Best SSD for Gaming: PCIe 4.0 vs 3.0 vs SATA vs HDD Load Time Battle

Storage Devices Used:

Video Index:
00:00 - Welcome back to Hardware Unboxed
01:26 - Overview of Storage Used
05:08 - A Synthetic Test
07:16 - Game Loading Performance
14:18 - Conclusion

Best SSD Option for Gaming: PCIe 4.0 vs 3.0 vs SATA vs HDD

Disclaimer: Any pricing information shown or mentioned in this video was accurate at the time of video production, and may have since changed

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[Hardwareunboxed]

For those asking why we didn't test drive X, Y or Z... we focused on testing different types of drive, rather than just every drive available. We don't have the time to test 100 different SSDs. I think from the conclusion and testing you'll see why it doesn't make a ton of sense to test even more SSDs in this way

[nerdtechgasm]

Current game engines don't utilize multi-core data streaming from storage much, if at all. It's CPU (mostly) & memory bandwidth bound, once you get to SSD speeds. Current API never needed it, and especially on PS4/Xbox 1, where the HDD is so slow that trying to do multi-stream fetching will stall it anyway, so it was never a focal point for devs. This is where Direct Storage IO and new consoles change the landscape, expect game engines to be revised for these new standards in the near future.

[andrewpower]

One of the big things for me was noticing the lack of stutter from asset streaming in games like Diablo 3 when run from an SSD. I always see load testing but never much on asset streaming, which should be a big deal (presumably) with devs working on games for the new consoles as a base line.

[Tsunami_]

"Buy an SSD. ANY SSD to significantly speed up load times."

Planet Coaster: "Hold My Beer."

[nilankoor]

That moustache is loading faster than any SSD is loading a game, Tim!

[kristofgheyssens]

Would love to see a "Best SSD for Productivity".
I guess differences would be larger zipping/unzipping large archives, exporting 4K videos, editing high res images in Photoshop.

[totodoro]

Windows boot time would be a good test to include in the bench

[necrotic]

3 years later, and just a single mediocre game implemented DirectStorage

[inkysteve]

I'm old enough to remember a time when that HDD would have been regarded as the fastest thing in the universe. My first HDD, a 64MB monster, probably had a speed of about 1 or 2 MBs. You youngsters don't know how much you've got it made. My first mouse was made from sticks.

[vncube]

Tim: "We're not <insert tech component here> reviewers...but"

That means we're about to get one of more elaborate reviews on that those tech components on YouTube :P

[SeveruSniper]

I've got the feeling that this video will have an update when developers get used to the new consoles SSDs.

[unclerubo]

I'm more interested in the effect of fast storage in frametimes, especially in open world games where assets need to be streamed in on the fly.
Looking at those 1% and 0.1% lows comparing the different drives should give you a good idea of the actual experience while gaming.

[Fever_Dream]

I hate how damn impossible it is to find out if a drive has a DRAM cache.

[LeoDavidson]

They keep making SSDs faster when they're already faster than most real-world tasks can take advantage of. What I actually want is for them to have higher capacities and lower prices, not better speeds. I'd like to actually be able to replace all my noisy, huge, hot HDDs that have to be in a separate machine in another room so I don't hear them, but that day never seems to come.

[Jamesified]

Another great video, you guys don't miss. Thank you!

[Rick-tgoy]

Thanks for this vid! I was just trying to decide between 4.0 and 3.0 for my new build. I think I'll go for 3.0. There's no point in paying $70+ more for 1.8 seconds.

Even if Direct Storage makes a huge difference, like the vid said, that's a couple years out. I can make a new purchase then if I want.

[developerpranav]

SSDs are so difficult to test, and they did a good job at it. Exceptionally well made video.

[FedericoTrentonGame]

finally, I have been waiting for a video just like this for quite a while, everyone just compares pcie 3.0 vs 4.0 or random ssd vs pcie nvme drives.

but you took the time and effort to also mark the difference in TLC and QLC, cache vs non cache, m.2 Sata vs regular sata, and even the HDD, that was something I have not seen any youtuber do.

thank you for this video I'll be referring to it and sharing next time I find people struggling with this question :)

[PizzaOMC]

What would be awesome is if you guys did a professional work load test for these like opening ue4 projects, large cad files, large 3d models etc. Would be cool to see how that scales

[ZCSilver]

This was a great video, though it does make me feel bad for using my 6 year old sata SSD as a boot drive only and having all my games on a regular hard drive. I'd have been interested to see how fast a 7200rpm drive performed, since you wouldn't get a 5400 rpm if you planning to run things off it.