Should i use 128GB SSD or 512GB HDD for OS?
Posted by Huymatic@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 34 comments
I'm not experienced, but i'm trying to install some heavy game into my HDD. I'm not sure if i should use SSD for OS and store games in HDD or just directly install into the HDD. I read some post, they say it increase load speed but not mentioning if it have anything to do with performance, since i only need performance. (I read those post twice, i don't think i understand them well)
SanSenju@reddit
Use SSD for OS. 128GB is fine for a few more years but having 200GB would be ideal.
An SSD is just faster than an HDD.
Many modern games will either load incredibly slowly or not run on an HDD since they were made to be used with SSDs.
But older games will run fine on an HDD.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl8wXT8F3W4
My personal recommendation would be to get a 1TB NVME SSD since that is the modern standard.
n7_trekkie@reddit
Os always on SSD. Always always
onemanandhishat@reddit
128GB is too small for windows these days. The OS will fit but to many apps sneak their data onto the C drive, it's hard to avoid filling it up.
Punished_Sunshine@reddit
It depends on what version of windows OP uses, windows 10 lot ltsc would fit.
DramaticCoat7731@reddit
HDD is being relegated to mass storage. More and more programs are requiring some kind of SSD as they either will not load or will operate poorly on HDD.
In this specific situation I would load the OS onto the SSD, but the goal should be to move beyond having HDD for active programs as soon as possible.
Roger33333@reddit
SSD, since its much faster than HDD
Ice_Hill_Penguin@reddit
The sweet spot is 2T nowadays, excluding the QLC crap.
SuzukiSatou@reddit
1TB of M2 NVMe
_Lodii@reddit
If its windows, neither. You should buy 256GB SSD at least and put windows there.
SpriteyRedux@reddit
A modern version of Windows would probably eat the hell out of a mechanical drive, it's just not designed to run that way anymore. You can use HDDs for massive file storage but even that use case will likely die out soon
nvidiot@reddit
You should not be using HDD for anything other than for data archival purposes today (like storing movies or music files, or backing up some files).
With Windows and how large some games are nowadays, 1 TB SSD for an OS + program drive is highly recommended.
AwesomeGuyAlpha@reddit
I seriously don't understand anyone online when they say things like these. Cause SSDs ARE EXPENSIVE!!! Not everyone can afford them, it's perfectly logical to get a smaller SSD for the OS and get an HDD for everything else as that can save alot of money. And personally what I recommend most people, something like a 1tb or 2tb SSD is just too expensive for most people. It's understandable if someone has a very high-end PC, the cost of something like an SSD would be very minimal comparatively but with HDDs being less than half the price, I feel like SSD + HDD should be most people's go to.
oookokoooook@reddit
He said it as a recommendation. U act as that is sin.
Pimpwerx@reddit
I'd recommend s bigger SSD. That 128GB isn't practical anymore. There are games bigger than that. And then trying to run games off the HDD means you negate the benefits of the SSD for a actual usage. Sure, Windows will definitely be snapper. However, loading in games will quickly become annoying. And if you're rocking 8/16GB of memory (small SSD implies small in other areas) then your nightmare only compounds.
Try to expedite getting something 500GB or preferably 1TB. But any cheap SSD you can find, but capacity looks like a serious bottleneck that's going to give you a noticeably degraded performance to your average SSD user.
I know money doesn't grow in trees, so look for Black Friday deals. I wish I still had my old 512GB m2 drives I always pry out of my laptops. I'd have happily donated one to a fellow enthusiast.
banxy85@reddit
Neither tbh
I mean the SSD is the answer, but 128gb is tiny by modern standards and ssds perform poorly if you fill them
Should always be aiming to work at below 90% capacity
Desperate-Steak-6425@reddit
Even with less than 10% of free storage, everything will work much faster than on a HDD.
banxy85@reddit
That's not the point. It's bad for the drive.
chipface@reddit
128GB is what I used for my OS and programs 9 years ago and was probably too small.
ioiplaytations2@reddit
Agreed. Op, buy/acquire a 1-2 tb NVMe (if your mobo supports) / SSD. Install OS and games there. You will thank us later.
Aboschmierer@reddit
SSD for os
MementoMori_83@reddit
Get a 500giga SSD for your OS.
JackOkyn@reddit
Only ssd, hd it’s too slow
juan_bito@reddit
Never instal os on hd always ssd nvme
andreibirsan92@reddit
512 ssd
nunya-beezwax-69@reddit
Why aren’t you using a big ssd for everything?
Potential-Leg-639@reddit
Go always as big as possible for the SSDs, minimum 512GB in any case. You will need the missing space later on for sure.
Acrylic_Starshine@reddit
SSD pretty much compulsory for the OS.. thats where you see the difference.
katzengoldgott@reddit
128 GB SSD + HDD might’ve been the recommendation 10 years ago, but most games require to be installed on an SSD so I would scrap the HDD plan and rather invest in a at least 1 TB SSD. You can keep the HDDs for backups. I got a 5 TB external HDD for that.
pickalka@reddit
SSD for OS. Its just outright MUCH faster. Like absurdly fast compared ro an HDD. Running games off an HDD is fine but new games just won't work or will load obscenely long. In modern use case HDD is more for long term file storage, SSD is for speed of loading an OS/Game. But 128GB is only good enough for OS wirh how much Windows likes to hog space over time
nerotNS@reddit
Some games like WoW (for example) will even work differently on an HDD. If the game is installed on an HDD, you will see more loading screens instead of just transitioning to a different area (this is how WoW does it). Aside from that, your load times will be much longer. There's 0 reason to use an HDD for anything outside of long-term data storage in 2025.
Someonedit@reddit
You also need extra space so that you dont leave like 10% empty space. That breaks drives eventually.
lDrStonel@reddit
Ssd always, hdd for maybe saving photos videos and somedata that is not constantly in use
zaptiezip@reddit
use the ssd for os and store games on hhd because most games only really rely on cpu gpu and ram but some open world games like rdr2, cyberpunk, or gta might use asset streaming where you constantly load assets from the disk so thats one thing but that shouldn't really that bad. so use the ssd for os and use the hhd for games
Aleksanterinleivos@reddit
You buy an SSD exactly so you can have that speed your OS and most often used software on there.
For games it's for load times yes, but also for streaming assets from the drive. As in if the game loads the environment in real time, there'll be a tiny delay on a slower drive which might show as stutters etc.
You should just buy a larger SSD TBH.