so technically, all games benefit from being installed in a ssd(whether sata or m.2)... but not all games do actually benefit from it, as these games aren't "complex" enough, not an open world game, and or a simple fps game to fully utilize the usage of ssd...

so what games normally should be on a ssd, well its the usualy suspects: open world games, mmo, fps(class-based) games, your most played games

hopefully everyone comments here and share their experiences with a particular game being installed in a ssd, so that others who are undecided on where to install will have an idea if its worth it or not...

so here are my experiences on these games being installed in a ssd:

  • Insurgency : installed on intel 660p m.2 =Spawns you on maps quicker(as long as your ping isn't too "large"), allowing you to selecting your favorite class.. And of course being first to spawn and select your class also allows you to teamswitch to a stacked team(lol), as long as both teams aren't too imbalanced in amount of members.. Insurgency(like the Battlefield series) is an example of a class-based fps games that benefits from a ssd.. Not all fps games benefit from a ssd(like any counterstrike games)
  • Elder Scrolls Online : installed on intel 660p m.2 = There are alot of loading screens in this game when you change zones or enter dungeons(trials, delves, group dungeons, public dungeons), so definitely a ssd would cut the amount of time spending in loading screens.. Even with it being installed on a ssd, it still takes below 10secs when changing zones or entering dungeons on my m.2 drive..
  • Elder Scrolls Skyrim : installed on intel 660p m.2 = Alot of loading screens whenever you go change "cells".. Changing "cells" basically means going from one "zone" to another, like going inside dungeons, going inside towns, going into the world map, doing fast travels..
  • Fallout 4 : installed on intel 660p m.2 = This game is similar to Skyrim, where it is an open world game and you change "cells" if going into another room or area.. Basically all Elder Scrolls and Fallout games should be mandatory installed in a ssd(sata or nvme), unless you like staring at the loading screen alot..
  • Xcom 2 : installed on intel 660p m.2 = There is a "kinda" loading screen between after selecting your team to the mission briefing.. And another "loading" screen between the mission briefing and your squad deploying.. After the mission ends, there is another "loading" screen between it and the mission debriefing.. Then another "loading" screen between the mission debriefing and your team getting into homebase.. The loading screens aren't too "long" on a hdd, but with ssd, it cuts it down to between below 10 seconds to instant.. So the game basically will have alot of loading screens during your entire campaign, and having this game on a ssd will reduce those "idle" times..
  • Cities Skylines : installed on intel 660p m.2 = The part where this game benefits from a ssd the most is from just the beginning of the game when you load your save campaigns.. If your playing a heavily modded save or a large population vanilla save, it can take more than 10 minutes(i've tested on a 5400rpm hdd and a save with 2000 assets subbed took 20+mins to load) to load your saves.. My current modded games with 100+ mods and 10k assets subbed on workshop takes around 9mins to load.. Simply putting this game on a ssd cuts the loading of saves by half..
  • GTA V : installed on intel 660p m.2 = A large open-world game that needs to be installed in a ssd.. Cuts down the amount of loading times and those texture randomly popping in when you transition while driving fast..
  • Witcher 3 : installed on intel 660p m.2 = This is another open-world game, which means by default must be installed in a ssd to have a smoother game experience.. It has a long load times, but doesn't come often.. But still would benefit from SSD to remove loading screens and avoid stutters when going to a new area..
  • Pathfinder Kingmaker : installed on intel 660p m.2 = Does not entirely benefit from ssd, as the load times aren't too long between hdd and ssd even with the amount of loading screens.. Unity-engine based games are notorious for having slow loading times, so it is recommended they be installed in a ssd to have less wait times..
  • Cyberpunk 2077 : installed on mx500 sata ssd = An "open-world' game that benefits from ssd.. Similar to w3 and gta5, putting this game on a ssd removes the stutters and texture popins when you go into a different "area"
  • Hearts of Iron 4 : installed on mx500 sata ssd = Does not entirely benefit from a ssd.. The part where a ssd helps the most is when you load a save or start a new campaign where the game engine "builds" the world map and also when starting up the game.. Still loads my saves in seconds and the game boots to main menu from desktop in around half a minute
  • Victoria 2 : installed on mx500 sata ssd = Similar to HOI4, Paradox grand strategy games only benefits from ssd during the load to main menu from desktop and loading/starting new save campaigns..
  • Stalker Call Of Pripyat : installed on mx500 sata ssd = The game does not entirely needed to be in a ssd, as the load times aren't too long.. The Stalker games are similar to Elder Scrolls/Fallout where it is a quasi open-world game where it will have a loading screen when you move into a "different" cell.. Still I have all Stalker games in a ssd coz i love playing them..
  • PUBG : installed on mx500 sata ssd = Alot of long loading screens during after matches and before matches.. Simply this being in a ssd lowers the amount of time staring blankly at your screen...
2 years ago

