• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

SSD just for steam?

Joined
Dec 13, 2007
Messages
2,758 (0.46/day)
I have a 120Gb Corsair Force GT just for games. Sometimes I wish I bought at least a 256Gb. But the 120Gb was on sell. Largest game I have is Battlefield 3, 35Gb. But on avg most games I have are ~20gb. But as for steam and orgin, I just install the games directly to my SSD. (It does give a option to install to different drives)
 

de.das.dude

Pro Indian Modder
Joined
Jun 13, 2010
Messages
8,737 (1.74/day)
Location
Stuck in a PC. halp.
System Name Monke | Work Thinkpad| Old Monke
Processor Ryzen 5600X | Ryzen 5500U | FX8320
Motherboard ASRock B550 Extreme4 | ? | Asrock 990FX Extreme 4
Cooling 240mm Rad | Not needed | hyper 212 EVO
Memory 2x16GB DDR4 3600 Corsair RGB | 16 GB DDR4 3600 | 16GB DDR3 1600
Video Card(s) Sapphire Pulse RX6700XT 12GB | Vega 8 | Sapphire Pulse RX580 8GB
Storage Samsung 980 nvme (Primary) | some samsung SSD
Display(s) Dell 2723DS | Some 14" 1080p 98%sRGB IPS | Dell 2240L
Case Ant Esports Tempered case | Thinkpad | Antec
Audio Device(s) Logitech Z333 | Jabra corpo stuff
Power Supply Corsair RM750e | not needed | Corsair GS 600
Mouse Logitech G400 | nipple
Keyboard Logitech G213 | stock kb is awesome | Logitech K230
VR HMD ;_;
Software Windows 10 Professional x3
Benchmark Scores There are no marks on my bench
32GB would hold like 2 games. so... no. i think atleast a 256GB one is reqd.
 
Joined
Apr 19, 2012
Messages
12,062 (2.77/day)
Location
Gypsyland, UK
System Name HP Omen 17
Processor i7 7700HQ
Memory 16GB 2400Mhz DDR4
Video Card(s) GTX 1060
Storage Samsung SM961 256GB + HGST 1TB
Display(s) 1080p IPS G-SYNC 75Hz
Audio Device(s) Bang & Olufsen
Power Supply 230W
Mouse Roccat Kone XTD+
Software Win 10 Pro
Well My steam folder is at least 300Gig and is always constantly growing, So for the reason that I need to get a 512gig SSD and because my steam folder is always growing in size. paying less for 2 fast 2 or 3TB drives an running them in Raid 0 is probably a lot more value for money not to mention significantly cheaper then going SSD

My steam folder is 1.6TB so it would cost me far too much to put my games on an SSD. Not to mention the fact that if you're playing multiplayer games, it doesnt matter if you load faster than everyone else, because you're going to be waiting for them to load anyway! Very few single player games truly benefit from being on an SSD unless you have a shit load of data to run from the drive (Like Shogun 2) aside from that, I find SSD'ing games entirely pointless for the sake of saving 2 or 3 seconds load time.
 
Joined
Nov 29, 2011
Messages
5,975 (1.33/day)
Location
Hi! I'm from the Internet
System Name Selene / Yoda
Processor Fx 8350 @ 4.4 / Phenom II x6 1090t @ 3.6
Motherboard Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 r4.0 / Gigabyte 890XA-UD3
Cooling H100i / Xig Dark Knight
Memory 4x 8gb G.Skill Snipers / 4x 4gb G.Skill Ares
Video Card(s) Gigabyte R9 290x / XfX DD & VisionTek HD6850's C'fired
Storage 256gb ssd, 2x 2tb Wd Blacks & 1x 1tb Wd black / 1x 1tb
Display(s) Dell Ultra Sharp 2408 WFp / Hp w2207
Case Raidmax Vampire / Chieftec Alum. Dragon Blue
Audio Device(s) Onboard Hd Audio / Onboard Hd Audio
Power Supply Corsair TX 850 watt / Corsair TX 750 watt
Mouse Logitech G500s
Keyboard Corsair Strafe
Software Win 10 pro / Win Vista Home prem. 64 bit
Benchmark Scores What are benchmarks anyway?
I see some people for the ideal of using a ssd for the steam folder and others against it. How about a compromise like using a sshd for steam.
 

