I'm storing a bunch of games on my PC, using three 2TB SSDs with no DRAM and nearly filling them to capacity—leaving about 100GB free on each. I'm curious if this setup affects game loading and streaming speeds compared to DRAM-enabled drives. Does having very little free space impact performance for this type of usage?
5 Answers
For game drives, the write speeds aren't usually a concern unless you are constantly changing files. Just keep your important data on other drives, and you should be okay. I use a 4TB Samsung without DRAM for my games too!
Ideally, it's good to have 10-20% of your drive free, especially for game storage since they don't require constant writing. When SSDs are full, it can slow them down as they have to move and manage data effectively. But don’t worry too much about that for gaming!
There can be a noticeable difference for games that receive regular updates. For single-player games that don't change often, a DRAM-less SSD might be fine, but for games that need frequent updates, the performance can lag. The price difference is often small, so you might consider investing in a DRAM drive.
Not having DRAM isn't a deal breaker for game storage. In fact, my main drive doesn’t even have DRAM, and I've transitioned from 970 Evo Plus to 990 Evo drives without noticing any significant performance differences.
You should be fine! Having around 100GB of free space is typically enough to avoid issues with performance. Just keep gaming, and your SSDs should handle it well.
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