Solid-state drives (SSDs) are high-performance plug-and-play devices that feature no moving parts and offer faster speeds due to containing their own CPUs to manage data storage. SSDs are easy to install and can provide numerous benefits over a standard hard disk drive (HDD); however, they can be quite expensive. While we often hear about the wonders of SSDs in gaming, the real advantages of using them are mostly unknown. One of the most talked-about areas of building a successful gaming PC is the battle for high frame rates. It might come as a shock to many, but an SSD will not do anything to help! However, an SSD can drastically reduce load times and even reduce ‘hitching’ in present-day open-world games. This hitching occurs when these memory-intensive games pause when assets cannot be pulled from the hard drive fast enough.

Another useful thing about SSDs is how quickly your operating system (OS) will boot and run if installed on it. Because of these storage devices’ high cost, it is common to see low numbers for their memory storage, such as the standard 128GB SSDs. Due to this small amount of storage that many SSD’s hold, it is essential to carefully figure out what exactly you want to run on your SSD and what you do not. An SSD’s durability is also highly favored over a traditional HDD due to not having any moving parts that can break; this also makes SSD’s very quiet and widely used in laptops. So, if you are looking for a rugged, silent, and lightning-fast hard drive, an SSD is clearly the best choice. Feel free to learn more by clicking the links to my sources below, and happy gaming!

Sources:

http://www.pcgamer.com/how-do-ssds-affect-gaming-performance/

“How Do SSDs Affect Gaming Performance?”. Tyler Wilde. PC Gamer. Pcgamer.com. Web. 05 April 2015. 04 April 2017.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404258,00.asp

“SSD vs. HDD: What’s the Difference?”. Joes Santo Domingo. PC Gamer. Pcgamer.com. Web. 07 March 2017. 04 April 2017.