Exploring SSD Speed Impact on Gaming

Objective

• Investigate whether the speed of SSDs (Solid State Drives) makes a significant difference in gaming performance.

Background

• Previously built a mid-range gaming PC using a Gen 3 SSD to stay within budget.
• Recently found a Gen 4 SSD for only $15 more than the Gen 3, prompting further testing.

Sponsors

• VIPD Key offers affordable Windows 10 licenses which allow free upgrades to Windows 11.

Testing Methodology

• Conducted tests using Gen 3, Gen 4, and SATA SSDs.
• Cloned Windows 11 onto each SSD for consistent testing.
• Focused games: Red Dead Redemption 2 and Cyberpunk 2077.
  • Measured:
    • Time from game launch to main menu.
    • Time to load game saves.
    • Frame rate benchmarks to compare gameplay performance.

Results

Red Dead Redemption 2

• SATA SSD: 50.5 seconds to main menu, 38.9 seconds to load game save.
• Gen 3 SSD: 49.5 seconds to main menu (2% faster), 38.4 seconds to load save.
• Gen 4 SSD: 48.9 seconds to menu (1% faster than Gen 3), 38.5 seconds to load save.

Cyberpunk 2077

• SATA SSD: 35.87 seconds to main menu, 9.46 seconds to load game save.
• Gen 3 SSD: 34.3 seconds to menu (4.4% faster), 7.9 seconds to load save (18% faster).
• Gen 4 SSD: 33.6 seconds to menu (2.2% faster than Gen 3), 7.9 seconds to load save.

Analysis

• Gameplay Performance: All drives delivered the same frame rates, indicating SSD speed does not impact gameplay performance.
• Loading Times: Only minor improvements were noted between SSD generations.
• Windows Performance: Noticeable differences between SATA and NVME SSDs but not between Gen 3 and Gen 4 NVME SSDs.

Technical Benchmarks

• Sequential Read/Write:
  • SATA: ~0.5 GB/s
  • Gen 3: ~2.5 GB/s
  • Gen 4: ~5-7 GB/s
• Random Read/Write:
  • Minimal differences were observed among SSDs, with SATA outperforming in some randomized tasks.

Conclusion

• Choosing Gen 3 SSDs over Gen 4 for gaming setups is generally justified due to negligible improvements in gaming performance.
• For other system uses, the faster Gen 4 SSDs might offer benefits that justify spending an additional $15.

Reflection

• SSD performance has limited impact on gameplay but affects loading times.
• Further research could explore CPU core impacts on gaming as a follow-up topic.

Note

• For expanded insights, consider examining how disabling CPU cores impacts gaming performance in a related study.