Dota 2 ssd or hdd for gaming

What Is The Best SSD For Gaming?

The necessity of having a Solid State Drive (SSD)

Nowadays, we own a plethora of devices that give us the ability to connect to the internet and perform tasks. Besides computers, smartphones have become the tools we use daily to get things done. With the evolvement of technology, devices become more responsive and the demand for them to be able to perform as many tasks as possible in a specific time frame has increased significantly. Computers, especially, are supposed to be multitasking machines and provide us with enough power to render and stream videos besides casual gaming.

What is the point of having great hardware inside your Pc when your hard drive does not provide you with adequate Windows operating speeds? Make no mistake, the hard drive is the most important Pc part that ensures that your system boots up quickly and is able to multitask. Since the introduction of Solid State Drives (SSDs) a couple of years ago, the casual Hard Drive Disk (HDD) has been replaced by the newer technology which allows for better writing and reading speeds which, in return, provide better loading times for the operating system as well as apps and programs.

An SSD has become essential no matter the budget of your build. Not including an SSD would be a big mistake as there are SSDs for around 50$. The performance you get for that 50$ is immense. Even the cheapest SSD will perform better than any Hard Drive. There is no excuse even for 500$ builds to not include one, as their prices have dropped significantly.

What is the best SSD for gaming? Depends on the budget

In case you have been looking to buy an SSD for your gaming Pc but feel overwhelmed by the huge variety on the market and have been asking yourself ” What is the best SSD for gaming?” this post will help you out. I will tear it down for you and tell you exactly what to look for at each budget. Ultimately, everything comes down to how much money you are willing to spend. Just remember that whatever you choose out of this list, even the cheapest one, will give you far superior performance than any conventional hard drive. It is recommended to use a Hard Drive, however, but only as a storage device exclusively for music, games, and videos and not for your operating system and important apps you use every day.

NVMe SSD drives are not recommended for gaming

Besides SSDs, a newer technology for storage devices has been developed which, theoretically, offers 5x the performance of SSDs. This technology is called NVMe and the best drives offer astonishing writing and reading speeds of 3000+ MB/s. While these numbers look exceptional on paper compared to the 300-550 MB/s writing and reading speeds of SSDs, you have to ask yourself what you intend to do with your Solid State Drive. The only scenario where the additional price of an NVMe drive would be useful for you is if you compress and decompress a ton of files every day. For casual use like gaming or surfing the net, you will not see any benefits and it is definitely not worth buying an NVMe storage drive.

Below, you can see a video by NCIX Tech Tips who compare NVMe SSD vs SATA SSD and there is almost no difference performance-wise for gaming. NCIX Tech Tips are a great Youtube channel covering all sorts of computer related stuff. I recommend checking them out and subscribing to their channel. If you can afford it and use your storage for other things besides gaming, go for it, but for budget-oriented builds, keep in mind that you can save a good amount of money and still get the desired performance with a SATA SSD.

Check out the video below:

What should I buy for gaming? SSD, HDD or both?

While a few years back this was a tricky question because SSD prices were extremely high when they first came out, this question is much easier to answer today. For the majority of users (including myself), a 250 GB SSD for your operating system, important apps, and programs in combination with a 1TB HDD is the best option. If you want bigger capacity for your operating system, go for the 500GB capacity SSD. If you need more storage for music, videos, and games, buy a 2TB hard drive. You will be amazed by how cheap HDDs are nowadays.

To sum it up:

• 250GB SSD/1TB HDD (the majority of users)
• 500GB SSD/1TB HDD (more capacity for windows)
• 250GB SSD/2TB HDD (more capacity for music, videos, and games)
• 500GB SSD/2TB HDD (more capacity for windows and games)

There is no wrong combination, it all depends on your needs. For gamers and casual users, I do not recommend buying higher capacity storage than 500GB for your primary SSD and 2TB for your HDD as the price does not justify it. I am sure you can fit your necessary windows applications and essential programs on a 500GB SSD and a 2TB SSD should be adequate for all the rest. 120GB SSDs may be sufficient for some people, but you may run into storage issues when starting to install applications and programs after installing Windows. The price difference between a 120GB and 240GB SSD is rather small and you will be better off choosing the 240GB SSD which will give you some extra space for your favorite game, for example, which you want to boot more quickly.

With no further ado, let us jump right into the SSD lists:

Tier #1

Best SSD: Samsung 850/860 Evo 250GB

Since the release of the Samsung Evo series, it is hard to recommend anything else. Samsung is undeniably one of the best SSD producers and their Evo series offers impressive performance for the price. The 850 Evo is not only lightning fast but price-friendly as well. With 540 MB/s reading and 520MB/s writing speed, your gaming Pc will boot blazingly fast. You do not break the bank while still getting impressive performance. The Samsung 860 Evo has just been released but performance differences are practically non-existent. Just buy the cheapest of the two. The 860 Evo offers 10 MB/s more reading speed, which is something you will not notice at all.

Alternative: Samsung 850/860 Pro 256GB

The Pro series supposedly has better endurance due to superior build quality. The only real difference is the warranty. While the Evo series offers a 5-year warranty, the Pro series extend it to 10 years. Write and Speed times are the same and both compete in terms of performance. If you are interested in an extended warranty and prepared to pay the premium, go for the Samsung 850 Pro 256GB or Samsung 860 Pro 256GB.

Tier #2

The middle ground: Crucial MX500 250GB

The Crucial MX500 is a great SSD if you want the same kind of performance but spend a little less compared to the Samsung 850 Evo. 560MB/s reading and 510MB/s writing speeds, make this a fierce competitor to our best SSD. Reviews have been positive about it too which is something important to consider.

Alternative: Kingston SSDNow UV 240GB

Kingston is known for producing excellent products for hardware enthusiasts and this includes SSDs. The Kingston SSDNow UV is a great alternative to the crucial MX500 with 550MB/s reading and 490MB/s writing speed, your PC will definitely get its needed speed boost.