How Much Storage Is Enough To You?

64K · May 21, 2023

It has become common for gamers to post a proposed build here including a 1 TB SSD and asking for advice from this community. I usually point out that 1 TB may be inadequate if you are downloading the latest games to store in your Library. It has become a common thing for around 100 GB to be the recommended storage requirement for games. One in particular, a Call Of Duty game, requires around 250 GB of storage space.

I think back to my first 1 TB HHD many years ago and thought that was massive. Now I think that my latest 4 TB HDD is somewhat puny. What are your thoughts?

Votes will be anonymous.

Vayra86 · May 21, 2023

I put 4TB... and not because I have it, but because I find myself sometimes having to delete stuff I would rather keep - games mostly. Especially when modded. This PC also still carries my entire library of music, a good 500GB of video and other My documents related shit. However, this is a luxury problem. I think 2TB is a great place to be for a gaming PC, and you can add more as demands rise.

Did clean up lately, but with 3TB total, I would definitely not mind changing up the E and X drives with 2 more 930 GB SSDs.

GerKNG · May 21, 2023

1TB boot drive + Software and 4TB for games (having around 1TB free)

chrcoluk · May 21, 2023

A lot more.

I have a lot of gaming footage archives now as well as a gradual increase of media downloads.

Also many unused games installed, but now I have gigabit internet I could clear those out and only download on demand when needed if wanted.

Why_Me · May 21, 2023

AusWolf · May 21, 2023

A lot more.

I store all my favourite games, films and TV shows locally so that I only ever depend on my crappy internet connection for Steam and GOG. Storing everything at 1080p+ obviously needs a lot of space.

ir_cow · May 21, 2023

I have a 16TB, and 4TB platter in my computer, along with 4 1TB NVMe drives. I also have 8x 3TB in a drawer that I need to sort and migrate the data off of.

tabascosauz · May 21, 2023

Vayra86 said:
I put 4TB... and not because I have it, but because I find myself sometimes having to delete stuff I would rather keep - games mostly. Especially when modded. This PC also still carries my entire library of music, a good 500GB of video and other My documents related shit. However, this is a luxury problem. I think 2TB is a great place to be for a gaming PC, and you can add more as demands rise.

Did clean up lately, but with 3TB total, I would definitely not mind changing up the E and X drives with 2 more 930 GB SSDs.

Times have really changed, couple years ago I would have been content with 2TB total......I follow the same principle, when I need to make room for stuff, it's time for an upgrade

Your OS2 drive is a good example of what triggers me to start looking at SSD prices

nomdeplume · May 21, 2023

I'll explain...

Vayra86 said:
I put 4TB... and not because I have it, but because I find myself sometimes having to delete stuff I would rather keep - games mostly.

So realistically 8-12 TB storage with a fast 2TB NVMe OS drive.

Tabascosauz appears to have the same ideas on comfort found navigating to a single storage drive.

nageme · May 21, 2023

Are you implying internal storage vs external/removable/NAS storage?

Lew Zealand · May 21, 2023

A single 2TB is good and most of the machines in the house have that but my main now has a 4TB as I was bumping up against 2TB pretty frequently. For me it's been a price target of ~$200 since the 500MB SSD days.

It's nice to have 1.8TB free. For now.

chrcoluk · May 21, 2023

nageme said:
Are you implying internal storage vs external/removable/NAS storage?

For me my answer is total storage.

natr0n · May 21, 2023

I have so many drive some people would go mad.

I like to archive games for pc and consoles mostly.... and versions of windows and installs of windows.... and experiments and ideas need lots of drives

Keullo-e · May 21, 2023

Modern games take 50GB+ easilly and I don't want to always redownload those if I don't play a game for a while but then I want to play it. I have ~8.8TB, yet I still need more.

wheresmycar · May 21, 2023

Voted 8TB (games, work, personal, streaming, backups, etc etc)

Its a mess... i've got a whole host of storage devices spread across 3 systems. My main gaming rig, my work+personal+secondary gaming rig and family system for everything else + a little lighter gaming stuff (kids!)

