SSD vs. HDD: What’s Best for Gaming?

Games are a great way to kill time and have fun with your friends in a virtual world.

The computer is the best way to play games, and it has been that way since it was invented. Even though PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, etc. are tough and portable competitors, the PC has proven to be the best gaming system.

Even though a gamer might think it’s easy, there are many complicated parts that need to work together for the best gaming experience. The SSD or HDD is one of these important parts. Both of them contribute to PC gaming, but in different ways.

Getting to Know SSD

Solid State Drive, which is what SSD stands for, is a type of storage device. The storage space on a desktop or laptop comes from the manufacturer as either an SSD or an HDD. SSD is a faster version of storage space with some very cool features.

Quite Expensive

Compared to an HDD, an SSD is quite pricey. In games, these storage systems are faster and have more features. Even though SSD prices vary depending on the company that makes them, they still work faster than HDDs. For the price of one SSD, you can buy two HDDs. Again, the more SSD you have, the better it works.

Externally Immune

The SSD can’t be broken by outside forces because it handles all storage in a digital way. As long as the SSD isn’t completely broken, you can throw, slam, or punch it as hard as you want and it will still work. It’s also important to point out that SSDs are hard to break. They only weigh between 77 and 150 grams.

Assurance of Storage

Storing files on your SSD is a good way to make sure it won’t stop working all of a sudden. After the writing limit is reached, it will stop working, but that takes a long time. In this case, you can use 3rd party software to back up your files when you notice that you are almost out of the limit to write.

Excellent Performance

With SSD storage, you can start up your computer, move files, and do tasks with perfect accuracy. When you start a program on your PC that is stored on an SSD, there is no delay or waiting time. Again, you can access all the parts of an SSD at once, which means you can read and write at the same time.

Noiseless Processing

Since SSDs don’t have any moving parts, there’s no reason for them to make noise. SSD can keep the environment quiet while you play games for a long time without making a sound. It helps you focus when you play games or work on your PC.

Requires Less Power

Specifically, laptops are affected due to the fact that they are equipped with battery power. An SSD can run all day with very little power. For example, an SSD only needs 2W to run, while an HDD needs at least 6W to work. So, using an SSD will help you get more use out of your laptop’s battery and let you run programs for longer.

Getting to Know HDD

HDD is the most affordable way to store data on a PC. HDD stands for Hard Disk Drive. Most of the time, an HDD is a storage system with a disk inside. When the HDD is working, your data and files are written to the disk over and over by a laser. HDD is a good way to store your data, even though it may sound a bit old-fashioned.

Fragile Body

The way HDDs work on the inside is not digitalized. It’s a manual process of using a laser to write on a disk. Because of this, HDD is very fragile and can break or stop working if it falls to the floor. Before you buy an HDD storage, you should always try it out.

Heavy Storage

The HDD is heavier and bigger than the SSD. HDDs can weigh up to 760 grams, while SSDs only weighs 76 grams. This is because the HDD’s inner mechanical parts are heavy. But getting an HDD with more storage space won’t make it heavier.

Cost-effective Value

SSD storage costs a lot more than HDD storage. They cost half as much as an SSD with the same amount of storage. For $65 USD, you can buy two hard disk drives (HDDs), but for the same price, you can buy one SSD. The price varies depending on the brand.

Not Reliable Equipment

Storing files on an HDD is risky since it can fail due to physical or technical issues at any time. It means you won’t have time to back up your files and will lose everything in the storage. However,  if you take your HDD to a skilled technician, you can still get the data back.

More Power Consumption

HDDs usually need a lot of electricity to work well. The mechanism needs twice as much power as an SSD to do the same job. So, laptops with HDD storage will run out of power faster than those with SSD storage. HDDs are the cheapest option to store data on your PC as long as you can get the job done.

Moderate Performance

When it comes to performance, HDD is not as good as SSD. Again, HDD users need to be patient when starting a game because it takes a while. It doesn’t mean that you can’t play games on an HDD. In terms of gaming, they’re almost as good as SSD drives.

Quite Noisy

HDDs make a lot of noise when they are being used. The noise gets louder when you play games because games put a lot of stress on the storage. But you can only hear this noise in a quiet room, and it doesn’t make it as hard to concentrate as you might think.

How SSDs and HDD Affect Gaming Performance

Your gaming experience is affected by the storage devices you use. There isn’t much difference between gaming with an SSD or an HDD because they have very little effect on gaming. Still, gaming does get faster when you use SSD storage.

The differences between an SSD and an HDD have already shown that an SSD is better than an HDD. So, games load faster on SSD storage than on HDD storage. The only bad things about an SSD are that you can’t write to it forever and it’s expensive.

SSD and HDD can work together if the PC can handle both. On the other hand, gaming on a laptop is better with SSD because it loads faster. It will save power and make the time it takes to switch from the menu to the game faster.

Should You Install Your Games on an SSD or HDD?

If you have both an SSD and an HDD, you might be wondering whether you should put your games on the SSD or the HDD. The answer to that question is, “It depends.”

If you install games on your SSD, they will load faster than if you install them on your HDD. So, installing your games on your SSD instead of your HDD has an advantage.

So, as long as you have enough storage space, installing your games on an SSD makes a lot of sense. If you have limited storage space on your SSD, you should install your most frequently used games and apps on the SSD and save everything else on your secondary hard drive.

Final Words

The best way to game is on a laptop or desktop computer because you can control every aspect of the game. Storage is another part that can affect your gaming experience. The fact is that both SSD and HDD can load games in different amounts of time.

So, it’s clear that SSD and HDD only affect the speed of loading while the game is starting up. There is nothing else that these storages do for the gaming industry. So don’t think that they will improve your graphics or frame rate. SSD is the clear winner when it comes to improving your gaming experience.