SSD only or SSD + HDD???

[VisedNorm]

I'm really confused rn,

looking at all the comparisons on loading times in games, transferring file speeds, etc, all of that points to 100% SDD > HDD.

I found that I can buy a 1TB NVME SSD (WD SN550) for around the same price as a 256GB NVME SSD (SX8200PRO) + 2TB HDD 7200RPM (Seagate Barracuda).

I know that you really must use the SSD for the boot drive for Windows 10, but for games...

Some people say just put it on the HDD but looking at the loading times, SSD is much better.

 

Question:

If I installed my game files in my HDD, is there any way to "boot" the game using the SSD so I can take advantage of the SSD loading speed?

[Moonzy]

1 minute ago, VisedNorm said:

If I installed my game files in my HDD, is there any way to "boot" the game using the SSD so I can take advantage of the SSD loading speed?

yea, there are caching software, but i recommend against this since u cant pick what gets cached

 

i would probably go with 256gb SSD + 2TB HDD personally

most played 1-2 games on SSD, while having 2TB bulk storage

 

but right now im running 250gb high end SSD as system drive, 500gb cheap SSD as game drive, and multiple HDD as bulk storage.

[Takt1kal]

9 minutes ago, VisedNorm said:

Question:

If I installed my game files in my HDD, is there any way to "boot" the game using the SSD so I can take advantage of the SSD loading speed?

You can't.
But I know one way, if you're using steam then you can drag and drop the game files into your SSD and change your game folder location in steam. 

Edited November 27, 2020 by knockless
ItS DrAg nOt RaG!

[VisedNorm]

7 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

250gb high end SSD as system drive, 500gb cheap SSD as game drive, and multiple HDD as bulk storage.

Hmmm, interesting. So let's just say I use the SX8200Pro for my boot drive, and downgrade my HDD to the 1TB Barracuda, can you recommend me a good cheap SSD for my game drive? (NVME and SATA alternative, if you can)

[VisedNorm]

7 minutes ago, knockless said:

But I know one way, if you're using steam then you can rag and drop the game files into your SSD and change your game folder location in steam. 

So, pretty much if I want to load the games using the SSD loading times (reliably), I have to just place the entire game files in the SSD?

[Moonzy]

3 minutes ago, VisedNorm said:

my HDD to the 1TB Barracuda

isnt 1TB HDD a bad value? like you can add a couple more bucks and you can double the capacity to 2TB

 

4 minutes ago, VisedNorm said:

can you recommend me a good cheap SSD for my game drive?

im not too familiar with SSDs, unfortunately

 

but it's something that can be expanded in the future, so just get whatever you need, and expand in the future if you need more

[Takt1kal]

1 minute ago, VisedNorm said:

So, pretty much if I want to load the games using the SSD loading times (reliably), I have to just place the entire game files in the SSD?

yes, the game data has to be located in the SSD to get it's speeds, SSD ae faster because they use multiple NANDs at the same time combining their speeds. Traditional HDDs use head and disk, which is slow, very slow.

[Takt1kal]

If it was me, I would go for the SSD, this is because I have a 1TB Seagate HDD. If you don't need 2TBs, go for 1.

[VisedNorm]

I mean, I do already have 1TB HDD in my current build and I think that's enough-ish but since I'm most likely gonna sell the entire PC for a new one, that's why I'm considering the 2TB HDD

3 minutes ago, knockless said:

If you don't need 2TBs, go for 1.

5 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

isnt 1TB HDD a bad value? like you can add a couple more bucks and you can double the capacity to 2TB

How about 512GB SSD for my boot drive and games + 1 TB? since I mostly just use my 1TB HDD currently for games and some projects. (I don't have an SSD)

[VisedNorm]

Just now, VisedNorm said:

How about 512GB SSD for my boot drive and games + 1 TB?

I could save some cash using this option and just dump it all for my GPU or something

[SupaKomputa]

Go with the SSD + HDD option.

256gb is enough for boot drive & installing non gaming programs.

yes, HDD will be slow when loading, BUT it will run just as good after it.

game size is getting larger, Red Dead Redemption 2 is costing you up to 130gb alone.

not to mention how quick your phone is depleted for taking loads of BIG size photos and videos that you need to backup once a while.

so for space, hdd still the king.

[Moonzy]

13 minutes ago, VisedNorm said:

How about 512GB SSD for my boot drive and games + 1 TB? since I mostly just use my 1TB HDD currently for games and some projects. (I don't have an SSD)

512gb + 1tb (since u already have it) sounds like a good middle ground

 

the reason i separate my system and game drive is so when i do a format, i dont have to re-download my games

 

but as supakomputa said, games nowadays are stupid huge, so you may only be able to fit in ~3-5 games, depending on the title

 

i could only fit in ~4 games on my game SSD anyways

[Chionele]

I'd go for the 1 TB SSD. The speed benefit is more than worth it, and if you do need more storage space you should go for a larger HDD anyway, so sacrificing the SSD to be just about good enough to get a practically sub-par HDD just doesn't make any sense to me.