3TB drive for games

Robzere31 · 27 Jul 2015 at 11:35

Currently have a 3TB WD green hard drive which holds my general stuff such as music,videos, pictures etc plus my Steam libary of games.
Not noticed any problems using it, but would swapping to a 3TB Black make a lot of difference?

This is the one I had in mind.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-413-WD&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1955

I have an Msata drive installed for Windows & a 240GB SSD for my applications.

ChocolateStarfishRammer · 27 Jul 2015 at 11:38

Robzere31 said:
Not noticed any problems using it

If it aint broke, dont fix it.

Loading time might be a fractional quicker. But that's completely dependant on the rest of the system and the Green drive being the bottleneck.

Robzere31 · 27 Jul 2015 at 12:03

Kind of what I thought, but wanted to check if hard drives had moved on a bit.

ChocolateStarfishRammer · 27 Jul 2015 at 12:36

Spin speed will be higher, and thus read/write rate.

Install a game on the green and make some notes on loadup times etc.

Then install the same game on the SSD and compare notes.

If there's a tiny unworthless difference in time, then no point. If theres a minute or two difference, then the black might be quarter/half that quick.

Craig321 · 27 Jul 2015 at 12:40

Robzere31 said:
Currently have a 3TB WD green hard drive which holds my general stuff such as music,videos, pictures etc plus my Steam libary of games.
Not noticed any problems using it, but would swapping to a 3TB Black make a lot of difference?

This is the one I had in mind.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-413-WD&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1955

I have an Msata drive installed for Windows & a 240GB SSD for my applications.

I wouldn't bother going from a HDD to another HDD, I doubt you'll see a difference that's worth the cost.

How big is your Steam library? You can get a 500GB SSD for the same price as the 3TB black.

Semple · 27 Jul 2015 at 12:45

Craig321 said:
I wouldn't bother going from a HDD to another HDD, I doubt you'll see a difference that's worth the cost.

How big is your Steam library? You can get a 500GB SSD for the same price as the 3TB black.

As above, it's not going to make any difference for video/music files. For games you'd be better off installing on a SSD if you want them to load quicker.

foster grant · 27 Jul 2015 at 12:50

I have just loaded all my Origin and Steam games to SSDs from a HDD..and I have noticed faster loading..also ( not sure if its the CPU I just added) but my games feel smoother too

Craig321 · 27 Jul 2015 at 12:52

foster grant said:
I have just loaded all my Origin and Steam games to SSDs from a HDD..and I have noticed faster loading..also ( not sure if its the CPU I just added) but my games feel smoother too

Some would do, especially if the world is streaming (open world etc.) or if the game has big maps which loads while you play.

foster grant · 27 Jul 2015 at 12:56

Well I mostly play BF4 and it runs silky smooth