SSD

[Spudwell06]

Im relatively new to PC building, what does SSDs improve?

Do i need an SSD?

Because if it only helps load times, id rather save the money. 

[Eigenvektor]

It's a lot faster and more responsive than an HDD. Meaning your computer will boot faster, copy files faster, load games faster etc. I'd say it's one of the most worthwhile upgrades you can get.

[Moonzy]

3 minutes ago, Spudwell06 said:

Im relatively new to PC building, what does SSDs improve?

Do i need an SSD?

Because if it only helps load times, id rather save the money. 

it's a luxury item, having it wont improve your FPS much unless you're limited elsewhere (in which buying an SSD isnt a fix, it's a duct tape repair)

 

i wouldnt say you NEED it _{i definitely do}

but it's VERY nice to have

[Spudwell06]

Just now, Eigenvektor said:

It's a lot faster and more responsive than an HDD. Meaning your computer will boot faster, copy files faster, load games faster etc. I'd say it's one of the most worthwhile upgrades you can get.

M.2 or 2.5?

[Spudwell06]

Just now, Moonzy said:

it's a luxury item, having it wont improve your FPS much unless you're limited elsewhere (in which buying an SSD isnt a fix, it's a duct tape repair)

 

i wouldnt say you NEED it _{i definitely do}

but it's VERY nice to have

so should i have both HDD and SSD?

[Oswin]

1 minute ago, Spudwell06 said:

M.2 or 2.5?

depends, which models are you talking about?

[Eigenvektor]

2 minutes ago, Spudwell06 said:

M.2 or 2.5?

If you want to save cost, get a SATA SSD, doesn't matter if M.2 or 2.5". If you want the absolute best, get an NVMe SSD, though in terms of load times and boot speed it's not really worth it.

1 minute ago, Spudwell06 said:

so should i have both HDD and SSD?

You could get an SSD for the OS and your most used software and a large HDD for everything else.

[Moonzy]

Just now, Spudwell06 said:

so should i have both HDD and SSD?

if buying an SSD means stepping down a tier in cpu or gpu, then it's not worth it

 

if you're talking about add-on, then it depends on your financial situation

but it's one of the best upgrades u can do, even to a 10 year old system

 

dont have to get a big one, a 120gb will do if you're really tight on budget, but 250 or 500gb is very nice to have as u can also throw some commonly used softwares and games on

[Spudwell06]

1 minute ago, Eigenvektor said:

OS and your most used software and a large HDD for everything else.

I only play games, so would i only keep them on the HDD

[Spudwell06]

1 minute ago, Moonzy said:

if buying an SSD means stepping down a tier in cpu or gpu, then it's not worth it

 

if you're talking about add-on, then it depends on your financial situation

but it's one of the best upgrades u can do, even to a 10 year old system

 

dont have to get a big one, a 120gb will do if you're really tight on budget, but 250 or 500gb is very nice to have as u can also throw some commonly used softwares and games on

Have the primary games + OS

[Eigenvektor]

1 minute ago, Spudwell06 said:

I only play games, so would i only keep them on the HDD

Depends on the game(s) and the size of the SSD. I've got a single 1 TB SSD and that's enough for everything I use.

 

If you need more room you could always add an HDD later or make do with a smaller SSD. Personally I don't like having to constantly weigh the pros and cons of moving stuff between fast and slow storage.

[Moonzy]

2 minutes ago, Spudwell06 said:

Have the primary games + OS

depends on what games you play, some games can be few GB, windows typically take up around 70GB, so a 120gb drive is fairly small

a 250gb is a good sweetspot for budget builds, not too big or small, can fit 1-3 commonly played games like GTA V

500GB or 1TB if you can afford it

 

if you want to buy an SSD, look at the ones with DRAM, they cost a bit more but it's worth it, especially if you're storing your OS on it

[Spudwell06]

1 minute ago, Moonzy said:

depends on what games you play, some games can be few GB, windows typically take up around 70GB, so a 120gb drive is fairly small

a 250gb is a good sweetspot for budget builds, not too big or small, can fit 1-3 commonly played games like GTA V

500GB or 1TB if you can afford it

 

if you want to buy an SSD, look at the ones with DRAM, they cost a bit more but it's worth it, especially if you're storing your OS on it

the m.2 500gb 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-WDS500G2B0A-Blue-Internal/dp/B073SBX6TY?pf_rd_r=JH60DHGQYBHKT5EMYY4M&pf_rd_p=3ec60dec-968f-4faf-82b8-3b4dfad6419e&pd_rd_r=501e6dfd-2622-4ffe-af9c-d22a7b7623af&pd_rd_w=8YvIT&pd_rd_wg=a06AO&ref_=pd_gw_trq_rep_sims_gw&th=1

[Applefreak]

@Spudwell06 Can you post the motherboard you have first, so we can check if and what kind of SSD is actually compatible  with your PC?

[Moonzy]

3 minutes ago, Spudwell06 said:

the m.2 500gb 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-WDS500G2B0A-Blue-Internal/dp/B073SBX6TY?pf_rd_r=JH60DHGQYBHKT5EMYY4M&pf_rd_p=3ec60dec-968f-4faf-82b8-3b4dfad6419e&pd_rd_r=501e6dfd-2622-4ffe-af9c-d22a7b7623af&pd_rd_w=8YvIT&pd_rd_wg=a06AO&ref_=pd_gw_trq_rep_sims_gw&th=1

this is a good drive, but make sure your motherboard have the slot for it, this is a SATA NVME drive, so consult your motherboard manual because not all older boards support SATA NVME in their m.2 slot

 

edit: sale title says SATA... i could've sworn wd blue is NVME

[Spudwell06]

1 minute ago, Moonzy said:

this is a good drive, but make sure your motherboard have the slot for it, this is an NVME drive, so consult your motherboard manual because not all older boards support NVME in their m.2 slot

 

edit: sale title says SATA... i could've sworn wd blue is NVME

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASRock-ATX-Motherboard-B450-PRO4/dp/B07FVYKJHR

[Moonzy]

Just now, Spudwell06 said:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASRock-ATX-Motherboard-B450-PRO4/dp/B07FVYKJHR

consult your motherboard manual

or @Applefreak is willing to do it for you

[Applefreak]

ASRock as a list of supported M.2 SSDs for your motherboard LINK HERE

 

If you want something with good price to performance, ADATA M.2 SSDs are a pretty good choice at the moment.

I have recently installed a SX8200 Pro 512 GB for OS and some games, works really well with larger games like Star Citizen and Battlefield 5. My recommendation would be a drive with 480 GB or more to have some room for those larger games.

Standard SATA SSDs are a great choice too, while not as much bandwith as M.2 PCIe drives have, they surely will be an immense upgrade when switching from a spinning drive. For larger and mostly older games (pre 2016 mostly), get a modern 7200 RPM drive, WD Black or GOLD, WD Ultrastar, Seagate Barracuda, Seagate Desktop SSHD etc. with 2 or 3 TB size. That should be enough for your games library in most cases. If you need more storage, faster or slower, your motherboard can handle 2 fast M.2 drives as well as 4x SATA 3 drives at the same time (you have 6 SATA ports but the last 2 will be used by the M.2 interfaces when used).