What SSD capacity is enough for the games you typically play?

[Nuke Dukem]

tl;dr - Example with random numbers:

(35GB Windows install + 1x 50GB game + 1x 100GB game + 1x 150GB game) x 1.1 = 368.5GB -> small enough to fit on a 480GB SSD (480 x 0.93 ≈ 447GB in Windows)

The question is deceptively simple - take the size of your typical Windows install (with all its system and user folders, without additional user data), add the size of the games you typically play, add some free space and choose which SSD capacity would be enough to accomodate those. Some things to pay attention to:

• We are talking about a strictly gaming build - anything else (your movies, pictures, music, general non-gaming software, miscellaneous other data) shouldn't be factored in.

• Please do NOT try to calculate how much your entire gaming library weighs - this is not what we are aiming for right now.

• If you often play a lot of different games ("finish and foget"), only look back 1 week (7 days) and calculate the total size of the games you played during that time. If you only play the same few games all the time, then include them.

• Add 10% to the total data size - that would represent some free capacity for the drive to "breathe". Please do not add more than 10%. I know that some of you like to only leave your SSD half full, but this is not today's idea.

• If the total contents + 10% free space tax won't fit by just a little in a certain capacity, choose the next bigger capacity. You may drop a comment if the smaller one was almost big enough - this is important as well.

• Pay attention to manufacturer versus Windows capacity - most of you know that 1 "manufacturer GB" is about 93% of 1 "real life GB", for TB it's ~91%.

• For practical purposes I'm going to group together the similarly-sized capacities - for example 480GB, 500GB and 512GB would all be one option in the poll.

• The capacity options are based on what's currently available on the e-shops in my country, which is what's commonly available on most markets anyway.

• For now I chose to not include the weird "in-between" off-brand capacities (90GB, 180GB, 360GB etc.), because few sane people use those, but upon request I may add them.

• I'm only using the word "Windows" because that's what most people use. If you use some other OS type, then more power to you. The rules are still the same.

 

[P4-630]

Just calculated I have about 1543 GB of games installed on SSD's currently...

Not really a correct option for me to vote though..

 

[Nuke Dukem]

Just calculated I have about 1543 GB of games installed on SSD's currently...

Not really a correct option for me to vote though..

That's cool and all, but I guess you didn't read the first post.


• Please do NOT try to calculate how much your entire gaming library weighs - this is not what we are aiming for right now
• If you often play a lot of different games ("finish and foget"), only look back 1 week (7 days) and calculate the total size of the games you played during that time. If you only play the same few games all the time, then include them.

*edited for clarity

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

I play a lot of different games based on my general mood. If limited to 7 days, I could go for a 64GB, as the only one I played in that time was AC Origins.

However, I find that a 1TB can comfortably hold all of the games I play on a regular (for me) basis.

Edit: I use a separate drive for Windows.

 

[Nuke Dukem]

I find that a 1TB can comfortably hold all of the games I play on a regular (for me) basis.

I pretty much expect that most people would need 1TB.

 

[GerKNG]

with games reaching far over 100gb (or games like ark survival which gets close to half a terabyte) a single 2TB SSD for games only is not enough.
a second one is too much but i rather keep games installed and at least 10-15% free space on my drives.

 

[delshay]

I had this discussion in another thread where I was complaining 2TB is too small for today's games. Games are getting larger due to a lot more GFX cards can do 4K, with 8K also playable.
Looking at future upcoming games it's only going to larger in size. Besides all this, all those free games given away every week has taken it toll. I'm out, can't even download & backup.

 

[Pumper]

Never had less than 300GB free on my 1TB gaming drive.

 

[Nuke Dukem]

I had this discussion in another thread where I was complaining 2TB is too small for today's games

It's probably the very same thread that gave me the idea for this poll.

all those free games given away every week has taken it toll. I'm out, can't even download & backup.

Why do you keep every game installed? They're forever available on your profile, so you can always download something if you need it.

 

[Solaris17]

That's cool and all, but I guess you didn't read the first post.