Comment has been collapsed.

I would say Dead by Daylight doesn't really benefit much in-game from an SSD, especially now with cross-play you will usually have at least one console player in the match who you will have to wait on before the match fully loads.

However, DBD does have frequent big updates that take much longer to install on an HDD. The developers do say they will eventually streamline and improve that system so that patching isn't as time-consuming.

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Pillars of Eternity is getting nearly unplayable in its later stages without being installed on an SSD. The loading times between areas become unbearable, I had secretly named it "staring at loading screen simulator". At one point I dropped it until I had an SSD.

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

How about a somewhat related topic? - Does anyone have any experience with games with a lot of mods loading faster once being installed on an SSD? I'm currently dying of old age in Rimworld startup time on an HDD lmao.

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

It really depends on how the game handles mods. I've not played Rimworld, but I know for example, Conan Exiles, all mods are loaded at initial launch, which on HDD can really make loading insanely long. While something like Skyrim doesn't need to load all assets at launch, and will only suffer longer load times transitioning from different locations. Either way they'll both suffer a 1% low impact on FPS due to the additional overhead, so one way or another, the SSD is useful to prevent random, huge fps dips.

Though Rimworld shouldn't suffer the 1% low impact on HDD, it is still possible load times for launch, or transitioning could be slowed down depending on the extent of the mods and how the game handles them.

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Yeah, thanks, that's good info. In the case of Rimworld, startup times are heavily impacted by how many mods you are running because the game must load the mods before you even make it to the main menu. I've seen load times of 20+ minutes for people who are really passionate about mods. So it would really benefit from an SSD.

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

In that case, SSD would definitely be worth using then yah. Was the same experience I had with Conan Exiles on HDD, the load time was insane. Personally, I don't mind 1 or 2 minutes for loading, SSD's aren't something I adopted because of that, it was more for 1% lows in open world games, but... Those cases where mods can impact load times to that degree have become an exception that will have me install even the lowest spec games on an SSD.

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

i don't recall much what it was like with hdd, but i can definitely say so with a heavily modded xcom2, skyrim, fallout 4, cities skylines, and rimworld on a ssd they load fast....

one thing i recall when i was playing on a laptop with i7 cpu, gtx 880m gpu, and hdd, the game freezes for A LONG TIME(several minutes) whenever a huge trader/raiders/passingby appears in my colony map... at that time i thought the game froze, but simply it was maybe my old hardware... when i upgraded to a desktop with 6700k cpu, 980ti gpu, and game installed on mx500 ssd, that game froze whenever a large group enters my colony map stopped happening...

so idk if it was my ssd or simply overall better pc specs....

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Hmm, interesting. I haven't had any issues with lag or freezes to speak of except insanely large startup times. (Then again I tend to restart my colonies pretty often so I never make it to end-game lul)

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

At this point, as long as I have space, I'll install stuff on SSD, but for the sake of saving space, sometimes I'll just go HDD. Games like Dead By Daylight where my loading time is dependant on others, and I gain no impact on 1% lows from the SSD, I'll just install on HDD. Less intense games like Stardew Valley, Grim Dawn, fighting games, etc... Go onto my HDD.

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Mordhau

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1262540/Need_for_Speed/ - need for speed

Without an SSD (or at least with slow HDD) it has some game braking "bugs" if you can call it that.
The game can't load roads fast enough.. I would understand the game struggling to load textures, but NFS can't keep up with loading the road itself. There are some specific loading places where if you go fast enough the game struggles to load the road and you fall through a map.