For games ive got no idea... 2 of the 3 machines hold the weighter game types. I'm guessing around ~1.5TB in use and a ton of titles not even downloaded as I end up deleting some of the older/no longer played games to make space.

Anyway ive been eyeing up SSD prices for some time and shortly will be closing in on a 2x 2TB sticks and as soon as decent 4TB SSDs are available for south of £200.... i'm jumping right in! One of these days i'm gonna slap a RIP on the clickity click spinners for some peace of ~~mind~~ ears.

Toothless · May 21, 2023

I have about 15TB of storage on my server alone, and a lot of that is real time backups for myself and my wife's desktops. A bunch of it is game server hosting, virtual machines, etc. One day the plan is to fill it with some 2TB SSD and 5TB HDDs to hopefully last me a long while as the primary desktops move to all SSD. Don't really need speed in the server when gigabit transfers can take hours overnight for all I care.

80-watt Hamster · May 21, 2023

Current daily driver (which is not the one in my specs) has a 250GB system and 1TB storage drive. Never gone more than 2TB on a storage drive, but I don't store video, only play a few games at once, and don't really do AAA. Probably going to bump to 2TB, simply because I can.

JoeTheDestroyer · May 21, 2023

A lot more....

48TB in my media server/nas (all HDD)
1TB in SSDs and 4GB HDD in my main system
~800GB in SSDs and 14TB HDD in my workshop system
2TB SSD and 14TB HDD in my soon-to-be-main-system

1-2TB is enough "active" storage for me, and that's all that needs to go an SSD. I don't see much point in cobbling together more from many small SSDs, when for "cold" storage (backups, archived/seldom-used games/programs, videos) a HDD is good enough, and far far cheaper.

A&P211 · May 22, 2023

I put down "alot more". Only because I use lots of space for editing videos, current laptop has 16tb of space, and I use it all. Plus another 8tb external SSD, and a 16tb external HD. I use the 16tb to store shows, movies to watch.

freeagent · May 22, 2023

I have 3TB installed right now. I could use some more

GreiverBlade · May 22, 2023

the correct answer is always : "YES!", when asked "how much you need?"

i do not have or operate NAS/Server but i go, for now, with :
12tb (plus the bootdrive of 256gb) in my case but i have 2 spinner 1tb each that i will replace with 2tb SSD ASAP... :laugh:

and it's all active storage, backup drives are not "permanently connected" and should not exceed 8tb iirc ... (i need to check my backup ahah :oops:

)

Keullo-e · May 22, 2023

GreiverBlade said:
the correct answer is always : "YES!", when asked "how much you need?"

i do not have or operate NAS/Server but i go, for now, with :
12tb (plus the bootdrive of 256gb) in my case but i have 2 spinner 1tb each that i will replace with 2tb SSD ASAP...

and it's all active storage, backup drives are not "permanently connected" and should not exceed 8tb iirc ... (i need to check my backup ahah )

I should upgrade my storage drive (a 2TB drive in an USB3.0 enclosure), I'd just copy its content to the new drive so this would have backups at least in some format. Maybe even a 7200rpm drive so it could host some games.. :rockout:

Denver · May 22, 2023

2TB SSD(OS+Games+Work) + 2TB HDD to store videos, photos and my junk

Klemc · May 22, 2023

Today i thinked about buying a 8tb NVMe PCIe gen4 to put all my SSDs in one place (and disable Sata controller in bios once done too), but idk if i can find MX500 equivalant at 500 eoros.

So, 8tb is my vote.

bonehead123 · May 22, 2023

On my work rigs, I currently have a total of 282.79TB of storage, including my internal & external setups, but not backups, which are on separate, dedicated drives.... but this is NOT because all I do is set around & download moar & moar bloated-ass gamz, pron, musak, and movies day after day after day....