• Please do NOT try to calculate how much your entire gaming library weighs - this is not what we are aiming for right now
• If you often play a lot of different games ("finish and foget"), only look back 1 week (7 days) and calculate the total size of the games you played during that time. If you only play the same few games all the time, then include them.

*edited for clarity

that seems like a useless metric. No need to be rude to him. Why would I look back 7 days? I don’t purchase computer parts based on my 7 day game habit. I purchase storage based on what I use.

I feel bad for y’all going into your add and remove programs every 25min because the next best thing came out.

 

[dirtyferret]

However, I find that a 1TB can comfortably hold all of the games I play on a regular (for me) basis.

Edit: I use a separate drive for Windows.

similar

separate drive for Windows

1TB NVMe for STEAM games
1TB 2.5 SSD for gog & blizzard games

I could probably fit all the games onto 1TB as I do delete games (eventually) once I'm done with them and won't play them again.

 

[delshay]

Why do you keep every game installed? They're forever available on your profile, so you can always download something if you need it.

I only keep installed games that are getting patches/updates or there are DLC on it's way. All my other games are backed-up on other drives, but i'm out of space, too many free games.

 

[Deleted member 223428]

Why do you keep every game installed? They're forever available on your profile, so you can always download something if you need it.

Probably because everybody's use case is different. Also their internet connection speed. It's no longer an issue for me, but just a few years ago downloading a large game could take multiple evenings. So much time that if it wasn't already installed I wouldn't even bother. I've gotten better, but I still have multiple SSDs dedicated for game installations on my windows gaming box.

I've also considered picking up a really large dedicated games HDD to just have everything installed. I could move whatever I was playing to SSD if needed, or just play from spinning rust for the less demanding games. That's totally a want and not a need though.

 

[BSim500]

Why do you keep every game installed? They're forever available on your profile, so you can always download something if you need it.

I can't answer for him but personally I play a lot of older games (that take up little space), so a better question is "why not"? I often find I'm more likely to play a wider range of titles when they're "on tap" beyond just the favourites. Same goes for heavily modded games, eg, once Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, etc, are setup as you want them, it's less hassle to keep them installed than to keep uninstalling, reinstalling, remodding them, adjusting the correct mod load order, etc, for the sake of what 30GB for 3x combined? Prior to SSD's becoming mainstream, and back when 2-4TB system HDD's drives were common, it was entirely normal for many gamers to keep more games installed at once, and some only started downsizing when they swapped a 3TB HDD for a 256-512GB SSD. Even then another common use case for a while (when early SSD's were very expensive) was to have a small 256-512GB SSD boot & system drive + a huge 3-6TB secondary HDD just for games. If a 6TB SSD cost a mere $120 today, you'd probably see an increase of "why should I constantly uninstall everything if I don't actually need to?" thinking.

 

[Nuke Dukem]

that seems like a useless metric. Why would I look back 7 days? I don’t purchase computer parts based on my 7 day game habit. I purchase storage based on what I use.

Useless for you, maybe. I updated my post, too (which you conveniently omitted) to be more inclusive.

No need to be rude to him.

I don't feel particularly rude. Not being overly polite does not automatically mean rude. However I am perfectly fine with saying sorry if needed. So, @P4-630 sorry if you felt I was rude. Not my intention

I feel bad for y’all going into your add and remove programs every 25min because the next best thing came out.

Don't play the assumption game. I play one thing a few times a week, maybe for months. And I got some free space to spare. I don't hoard a thousand games on my SSD just because I can.

 

[Deleted member 223428]

I don't hoard a thousand games on my SSD just because I can.

Ah. So we get to the gist of the poll: "I'm doing it right, and everyone else is hoarding"

 

[QuietBob]

On my main Win10 rig I currently have 55 GB used on the 1 TB system drive. That number includes a few apps, but no games. As I play old titles almost exclusively, I could easily manage with a 128 GB OS drive. I typically play one game at a time, squeeze every bit out of it, and uninstall it before starting a new one. I do have a separate 1 TB data/game drive in this system, though. The only game installed on it is 12 GB.

