Rise of the SSD

The Solid State Drive or “SSD” for short, have been driving out Hard Drives hard. Hah! Haha? Ok.

This has been happening more frequently over the past few years because the SSD offers higher performance compared to the hard drives (HDD), not to mention the constant price drops!

(Sata 240GB – RM149)

(Nvme 128GB – RM119)

The HDD sure has limitations especially where speed is crucial, though there are still some benefits to it depending on your usage.

The question, however, most would ask is: Should I get an SSD for gaming?

Let’s find out!


Performance

Image from Pixabay: download-downloading-loading-bar (http://bit.ly/2GdBXbW)

Hands down, the Solid State Drive provides superior performance. Load times will be shortened, hence waiting periods are decreased, which means more gaming time value for the user. However, this applies only to load times. Graphics and frame-rates do not receive any form of improvement. Apart from loading screens, your computer will boot up faster and have quicker file transfer speeds.

(Sata [560 MB/s read, 530 MB/s write] – RM804.00)

(NVMe 512 GB [3500 MB/s read, 3000 MB/s write] – RM398.00)


Storage

Storage capacity is where the SSD falls short. Some of the more current AAA titles games such as Final Fantasy XV take up space of 100 GB (or higher). And if you want to play at 4k, you will 155 GB or higher. It is not recommended for you to fill your SSD up as this will cause it degrade in terms of performance and durability. The rule of thumb is to never go over 70% of your SSD’s capacity.

So, if you are the type to hog your game files, get a higher speed HDD. Otherwise, just install whatever you are currently playing and delete the files once you’re done.

(Sata SSD 7TB If you print money, apparently it’s up for sale but not in Malaysia yet)

(NVMe SSD 1TBRM2,045.00)

Image from Pixabay: data-storage-ssd-hard-drive (http://bit.ly/2G8BjfN)

Price

SSDs have a higher price per gigabyte compared to the HDD, which makes the SSD a lot more expensive. They work hand in hand with storage. So, if you need more storage, you should expect to be spending more money. The faster models of SSD will of course, cost more as well.

In general, Sata SSD tend to be cheaper than NVMe SSD at the same capacity. Here are some options for high capacity SSD with a good price to performance ratio:

(Sata SSD 1TB – RM628.80)

(NVMe SSD 500GB – RM375.00)

Image from theculturetrip.com: MYR: Explaining Ringgit, Malaysia’s Currency (http://bit.ly/2DeLgI6)

But WHICH Should I Get?!

Well? Why not both? For most users, we recommend using an NVMe SSD for your operating system and a Sata SSD for gaming. For storage, you’d still better off with a HDD especially if you want to go for anything above 2TB.

If you’re gaming on a laptop, maybe consider getting an external HDD for storage while fitting your laptop with the highest capacity SSD you can afford!

Do you prefer performance or storage for games? Let us know in the comments!

 


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