If you are looking to buy components for your new gaming PC, or even buying a new laptop, picking the right storage type for your system is quite important. One of the most common queries that people usually have is whether they should go for an HDD or an SSD, especially for a gaming PC?
So, if you have similar questions in your mind, we can say, you’re on the right page. In this short and simple guide, we will take you through a quick comparison between both SSDs and HDDs, and find out which one of them provides the best experience to PC users. Hence, stick right to this guide and read it until the end if you want to know are SSDs actually worth it for gaming, or is it just a gimmick? Let’s find out.
Comparison: SSDs and HDDs
Well, since you are already in the process of building a new gaming PC, we assume you are already aware of the new generation storage type, the solid-state drives aka SSDs. So, are they good enough to throw away the older generation, HDDs, out from the market?
For the reality check, we need to compare them on the basis of various factors, while also keeping things like pricing and reliability in mind. Let’s begin!
Storage Capacity
Being extensive PC users ourselves, we can say that storage capacity is one of the most crucial factors to consider while building a new PC. For any laptop or PC, having at least 1TB of storage space is highly essential these days.
No matter what, even this 1TB of storage would feel less to you someday since every day you will be loading your PC with games, work files, images, movies, and much more stuff.
If we compare SSDs with HDDs on the basis of their storage capacities, we would say, HDDs are a clear winner here. It’s because you can find SSDs with capacities like 512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB, etc. However, for the price of a 256GB SSD, you can get a 1TB HDD which is obviously more storage space.
Performance
If you hate looking at the loading screens whenever you boot your PC or launch a program on your computer, an SSD will definitely feel calming to you. Although this fast experience comes for a price, it’s definitely worth it! Just like the HDD drives, SSDs do come in a variety. If your pockets don’t allow you to spend on a high-end PCIe Gen 4 SSD, you can fit an entry-level SATA SSD in your PC rig, it would still perform like a charm, and much better than a hard drive.
Generally, SATA SSDs offer read speeds up to 500MBps which is quite good as compared to HDDs that barely cross the 200MBps mark. The better SSD options are M.2 and PCIe Gen 4 that have 3GBps and 7GBps read speeds respectively. Basically, this speed feels much more mesmerizing when you see the game loading on your screen within seconds. Without a doubt, SSDs are much better, not just for gaming, but for overall PC performance.
Reliability
Speaking of reliability, we often see people complaining about their HDDs failing to work, or slowing down. Since HDDs are mechanical drives, it’s obvious that they age with time and show signs of wear and tear.
But, in today’s time, we all have so much important data that we never want to lose. That said, a reliable storage drive is all that we need, right? Fortunately, SSDs are actually a lot more reliable than HDDs since they rely on flash memory, and do not have any moving parts inside.
Pricing
Believe it or not, in every aspect, you will find SSDs performing much better compared to any HDD. However, when it comes to pricing, SSDs can easily empty your pockets. As we said earlier, roughly, a 256GB SSD and a 1TB HDD are available for equivalent prices in the market.
No matter how good are SSDs, people looking for more storage for a cheaper price would always pick HDDs, and that’s the major reason why HDDs can’t be kicked out of the market any time soon.
Until and unless you are facing budget issues, if you want performance as well as space, SSDs do come with high storage capacities, but that’s going to be a huge investment, so make this move carefully.
Wrapping up – Should you get an SSD for gaming?
You could ask this question to us any day, the answer would always be the same, yes!
SSDs are much better options to pick compared to an HDD. Nonetheless, if storage capacity is your major consideration, you can install a 1TB HDD along with a 256GB SSD in your gaming setup.
Also read: How to optimize Windows 10 for gaming
In this way, you can have good enough space, and keep your PC running lightning-fast by installing the OS and your favorite programs on the SSD, for improved loading times. Otherwise, if budget is not an issue at all, load your PC with a high-capacity SSD, no one will question you! That’s it for this article, if you still have any queries left, you can discuss that in the comments section below.
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