It's because I do 3D/CAD/CAM work, and them files tend to get massively huge after multiple revisions and changes on their way to the final versions

Why does seemingly EVERY friggin thing here have to centered around gamz anywayz ?

However, my home/personal usage is moar modest, with only 12TB of space in use for my OS, personal files, apps etc..

Processor	i7 7700k
Motherboard	MSI Z270 SLI Plus
Cooling	CM Hyper 212 EVO
Memory	2 x 8 GB Corsair Vengeance
Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 2070 Super
Storage	Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB and WD Black 4TB
Display(s)	Dell 27 inch 1440p 144 Hz
Case	Corsair Obsidian 750D Airflow Edition
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNova 850 W Gold
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	Logitech G105
Software	Windows 10

Processor	i7 8700k 4.6Ghz @ 1.24V
Motherboard	AsRock Fatal1ty K6 Z370
Cooling	beQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 3
Memory	16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200/C16
Video Card(s)	ASRock RX7900XT Phantom Gaming
Storage	Samsung 850 EVO 1TB + Samsung 830 256GB + Crucial BX100 250GB + Toshiba 1TB HDD
Display(s)	Gigabyte G34QWC (3440x1440)
Case	Fractal Design Define R5
Audio Device(s)	Harman Kardon AVR137 + 2.1
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova G2 750W
Mouse	XTRFY M42
Keyboard	Lenovo Thinkpad Trackpoint II
Software	W10 x64

System Name	Sunk Cost Fallacy
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard	ASRock B650E Steel Legend Wifi
Cooling	Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 Rev. 7
Memory	2x16GB G.Skill Trident Z5 NEO 6000 CL30
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Nitro+ RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X
Storage	WD Black SN850X 1TB + 2x 2TB, 2x 4TB Crucial MX500, 4TB Samsung 870 Evo.
Display(s)	Alienware AW2723DF, LG 27GR93U, LG 27GN950-B
Case	Lian Li O11 Air Mini
Audio Device(s)	Bose Companion Series 2 III, Sennheiser GSP600 and HD599 SE - Creative Soundblaster X4
Power Supply	bequiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1500w Titanium
Mouse	Logitech GPRO X Superlight & G502 X
Keyboard	Corsair K65 RGB Mini, Razer Black Widow V3 TKL
VR HMD	Oculus Rift S

System Name	Main PC
Processor	13700k
Motherboard	Asrock Z690 Steel Legend D4 - Bios 13.02
Cooling	Noctua NH-D15S
Memory	32 Gig 3200CL14
Video Card(s)	3080 RTX FE 10G
Storage	1TB 980 PRO (OS, games), 2TB SN850X (games), 2TB DC P4600 (work), 2x 3TB WD Red, 2x 4TB WD Red
Display(s)	LG 27GL850
Case	Fractal Define R4
Audio Device(s)	Asus Xonar D2X
Power Supply	Antec HCG 750 Gold
Software	Windows 10 21H2 LTSC

System Name	Nebulon-B Mk. 4
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard	MSi PRO B650M-A WiFi
Cooling	be quiet! Dark Rock 4
Memory	2x 24 GB Corsair Vengeance EXPO DDR5-6000
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 7800 XT
Storage	2 TB Corsair MP600 GS, 2 TB Corsair MP600 R2, 4 + 8 TB Seagate Barracuda 3.5"
Display(s)	Dell S3422DWG, 7" Waveshare touchscreen
Case	Kolink Citadel Mesh black
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime GX-750
Mouse	Logitech MX Master 2S
Keyboard	Logitech G413 SE
Software	Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	Cinebench R23 single-core: 1,800, multi-core: 18,000. Superposition 1080p Extreme: 9,900.

How Much Storage Is Enough To You?

How Much Stotage Is Enough For You?

