Storage plays a vital role in gaming front and gamers that play high-end games that require huge storage space for loading should own a very efficient storage. If you are a gamer by yourself and want to know which storage is apt for your gaming then we have your questions answered here. Here we will be talking about SSD or HDD for Gaming. As we all know, HDD stands for Hard Disk Drive and SSD stands for Solid State Drive. Though the purpose of both the storage drives is pretty much similar, the working and other features vary greatly. If you are in plans to invest on a storage that has best to offer for the gamers then you have to read this article without hitting miss.
What Is An HDD?
Hard Disk Drives are made of spinning disks and are wrapped in a metal casing. They are used to read/write at higher speeds. As Reading/writing onto a drive is a sensitive thing to deal with, they needs to be kept safe from getting prone to static shocks, drops, spills, magnetic forces etc as they may affect the working of the device. The drives though can be physically damaged easily, the data lost due to errors or some other reasons can be retrieved. Hard drive has been in use from ages now and is the primary storage for both desktops and laptops.
The read/write speed or spindle speed of the hard drive is 7,200 Revolutions Per Minute (RPM) and it translates to higher performance. The RPM ranges from 5,400 to 15,000. HDDs have higher capacity rates and those who are into the capacity than on speed can look into the HDDs for up to 10 TB capacity drives.
What Is An SSD?
Solid State Drive as the name suggest consists of unmovable parts. This reduces the risk of physical damage to the device compared to the hard disk drives. SSDs are small in size than HDDs. It consists of memory chips inside and strong casing outside. SSDs are making good market lately with their attractive features. They are quite speed and that is the reason why customers are eyeing on them more. The speed at which SSD can operate and load files is much higher than the best HDD in the market.
SSD uses NAND flash memory to store data instead of spinning disks of HDDs. They are light weight and simple in design unlike hard drives. They are more portable for PCs then laptops. But lately, with their faster read and write speeds and lower latency, SSDs have made their footing into desktop systems. They are making way into the gaming desktops and PCs as a primary storage option.
SSD or HDD for Gaming
When it comes to storage, thousands of thoughts cross our mind making us confused over which one is best and apt to choose from. At such times, there is a need to take professional assistance to choose the right storage for your gaming. Regular gaming and professional gaming differs in many aspects and the prime thing that decides the gaming performance is the storage. In such scenario, one should always look for a storage that goes well with their gaming and also enhances experience to a next level.
While traditional hard drives have very good track record in both gaming and general work space, SSDs have taken the gaming world to high up with their ultimate features. Whether an SSD or HDD is best cannot be decided just by considering one or two factors. There is a lot to compare and we have to look deep into each aspect to finalize on the storage drive that makes the rank.
Here we will give you a clear picture of SSD Vs HDD For Gaming so that you can decide which one is apt for you and your gaming. We will discuss here every aspect of the two drives in the light of gaming so that you can easily relate to the topic.
1. Speed
Here we will talk about the speed of the HDDs and SSDs. HDDs standard speed is 7200 RPM then and now. On the other hand, SSD is quite faster is getting upgraded every now and then. The current version is M.2 SSD or PCIe SSD. When coming to the speed, boot time is something to boast about of SSDs. While the HDDs have 62.5 seconds of boot time, SSDs only have 23.2 seconds of boot time, which is twice.
Though HDDs were embedded with ‘Fast boot’ ability on Windows 8 and 10 using UEFI, this still didn’t make HDD any competitor to SSD. As per the records, the boot time of the SSDs could be 6X faster. This is all with the boot time and SSDs are capable of reducing the time significantly. The other important aspect is the loading time that is quite short. If you are playing a heavy game then the loading could take huge time, which is quite vexing. At such times, SSDs cut down the time to almost half and take you into the game with jet speed. In terms of speed, HDDs are literally no match to the SSDs.
2. Lifespan
Lifespan is utmost essential aspect when comparing SSD and HDD. The lifespan purely depends on the usage and various other factors. The lifespan of a storage device can come to an end if it is physically damaged or die due to manufacturing faults. As SSDs are less prone to physical damage than HDDs, they are a better choice here. If not for physical damage, HDDs are the top players in the lifespan factor. They last for years if they haven’t undergone any physical damage.
Also, SSDs use NAND memory which retains data through electrical charges which makes it vulnerable to the data storage. Most consumers however take this aspect lite as they exchange their PCs every now and now without having to use the same drives for decades. But if that is not the case, HDDs will take away the cup home in lifespan factor.
3. Durability
SSDs take the front row when durability comes in. This is because; they are designed with no moving parts. It is the main reason why SSDs are durable than HDDs. Due to no moving parts, there is less risk of physical damage being done to the SSDs. Whereas for HDDs, the moving parts get easily damaged and durability fails. The spinning disk and read/write head are high risk areas of HDDs that make the durability of the device flat.
4. Failure Rate
Every storage, whether it is a hard disk drive or solid state drive will fail one day. The only difference is that they fail differently for various reasons. HDDs use spinning disks that store data and the read/write head moves back and forth to access the data. As the movement happens in HDDs, there is high risk of damage in them. Coming to SSDs, they have no moving parts. The failure mode of this drive is different than HDDs. As we all know, the number of writes of SSD is less than HDD. Once all the storage cells are degraded and no more data is accepted, the writing cannot be done. This affects the storage directly.
To deal with this, techniques like over-provisioning and wear-leveling were bought into light. The wear-leveling helps spread the writes evenly all over the storage device allowing no blocks to die quickly. Over-provisioning means the drive consists of more memory than the original one. This makes SDDs to have less failure rates than HDDs.
5. Power Consumption
If you are a professional gamer and want us to answer your question, Do Games Run Better On SSD then the aspects we have covered above and going to talk about below will help you know it better. It is a known fact that SSDs consume less power than HDDs. This is because of the efficiency difference they both possess. If you are using SSD you have to set the power settings of the OS to shut the drive in a minute. Though it is shut, when you access the drive later, it can be online in seconds, unlike mechanical HDD that takes more than a minute sometimes.
HDDs cost you more in long run, while SDDs are less power consuming in nature. SSD saves great power that in turn helps prolong the battery life.
6. Noise
The noise is also another aspect to consider in the Vs game. As there are no moving parts associated with SDDs, they make almost no noise. Nevertheless, HDDs moving parts produce noise and the sound can be quite audible with the usage. So, if you are a silence lover then you must choose SSDs over HDDs.
7. Capacity and Price
Coming to the price, HDDs take away all the limelight. This is because they are quite affordable compared to SSDs which are pricy. With the reducing market for the SSDs, the prices have come down and the consumers are looking for them. They are now available at decent prices, but still expensive compared to HDDs.
The capacity of the hard drive is much higher than SSDs. Though they are slower in nature, their storage capacity for the games, media, files etc is quite huge, which is not the case with solid state drives. As capacity is one of the important factors to be considered by most of the users, it is a pro for HDD.
Conclusion
Well, here we will give you the straight answer for your question SSD Vs HDD: Which Is The Best For Gaming? Putting all the above factors in a nutshell, we can say that SSDs are capable of providing the best experience for the users in terms of boot speed, loading speed, durability, etc. But if you highlight the capacity and pricing, HDDs are the right choice. You have another option too. You can buy both drives and enjoy all the features altogether. Finally, the win-win situation is for the SSDs as they deliver high speed performance that can make you a king in gaming. Also, the pricing of SSD is much lowered compared to when it first debuted. So, if you can ignore little things about SSD, then in gaming point of view, it is the best choice.