de.das.dude

Pro Indian Modder
Joined
Jun 13, 2010
Messages
8,737 (1.74/day)
Location
Stuck in a PC. halp.
System Name Monke | Work Thinkpad| Old Monke
Processor Ryzen 5600X | Ryzen 5500U | FX8320
Motherboard ASRock B550 Extreme4 | ? | Asrock 990FX Extreme 4
Cooling 240mm Rad | Not needed | hyper 212 EVO
Memory 2x16GB DDR4 3600 Corsair RGB | 16 GB DDR4 3600 | 16GB DDR3 1600
Video Card(s) Sapphire Pulse RX6700XT 12GB | Vega 8 | Sapphire Pulse RX580 8GB
Storage Samsung 980 nvme (Primary) | some samsung SSD
Display(s) Dell 2723DS | Some 14" 1080p 98%sRGB IPS | Dell 2240L
Case Ant Esports Tempered case | Thinkpad | Antec
Audio Device(s) Logitech Z333 | Jabra corpo stuff
Power Supply Corsair RM750e | not needed | Corsair GS 600
Mouse Logitech G400 | nipple
Keyboard Logitech G213 | stock kb is awesome | Logitech K230
VR HMD ;_;
Software Windows 10 Professional x3
Benchmark Scores There are no marks on my bench
My steam folder is 1.6TB so it would cost me far too much to put my games on an SSD. Not to mention the fact that if you're playing multiplayer games, it doesnt matter if you load faster than everyone else, because you're going to be waiting for them to load anyway! Very few single player games truly benefit from being on an SSD unless you have a shit load of data to run from the drive (Like Shogun 2) aside from that, I find SSD'ing games entirely pointless for the sake of saving 2 or 3 seconds load time.

+1. only games like simulation based games really could use an ssd. i dont think there are any games that have loading times >30secs on a mordern comp.
 
Joined
Dec 13, 2007
Messages
2,758 (0.46/day)
I see some people for the ideal of using a ssd for the steam folder and others against it. How about a compromise like using a sshd for steam.

I thought about this option. But for me, most of the time I only have ~5 games installed at a time. Even when I was using my bigger HD.
 
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Messages
39 (0.01/day)
System Name puter-thingy
Processor Phenom II X6 1090T (1.2GHz idle @ 0.800v / 3.8GHz load @ 1.350v)
Motherboard ASRock 870 Extreme3
Cooling Scythe Orochi (passive)
Memory 8GB Corsair DDR3 1600MT/s
Video Card(s) Gigabyte GTX 660 OC Windforce
Storage Corsair Force 3 60GB SSD | 2.5" Hitachi 5K1000 1TB | 3.5" Hitachi 5K4000 4TB
Display(s) 2x ASUS VW228TR 21.5"
Case BitFenix Outlaw
Audio Device(s) ASUS Xonar DX
Power Supply FSP Group AURUM 400W
Benchmark Scores Bench-what?
+1. only games like simulation based games really could use an ssd. i dont think there are any games that have loading times >30secs on a mordern comp.

I think so too. The only game I actually have installed on my 60GB SSD is a flight sim; all my other steam games are on a regular HDD (and a slow laptop drive at that) and it doesn't bother me in the slightest.

Like the OP I've thought about buying an SSD for games, something cheap like a Samsung 840 or even a 2nd hand SATAII drive, but I don't think it's worth spending money on.

Might as well go for a 20GB ram drive if you're really that fussed about loading times, though that'll only work for a single game that you play often.
 
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Messages
12,275 (2.37/day)
Location
Oregon
System Name Juliette // HTPC
Processor Intel i7 9700K // AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
Motherboard ASUS Prime Z390X-A // ASRock B550 ITX-AC
Cooling Noctua NH-U12 Black // Stock
Memory Corsair DDR4 3600 32gb //G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 3600
Video Card(s) ASUS RTX4070 OC// GTX 1650
Storage Samsung 970 EVO NVMe 1Tb, Intel 665p Series M.2 2280 1TB // Samsung 1Tb SSD
Display(s) ASUS VP348QGL 34" Quad HD 3440 x 1440 // 55" LG 4K SK8000 Series
Case Seasonic SYNCRO Q7// Silverstone Granada GD05
Audio Device(s) Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 // HDMI to Samsung HW-R650 sound bar
Power Supply Seasonic SYNCRO 750 W // CORSAIR Vengeance 650M
Mouse Cooler Master MM710 53G
Keyboard Logitech 920-009300 G512 SE
Software Windows 10 Pro // Windows 10 Pro
BF3 take forever without an SSD
 
Joined
Mar 21, 2011
Messages
1,056 (0.22/day)
System Name Prodigy
Processor i5 2500K
Motherboard AsRock Z77e-ITX
Cooling Liquid
Memory 2x4GB Samsung LV
Video Card(s) Zotac GTX 680
Storage OCZ M-SATA 120GB SSD/OCZ Petrol 120GB SSD/Intenso 240GB SSD/500GB Seagate HDD
Display(s) Samsung 32" HDTV
Case BitFenix Prodigy
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply OCZ Elite 500w
Scan are doing refurbed 512gb ocz ssd for £130ish..seems a good time to pick up a couple for steam/games
 
