Are hard drives useless for gaming now?

[EASY PETE]

I have a 2tb hdd where i put my games but new games are saying you must have an SSD as a requirement

And second question if i where to buy a portable ssd and plug it in would that forfull the requirement?

[_I_]

sata is faster than usb yet

a 4tb 3.5in 7200rpm hdd can nearly max sata 3.0 (seq read/writes)

for large games its fine

open world or mmo games should be no a ssd, where it will load random stuff faster


if using an external usb drive for steam library
you need to be sure to
1. make sure the drive is plugged in and assigned the correct letter before running steam
2. exit steam fully before disconnecting or dismounting the drive
3. use steam to move the game to local drive before updating it (usb does not have nearly the iops to handle how steam updates games)

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Which game claiming can only play it with an SSD?

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by Dr.Shadowds 🐉:

Which game claiming can only play it with an SSD?

The Dead Space remake.

[DevaVictrix]

Cyberpunk recommends one too. An SSD ironed out frame drops and got me an extra 15 fps in GoW too. ...not to say HDD days are over though.

[plat]

You can salvage an HDD to work as external storage, it's really good. I have a 7200 rpm one for this purpose.

But for everyday use where the drive has to do something all the time, not just during gaming--no. SSD all the way, baby!

Worth the investment.

[EASY PETE]

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Originally posted by Dr.Shadowds 🐉:

Which game claiming can only play it with an SSD?

The Dead Space remake.

:qr:

Thats the one

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Originally posted by GARDEN YOUR GARDEN RIGHT NOW OR :

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

The Dead Space remake.

Thats the one

Ah ok, have you asked in the game own forum that you can play the game with an HDD?

I would figure someone must have tried to run game with an HDD, as I don't believe game need SSD in order to play it, but rather for other reasons like fast loading, or rendering things better I assume.

[PopinFRESH]

Newer games, especially ones that are designed for current gen consoles using DirectStorage (or similar for PS5) , are going to be expecting the read performance well above what any HDD will be able to do. This will be especially true in new open-world games.

No, a game listing an SSD as a requirement because of the above isn't going to work off of an external SSD unless it is perhaps a cutting edge one that has Thunderbolt4 and supports 40Gbps transfer.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Originally posted by Dr.Shadowds 🐉:

Which game claiming can only play it with an SSD?

The Dead Space remake.

:qr:

Yep, it requires SATA SSD and recommends NVME SSD.
Pretty much all newer AAA games recommend at least SATA SSD.

[EASY PETE]

My m.2 is 1 tb so looks like a few games will have to be deleted when newer ones come in

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by GARDEN YOUR GARDEN RIGHT NOW OR :

My m.2 is 1 tb so looks like a few games will have to be deleted when newer ones come in

Using Steam Library it is very easy to just move the game folder from one Steam Library location on one disk to another Steam Library location on another disk.

Move the game(s) you aren't playing onto your HDD, move the game(s) you are playing onto your M.2 SSD

1. Go to Steam > Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders
   
2. Select the checkbox for the games you wish to move from one library location to another
   
3. Select Move
   
4. Select the destination Steam Library location

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Originally posted by GARDEN YOUR GARDEN RIGHT NOW OR :

My m.2 is 1 tb so looks like a few games will have to be deleted when newer ones come in

On steam client > Top left click on "Steam" menu appear > Click on settings > a box appears now select tab "Donwloads" > click on button "Steam library folders > A box appears, select the games you wish to move to your other drive, or to uninstall if wanted.

Or

Right click on game that installed from Steam library > Click on properties > a box appears > click tab "Local files" > click "Move install folder" > select the drive want to move the game to, then click "Move" button.

[76561198343548661]

i dont have ssd .The monitor is 1080p . Windows is on hdd . 16GB DDR4 RAM . I ve played many modern games and i am in no hurry for ssd . I have 2TB WD hdd , read/write sequential - 120MB/s

Yep, in the future i am going to get a ssd . I have Cyberpunk but havent played it yet .

[Illusion of Progress]

For many consumers, between having low storage needs to begin with, cloud storage, and/or high finances to afford larger SSDs, hard drives already lost relevance with a lot of people I imagine. For those still sticking onto them, at least in terms of gamers since that's what you're asking about, I feel like hard drives have been in a transitional spot lately. As capacity for cost of SSDs improves (which it has been rapidly lately), it's becoming more and more harder to justify investing into a hard drive for games these days. And while many games are also increasing in size, those are often newer ones, which are also generally more likely to benefit from an SSD. Though, there's still a lot of games that don't need one, or people who want to spend as little as possible, so they still have a place. But I feel like they're becoming harder to justify investing into these days.

If you've already invested into one though, they still work well enough for a large number of games. Even then though, recent SSD pricing is making it tempting to drop them.

Contrary to what others may think, my own opinion is that 7,200 RPM HDDs are the ones losing relevance faster for consumers (this is merely an opinion, and not so much a statement of what's less popular or selling less). Bulk storage is the last thing SSDs will replace, but they've been more closing in on making bulk games drives less relevant. For bulk storage, I feel 5,400 RPM drives have the advantage because despite slower performance, this often doesn't mean much for bulk storage drives, and they have a number of advantages, the prime one being cost/capacity ratio, but also things like using less power, making less noise, making less heat, and have lower spin up times (I think? Mine do anyway). Or maybe that's merely my opinion, as I don't see myself buying another 7,200 RPM hard drive. I could see myself possibly buying another 5,400 RPM one though.

In case it matters explain my opinion, my internal drive arrangement is...

1 TB SATA SSD (OS/applications/some games)
5 TB 7,200 RPM HDD (games)
8 TB 5,400 HDD (storage)
8 TB 5,400 HDD (backup/copy of above)

...And the 5 TB 7,200 RPM HDD will probably eventually be replaced by an SSD, so I less and less see the point to the costlier, louder, noiser HDD counterpart, but I can't see a pair of double digit SSDs being "cheap" enough to replace my bulk storage needs any time soon, so the leaner counterpart might still have a future with me (and that's not mentioning external air gap backups of which is currently an HDD). Basically, I feel 7,200 RPM drives are the middle niche losing relevance as SSDs overtake for those looking for performance/low storage, and 5,400 RPMs overtake for those needing bulk storage.

[76561198343548661]

i am eyeing up Silicon Power A55/60 2TB ssd for 100 bucks but havent decided yet . Either this or 1TB Samsung for the same money .