Single SSD vs SSD AND Hard Drive Combo?

[kzlotnick]

I am thinking about getting a single SSD vs a hybrid or hard drive ssd combo .

I will be using intel i7 2700x processor

Will I see a decline in gaming performance if I don’t have a separate HD AND SSD?

 

[Gam3r01]

I would recommend against a hybrid drive, not really worthwhile.
If you have the budget to get a large enough SSD to put your OS, programs, files, and games on it, then its fine to use a single drive.
However, its more likely that you are going to need more storage than is affordable (*though, SSD prices are dropping). In that case, I would recommend an SSD for the OS, programs, and some games. HDD for your files, large games, etc.

 

[Eximo]

SSD: Fast, no seek times, less latency
Hybrid Drive: has a small SSD cache that stores the most commonly accessed files automatically, typically OS files
SSD + HDD: Anything you put on the SSD will be that fast, anything you put on the HDD will have the seek times, latency, and throughput disadvantage.

No "Decline" in gaming performance in having a spinning disk, just takes longer to load things. The upside is that HDD storage is vastly cheaper than SSDs. If you can afford it, SSD storage is less volatile.

 

[kzlotnick]

I like both responses . And it’s a fair point about cost . What I saw is that for $100 I can get 500 gig SSD . Is that adequate or should I be looking at something bigger for games like League of Legends; Fort Nite ?

 

[punkncat]

From a budget perspective, it makes a lot of sense to use a 'smaller' SSD for your OS and then a large HDD for storage. You put OS on the SSD to avoid long boot times. Anything you want to access and load quickly goes on the SSD. The HDD is cheap and has lots of storage but you are waiting long times for it to load. This can be particularly disappointing if you play games that require map loads, etc. during play.


In regard to hybrid disks, they have not been well thought of due to reliability issues. I am not sure if that has gotten significantly better.

 

[ss202sl]

With hybrid drives, I understand that the SSD is used to cache the HDD data. So you couldn't control what data went to the SSD and what went to the HDD.

 

[vMax]

I like both responses . And it’s a fair point about cost . What I saw is that for $100 I can get 500 gig SSD . Is that adequate or should I be looking at something bigger for games like League of Legends; Fort Nite ?

500GB SSD is very good and will handle a hell of a lot including a fair few games... ...I could never go back to a HD...An SSD makes probably the single biggest difference how how a PC feels...After a while, pick up a cheap HD just for your data like movies, music, photos..etc.

And I agree with the comments, go for a SSD instead of Hybrid..

 

[dontlistentome]

I like both responses . And it’s a fair point about cost . What I saw is that for $100 I can get 500 gig SSD . Is that adequate or should I be looking at something bigger for games like League of Legends; Fort Nite ?

I have used a 120gb SSD for the OS, programs, and a couple of games.
1. You don't want to fill up an SSD like you can with a mechanical hard drive.
2. So if you are installing a large game that takes 50gb of space, you can install ONE game on that small of an SSD. This assumes you don't also install large programs too.
3. If you play games with smaller install sizes then you can squeeze more than one on the SSD.
4. If you have a large game library then you will need a lot of storage space regardless of how many games you put on the SSD.

So you do the math, since only you know what your needs are. Personally I have the small SSD and two large mechanical drives. I need a lot of storage space and I don't need everything on an SSD, since certain types of data and files don't benefit from the extra speed. Due to the drop in SSD prices, I'm looking at 480gb SSDs as my next purchase.

 

[Gam3r01]

A 500GB SSD for a single drive would likely be fine for you. And you could always add in an HDD later if needed.
I personally play games that take up alot of space, so I have a HDD for those.

 

[kzlotnick]

Thank you very much for you input everyone.