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THEGEEKSCLUB

Will upgrading your Hard Drive upgrade your PC?

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Storage is something that’s sometimes overlooked when it comes to PC and gaming performance, and that’s understandable. You wanna tell me that GPUs and CPUs aren’t enough, I also have to keep track of hard drive and solid-state drive performance? Can PC gaming get any more complicated? In reality, it’s easy to determine how important storage is for your experience and when it’s time to upgrade.

Throughout this article, we’ll be touching on how higher transfer rate drives render better performance in your system and what applications benefit most from upgrading from an HDD or old SSD to a newer drive.

Applications become quicker

Let’s say you’re running a 5400 RPM drive. That means that the disk spins 5400 each minute, which seems fast but it’s kind of slow for how many modern applications rely on getting data quickly. There are some better alternatives to the standard HDD which will speed up your system quite a bit.

The first is the SSD. SSDs are still hard drives, they’re just not disk drives. SSDs are solid-state drives, meaning that they have no moving component and can access data much, much faster. This means that applications will load quicker and perform smoother. SSDs have become much more affordable in the past year, so you can get a high-capacity one without spending a lot of money.

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Samsung SSD 990 PRO 2TB, PCIe 4.0 M.2 2280, Up to 7,450 MB/s
  • MEET THE NEXT GEN: Consider this a cheat code; Our Samsung 990 PRO Gen4 SSD helps you reach near max performance with lightning-fast speeds; Whether you’re a hardcore gamer or a tech guru, you’ll get power efficiency built for the final boss
  • REACH THE NEXT LEVEL: Gen4 steps up with faster transfer speeds and high-performance bandwidth; With a more than 55% improvement in random performance compared to 980 PRO, it’s here for heavy computing and faster loading
  • THE FASTEST SSD FROM THE WORLD'S FLASH MEMORY BRAND: The speed you need for any occasion; With read and write speeds up to 7450/6900 MB/s you’ll reach near max performance of PCIe 4.0 powering through for any use
  • PLAY WITHOUT LIMITS: Give yourself some space with storage capacities from 1TB to 4TB; Sync all your saves and reign supreme in gaming, video editing, data analysis and more
  • IT’S A POWER MOVE: Save the power for your performance; Get power efficiency all while experiencing up to 50% improved performance per watt over the 980 PRO; It makes every move more effective with less consumption

SSHDs are a nice alternative to the classic HDD. They’re hard drives with a small cache of flash memory that makes them much faster than a standard HDD. They’re still slower than solid-state drives, but if you’re looking to get a lot of storage and add some speed in the mix, they’re definitely the better choice.

SSDs are also a great way to blow new life into an older system. I put one in my parents’ computer. They just use Chrome and Word, so it didn’t make any sense to buy a new computer for them. An SSD made the PC run faster, improving their experience by a big margin.

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Samsung SSD 870 EVO SATA III 2.5” 2TB, Read Speeds Up to 560MB/s
  • THE SSD ALL-STAR: The latest 870 EVO has indisputable performance, reliability and compatibility built upon Samsung's pioneering technology.Computer Platform:PC.Encryption : Class 0 (AES 256) TCG/Opal v2.0, MS eDrive (IEEE1667), Environmental Specs - Shock : 1,500 G & 0.5 ms (Half sine).
  • EXCELLENCE IN PERFORMANCE: Enjoy professional level SSD performance with 870 EVO, which maximizes the SATA interface limit to 560/530 MB/s sequential speeds, Accelerates write speeds and maintains long term high performance with a larger variable buffer
  • INDUSTRY DEFINING RELIABILITY: Meet the demands of every task from everyday computing to 8K video processing, with up to 2,400 TBW
  • MORE COMPATIBLE THAN EVER: 870 EVO has been compatibility tested for major host systems and applications, including chipsets, motherboards, NAS, and video recording devices. Interface- SATA 6GB/s, compatible with SATA 3GB/s and SATA 1.5GB/s interfaces

Increased Storage Space

Storage space is pretty important for gaming, for a lot of reasons. First off, if you want to play modern titles, a lot of them surpass the 100 GB threshold, which can be a problem if you’re only rocking about 500 GB of free space. For 2020, I’d say you need around 2 TB of storage to feel comfortable.

Other than giving you faster loading times in games and applications, going for an SSD won’t yield any more performance benefits. Although you should know that having insufficient free space will negatively impact your PC’s performance, so keep enough free space to run your applications without any hitch.