I mean yeah - I get that having an SSD these days is a must. But this is a 6 year old game.. I do actually think that is bad game design that something like that can happen. I did not know this - my current potato only has HDD. Got the game and realized I can't finish the most of the game because bunch of races go over these "loading" sections where my HDD is too slow to load the game. Once I respawn or if I wait long enough I've already lost the race

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Need for Speed runs fine on my ps4 which has a standard 2.5" drive.

Have not tried it on pc, but it either sounds like an issue with your setup (you said potato), or, more likely, the pc version is poorly optimized.

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I was wondering about it having problems on my side as well, but in the forum there where other people who said they had the same problem as well and it was fixed when going to SSD...

Perhaps some optimization issues, but at least for some running it on HDD created this problem

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I played this game both on HDD and SSD, with no issue (but I have to mention, not steam version, the one bought from Origin).

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Quake Champions loads maps and assets from multiple file positions of several multi-gigabyte files in parallel, which is dreadful with HDD, pretty okay with SATA SSD, and the best with NVMe.

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

  1. Basically all recent Multiplayer games will require an SSD (Battlefield, Call of Duty, Apex Legends, Destiny etc)
    Recent Singleplayer games with a multiplayer aspect, also fall under this category e.g Halo and GTA V
  2. Next are open world games (Skyrim, The Witcher 3, Assassins Creed, Shadow of War etc)
  3. Last for me is any game with large size / textures. You can see game size in properties (e.g. Control, Dirt Rally 2.0, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Hitman).
    Personally I tend to play games from ~15 GB on an SSD, or lower if I notice sluggish performance.
2 years ago*
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

i have to agree with you about all of these points..

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

It's been a good while since I played, but I remember reinstalling Subnautica onto an SSD instead of an HDD helped a lot with pop-in and stutter issues.

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

is it likely subnautica is not optimized? it does not have hard spec requirements, so i'm wondering why the stutters...

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

The stutter wasn't too much of an issue using an HDD, but IIRC it happened when traveling across the ocean floor at high speeds. Though tbh, I don't have the faintest clue how optimization works.

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

happy cakeday!

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

O.O
1 decade

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I had Destiny 2 installed on a slow HDD and when accessing an strike sometimes it ended before my PC is able to load it, as the other players with lower loading times started before. I think they somewhat patched it but it was funny. Also some places in the map with a slow drive makes you hang in the air while it loads

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

On the opposite side, I'm installing most games on a network share drive (on a NAS, 1000mbit ethernet) and most games play just fine. Load times are longer for big games like GTA5, but for most smaller games it really makes no noticeable difference. Those big 10GB+ games probably should be on SSD instead.

Also might depend how much RAM you have, more RAM means more cache so less loading from HDD during the game.

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Dishonored 2, since you'll likely be quick save/loading a ton, this cuts loading times down to a second or 2 instead of the usual 10. Playing it on a HDD is pretty much torture.

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Maybe the thread should ask the other way around: Which games don´t suffer from being installed on HDD?

As my SSD´s are rather full all of the time, i have a few high profile & footprint contenders:

Sea of Thieves
Project Cars 2
Assetto Corsa
Resident Evil 1,2,3 remakes
Elite Dangerous
Pillars of Eternity
Sponge Bob Dehydrated

  • basically any games developed before SSD´s were a thing.
2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

well it can be both... as i've replied to some people as well regarding my experiences on a game that is on hdd as well....

so i got elite dangerous and its interesting that it is fine on hdd.... does this game have alot of loadign screens?? if so, how long?? and none or only a few ingame stutters on a hdd???

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Haven't tried it on a SSD but i am guessing FF15 being so gpu consuming, with big maps.
Probably the Monster Hunter games too, just basically anything with big maps.

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

well since it is a mmo, it should be recommended to be on a ssd... even an old game like WOW people are saying they have massive performance boost when moving it from hdd to ssd.... worth a try and let us know your experience if you did move it to a ssd..

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Sign in through Steam to add a comment.