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Messages
39 (0.01/day)
System Name puter-thingy
Processor Phenom II X6 1090T (1.2GHz idle @ 0.800v / 3.8GHz load @ 1.350v)
Motherboard ASRock 870 Extreme3
Cooling Scythe Orochi (passive)
Memory 8GB Corsair DDR3 1600MT/s
Video Card(s) Gigabyte GTX 660 OC Windforce
Storage Corsair Force 3 60GB SSD | 2.5" Hitachi 5K1000 1TB | 3.5" Hitachi 5K4000 4TB
Display(s) 2x ASUS VW228TR 21.5"
Case BitFenix Outlaw
Audio Device(s) ASUS Xonar DX
Power Supply FSP Group AURUM 400W
Benchmark Scores Bench-what?
Scan are doing refurbed 512gb ocz ssd for £130ish..seems a good time to pick up a couple for steam/games

Wouldn't a non-Sandforce drive be a better choice as a game-SSD because of the generally smallish reads and writes once games are installed? Just wondering...
 
Joined
Mar 10, 2010
Messages
11,878 (2.32/day)
Location
Manchester uk
System Name RyzenGtEvo/ Asus strix scar II
Processor Amd R5 5900X/ Intel 8750H
Motherboard Crosshair hero8 impact/Asus
Cooling 360EK extreme rad+ 360$EK slim all push, cpu ek suprim Gpu full cover all EK
Memory Corsair Vengeance Rgb pro 3600cas14 16Gb in four sticks./16Gb/16GB
Video Card(s) Powercolour RX7900XT Reference/Rtx 2060
Storage Silicon power 2TB nvme/8Tb external/1Tb samsung Evo nvme 2Tb sata ssd/1Tb nvme
Display(s) Samsung UAE28"850R 4k freesync.dell shiter
Case Lianli 011 dynamic/strix scar2
Audio Device(s) Xfi creative 7.1 on board ,Yamaha dts av setup, corsair void pro headset
Power Supply corsair 1200Hxi/Asus stock
Mouse Roccat Kova/ Logitech G wireless
Keyboard Roccat Aimo 120
VR HMD Oculus rift
Software Win 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores 8726 vega 3dmark timespy/ laptop Timespy 6506
I see some people for the ideal of using a ssd for the steam folder and others against it. How about a compromise like using a sshd for steam.

steam allows you to install on multiple steam drives in beta mode, i just put the games i play a lot on a samy non pro250(120uknotes) and the rest on hdd
 
Joined
Mar 21, 2011
Messages
1,056 (0.22/day)
System Name Prodigy
Processor i5 2500K
Motherboard AsRock Z77e-ITX
Cooling Liquid
Memory 2x4GB Samsung LV
Video Card(s) Zotac GTX 680
Storage OCZ M-SATA 120GB SSD/OCZ Petrol 120GB SSD/Intenso 240GB SSD/500GB Seagate HDD
Display(s) Samsung 32" HDTV
Case BitFenix Prodigy
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply OCZ Elite 500w
Wouldn't a non-Sandforce drive be a better choice as a game-SSD because of the generally smallish reads and writes once games are installed? Just wondering...
I couldn't tell you to be honest, you may have a point but I wouldn't know if it made any difference once the game is loaded into RAM?
Plus I like a very quiet computer and the noise of hd's spooling up or seeking is something i'd come to forget hearing but don't want to hear anymore.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Aug 24, 2007
Messages
443 (0.07/day)
Location
BY-S36
System Name Bitch / Dogma
Processor 955 BE @ 3.8Gig / 9850 @stock
Video Card(s) 8800 GTX 512 / 4890
Storage 8 x Samsung F2 1.5TB, 8 x Seagate 500s
Display(s) Acer 24 / Dell 24
Case Lian li / Akasa
Software Win server 2008 / Win 7
This is the method I use for Steam:

240GSSD as boot drive
2T HD for data.

Steam is installed on the SSD
Steam games are installed on the HD as default.
I install one steam game on SSD so the steam folder structure exist on the SSD

Then to move any game to SSD:
1. copy HD game folder to your steam games folder on SSD
2. uninstall the game in steam (right click on game and choose: delete local content)
3. Install same game on SSD (where you've already copied the files) Steam will verify the existing files are present and update their settings for the new location.
 
Joined
Apr 19, 2009
Messages
1,044 (0.19/day)
Location
Romania
Processor i7-9700
Motherboard Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO
Memory 32GB DDR4
Video Card(s) msi 1080
Storage Samsung SSD 850 pro 2TB+1tb hdd 7200rpm+ 1tb 970pro
Software Mageia 6 + Windows 10
Well, I have a 512gb Samsung 830 ssd + 1tb wd hdd 7200rpm, I installed steam+ skyrim legendary on ssd(because I play often) and on hdd I installed the rest of steam games(I play them once in a week), the C partition(windows 7 64b sp1+steam+skyrim legendary+photoshop and the rest of software) have 100gb with 50gb free; I think the best it is to have a ssd with good write speed for uncompressible data...
 
Top