SSD gaming storage

Blukeah · July 21, 2021

Hey guys,

I'm looking at upgrading my desktop storage, I have a 500gb Samsung 980 SSD and a 1tb HDD, it's slowing down and want to replace it with a SSD.

I was looking at the Samsung 2tb QVO, what are people thoughts on it or opinions on what I should get?

Chiyawa · July 21, 2021

SSD for 2TB is still quite expensive. Unless you can find a bargain for it, then it'll be worth.

Just remember, QVO uses QLC, which is less durable than TLC. It is also slower and prone to more errors than TLC, but if your usage is low, it'll be an ideal replacement for your old HDD as they are cheaper.

Biohazard777 · July 21, 2021

44 minutes ago, Blukeah said:

Samsung 2tb QVO

Ok choice, 190$ currently.
If you want TLC and save a few bucks you might want to consider buying 2 x TEAMGROUP AX2 1TB ( 156$ total currently ).

Good reviews on Amazon.

They also have a 2TB TLC variant for 184$ if it must be a single drive.

mariushm · July 21, 2021

QLC memory has low endurance, it doesn't handle a lot of writes, but it's not affected by reads. I wouldn't write more than around 50 GB a day on average on a QLC drive.

So if you basically install 1.75 TB or so of games on the SSD and then just run the games from the SSD, you'll be fine as the flash memory isn't degrading due to reads. Your only writes will basically be small game updates (if you run Steam for example and Steam patches game files or replaces game files with new ones)

You'll also want around 50-100 GB empty pretty much all the time.

For most games, you wouldn't notice the difference between a SATA SSD and a nvme SSD ... it's not like the game files are read from the SSD at more than 2-300 MB/s and most game levels are usually less than 1 GB. A game typically will load a few GB of common textures and sounds that are reused throughout the levels, then load a few hundred megabytes at each game load, then load stuff as needed while you're playing the game level ... so the actual maximum speed matters less.

So for example, it may be an option to buy something like a 2 TB WD Blue SATA SSD which uses TLC memory and has a long warranty and it's often with discounts.

Right now, it's 195$ on Amazon and it's much better than any QLC drive : https://www.amazon.com/Blue-NAND-2TB-SSD-WDS200T2B0A/dp/B073SBRHH6/

Action_Johnson · July 21, 2021

That's what I did for my gaming rig at home. Put the older, smaller games on the 2TB WD Blue, and the big stuff like MSFS or anything I play alot of (like MSFS) on the 2TB SN750.

Big reason I have 4TB worth of SSD for my Steam library is because I have DSL at home, so it's alot easier for me to just keep everything downloaded all the time and do the minor updates. MSFS took me 6 days of running continuously to download and install.