I'm in the process of building a new PC and I'm on the fence about whether to invest in a 2TB SSD for downloading games and other files, or if I should stick with an external hard drive. My main concern is if downloading a lot of stuff on the SSD will cause it to slow down over time as it fills up. Would love to hear your thoughts!
5 Answers
Absolutely, you want your games on an internal SSD! Installing them on a slower external hard drive will just lead to stutters and poor performance. An SSD will only start to slow down noticeably if it’s over 95% full, but even then it’s still much faster than a hard drive.
There are different types of SSDs to consider too. For example, SLC, TLC, and QLC are the common types, each with varying speeds and performance. Generally, the higher-end drives won’t see a massive performance drop even when nearly full. If you just want a reliable SSD for gaming, aim for a TLC model with a little over-provisioning. Just steer clear of QLC if you want consistent performance!
In 2025, no games should be running on HDDs. They’re simply too slow for modern gaming. An SSD is a must, and though SATA SSDs are adequate, an NVMe drive is the best option. Here’s a link to a video that explains the performance differences really well: [https://youtu.be/gl8wXT8F3W4](https://youtu.be/gl8wXT8F3W4).
Getting an SSD for your games is totally worth it. No one should be buying HDDs in 2025 unless it’s for budget storage or backups. NVMe SSDs are drastically faster than any hard drive, improving your load times significantly. While SSDs can get slower when filled close to capacity, they’re still way faster than HDDs—even at max capacity!
It really depends on the game, but many modern titles struggle with external HDDs. They just can’t keep up. For gaming, you don’t need an extravagant SSD; a decent Gen4 x4 TLC SSD works fine. Just make sure it has enough storage for your needs!
Yeah, as long as you're not constantly maxing out your SSD, the performance drop shouldn't be noticeable. Plus, games load way quicker which makes a big difference.