New hdd and must be FAST

fightingfi

fightingfi

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So it seems my almost 2tb spinner\platter hdd is full of steam games. Me like the rest of us prolly dont play ALL your games but i like to have my games Installed though :p

So i was thinking a ssd but the price is out of the question due to price per gig and there not big enough size wise yet for me.

Id like to know the best spinner hdd to get for the price but as fast as you can possibly get and allows by todays standards for my Gigabyte z170x gaming 6 motherboard windows 10 Pro 64 bit. id like a 3-4tb unless there is something else out there oh yes also does the cache 32mb 64 128 mb really make that much of a difference.

Tankies in advanced :D
 
Not really going to matter. I would get a 512gb+ SSD and just use it for the games you play.
HD's have got a lot bigger, but not a whole lot faster.
 
You can get a 2TB SSHD for around the same price as an HDD, but the benefits are negligible. If you really want an appreciable speed difference then you'll have to suck it up and get a SSD. Only install games that you're playing and you can live perfectly fine on 500/512 GB of space.
 
Wild; I have the games I play on a single 128gb SSD LOL. I dont have 2tb of music and video combined.
 
Armenius said:
You can get a 2TB SSHD for around the same price as an HDD, but the benefits are negligible. If you really want an appreciable speed difference then you'll have to suck it up and get a SSD. Only install games that you're playing and you can live perfectly fine on 500/512 GB of space.
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SSHDs are absolutely horrible. The HDD part of them is almost always 5400 rpm. The SSD part is super small, like 8GB. Only useful at all if you are only using it to boot from as games are pretty much all too big to fit into the tiny SSD.

So, the cheaper option besides shelling out for a huge SSD, it to get a larger HDD and use a smaller SSD to cache the HDD with.

Your chipset on your motherboard supports up to a 64GB cache via Intel Smart Response.

You can also get a $20 program called MaxVeloSSD Professional that supports up to a 256GB SSD for caching.
https://www.elitebytes.com/MaxVeloSSD.aspx

There is another one called Primocache which is $30
https://www.romexsoftware.com/en-us/primo-cache/index.html
 
Agree with other posters, unless you have a really slow internet connection. Just delete games you aren't playing, but keep the save games or folders. Purchase a mid level 1 TB SSD for like 200 bucks and go nuts...
 
Brian_B said:
I've used this for years, it just automates symlinks, so I move games I'm playing to my SSD, and leave everything else on a pokey 4TB. When I'm done playing, I move it back to the 4TB. It's not really a hassle, just a click.

http://www.traynier.com/software/steammover
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A recent update to Steam added this functionality so you don't need to use third party software anymore.
 
fightingfi said:
So it seems my almost 2tb spinner\platter hdd is full of steam games. Me like the rest of us prolly dont play ALL your games but i like to have my games Installed though :p

So i was thinking a ssd but the price is out of the question due to price per gig and there not big enough size wise yet for me.

Id like to know the best spinner hdd to get for the price but as fast as you can possibly get and allows by todays standards for my Gigabyte z170x gaming 6 motherboard windows 10 Pro 64 bit. id like a 3-4tb unless there is something else out there oh yes also does the cache 32mb 64 128 mb really make that much of a difference.

Tankies in advanced :D
Click to expand...
The largest 7,200 RPM hard drive you can afford is going to be the fastest. HDD speed only really increases as platters become more dense. Access times and latency is not going to change much. Something like Toshiba, Western Digital Black, or Seagate BarraCuda should be what you look at. Avoid budget drives like Blue and Green from WD, and make sure the drive is not optimized for NAS or surveillance.

This would be a decent upgrade from what you have right now: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822149629&ignorebbr=1
 
why does no one listen anymore......................the games i play and use on steam with current hdd platter use almost 2tb of space how is a 500 ssd going to help me :wacky:
 
Most people here just don't really believe you need 2TB worth of games installed all the time. It doesn't sound realistic at all.. unless you never leave your PC.