Less Than 1 TB

1 TB

2 TB

4 TB

8 TB

A Lot More (Please Explain)

64K

Vayra86

GerKNG

chrcoluk

Why_Me

AusWolf

ir_cow

tabascosauz

Moderator

nomdeplume

nageme

Lew Zealand

chrcoluk

natr0n

Keullo-e

S.T.A.R.S.

wheresmycar

Toothless

Tech, Games, and TPU!

80-watt Hamster

JoeTheDestroyer

A&P211

freeagent

Moderator

GreiverBlade

Keullo-e

S.T.A.R.S.

Denver

Klemc

bonehead123

System Name	ab┃ob
Processor	7800X3D┃5800X3D
Motherboard	B650E PG-ITX┃X570 Impact
Cooling	PA120+T30┃AXP120x67
Memory	64GB 6000CL30┃32GB 3600CL14
Video Card(s)	RTX 4070 Ti Eagle┃RTX A2000
Storage	8TB of SSDs┃1TB SN550
Display(s)	43" QN90B / 32" M32Q / 27" S2721DGF
Case	Caselabs S3┃Lazer3D HT5
Power Supply	Corsair HX1000┃HDPlex

Processor	Intel i5 8400
Motherboard	Asus Prime H370M-Plus/CSM
Cooling	Scythe Big Shuriken & Noctua NF-A15 HS-PWM chromax.black.swap
Memory	8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport LT DDR4-2400
Video Card(s)	ROG-STRIX-GTX1060-O6G-GAMING
Storage	1TB 980 Pro
Display(s)	Samsung UN55KU6300F
Case	Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 3
Power Supply	Super Flower Leadex III 750w
Software	W11 Pro

System Name	Gamey #1 / #2
Processor	Ryzen 7 5800X3D / Core i7-9700F
Motherboard	Asrock B450M P4 / Asrock B360M P4
Cooling	IDCool SE-226-XT / CM Hyper 212
Memory	32GB 3200 CL16 / 32GB 2666 CL14
Video Card(s)	PC 6800 XT / Soyo RTX 2060 Super
Storage	4TB Team MP34 / 512G Tosh RD400+2TB WD3Dblu
Display(s)	LG 32GK650F 1440p 144Hz VA
Case	Corsair 4000Air / CM N200
Audio Device(s)	Dragonfly Black
Power Supply	EVGA 650 G3 / Corsair CX550M
Mouse	JSCO JNL-101k Noiseless
Keyboard	Steelseries Apex 3 TKL
Software	Win 10, Throttlestop

System Name	natr0n-PC
Processor	Ryzen 5950x/5600x
Motherboard	B450 AORUS M
Cooling	EK AIO 360 - 6 fan action
Memory	Patriot - Viper Steel DDR4 (B-Die)(4x8GB)
Video Card(s)	EVGA 3070ti FTW
Storage	Various
Display(s)	PIXIO IPS 240Hz 1080P
Case	Thermaltake Level 20 VT
Audio Device(s)	LOXJIE D10 + Kinter Amp + 6 Bookshelf Speakers Sony+JVC+Sony
Power Supply	Super Flower Leadex III ARGB 80+ Gold 650W
Software	XP/7/8.1/10
Benchmark Scores	http://valid.x86.fr/79kuh6

System Name	4K-gaming
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X up to 5.05GHz
Motherboard	Gigabyte B550M Aorus Elite
Cooling	Custom loop (CPU+GPU, 240 & 120 rads)
Memory	32GB Kingston HyperX Fury @ DDR4-3466
Video Card(s)	PowerColor RX 6700 XT Fighter OC/UV
Storage	~4TB SSD + 6TB HDD
Display(s)	Acer 27" 4K120 IPS + Lenovo 32" 4K60 IPS
Case	Corsair 4000D Airflow White
Audio Device(s)	Asus TUF H3 Wireless
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova G2 750W
Mouse	Logitech MX518
Keyboard	Roccat Vulcan 121 AIMO
VR HMD	Oculus Rift CV1
Software	Windows 11 Pro
Benchmark Scores	It runs Crysis remastered at 4K

