[SOLVED] Worth buying a SSD for gaming ?

[Rui Neves]

Last games that are launched to the market already ask for a SSD on game requeriments .
I have used until now a SSD for OS and softwares and 1 HDD for games and files and 2 HDD 's for less important files and backups .
One SSD for games will really make a difference on gaming ?
My goal is play at 60 fps on high or ultra settings at 1080p , and I have been able to play like that on the games that I play ...
One SSD can really bring more stability to a game at this level of resolution and fps ,??


Pc specs :
Case NOX Coolbay SX Blue
AOC monitor with 21" and freesync , 75hz
Gigabyte b450 gaming X
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Kingston HyperX FURY DDR4 (with RGB) at 3200mhz with XMP profile 1 enabled
MSI RX 6600XT 8gb
Bitfenix formula gold 550w
3 hdd´s from WD ,(1 wd green , 1wd black ,1 wd blue)
1 ssd ( kingston a400 120gb)

 

[Rui Neves]

you can run into issues with windows update if you don't have enough spare space. that's why your OS drive needs to have some extra space just sitting there.

but for a data drive it's not as big of a deal. but leaving some spare room is usually recommended for any ssd. something like 85% full or something like that if i recall right.

It's running for years with the same space left , never have seen SSD related issues

 

[Karadjgne]

Op seems adamant. It ain't broke, so he ain't fixin it. Advice has been offered and received. No point going further on that point.

Obviously games will run better on an SSD. An SSD's throughput is @ 5x faster than a HDD. having a hybrid SSD/HDD setup works fine as is, game play isn't really affected, only load times for when new data is required to be loaded into ram/cache.

So "worth buying an SSD for games" is entirely subjective, according to the gamer in question. OP is fine with the load times and that aspect of the HDD's involvement. In my humble opinion, I'd want shorter loads, quicker drops, less lag, so for me, the SSD is worth it. It's OK that that opinion isn't shared by everyone. For some, NVMe is a must, for others a HDD storage is simply good enough. Only thing in common is that Windows and games are run at least at SSD speeds.

 

[Rui Neves]

Op seems adamant. It ain't broke, so he ain't fixin it. Advice has been offered and received. No point going further on that point.

Obviously games will run better on an SSD. An SSD's throughput is @ 5x faster than a HDD. having a hybrid SSD/HDD setup works fine as is, game play isn't really affected, only load times for when new data is required to be loaded into ram/cache.

So "worth buying an SSD for games" is entirely subjective, according to the gamer in question. OP is fine with the load times and that aspect of the HDD's involvement. In my humble opinion, I'd want shorter loads, quicker drops, less lag, so for me, the SSD is worth it. It's OK that that opinion isn't shared by everyone. For some, NVMe is a must, for others a HDD storage is simply good enough. Only thing in common is that Windows and games are run at least at SSD speeds.

Yeah I wish ... Tell that to my OCD .... If you know how anxious I stay with questions regarding my computer even when I have a strong opinion about something .... I appreciate the advices , but is not about what I've asked and honestly I think good performance is always relative ! Now when you say there are better ssd's on the market and it will be better have more left space , of course it is ! I need that ? No , at least not for last years , at least it have more than 3 years for sure ! Always used the same way ,the ssd already have paid the 20€ ....

For me would worth the upgrade if for games the ssd made a difference between a stable and not stable Gameplay , but if it is like I have to wait 10 or 40 seconds to enter a game or to load my save game I don't really care ! Only if a 2tb ssd have a cost of like 60€ or so , at 150€ I prefer to save it for other future upgrades if needed ...

 

[Tac 25]

One SSD for games will really make a difference on gaming ?

what games do you usually play?

 

[Rui Neves]

what games do you usually play?

Well what is launched to the market and I have interest to play, I have been playing God of war lately , when I could buy the spider man remastered I wish to play too . I wish to play life is strange true colors that I have on disk and not started yet .
I play a lot of fifa usually over the year too , it's pre ordered already .

Online I play fifa 23 too and sometimes fortnite .

That's the kind of games that I play as example .

 

[Tac 25]

in regards to your question about SSD for gaming. The thing it improved for me is the screen loading times.

 

[Rui Neves]

in regards to your question about SSD for gaming. The thing it improved for me is the screen loading times.

Thanks😉
Seems to be the general opinion here and from other websites and videos that I have searched too after posting this thread , and if it is only that then for me seems not to be worth it .

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks😉
Seems to be the general opinion here and from other websites and videos that I have searched too after posting this thread , and if it is only that then for me seems not to be worth it .

In todays world, it is rarely not "worth it" to get an SSD, vs continuing with an HDD.

The jump between HDD and SSD is huge.

https://www.techspot.com/news/67222-storage-real-world-performance-nvme-vs-sata-vs-hdd.html

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ9LyNXpsOo

 

[Rui Neves]

In todays world, it is rarely not "worth it" to get an SSD, vs continuing with an HDD.

The jump between HDD and SSD is huge.

https://www.techspot.com/news/67222-storage-real-world-performance-nvme-vs-sata-vs-hdd.html

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ9LyNXpsOo

Well for that video and another videos in YouTube and most opinions here when it comes to gaming will improve load times only, and paying 160€ only for that not worth it in my opinion for me , but that's for me . For the OS I have already a small SSD that is doing the job well enough over the years , at least is like twice as fast that my hdd was . When I created the thread The goal was to understand if there is any other advantage besides load times on games , seems that are not . On other things the advantages are very clear and I was aware of them

 

[USAFRet]

Well for that video and another videos in YouTube and most opinions here when it comes to gaming will improve load times only, and paying 160€ only for that not worth it in my opinion for me , but that's for me . For the OS I have already a small SSD that is doing the job well enough over the years , at least is like twice as fast that my hdd was . When I created the thread The goal was to understand if there is any other advantage besides load times on games , seems that are not.

