How Much SSD Do I Need for Gaming?

It’s definitely not an overwhelming revelation that in 2020 SSD is the first choice of storage for gaming PC builds regardless if it’s best or budget. Hence the popular question arises: How Much SSD Do I Need for Gaming? Just to refresh your memory and to state the obvious, the SSD offers higher loading times than the HDD, because of their superb read/write speeds, and very much more shock-resistant than HDD.

Your PC will boot faster, and the SSD is highly durable as it has no moving parts unlike HDD’s platters. Even storage wise SSDs have quite an awesome yet expensive range beyond 7 TB, but widely found SSDs lie in the range of 128 GB-4 TB. HDD starts at 500 GB and sometimes ranges up to 16TB.

But now in 2020 SSDs are much cheaper than when they first arrived in the market. Hence in this post we will first answer the question How Much SSD Do I Need for Gaming? and recommend some SSD For PC Gaming: Best and Budget.

Quick pre-purchase tips on SSD for Gaming

Compatibility

Although most PC cases have 2.5 inch slots, SSD have been changing its format over time. What most of us are familiar with is SATA, but there is something called M.2 PCIe which is basically used in internally mounted storage expansion cards of small form factor.

And this is not just for laptops or tablets, USB-WI-FI, GPU also falls under this category provided they are M.2 specified. Then you can initialize the process of choosing SSD For PC Gaming.

Type of memory

• SLC- Flash memory for SSD is NAND and SLC is the fastest of NAND. S stands for single and it has a single bit per cell. And it goes up to 100,000 read/write cycles before failure.
• MLC- M for multi and in this type it hosts 2 bits per cell and it can survive up to 10K cycles.
• TLC-T for triple means 3 bits per cell and this is the lowest. Only can host a maximum of 5K cycles before failing.
• QLC-Q for Quad means 4 bits per cell. And this has only 1000 cycles before failure hence the least productive of all.

Software

Every peripheral nowadays comes with a software, enabling user-customization. Same goes for the SSD as well. These software allows you to check the drive health, performance level, amount of data written.

Samsung, SanDisk provides good utility software, some even has a feature called drive-cloning which helps in upgrading from a drive and no need of OS installation from start.

Cost per GB and warranty

The math involved here is the price divided by the amount of GB offered. The least expensive SSD these days rounds up somewhere at 10 cents per gigabyte. And SSD beyond 1 TB can’t really be termed as budget. Also most SSD have been assigned a warranty of three years at minimum.

How much SSD for Gaming?

First and foremost it is crucial you know that nowadays most games require at least 40-50GB. Black Ops Cold War needs 175GB space for complete installation with all game modes. Therefore it is quite common practice to install an HDD of at least 1 TB and an SSD.

Would you believe that a 256GB of SSD will seriously interrupt your performance? you can only save a few games, and in order to install new titles you have to remove the old ones.

Another common question asked is How Much SSD Do I Need for Gaming Laptop? Well most recent Gaming laptops now consist of an SSD of at least 512GB and an HDD of 1TB.

Is 512GB SSD enough for Gaming? Kind of. Although it will not totally cut it. Nevertheless the recommendation is to have SSD storage in the range 256GB- 1TB. Keep in mind that all your OS files, software of internal and external components are stored here too.

Also the applications keep updating. If you need your system to be fast give priority to the OS. Then the regular games you play. The rest can go to the HDD.

Now that we are slap-up to date on what needs to be considered before a SSD purchase let’s hop on SSD For PC Gaming!

Best solid-state drives for PC gaming

1.XPG SX8200 Pro

First on the list of SSD For PC Gaming: Best and Budget. Now before we begin the review what must be mentioned is that there are several SSD in this range of performance of different brands. One such example is the Samsung 970 EVO Plus. Both the drives virtually have the same specifications except NAND type.

• Ultra-Fast PCIe NVMe Gen3x4 Interface
• Sequential read/write speed up to 3500/3000 MB/s, *Performance may vary based on system hardware & configuration
• Best for 3D animation, rendering, video and photo editing, and other intense applications
• TBW(total bytes written) range up to 640 with the 1 TB.

As we mentioned earlier compatibility is the primary criteria that needs to be verified here. SX8200 Pro uses M.2 form factor and is 22mmx80mm long. Since not all M.2 sockets support PCIe NVMe, please check your motherboard manual for compatibility. Check under ‘Storage Interface’ and see if M key, M.2 PCIe x4 are listed. This is not supported for Mac.

Checkout the gigabyte z390 UD here for it supports this type of SSD connectivity. This exceptional speed will help to boost overall system responsiveness and decrease program and game loading time for professional and hardcore gamers, making our SX8200 Pro SSD your ideal choice for gaming, high-resolution graphic and video editing, 3D modeling, large data analysis, artificial intelligence, and other intensive applications. It can transfer a file size of 10 GB in less than 8 seconds according to benchmark tests.

Featuring capacity up to 1TB, SX8200 Pro SSD provides higher storage space, stronger durability, and back-up by extended warranty for a worry-free ownership experience. In addition, SX8200 Pro SSD supports LDPC error correcting code technology and E2E Data Protection to ensure data safety and integrity. TLC drives are now a solid choice for general computing and this SSD possesses the 3D NAND technology which delivers more memory in less space.