System Name	❶ Oooh (2024) ❷ Aaaah (2021) ❸ Ahemm (2017)
Processor	❶ 5800X3D ❷ i7-9700K ❸ i7-7700K
Motherboard	❶ X570-F ❷ Z390-E ❸ Z270-E
Cooling	❶ ALFIII 360 ❷ X62 + X72 (GPU mod) ❸ X62
Memory	❶ 32-3600/16 ❷ 32-3200/16 ❸ 16-3200/16
Video Card(s)	❶ 3080 X Trio ❷ 2080TI (AIOmod) ❸ 1080TI
Storage	❶ NVME/SSD/HDD ❷ <SAME ❸ SSD/HDD
Display(s)	❶ 1440/165/IPS ❷ 1440/144/IPS ❸ 1080/144/IPS
Case	❶ BQ Silent 601 ❷ Cors 465X ❸ Frac Mesh C
Audio Device(s)	❶ HyperX C2 ❷ HyperX C2 ❸ Logi G432
Power Supply	❶ HX1200 Plat ❷ RM750X ❸ EVGA 650W G2
Mouse	❶ Logi G Pro ❷ Razer Bas V3 ❸ Logi G502
Keyboard	❶ Logi G915 TKL ❷ Anne P2 ❸ Logi G610
Benchmark Scores	I have wrestled bandwidths, Tussled with voltages, Handcuffed Overclocks, Thrown Gigahertz in Jail

System Name	Veral
Processor	5950x
Motherboard	MSI MEG x570 Ace
Cooling	Corsair H150i RGB Elite
Memory	4x16GB G.Skill TridentZ
Video Card(s)	Powercolor 7900XTX Red Devil
Storage	Crucial P5 Plus 1TB, Samsung 980 1TB, Teamgroup MP34 4TB
Display(s)	Acer Nitro XZ342CK Pbmiiphx + 2x AOC 2425W
Case	Fractal Design Meshify Lite 2
Audio Device(s)	Blue Yeti + SteelSeries Arctis 5 / Samsung HW-T550
Power Supply	Corsair HX850
Mouse	Corsair Nightsword
Keyboard	Corsair K55
VR HMD	HP Reverb G2
Software	Windows 11 Professional
Benchmark Scores	PEBCAK

System Name	Office
Processor	Ryzen 5600G
Motherboard	ASUS B450M-A II
Cooling	be quiet! Shadow Rock LP
Memory	16GB Patriot Viper Steel DDR4-3200
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte RX 5600 XT
Storage	PNY CS1030 250GB, Crucial MX500 2TB
Display(s)	Dell S2719DGF
Case	Fractal Define 7 Compact
Power Supply	EVGA 550 G3
Mouse	Logitech M705 Marthon
Keyboard	Logitech G410
Software	Windows 10 Pro 22H2

System Name	Asus G16
Processor	i9 13980HX
Motherboard	Asus motherboard
Cooling	2 fans
Memory	32gb 4800mhz cl40
Video Card(s)	4080 laptop
Storage	16tb, x2 8tb SSD
Display(s)	QHD+ 16:10 (2560x1600, WQXGA) 240hz
Power Supply	330w psu

Processor	AMD R9 5900X
Motherboard	Asus Crosshair VIII Dark Hero
Cooling	Thermalright Aqua Elite 360 V3 1x TL-B12, 2x TL-C12 Pro, 2x TL K12
Memory	2x8 G.Skill Trident Z Royal 3200C14, 2x8GB G.Skill Trident Z Black and White 3200 C14
Video Card(s)	Zotac 4070 Ti Trinity OC
Storage	WD SN850 1TB, SN850X 2TB, Asus Hyper M.2, 2x SN770 1TB
Display(s)	LG 50UP7100
Case	Fractal Torrent Compact RGB
Audio Device(s)	JBL 2.1 Deep Bass
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNova 750w G+, Monster HDP1800
Mouse	Logitech G502 Hero
Keyboard	Logitech G213
VR HMD	Oculus 3
Software	Yes
Benchmark Scores	Yes

