HDD or SSD for games

agnes · 21 Feb 2017 at 14:20

Yo,

So I have a 500GB SSD specifically for games, and I can only really get a handful on it these days, and I'm terrible for picking random games to play and not sticking to a couple only. And living out in the sticks, deleting and uninstalling is out of the question as it takes an age!

Anyway, I could snap up a 4TB HDD to put alongside the SSD and use the 4TB drive for the majority of games, such as Skyrim, Mass Effect etc, stuff that doesn't really depend upon read speeds. And use the SSD for online games like For Honor, BF1 etc.

Or is it not worth getting a mechanical drive? Will I regret going back to a 7,200rpm drive? It's read is 172mb/s, which, once you take the marketing guff off. It's realistically something like 150mb/s.

Unsure!

Razor Time · 21 Feb 2017 at 14:24

If your broadband connection is slow you can keep a library of games on a mech drive and move them over to your ssd when you want to play.

Glanza · 21 Feb 2017 at 14:30

You've got the right idea if you do pick up a normal HDD. SP won't matter on load times but MP certainly will.

agnes · 21 Feb 2017 at 14:35

Razor Time said:
If your broadband connection is slow you can keep a library of games on a mech drive and move them over to your ssd when you want to play.

I work in IT, the main priority for my home PC is to get it working so I never have to tinker with it. The idea of having to transfer files back and forth is just a pain in the arse that I'd rather avoid.

Ryan0r · 21 Feb 2017 at 14:53

Then you'll know about robocopy. There are also other tools to do it for you.

Having the files somewhere local versus having to download them again on a poop connection is a no-brainier surely?

Definitely stay with an SSD. If you possibly can, get another SSD to install games onto.

How have you managed to fill 500GB? I have about 10 games installed, plus windows, Photoshop, a few other things, still plenty room left. I'm assuming you've redirected all your docs, music, videos, temp folders, page file etc onto a mechanical HDD to save space?

hornetstinger · 21 Feb 2017 at 14:55

SSD for windows, regular fast HD for games. Plenty fast enough, it's not like neogeo CD.

Narj · 21 Feb 2017 at 15:31

SSD for everything except documents and downloads. I got a 1TB drive and never really have to mess around uninstalling or reinstalling. Got about 110 games installed.

bledd · 21 Feb 2017 at 15:40

agnes said:
I work in IT, the main priority for my home PC is to get it working so I never have to tinker with it. The idea of having to transfer files back and forth is just a pain in the arse that I'd rather avoid.

Ha, I have the exact same view. Set things up once and never have to fiddle with them again.

Sp00n · 21 Feb 2017 at 15:45

agnes said:
I work in IT, the main priority for my home PC is to get it working so I never have to tinker with it. The idea of having to transfer files back and forth is just a pain in the arse that I'd rather avoid.

Then buy a bigger SSD or have slower load times with a mech drive.

I just delete games on my SSD now, internet is so quick if I want to re-download it doesn't really matter.

andy_mk3 · 21 Feb 2017 at 16:14

I keep games like BF1 on my ssd. I had it on a mech drive (Samsung F1 1TB) and it took an absolute age to load.

Razor Time · 21 Feb 2017 at 16:25

agnes said:
I work in IT, the main priority for my home PC is to get it working so I never have to tinker with it. The idea of having to transfer files back and forth is just a pain in the arse that I'd rather avoid.

You don't transfer games games back and forth every time you play, you keep a library and only transfer a few games that you are playing to the ssd. How many games do you need to be installed at one time?

Personally I would just buy more ssd storage, I have 2tb worth on my gaming rig and no mech drives at all.

divinebeetle · 21 Feb 2017 at 16:32

I transfer games back and forth to my SSD from a normal HD quite a bit. Never found it too much of a hassle, although a lot of load times are perfectly acceptable on the normal HD

Ryan0r · 21 Feb 2017 at 16:35

Sp00n said:
I just delete games on my SSD now, internet is so quick if I want to re-download it doesn't really matter.

Good for you. OP doesn't have fast internet, hence the question.

Dirk Diggler · 21 Feb 2017 at 17:00

agnes said:
I work in IT, the main priority for my home PC is to get it working so I never have to tinker with it. The idea of having to transfer files back and forth is just a pain in the arse that I'd rather avoid.

You're not really transferring back and forth. Your HDD acts like a cloud, and transferring the files over when you want to play that specific game will be faster than downloading with 200MB internet connection.

Decide which game you want to play
Copy it from HDD to your Steam folder on SSD
Go to Steam library and "install" the game
Steam will find the existing files and the game will be ready to play in under a minute.

If you think that's a hassle, then I'm not sure what alternative solution is open to you other than buy more SSD's. Obviously, you can store them all on the HDD and play direct from it, but as mentioned above the process to get them onto your SSD is quick and easy, so why wouldn't you?

hornetstinger · 21 Feb 2017 at 17:06

Because SSD per GB is far more expensive, and don't have to fart about moving games back and forth.

Sp00n · 21 Feb 2017 at 17:24

Ryan0r said:
Good for you. OP doesn't have fast internet, hence the question.

So he did, my bad

Ryan0r · 21 Feb 2017 at 17:27

Sp00n said:
So he did, my bad

x

FloppyPoppy · 21 Feb 2017 at 17:49

Hi OP.

I have a similar situation to you although mine comes from simply disliking having to redownload stuff.

I have a tiny 120gb nvme drive with one game installed because it is my main slice at the moment.

And I have a 5TB drive with 900gb free on it, the rest is all games. This is a really pretty slow 5400rpm nas drive and I personally never have any issues or complaints regarding loading times or the likes.

A few games enjoy faster drives and those are worth having on a SSD like arma for instance.

But hdds really are still adequate for the mass storage of games

Hope this might help you decide.

TheVoice · 21 Feb 2017 at 18:09

Steam now has the option to let you move games between drives too.

Nexus18 · 21 Feb 2017 at 18:23

SSD for me.

Certain games run better on SSD i.e. batman arkham knight.