
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Hi,

I've come across some games that have incredibly long load times unless they're installed on an SSD, Warhammer II Total War specifically. My main drive is an SSD but it's far too small to install games on.

I am considering getting an external USB connected SSD, but I'm concerned that maybe they do not perform as well as internal SSDs do.

Can anyone please give me some advice?

Thanks in advance
 
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I do have one USB 3.0 port, or at least I think I do. It's marked with SS on the case and in device manager I have "Etron USB 3.0 Extensible Host Controller/Root Hub"

Would getting an external SSD be a good option in this case? Because I'd rather do that for now if it's a viable option
 
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I would google your motherboard and slow USB3 and see if there are many complaints first. Also try usb3 benchmarks
example: google " Asus H370 pro slow usb3 " and "Asus H370 pro usb3 benchmarks"

If you do go this route, you get the best speed in Windows by enabling "write caching" for the drive. You connect it to USB, and then you have to turn on write caching in device manager, but you have to use the "safe removal" feature of Windows before unplugging it everytime (just like you did in Win7 days) .
 
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when you say internal 'hard drive' do you mean a conventional spinning drive? Those will always be limited to ~180 MB/sec peak sequential transfers even if/when connected to a SATA3 port...

naturally, an SSD would always be faster (than any spinning drive) when the SSD is on a USB3.0 port...
 
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I'm on a Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H, Googling this and USB 3.0 has many complaints. I suppose my motherboard is a bit dated, I think I might have no choice but to upgrade it if I'm going to get an external SSD.

I think I might just buy a external SSD for the moment and see how it works with my current motherboard. Is there a way I can currently test my motherboard/USB 3.0 port to see if it's working correctly?
 
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Rance Claire said:
Hi,

I've come across some games that have incredibly long load times unless they're installed on an SSD, Warhammer II Total War specifically. My main drive is an SSD but it's far too small to install games on.

I am considering getting an external USB connected SSD, but I'm concerned that maybe they do not perform as well as internal SSDs do.

Can anyone please give me some advice?

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
usb 3.0 can be up to 90% as fast as sata 3 so it should perform fine as an external drive, don't see how you wouldn't have room for an internal sata ssd though?
 
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Rance Claire said:
I'm on a Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H, Googling this and USB 3.0 has many complaints. I suppose my motherboard is a bit dated, I think I might have no choice but to upgrade it if I'm going to get an external SSD.

I think I might just buy a external SSD for the moment and see how it works with my current motherboard. Is there a way I can currently test my motherboard/USB 3.0 port to see if it's working correctly?
Click to expand...
you could just buy an internal sata ssd and a sata to usb 3.0 adapter. That way if you have problems as an external drive you can still use the ssd as an internal drive.
https://www.amazon.com.au/Onvian-Dr...ocphy=1000148&hvtargid=pla-674297287829&psc=1
 
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prophet51 said:
you could just buy an internal sata ssd and a sata to usb 3.0 adapter. That way if you have problems as an external drive you can still use the ssd as an internal drive.
https://www.amazon.com.au/Onvian-Dr...ocphy=1000148&hvtargid=pla-674297287829&psc=1
Click to expand...

In that case wouldn't it be better to just buy an internal SSD on its own? I was only opting for an external SSD for the portability. I think I'm just going to buy the Samsung 860 QVO 2 TB Internal SSD in that case. The only issue is that my motherboard only has one mSATA slot and I already have a smaller storage SSD. I could just connect a new internal SSD to one of my SATA2 ports though right? Sorry if that's a dumb question.
 
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Rance Claire said:
In that case wouldn't it be better to just buy an internal SSD on its own? I was only opting for an external SSD for the portability. I think I'm just going to buy the Samsung 860 QVO 2 TB Internal SSD in that case. The only issue is that my motherboard only has one mSATA slot and I already have a smaller storage SSD. I could just connect a new internal SSD to one of my SATA2 ports though right? Sorry if that's a dumb question.
Click to expand...

If you only have sata 2 then an external usb 3.0 drive would be faster actually.
 
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Rance Claire said:
In that case wouldn't it be better to just buy an internal SSD on its own? I was only opting for an external SSD for the portability. I think I'm just going to buy the Samsung 860 QVO 2 TB Internal SSD in that case. The only issue is that my motherboard only has one mSATA slot and I already have a smaller storage SSD. I could just connect a new internal SSD to one of my SATA2 ports though right? Sorry if that's a dumb question.
Click to expand...

I would install a second SSD or replace the main one with a larger one. Silly to use an external drive to install programs on when you can use an internal. It won't be "portable" since you can run those programs just on any system you pick. You should have a backup drive through, but that would be a different thing than expanding space for programs.
 
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