System Name	main/SFFHTPCARGH!(tm)/Xiaomi Mi TV Stick/Samsung Galaxy S23/Ally
Processor	Ryzen 7 5800X3D/i7-3770/S905X/Snapdragon 8 Gen 2/Ryzen Z1 Extreme
Motherboard	MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk/HP SFF Q77 Express/uh?/uh?/Asus
Cooling	Enermax ETS-T50 Axe aRGB /basic HP HSF /errr.../oh! liqui..wait, no:sizable vapor chamber/a nice one
Memory	64gb Corsair Vengeance Pro 3600mhz DDR4/8gb DDR3 1600/2gb LPDDR3/8gb LPDDR5x 4200/16gb LPDDR5
Video Card(s)	Hellhound Spectral White RX 7900 XTX 24gb/GT 730/Mali 450MP5/Adreno 740/RDNA3 768 core
Storage	250gb870EVO/500gb860EVO/2tbSandisk/NVMe2tb+1tb/4tbextreme V2/1TB Arion/500gb/8gb/256gb/2tb SN770M
Display(s)	X58222 32" 2880x1620/32"FHDTV/273E3LHSB 27" 1920x1080/6.67"/AMOLED 2X panel FHD+120hz/FHD 120hz
Case	Cougar Panzer Max/Elite 8300 SFF/None/back/back-front Gorilla Glass Victus 2+ UAG Monarch Carbon
Audio Device(s)	Logi Z333/SB Audigy RX/HDMI/HDMI/Dolby Atmos/KZ x HBB PR2/Edifier STAX Spirit S3 & SamsungxAKG beans
Power Supply	Chieftec Proton BDF-1000C /HP 240w/12v 1.5A/4Smart Voltplug PD 30W/Asus USB-C 65W
Mouse	Speedlink Sovos Vertical-Asus ROG Spatha-Logi Ergo M575/Xiaomi XMRM-006/touch/touch
Keyboard	Endorfy Thock 75% <3/none/touch/virtual
VR HMD	Medion Erazer
Software	Win10 64/Win8.1 64/Android TV 8.1/Android 13/Win11 64
Benchmark Scores	bench...mark? i do leave mark on bench sometime, to remember which one is the most comfortable. :o

System Name	KLM
Processor	7800X3D
Motherboard	B-650E-E Strix
Cooling	Arctic Cooling III 280
Memory	16x2 Fury Renegade 6000-32
Video Card(s)	4070-ti PNY
Storage	512+512+1+2+2+2+2+6+500+256+4+4+4
Display(s)	VA 32" 4K@60 - OLED 27" 2K@240
Case	4000D Airflow
Audio Device(s)	Edifier 1280Ts
Power Supply	Shift 1000
Mouse	502 Hero
Keyboard	K68
Software	EMDB
Benchmark Scores	0>1000

System Name	The Little One
Processor	i5-11320H @4.4GHZ
Motherboard	AZW SEI
Cooling	Fan w/heat pipes + side & rear vents
Memory	64GB Crucial DDR4-3200 (2x 32GB)
Video Card(s)	Iris XE
Storage	WD Black SN850X 4TB m.2, Seagate 2TB SSD + SN850 4TB x2 in an external enclosure
Display(s)	2x Samsung 43" & 2x 32"
Case	Practically identical to a mac mini, just purrtier in slate blue, & with 3x usb ports on the front !
Audio Device(s)	Yamaha ATS-1060 Bluetooth Soundbar & Subwoofer
Power Supply	65w brick
Mouse	Logitech MX Master 2
Keyboard	Logitech G613 mechanical wireless
Software	Windows 10 pro 64 bit, with all the unnecessary background shitzu turned OFF !
Benchmark Scores	PDQ