Practically speaking, a 256 GB drive should accomodate the OS and any single game in existence.

 

[AnotherReader]

Don't play the assumption game. I play one thing a few times a week, maybe for months. And I got some free space to spare. I don't hoard a thousand games on my SSD just because I can.

I have only played one game in the last month or so, but I feel that your metric for calculating drive size misses an important point. Smaller SSDs in the 256-512 GB size range are usually slower than their larger counterparts and are often more expensive per GB.

 

[dirtyferret]

I don't hoard a thousand games on my SSD just because I can.

neither do I but I don't give a ratt's ass if other people do

 

[Kapone33]

I have had Steam since TW Shogun 2. I can't tell you about the number of Steam sales I took advantage of. I have a MB that supports multiple drives. It seems counter intuitive to me to not take advantage of my MBs features and waste energy Re Downloading something that could be nice and secure on my machine. There is a reason that Steam has an offline mode and no one can say in the last 10 years that they have not had a negative experience with depending on the Internet to give you Gaming. So yes I am a Gamer and I have 22TB of storage but you know what it is the P in PC No one's method of doing what they do in a luxury sphere is wrong or better.

 

[Nuke Dukem]

Ah. So we get to the gist of the poll: "I'm doing it right, and everyone else is hoarding"

I'm doing what's right for me, you're doing what's right for you, so no. Nowhere did I tell anyone how to go about his business, I'm simply asking why they do what they do.

neither do I but I don't give a ratt's ass if other people do

I see no harm in asking.

 

[Kapone33]

I'm doing what's right for me, you're doing what's right for you, so no. Nowhere did I tell anyone how to go about his business, I'm simply asking why they do what they do.

I see no harm in asking.

But you called people like me hoarders which in social society is a negative term. I will expand on my thought as well. TWWH has a Immortal Empires Campaign. You need to have all 3 copies of the Game to get all the factions in the Game. Each Game is at least 100 GB with patches and updates. That is only 1 Game. Just today AMD uploaded a Video showing Life of PI running at 8K. Textures for 8K will probably add another 25GB to the current 80+ GB average for modern Games. These are not the days of Games being 4 to 8 GB anymore.

 

[Lei]

I run games from hdd and have total installation size of 1.75TB

• Please do NOT try to calculate how much your entire gaming library weighs - this is not what we are aiming for right now
• If you often play a lot of different games ("finish and foget"), only look back 1 week (7 days) and calculate the total size of the games you played during that time. If you only play the same few games all the time, then include them.

I understand, I have less than 10gb on my ssd for games (only Asphalt Legends).
But I played Yakuza Like a Dragon and then stopped over a month, playing Dirt 5, then I came back to Yakuza. Certainly Yakuza deserves to be on SSD more than anything else.
If I forget a game for 2 months, doesn't mean I don't like it.

So I guess to answer your question, 2TB is good if you want everything on SSD.

Why do you keep every game installed? They're forever available on your profile, so you can always download something if you need it.

bcz filling up hard disk is more fun than paying for redownload. why waste bandwidth

I feel bad for y’all going into your add and remove programs every 25min because the next best thing came out.

I agree, never remove anything, just swear at Western Digital. more gigs bros. give me that platters.

but just a few years ago downloading a large game could take multiple evenings. So much time that if it wasn't already installed I wouldn't even bother.

Why download something again, when you can use that bandwidth to watch world cup games for instance.

neither do I but I don't give a ratt's ass if other people do

Duke probably doesn't know SSD dies by writing, not reading. Hoarding is permitted by design.

 

[Deleted member 185158]

0 Mb.

Cause I hasn't a single game installed ATM.

 

[Lei]

0 Mb.

Cause I hasn't a single game installed ATM.

My supervisor tells me she doesn't play games. then she sneaks into her iPhone and plays 羊了个羊

She tells me I should play it too. To which I respond: I bought 3090 to play this game? Did you buy an iPhone to play this?!