ssd for gaming? how to decide which is right for you?

[daryd]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this so I apologies in advance for any silly mistake or such!.

A bit of a late bloomer just got back into gaming on my pc and is having a bit of trouble deciding which SSD to purchase? I just want a 128GB to do the trick, also PRICE is something to consider as I don't want to spend too much! =S (but willing to if its genuinely worth it suiting my needs)

Question: Does quality(cheap/expensive) SSD have an effect with speeds/quality when gaming?

I've been deciding between: Patriot Blaze 120GB / Kingston V300 120GB / Kingston Hyper X Fury 120GB
(I picked them 3 because the more i do my research, the more i find out there's a big chance I wont even notice a difference between the 3 for what I use my pc for, which is why I'm not looking to spend too much, but if I'm mistaken by all means let me know I would really appreciate it!)

(All I do on my pc is stream / download / youtube / Dota2 / Basic Crap)

My PC Spec

cpu: Am3 fx-6100
mobo: Asrock 980de3/u3s3
gpu: asus eah5770
psu: corsair hx650w
ram: 16gb kingston hyperx 1600mhz(4x4)
mem: 500Gb sata (oldddd)

If anyone knows something that would help me decide much appreciated if you let me know!

 

[herrwizo]

First of all, you should know that SSDs won't improve your gaming in terms of fps. You will get faster loading of Windows, faster general operations in windows while multitasking, able to open files almost instantly, load games faster and load game levels faster - that is, all disk operations will be faster, but how fast exactly your game will be depends on your GPU, CPU and whether or not you have enough RAM.

That being said, SSDs are a must these days and they contribute greatly to the overall speed of any computer; even 10yrs old computers can get a significant boost.

The most popular picks these days are Samsung 840 EVO (120 or 250GB) and Crucial MX 100. I would avoid Kingston V300, this was once a great SSD for low price, but recently they started putting cheap and much slower chips in it. Search on google for "kingston v300 cheap nand" and see for yourself.

In terms of speed, the difference between the cheapest and the most expensive SSDs will be almost impossible for you to determine; in benchmarks there can be a huge difference, but that's not what matters here. For SSD you need *reliability*, and that's something cheap SSD's can't always offer. If you cannot pick one by any other criteria, use SSD's warranty period as a criteria. It should be at least 5 years, and some SSDs have even 10yrs.

 

[photonboy]

I have an SSD set for my second Steam folder. On it I only have games like SKYRIM which have frequent load points (jumping between map points, buildings, dungeons..).

It makes little difference which model you get though since at the speed of modern SSD's the choke point is the CPU and GPU now. That's why SSD's often don't increase loads by more than 2X faster even if 10X faster than an HDD.

*Having said that, 128GB SSD should only be used for Windows + apps. No games.

Thus if your budget is only for ONE drive then just get a 1TB or 2TB HDD and no SSD. If you can afford a 128GB SSD and 1TB HDD then your games should ONLY be on the HDD.

So don't put games on an SSD unless you can afford a 250GB SSD (partitioned in half with Windows on one half and 2nd steam folder on other half) or just a 2nd SSD.

 

[stormflakes]

I have an SSD set for my second Steam folder. On it I only have games like SKYRIM which have frequent load points (jumping between map points, buildings, dungeons..).

It makes little difference which model you get though since at the speed of modern SSD's the choke point is the CPU and GPU now. That's why SSD's often don't increase loads by more than 2X faster even if 10X faster than an HDD.

*Having said that, 128GB SSD should only be used for Windows + apps. No games.

Thus if your budget is only for ONE drive then just get a 1TB or 2TB HDD and no SSD. If you can afford a 128GB SSD and 1TB HDD then your games should ONLY be on the HDD.

So don't put games on an SSD unless you can afford a 250GB SSD (partitioned in half with Windows on one half and 2nd steam folder on other half) or just a 2nd SSD.

are you telling me loading times in skyrim are 10x shorter with an ssd?
This must be a wet dream ... i'm running to the shops to get me one right this instant