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Installing an SSD (Solid State Drive) in your gaming PC will drastically improve the startup and load times of all games, applications, and operating system stored on that SSD. The speed of which contents of an SSD are accessed is far superior when compared to an HDD (Hard Disk Drive). SSD’s don’t necessarily help your PC run better. However, they immensely decrease the startup and load times of your games, applications, and operating system making your computing experience much more pleasant.
Load Times
Generally speaking, over a period of a year, an SSD can save you dozens of hours. For example, a PC using an HDD usually takes about 1 minute to start up. But, with an SSD it usually takes about 10 seconds for your PC to start up. Moreover, all games and applications stored on an SSD will start up almost instantaneously upon click. So over a period of a year, you could spend days of your precious time waiting for your games, applications, and operating system to load when using an HDD. Installing an SSD will drastically cut down on those loading times and have your games, applications, and operating system up and running in no time.
If you play large games such as GTA 5, The Witcher 3, Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, or Rainbow Six Siege, you have experienced a situation in which you or another player have taken an uncomfortably long period of time to load. More specifically when playing Rainbow Six Siege, waiting for players or yourself to load in between rounds can test the patience of those waiting along with you. I have even seen players leave ranked matches because they didn’t want to wait any longer. Switching to an SSD can drastically cut down on those load times and have you in gameplay much quicker.
No Fragmentation
Replacing your HDD with an SSD will end the need to defragment your data. This is important because fragmentation occurs when data of different sizes are added and deleted to and from an HDD. For example, a piece of data being written to an HDD may not fit in the disk space left by previously deleted data. When that space is filled, the rest of the new data is then written in the next available space on the HDD. This makes that piece of data fragmented or stored in multiple locations on the HDD. So, when your HDD goes looking for that file, it must search multiple locations on the disk to find each piece of that file. Over time, this causes your HDD to become very slow and inefficient.
Better Durability
Luckily, SSDs use cell technology to store data, therefore the speed at which it accesses data is unaffected by defragmentation. This makes having to defragment an SSD every few months unnecessary. SSDs are also more reliable and durable than HDDs because they lack mechanical parts. Therefore, they are less prone to malfunction and failure. Moreover, SSDs will better withstand extreme heat, cold, and drops because of their build and lack of mechanical parts.
Final Take
Installing an SSD will immensely increase the speed at which you access your games, applications, and operating system. Your load times of games on startup and during gameplay will also noticeably decrease. I firmly believe that once you experience the speed of an SSD, you will never want to go back to an HDD. Literally, save yourself the time and buy an SSD.
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