If you still want a fast HDD, just use bigdogchris's suggestion
 
fightingfi said:
why does no one listen anymore......................the games i play and use on steam with current hdd platter use almost 2tb of space how is a 500 ssd going to help me :wacky:
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I did.. the SSD caching option is going to give you the best of both worlds.

First load will be at HDD speeds, but then it is cached and you are good to go.

I've been using SSD caching for quite a while now and it works great.
 
You can get a 1TB SSD for $269 on Amazon right now. Best of both worlds. Keep your old HD for random stuff and just copy games to/from the SSD as necessary. Once you get used to things working instantly, you'll never go back to spinners except for backups and such.
 
Armenius said:
A recent update to Steam added this functionality so you don't need to use third party software anymore.
Click to expand...

You are right. I heard about that and looked for it in my Steam client before posting the link. I'm dumb and didn't RTFM, but it wasn't anything obvious I found, so I figured the link was still worthwhile.

fightingfi said:
why does no one listen anymore......................the games i play and use on steam with current hdd platter use almost 2tb of space how is a 500 ssd going to help me :wacky:
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2000+500 > 2000?

Also, the slowest platter drive + any reasonable amount of any mediocre SSD is going to be orders of magnitude faster than the fastest platter drive. So even if you do need much more space than 2TB, you eliminate the "must be fast" requirement from the HDD, and pretty much end up spending about the same amount of cash for what amounts to the same amount of storage, with much faster performance, albeit one you may have to manage to see that performance consistently.

But, hey, it's your money, if you want to drop it on an HDD, who am I to stop you.
 
Imo its such a waste to use a ssd for ever increasing size of games, in reality load times improvements are extremely minimal compared to a performance hdd that can be had for less then half the price.

Id recommend the WD black drives personally.
 
yourgrandma said:
Imo its such a waste to use a ssd for ever increasing size of games, in reality load times improvements are extremely minimal compared to a performance hdd that can be had for less then half the price.

Id recommend the WD black drives personally.
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That used to be true several years ago. However now load times can be dramatically improved when using an SSD.
 
Furious_Styles said:
That used to be true several years ago. However now load times can be dramatically improved when using an SSD.
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I would have said the same thing, but lately I have been having to offload some of my games to a WD Black and honestly, depending on the game, it can make very little difference in terms of load times.

For games with a lot of HDD/RAM swapping, yes, it can help tremendously. Also, it helps a lot on games that use a huge amount of RAM and have streaming area loading like Fallout 4 or ArmA 3.
 
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I use a WD 4TB Black for the majority of my Steam library, didn't notice that much of a difference moving the games from the SSD to the HDD to be honest.
 
MavericK said:
I would have said the same thing, but lately I have been having to offload some of my games to a WD Black and honestly, depending on the game, it can make very little difference in terms of load times.

For games with a lot of HDD/RAM swapping, yes, it can help tremendously. Also, it helps a lot on games that use a huge amount of RAM and have streaming area loading like Fallout 4 or ArmA 3.
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Exactly. And for future titles that aren't 2d side scrollers you will want an SSD. There's a bunch of youtube videos you can watch that compare the load times in various games. I suggest anyone who wants to see real apples to apples results to check them out.
 
It is probably more of a perception thing than a real performance issue. I mean, we are probably talking a second or three, but nothing Earth shattering. I used to have my games on 1 TB raptor drives and went to using the inexpensive Sandisk SSD for games and to me it was much faster and more responsive. I do play FO4 though. I got the 1 TB SSD for less than 200 on sale, so about 30% more in cost than the raptor drives. But I gotta say, the raptors, even at 10k RPM, are just sitting on the shelf collecting dust.
 
I run a Intel 750 Series 1.2TB PCIe NVMe 3.0 x4 SSD and it's just for the Windows and some programs. Next I have 3 hard drives. A Western Digital Black 6 tb and 4 tb for Steam games. And Western Digital Black 4 tb for Origin games. Total 14 tb for games. Never had a problem with games load times or anything else.
 
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500gb samsung ssd's go on sale all the time. get two and dont install everything on them.
 
