Hard Drive for Gaming & SSD for boot - Good idea?

[Vertikull]

Hey everyone. I had an idea. I want to put more storage on my PC. and i'm wondering if storing games on a hard drive will effect performance or not. I use an SSD as a boot drive and was just considering this new setup. if it works that is.

[cj7s1]

3 minutes ago, Vertikull said:

Hey everyone. I had an idea. I want to put more storage on my PC. and i'm wondering if storing games on a hard drive will effect performance or not. I use an SSD as a boot drive and was just considering this new setup. if it works that is.

If you store games on a HDD instead of an SSD you may encounter longer loading times but if you are on a 7200rpm you speeds should be more than usable and satisfactory. Using a SSD for boot is always a good idea for faster boot times and in some cases faster OS operation.

 

Here is a great site on this topic:

http://www.pcgamer.com/how-do-ssds-affect-gaming-performance/

[tp95112]

Alot of us do that. Best option is that.

[lefudgelover666]

youll only see a difference in loading times, not game performance

[ErrystioT]

I think that's what most users with performance laptops or desktops do. It's a cost effective way to have a balance of speed and storage

[JoostinOnline]

18 minutes ago, Vertikull said:

Hey everyone. I had an idea. I want to put more storage on my PC. and i'm wondering if storing games on a hard drive will effect performance or not. I use an SSD as a boot drive and was just considering this new setup. if it works that is.

That's the setup for almost every PC build we recommend. The only exception is when someone has a ridiculously small budget and an SSD can't be included. 

[JoostinOnline]

11 minutes ago, cj7s1 said:

Using a SSD for boot is always a good idea for faster boot times and in some cases faster OS operation.

All cases these days. If you run Windows 10 on a hard drive, it will be running at 100% almost constantly, even when you aren't doing anything. 

[Tsuki]

thats what most of us do.

 

3 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

If you run Windows 10 on a hard drive, it will be running at 100% almost constantly, even when you aren't doing anything. 

do you have a source for that? cuz im 95% certain you made that up.

[vanished]

Loading times will be longer and you might find some games unplayable due to not being able to load new assets quickly enough as you move through an open world map, but this is actually what most people do so you should be alright.

[CausticFive520]

i have like 2 ssd's and 2 hard drives in my (kind of shitty) gaming pc 

ssd 1. boot (windows) programs random stuff and 1-3 games

ssd 2. games and a little bit of random stuff

 

i think EVERYONE should put ALL GAMES ON A SSD

 

pc specs so you know: (i know it's bad planing on upgrading to i5 7500/i5 8th gen and gtx 1060 + 8gb of ram)

gtx 750

intel core 2 q9650 @ 3.0 ghz

4gb ram

 some shit MotherBoard (no uefi)

some old case with 2 usb (prob 2.0) and broken audio plugs

Edited December 9, 2017 by CausticFive520
lol i put 300 for ghz not 3.0

[vanished]

2 minutes ago, CausticFive520 said:

i think EVERYONE should put ALL GAMES ON A SSD

As someone who does this, I agree, but not everyone is willing or able to spend the money required on what frankly is a luxury

[CausticFive520]

Just now, Ryan_Vickers said:

As someone who does this, I agree, but not everyone is willing or able to spend the money required on what frankly is a luxury

i understand, but i really do think every game should be on a ssd because of the load times

 

yes, i know that ssd cost lots

[it_dont_work]

1 hour ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

As someone who does this, I agree, but not everyone is willing or able to spend the money required on what frankly is a luxury

While a luxury, this is most likely my next upgrade, ssd's are not stupidly expensive per gb anymore. 

[TheRandomness]

-Thread moved to Storage Devices.

[JoostinOnline]

12 hours ago, Tsuki said:

thats what most of us do.

 

do you have a source for that? cuz im 95% certain you made that up.

Does working on computers every day of the week count?  I see it all the time.  Whenever I'm explaining to a customer why their laptop is slow, I open up Task Manager and show them that the hard drive access is at 100%, even though it's just sitting there.  I'm not sure why Windows 10 is so much worse, because it doesn't happen on 7 or 8.  I think it has to do with all the telemetry data.  That part is just conjecture though.  I can't remember exactly what processes access it the most, but they're all system ones.  It happens on fresh installs with no startup programs too.