FPS increase, no.

But "160€ " ?
What drive and what size were you looking at?
A 1TB can be had for 1/2 that.

 

[Tac 25]

Thanks😉
Seems to be the general opinion here and from other websites and videos that I have searched too after posting this thread , and if it is only that then for me seems not to be worth it .

you're welcome. My two older pc's are refurbished, so they originally had HDD's. Added SSD to them, the SSD added were larger than the HDD.. so I used the SSD's for OS and for gaming. Typically, the 3D games.. King of Fighters XV, Dead or Alive VI, and other high resource games stay in the SSD,, while the 2D games.. DNF Duel, Granblue Fantasy, and others stay in the HDD's. This kind of setup works smoothly for me. My latest pc is brand new, so it only had SSD, and the sales guy at the store was even trying to convince me to try nvme drives. lol

Spoiler

 

[Rui Neves]

FPS increase, no.

But "160€ " ?
What drive and what size were you looking at?
A 1TB can be had for 1/2 that.

Looking for 2TB drive , is between 150-160€ , if it is sata ssd

 

[USAFRet]

Looking for 2TB drive , is between 150-160€ , if it is sata ssd

Well, yeah, if you want/need 2TB.

 

[Rui Neves]

Well, yeah, if you want/need 2TB.

On my HDD that have 2tb , it have like 1,3TB free and I dont have the OS there , games are getting larger too , so if I replace my HDD to a SSD have to be the same space , it's possible not use all but in future maybe , every game is like 100gb in 2022

 

[USAFRet]

On my HDD that have 2tb , it have like 1,3TB free and I dont have the OS there , games are getting larger too , so if I replace my HDD to a SSD have to be the same space , it's possible not use all but in future maybe , every game is like 100gb in 2022

And games on the Steam platform can be moved back and forth trivially.
Now, if you switch between several games constantly, that may be a pain.

But the end solution is yours to decide.

 

[Rui Neves]

And games on the Steam platform can be moved back and forth trivially.
Now, if you switch between several games constantly, that may be a pain.

But the end solution is yours to decide.

I know , it's a question of the way I like to have things organized .

But origin and epic games I think is harder to that anyway, not sure anyway , is not something that I usually do .

Thanks for your help 😉

 

[Karadjgne]

For me would worth the upgrade if for games the ssd made a difference between a stable and not stable Gameplay

Storage has very little to nothing to do with stability as such. All the data on your pc from storage first goes to ram, then cpu. Once it hits the ram, storage becomes moot point, so any stability is solely on the part of the drivers, the cpu, etc.

An SSD vs HDD isn't going to improve game play. What it will do is improve the perception and experience of the game. Running in/out of different maps in Skyrim was a pain on HDD with 15-30 seconds of load per map. Move to SSD took that closer to 1-10seconds, depending on the map. So the game didn't change, but my enjoyment did.

In CSGO, dropping always last meant many times I missed directions or team decisions which was annoying. Several times I got booted from teams because loading took too long. Really soured me on the game then.

And that was with a 128Gb Samsung 840Pro SSD as OS and Steam games on the 1Tb WD Black, since the map files came from HDD, load times were long, even though once loaded I suffered no difference to other SSD users.

 

[Bob.B]

Well for that video and another videos in YouTube and most opinions here when it comes to gaming will improve load times only, and paying 160€ only for that not worth it in my opinion for me , but that's for me . For the OS I have already a small SSD that is doing the job well enough over the years , at least is like twice as fast that my hdd was . When I created the thread The goal was to understand if there is any other advantage besides load times on games , seems that are not . On other things the advantages are very clear and I was aware of them

Besides load time for the game a difference that might show is if mid game you need another chunk of the game.

If the chunk is on a hdd it will take longer to bring in than if it was on a ssd.

 

[Rui Neves]

Storage has very little to nothing to do with stability as such. All the data on your pc from storage first goes to ram, then cpu. Once it hits the ram, storage becomes moot point, so any stability is solely on the part of the drivers, the cpu, etc.

An SSD vs HDD isn't going to improve game play. What it will do is improve the perception and experience of the game. Running in/out of different maps in Skyrim was a pain on HDD with 15-30 seconds of load per map. Move to SSD took that closer to 1-10seconds, depending on the map. So the game didn't change, but my enjoyment did.

In CSGO, dropping always last meant many times I missed directions or team decisions which was annoying. Several times I got booted from teams because loading took too long. Really soured me on the game then.

And that was with a 128Gb Samsung 840Pro SSD as OS and Steam games on the 1Tb WD Black, since the map files came from HDD, load times were long, even though once loaded I suffered no difference to other SSD users.

I see , thanks for the explanation . I think giving your and other answers that I am not a type of gamer than need a SSD to my games . I rarely play online , what I play most online is Fifa and there all players have to start a game at the same time no matter what xD . I don't mind wait a bit more on loading times on offline games either.

 

[Rui Neves]

Besides load time for the game a difference that might show is if mid game you need another chunk of the game.

If the chunk is on a hdd it will take longer to bring in than if it was on a ssd.

As long don't cause instability on a game I am fine , probably I can buy a ssd in a future when they drop more the prices to be more in pair with the rest of the system .