A solid state drive (SSD) can significantly improve gaming performance compared to a traditional hard disk drive (HDD). An SSD has faster read and write speeds, lower latency, and better reliability than an HDD. For gamers, this translates into faster loading times, less lag and stuttering, and an overall smoother gaming experience.
What is an SSD?
An SSD is a type of computer storage device that uses flash memory to store data persistently. Unlike an HDD which uses spinning magnetic disks to store data, an SSD has no moving mechanical parts. Data is stored in microchips on the SSD and accessed electronically by the computer’s processor.
Some key advantages of an SSD over an HDD:
- Faster read/write speeds – SSDs can read and write data much faster than HDDs. Typical SSD speeds exceed 500 MB/s, while HDDs average between 50-150 MB/s.
- Lower latency – The time delay (latency) for an SSD to start reading or writing data is much lower than for an HDD.
- Shock and vibration resistance – Having no moving parts makes SSDs much less prone to damage or errors caused by bumps and movement.
- Compact and lightweight – SSDs are available in much smaller physical sizes than HDDs since they only require microchips to store data.
- Silent operation – With no moving parts, SSDs make no noise when accessing data.
How do SSDs improve gaming performance?
There are several ways that switching from an HDD to an SSD can deliver a better gaming experience:
- Faster boot up and level loading – Games will launch and load new levels much faster. No more long wait times when booting up or transitioning between areas.
- Reduced in-game lag and stuttering – Texture and object data can be read from the SSD fast enough to avoid interruptions in gameplay.
- Quick save/load – Saving and loading saved games will be almost instantaneous.
- Faster installs – Installing games themselves will be much quicker.
- Decreased pop-in – High read speeds enable finer details and textures to load on the screen rapidly.
For games that stream a large open world or render detailed environments, the speed of an SSD can help prevent textures from appearing blurry or lower resolution at first before popping in. This creates a much more seamless and immersive experience.
Do all games benefit from an SSD?
The impact of upgrading to an SSD can vary across games. Games that need to load large textures, physics assets, AI/scripting elements, and sound files will show the most dramatic improvements in performance. Examples include:
- Open world games like Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, The Elder Scrolls, etc.
- First person shooters like Call of Duty, Battlefield, Far Cry.
- MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV
- Simulation and strategy games like Civilization, Total War, Cities: Skylines
Games that are simpler or more linear may only have modest decreases in load times and won’t see major changes in actual gameplay performance. However, nearly all games will load faster from startup with an SSD.
SSD versus HDD load time comparison
Here are some real-world examples of games loading faster from an SSD compared to a HDD, both using the same computer:
| Game | HDD Load Time | SSD Load Time |
|---|---|---|
| World of Warcraft | 45 seconds | 28 seconds |
| Overwatch | 20 seconds | 11 seconds |
| The Witcher 3 | 1 minute 4 seconds | 35 seconds |
| Total War: Warhammer 2 | 1 minute 18 seconds | 48 seconds |
These demonstrate the significant time savings an SSD provides across major AAA games and different genres. The performance boost is easily noticeable during everyday gaming sessions.
Other SSD benefits
Beyond speeding up load times and improving in-game responsiveness, upgrading to an SSD provides some other benefits:
- Multitasking – An SSD improves overall system performance. You can seamlessly alt-tab between gaming, streaming, recording, and other apps.
- Durability – With no moving parts, SSDs can withstand bumps and vibration that would damage HDDs.
- Noise reduction – Eliminating HDD spin noise leaves only the sound of GPU and case fans.
- Power efficiency – SSDs consume much less power and produce less heat than HDDs.
What to look for in a gaming SSD
When choosing an SSD for gaming, some specifications to pay attention to include:
- Interface – Look for SSDs with a PCIe interface. NVMe PCIe SSDs offer the fastest speeds.
- Capacity – Aim for at least 500GB to 1TB to have room for multiple games. Some SSDs are available in 2TB+ capacities.
- Sequential read/write speed – Seek sequential reads of at least 3,000 MB/s and writes of 2,000 MB/s for optimal performance.
- IOPS – Input/output operations per second should be high for fast access across many small files like game assets.
- DRAM cache – Having some DRAM on board improves the SSD’s ability to quickly serve data to the game.
- Thermal management – Effective heat dissipation ensures the SSD doesn’t throttle performance.
Leading brands known for quality and performance include Samsung, WD, Seagate, Crucial, Kingston, and SanDisk.
Installing an SSD
The process for installing an SSD involves both hardware and software steps:
- Physically install the SSD – This involves mounting it in the computer case and connecting both power and data cables (SATA or PCIe). Most gaming PCs have open bays to easily add a new SSD.
- partitioning and formatting the SSD – Using Disk Management in Windows, the new SSD needs to be initialized, partitioned, and formatted before data can be stored on it.
- Select the SSD as the boot drive – To boot Windows from the new SSD, it needs to be selected as the primary boot device in BIOS/UEFI firmware settings.
- Transfer OS and games – Use disk cloning software or manual copy/paste to migrate Windows, game clients like Steam, and game install folders over to the new SSD.
- Verify performance – Boot into Windows from the SSD, launch games, and confirm loading times and performance are improved.