If you have 2 TB of games that you don't even play and you feel like you need more hard drive space then you have serious mental problems. Sort out the mental problems and everything else will follow. Toodles.
 
Regular old SATA SSDs aren't terribly expensive these days. I say buy one in the 512GB range and prioritize migrating stuff to it based on how often you actually play it. The games you play less often will still be there, on the old spindle, in case you do actually play them.

This will require a modicum of effort, but will get your most-played games onto faster storage without the expense of totally replacing your spindle setup completely.
 
Look into the WD Black drives or Toshiba, 128mb cache ones. There are some deals out there at times. My most played games are on SSDs usually, especially the open world type games and mmo's. SSDs can cut loading times in half with some games. Steam also now lets you move game installs/directories between drives without a third party program.
 
fightingfi said:
why does no one listen anymore......................the games i play and use on steam with current hdd platter use almost 2tb of space how is a 500 ssd going to help me :wacky:
Click to expand...

You stated you have 2gb of games installed and don't play all of them so the point still stands that you can uninstall the ones you don't play to get it under 500gb. That is how a 500gb SSD will help you!
 
I went 500gb ssd and split the heavy loading games on to that. It was a bit of a pain to do with steam (there's no "easy" change folder location option). Overwatch and Doom really started ticking me off with their insane load times which lead me to a black friday sale for a cheap 500ssd, but tbh 500gb are really affordable these days. My next build will incorporate a 256 OS drive and 512 M.2 for games.
 
Under properties for the game in your list, local folders, move game folder button at the bottom.
 
MavericK said:
I would have said the same thing, but lately I have been having to offload some of my games to a WD Black and honestly, depending on the game, it can make very little difference in terms of load times.

.
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It comes down to each game's loading optimizations. In some games it makes no difference at all, in others it can make a difference of more than one magnitude. Like DA:I
 
I think you've been beaten with the SSD route and it's going to address your speed concern. Like others have said, prioritize your games to SSD or move when playing and put back when done. Like checking out a book if anybody remembers that :)

On the flip side. I'll play the black sheep.
What about adding another 2TB and doing raid 0 (increasing size to 4TB and giving boost in speed)? Yes, I know. what about failure.. what about.. blah blah blah. If your current drive fails today, that 2tb is already likely gone and you will need to re download anyways. Resolution. Only save files your willing to lose (redownloadable games) and/or keep a back up. In my messing around with raid, I was able to get about double the speed of a single spinner. This still does NOT compare to SSDs. But since you said they were out due to size/price. I would at least look at raid as an option.
 
Outlaw85 said:
I think you've been beaten with the SSD route and it's going to address your speed concern. Like others have said, prioritize your games to SSD or move when playing and put back when done. Like checking out a book if anybody remembers that :)

On the flip side. I'll play the black sheep.
What about adding another 2TB and doing raid 0 (increasing size to 4TB and giving boost in speed)? Yes, I know. what about failure.. what about.. blah blah blah. If your current drive fails today, that 2tb is already likely gone and you will need to re download anyways. Resolution. Only save files your willing to lose (redownloadable games) and/or keep a back up. In my messing around with raid, I was able to get about double the speed of a single spinner. This still does NOT compare to SSDs. But since you said they were out due to size/price. I would at least look at raid as an option.
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If the OP is insistant on having all of his 2TB worth of stuff ready to roll, I would sway towards your idea as well. Raid 0 doesn't add capacity IIRC, but would give a slight boost - depending on the controller.

Although I recommend SSDs to absolutely anyone with a Vista or later computer, I did notice that FPS and game load times aren't that much compromised while using regular HDDs.

Unless of course you're short on RAM or VRAM - that could be a problem.
 
With 1TB SSD's rapidly approaching $200, there are very few reasons to have your main day-to-day drive as a spinner. Hell, if you hunt around for older 1TB models, you might even find one sub $200 right now.
Once you get used to SSD load times it becomes painful to ever go back to anything else. Even "lousy" SSD load times still put spinners to shame. Don't be afraid to go cheap as long as it's from a reputable OEM and vendor.
 
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