Purchase here->XPG SX8200 Pro

2.Samsung 970 EVO Plus

• Powered by Samsung V-NAND Technology, the 970 EVO Plus SSD’s NVMe interface (PCIe Gen 3.0 x4 NVMe 1.3) offers enhanced bandwidth, low latency, and power efficiency.
• Seamless cloning and file transfers with Samsung Magician Software.

Next in SSD For PC Gaming: Best and Budget is the Samsung Evo plus. Like we mentioned earlier in this post this is similar to the Adata XPG. Except the NAND type which is V-NAND 3-bit MLC. The 970 EVO Plus is currently termed as the best NVMe SSD and the write speed is 3300MB/s.

Storage is available until 2 TB. Samsung’s advanced nickel-coated controller and heat spreader on the 970 EVO Plus enable superior heat dissipation. The Dynamic Thermal Guard automatically monitors and maintains optimal operating temperatures to minimize performance drops. The Samsung magician is the software provided to monitor the SSD for its different aspects. The 970 EVO Plus provides up to 1200 TBW* with 5-years of protection

Purchase here->Samsung 970 EVO Plus

3.Gigabyte AORUS NVMe

• Form Factor: M. 2 2280
• Interface: PCI-Express 4. 0 x4, NVMe 1. 3
• Total Capacity: 1000GB
• Sequential Read Speed : up to 5000 MB/s
• Sequential Write speed : up to 4400 MB/s

 This SSD can be undoubtedly termed as “one of a kind“, when you take its read/write speeds into account. PCIe 4.0 has made this SSD even faster than the Samsung 970 and SX8200. The interface is a 3D TLC Toshiba BiCS4 and is self-equipped with its heatsink. Full copper heatsinks have 69% higher heat transfer capacity compared to aluminum heatsinks.

Although this is definitely gonna burn a hole in your pocket, we felt that user awareness of these types of ultra-performing SSD is vital. Hence included in SSD For PC Gaming: Best and Budget.

Purchase here->Gigabyte AORUS NVMe

So far we recommended the most widely known and used Best Solid-state drives in the industry.Now as always we can continue in our quest for exploring the options for the budget PC gamer since the majority of us fall under this category.

Few things worth mentioning although may sound quite obvious is that these budget SSD will definitely have a lower read/write speed compared to the best. Also the interface and NAND type along with the TBW may not be quite in parallel with the best, Nevertheless these are few of the Best Budget SSD used by many gamers throughout the globe.

Budget SSD

1.Crucial P1 

• Capacity: Up to 2TB with sequential reads/writes up to 2, 000/1, 700 MB/s
• NVMe PCIe interface marks the next step in storage innovation
• Micron 3D NAND advancing the world’s memory and storage technology for 40 years

Securely load and store up to 2TB of important files on Micron NAND in a tiny M.2 form factor. Suits Entry-level gamers & performance-conscious upgraders. With 100 TBW and Micron 64L 3D QLC this SSD is our first recommendation. Crucial is backed by Micron’s expert quality and engineering innovation. Micron has produced some of the world’s most advanced memory and storage technologies for 40 years.

Crucial presents separate software where you can clone your OS from the previous used drive and for monitoring the SSD. This SSD will not out-perform the Samsung 970 or the SX8200 in benchmark tests but for budget gamers this is definitely worth a thought. Because we will be playing with budget internals(CPU,GPU) and loading times, transfer speeds need not be over the top.

Purchase here->Crucial P1 

2.WD_Black SN750

• Available in capacities ranging from 250GB to 2TB
• NVMe drive not compatible with SATA interface
• 5-year manufacturer’s limited warranty

The interface used is PCIe Gen 3 x4 M.2 and again a thoughtful reminder to please check the compatibility before a purchase.The firmware is further updated to help speed up the drive. The user interface accompanies a “Gaming mode”,eliminates latency and boosts the speed. This is definitely worth your money.

Purchase here->WD_Black SN750

3.HP S700 Pro

• Data set management command
• Native command queuing
• Sustained sequential read

This SSD uses the SATA 3 connector and not PCIe. The sequential write was above 562 MB/s and sequential read was about 500 MB/s. Nevertheless these values are still way ahead of the traditional HDD. 3D NAND is used as the technology with micron. Also it draws very low power from the machine while in sleep mode.

The device design is such that it acts as a heat sink. The Mean Time Between Failures is 2,000,000 hours so reliability is assured. The benchmark tests carried out by professionals showed that the R/W values are as specified by HP.

If you prefer old school then this is the SSD without a second thought. It has exceeded its competitors in the same range such as SanDisk Extreme Pro, Samsung 850 Pro  in R/W values. You will not lose files with this and it is highly dependable and consistent no matter what task is allocated.

Purchase here->HP S700 Pro

Final words

Well there you have it! our recommendations for SSD For PC Gaming We included drives of different interfaces and technology so please make sure to check your motherboard COMPATIBILITY!.

Our suggestion for anyone in the process or thinking of building a gaming rig, please opt for SSD. HDD can be an afterthought. The budget SSD mentioned here are in the vicinity of $50 and just look at the performance offered!. We hope that every detail needed for a reasonable and long-term SSD solution have been covered at the beginning of this post.