There are plenty of helpful guides online for each step in the process. The physical installation is very straightforward. Cloning existing data or doing a clean OS install are more involved but manageable for most users.
M.2 versus 2.5-inch SSDs
SSDs come in two main physical formats, each with pros and cons:
- M.2 SSD – Directly plugs into the motherboard in an M.2 slot. Compact size with no cables. Ideal for many new PCs with M.2 support.
- 2.5-inch SSD – Traditional SSD format that requires mounting and cabling in the case. Requires 2.5″ drive bays which are common in most gaming PCs.
In terms of performance, M.2 SSDs have the potential edge with direct PCIe connectivity. But many 2.5″ SSDs now also run PCIe interfaces via SATA adapters. Real-world gaming speeds are similar between the two for most new models.
M.2 can be ideal for compact PC builds where space is at a premium. For standard ATX gaming towers with open drive bays, 2.5″ SSDs provide a proven compatible option.
Migrating your game library to a new SSD
When adding a new SSD you have a couple options for getting games onto it:
- Clone the old drive – Use disk cloning software to make an identical copy of your old HDD onto the new SSD. This gets all games transferred over at once but requires temporarily having both drives connected.
- Copy installations individually – You can manually copy the game installation folders from their locations on the old HDD onto the new SSD. Tedious but straightforward.
- Fresh install games – Delete games from the old drive and freshly download/install them onto the SSD. Fastest way if you have solid download speeds, but redownloads all games.
Cloning or copying can be done while leaving games installed on the old HDD too. So no need to redownload everything if your broadband speeds are slow.
Optimizing Windows for your SSD
To maximize SSD performance for gaming, some Windows tweaks are recommended:
- Enable TRIM – This maintenance command lets Windows properly clean up deleted data on the SSD so maximum write speeds stay high.
- Turn off defrag – Defragmenting is unnecessary on SSDs and can actually shorten their lifespan.
- Disable Superfetch and Prefetch – These processes that preload data are optimized for HDDs, not SSDs.
- Change power plan to High Performance – Ensures the SSD isn’t put in a low power state while gaming.
There are utilities and guides online that will automatically optimize Windows once you’ve got your new SSD installed and set as the boot drive.
Is an external SSD good for gaming?
External SSDs connected via Thunderbolt 3 or USB 3.2 Gen 2 offer very fast transfer speeds. So they are definitely usable for storing and playing games. However, most gamers will want to install their games library directly on an internal SSD connected via SATA or PCIe for optimal load times and performance.
An external SSD still provides much better performance than a portable external HDD for gaming. But internal SSDs remain the best solution, especially since most gaming desktops have open bays to easily add one.
NVMe versus SATA SSDs
Comparing the two protocols that SSDs use to connect to the motherboard:
- NVMe – Stands for Non-Volatile Memory Express. Offers the fastest interface with direct PCIe connectivity.
- SATA – Serial ATA connection, with speeds capped at around 550 MB/s.
NVMe SSDs are the performance king, hitting sequential reads/writes over 3,000/2,000 MB/s. For gaming, NVMe provides lower access latency and queue depth capabilities to feed data to the GPU faster. An NVMe SSD helps eliminate any storage bottleneck.
However, many new SATA SSDs still deliver excellent real-world gaming performance. The SATA interface itself is limited to around 550 MB/s, but smart caching and NAND management on quality SSDs largely overcome this. Both NVMe and the latest SATA SSDs will transform gaming load times versus an old HDD.
PCIe 3.0 versus PCIe 4.0 SSDs
NVMe SSDs utilize PCI Express lanes to connect to the CPU and system memory. There are two generations of PCIe relevant for modern gaming SSDs:
- PCIe 3.0 – Offers lane bandwidth of up to 1 GB/s per lane used. Most gaming PCs until 2020 used PCIe 3.0.
- PCIe 4.0 – Doubles the per lane bandwidth to 2 GB/s. Supported on newer AMD and Intel platforms.
PCIe 4.0 SSDs offer blazing fast sequential read/write speeds up to 7,000/5,000 MB/s. However, for real-world gaming usage, the difference compared to a good PCIe 3.0 SSD is small. Top PCIe 3.0 models (like Samsung 970 EVO Plus) can saturate the limits of PCIe 3.0 with sufficient performance for any game.
Unless you need bleeding edge benchmark scores, a quality PCIe 3.0 SSD likely represents the better value over PCIe 4.0 models for gaming today.
Conclusion
Installing an SSD provides an immediately noticeable improvement to gaming performance. Load screens virtually disappear, the world renders smoothly, and gameplay becomes highly responsive. For any PC gamer still booting from an older hard drive, an SSD upgrade should be top priority.
The dramatically faster data access of solid state flash memory overcomes the storage bottlenecks that hold back HDDs. Quality SSDs also provide better reliability and efficiency than traditional mechanical drives.
While NVMe models boast the fastest specs, even SATA SSDs offer plenty of speed for gaming. And external SSDs, while convenient, are best suited for secondary game storage versus running games directly. To fully unleash your PC’s gaming power, add an SSD as the primary boot drive.