Replace or Add SSD?

[Geordie1881]

Happy Weekend All!

I currently run on a 500GB SSD with a 1TB HDD. I think (but am not sure) I am doing the right thing by having my games installed on the SSD rather than the HDD. The issue now (the system is from 2018) is that many of the games I play are >100GB and as such I can't have many games installed at a time. Ideally I want to avoid rebuilding the OS on a new drive but I am looking for advice of what to do. My thoughts about options are (happy to consider other options):
1. Replace SSD with larger SSD and re-install OS on new SSD - I'd prefer not to do this if I can avoid it
2. Use the HDD to install games - Will this see a performance drop off versus SSD?
3. Add 2nd larger SSD on which to install games - Will this make a material difference to running them on the HDD? Do i have physical space/slots to do this?

If I do replace or add SSD, I suspect it's worth considering a memory upgrade even though most the games I play don't need more than 8GB and recommend 16GB. Any recommendations? or am I looking to fix a problem that doesn't exist here?

Current build:
Custom Intel i7-8700K @ 4.9GHz System
Seasonic Focus Plus 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply
Antec P8 Midi-Tower Gaming Case - Black Glass Window
Intel Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz (Coffee Lake) Socket LGA1151 Processor
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070Ti WindForce 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express 1 Graphics Card
Samsung 500GB 860 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 64 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-76E500B/EU)
WD 1TB Blue 7200rpm Internal Hard Drive (WD10EZEX)
Alphacool Eisbaer LT360 CPU AIO Water Cooling Unit - 240mm (11446)
Asrock Z370 Extreme 4 Intel Z370 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard
Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Grey (TLGD416G3200HC16CDC01)

Thanks in advance

R

 

[Tetras]

3. Add 2nd larger SSD on which to install games - Will this make a material difference to running them on the HDD? Do i have physical space/slots to do this?

It depends on the game, but many games do show a large performance increase. If there's a lot of loading times (e.g. MMOs) then you'll hate using an old hard drive.

Do i have physical space/slots to do this?

Yes, personally I'd buy an M.2 drive (like the 1TB SN570) because then you don't have to worry about cables (power from the PSU and a data cable), but keep in mind they disable SATA ports when used. You'd also need to check that there's a standoff and screw (or however else the motherboard secures them to the slot).

I suspect it's worth considering a memory upgrade even though most the games I play don't need more than 8GB and recommend 16GB.

Are you suffering from symptoms typical of running out of memory, or is everything running fine? RAM is cheap right now, so it isn't a bad buy, but if you're planning on dumping everything for a DDR5 PC soon then it would obviously be a waste.

 

[Geordie1881]

Thanks Tetras

Re your comments above, I'm not really into MMO games, more things like survival, city builders, stuff like CK2, Anno1800. If it's a case that running a 2nd SSD drive would improve performance without me needing to reinstall OS (e.g. if i replaced the old drive) then I think that's the direction i'll go. I just didn't want to do that if it meant the 2nd drive would see performance increase cos it's not on the same SSD as the OS. Hopefully that makes sense. I'll look at the M.2 drive you mention, thanks.

With the memory I've no real need or desire to go to DDR5 so I'll take a look at what slots I have available and add DDR4. Am I imagining something here, or is there a quirk about running more than 2x DDR (dual channel) meaning additional memory won't be recognised/used? In that case I guess I am looking to replace the 2x8GB right?

Thanks again

R

 

[Tetras]

If it's a case that running a 2nd SSD drive would improve performance without me needing to reinstall OS (e.g. if i replaced the old drive) then I think that's the direction i'll go. I just didn't want to do that if it meant the 2nd drive would see performance increase cos it's not on the same SSD as the OS. Hopefully that makes sense. I'll look at the M.2 drive you mention, thanks.

The second drive will get the benefit of the SSD (e.g. faster load times) for anything you install on the drive, there's no need to move the operating system.

I'm not really into MMO games, more things like survival, city builders, stuff like CK2, Anno1800.

In that case, you'd have to tell me (if they have long load times), because I don't know those games. Older games with short load times are less likely to benefit from having a SSD.

Am I imagining something here, or is there a quirk about running more than 2x DDR (dual channel) meaning additional memory won't be recognised/used? In that case I guess I am looking to replace the 2x8GB right?

It is complicated.

4 sticks is always more awkward to run than 2, because it puts more load on the memory controller and if you buy the second kit a long time after, you'll also be mixing sticks that might have different memory chips. The other thing is that you won't get the same overclock on the CPU or memory, so XMP might fail to work automatically.

By the way, if you have an old BIOS I'd update it, because a lot of DDR4 is 16Gbit now and that wasn't available when your CPU/motherboard was released.

 

[Geordie1881]

Thanks again

I could do with the extra space so I'll go with that 2nd SSD. thanks!

Memory I might have a think about, but given it's nearly 6 years old now i reckon replace with 2 new sticks to be on the safe side (when I do come to it)

Thanks for suggestion on BIOS, I'll give that an update

R