[Tsuki]

5 hours ago, JoostinOnline said:

Does working on computers every day of the week count?  I see it all the time.  Whenever I'm explaining to a customer why their laptop is slow, I open up Task Manager and show them that the hard drive access is at 100%, even though it's just sitting there.  I'm not sure why Windows 10 is so much worse, because it doesn't happen on 7 or 8.  I think it has to do with all the telemetry data.  That part is just conjecture though.  I can't remember exactly what processes access it the most, but they're all system ones.  It happens on fresh installs with no startup programs too.

its all conjecture, i also work on computers every day of the week, and i dont see this issue at all.

correlation is not causation.  

until you have an actual source other than "i seent it with muh eyes" i suggest sticking to things that actually have a roots in fact that can be proved.

[JoostinOnline]

3 minutes ago, Tsuki said:

its all conjecture, i also work on computers every day of the week, and i dont see this issue at all.

correlation is not causation.  

until you have an actual source other than "i seent it with muh eyes" i suggest sticking to things that actually have a roots in fact that can be proved.

That makes zero sense.  Are you seriously suggesting that a drive constantly at 100% usage isn't a clear cause of bottlenecking?

 

And please drop the attitude.

[Tsuki]

Just now, JoostinOnline said:

That makes zero sense.  Are you seriously suggesting that a drive constantly at 100% usage isn't a clear cause of bottlenecking?

yes.  a drive constantly at 100% using at all times means there is something actually wrong.

there is a process of some kind, pinning the drive to max, and it shouldnt be.  there is an issue with a real solution.

it could be an OS issue, but its not a windows 10 exclusive issue.

 

you should actually look into whats causing it, instead of just saying "yep thats windows 10 for you"  when that has nothing to do with it.

 

odds are, theres just too much shit running in the background.  or you're using shitty 3200rpm drives.

[JoostinOnline]

Just now, Tsuki said:

yes.  a drive constantly at 100% using at all times means there is something actually wrong.

there is a process of some kind, pinning the drive to max, and it shouldnt be.  there is an issue with a real solution.

it could be an OS issue, but its not a windows 10 exclusive issue.

 

you should actually look into whats causing it, instead of just saying "yep thats windows 10 for you"  when that has nothing to do with it.

 

odds are, theres just too much shit running in the background.  or you're using shitty 3200rpm drives.

As I said before, this happens on fresh installs, and it's Windows processes that take up the usage.  Of the hundreds of computers I've worked on for customers since Windows 10 came out, this has been a common factor for all that don't have an SSD.  I don't know why you're being such a dick about this.

[Tsuki]

19 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

As I said before, this happens on fresh installs, and it's Windows processes that take up the usage.  Of the hundreds of computers I've worked on for customers since Windows 10 came out, this has been a common factor for all that don't have an SSD.  I don't know why you're being such a dick about this.

to be totally honest, im positive its caused by superfetch. which was a big issue in 8 and 8.1

and it would explain why you dont see it on computers with ssd's.

 

give disabling it a shot and see how it goes for you.  (honestly not trying to be a dick, just super tired)

 

not a windows 10 exclusive issue. just a normal windows issue.

[JoostinOnline]

4 minutes ago, Tsuki said:

to be totally honest, im positive its caused by superfetch. which was a big issue in 8 and 8.1

and it would explain why you dont see it on computers with ssd's.

 

give disabling it a shot and see how it goes for you.  (honestly not trying to be a dick, just super tired)

 

not a windows 10 exclusive issue. just a normal windows issue.

I'll give that a shot.  Some of the processes are definitely telemetry based (I remember because I've googled some of them at one point), and it's worse in Windows 10.  A few months ago a school hired me to update all their computers to Windows 10.  They weren't doing super great on Windows 8.1, but after the upgrades all their 5400RPM drives were running at max the entire time.  If SSD prices have dropped some by next summer I'll be moving them all to those.

[Tsuki]

Just now, JoostinOnline said:

I'll give that a shot.  Some of the processes are definitely telemetry based (I remember because I've googled some of them at one point), and it's worse in Windows 10.  A few months ago a school hired me to update all their computers to Windows 10.  They weren't doing super great on Windows 8.1, but after the upgrades all their 5400RPM drives were running at max the entire time.  If SSD prices have dropped some by next summer I'll be moving them all to those.

the processes arent even the problem.  its the services that dont show up in task manager at all.