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Samsung SSD 990 PRO 1TB, PCIe 4.0 M.2 2280, Up to 7,450 MB/s
  • HUGE SPEED BOOST: Get random read/write speeds that are 40%/55% faster than 980 PRO; Experience up to 1400K/1550K IOPS, while sequential read/write speeds up to 7,450/6,900 MB/s reach near the max performance of PCIe 4.0*
  • BREAKTHROUGH POWER EFFICIENCY: Use less power and get more performance; Enjoy up to 50% improved performance per watt over 980 PRO, plus optimal power efficiency with max PCIe 4.0 performance**
  • SMART THERMAL CONTROL: Samsung's own nickel-coated controller delivers effective thermal control; With its slim size, 990 PRO is a perfect fit for desktops and laptops that meet the PCI-SIG D8 standard***
  • THE CHAMPION MAKER: Up to 65% improvement in random performance enables faster loads for an ultimate gaming experience on PS5 and DirectStorage PC games****
  • SAMSUNG MAGICIAN SOFTWARE: Get the most out of your SSD with Samsung Magician's advanced yet intuitive optimization tools; Monitor drive health, protect valuable data, and receive important updates for your 990 PRO

Gaming

SSDs are really important for some games. If you’re playing games with a lot of loading screens you’re going to get a lot of value out of an SSD. I play Apex Legends and I constantly have to load in and out of games, and installing it on the SSD was the right choice.

Open world games, on the other hand, can be installed on HDDs, since you load the world once and then you just explore. GTA Online is the exception, where loading times for online lobbies are huge even if you’re running it from an SSD. Don’t play GTA Online from an HDD. It’s horrible.

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PNY CS900 250GB 2.5" SATA III Internal SSD
  • Upgrade your laptop or desktop computer and feel the difference with super-fast OS boot times and application loads
  • Exceptional performance offering up to 535MB/s seq. Read and 500MB/s seq. Write speeds
  • Superior performance as compared to traditional hard drives (HDD)
  • Ultra-low power consumption
  • Backwards compatible with SATA II 3GB/sec

Energy Saving Features

Modern drives are great for the environment. With a power draw of around 10 watts, you’re getting a lot of storage with very little power consumption, so it’s a win for us and it’s a win for mother nature. If you ever want to throw away a broken HDD or SSD, or any other piece of hardware, make sure to recycle.

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Conclusion

HDDs and SSDs are very, very affordable. If you’re looking for a quick speed upgrade and are on a budget, an SSD will speed your system by a big margin. If you don’t have one installed, then we urge you to get one, even a small-capacity drive to put your OS on. In 2020, storage is very important. Make sure to get plenty of it, since media files are constantly getting bigger, games are growing to obscene sizes, and cloud storage is expensive.

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Quick Recap

SaleBestseller No. 4
PNY CS900 250GB 2.5' SATA III Internal SSD
PNY CS900 250GB 2.5" SATA III Internal SSD
Exceptional performance offering up to 535MB/s seq. Read and 500MB/s seq. Write speeds; Superior performance as compared to traditional hard drives (HDD)
$48.73
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Samsung SSD 870 EVO SATA III 2.5” 1TB, Read Speeds Up to 560MB/s
  • THE SSD ALL-STAR: The latest 870 EVO has indisputable performance, reliability and compatibility built upon Samsung's pioneering technology. S.M.A.R.T. Support: Yes
  • EXCELLENCE IN PERFORMANCE: Enjoy professional level SSD performance which maximizes the SATA interface limit to 560 530 MB/s sequential speeds,* accelerates write speeds and maintains long term high performance with a larger variable buffer, Designed for gamers and professionals to handle heavy workloads of high-end PCs, workstations and NAS
  • INDUSTRY-DEFINING RELIABILITY: Meet the demands of every task — from everyday computing to 8K video processing, with up to 600 TBW** under a 5-year limited warranty***
  • MORE COMPATIBLE THAN EVER: The 870 EVO has been compatibility tested**** for major host systems and applications, including chipsets, motherboards, NAS, and video recording devices
  • UPGRADE WITH EASE: Using the 870 EVO SSD is as simple as plugging it into the standard 2.5 inch SATA form factor on your desktop PC or laptop; The renewed migration software takes care of the rest

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

Author (33)
Written by

Mary James

Mary holds a degree in Journalism from Columbia University. With more than 10 years of editorial experience, she has worked with a numerous tech blogs. Outside of the newsroom, she enjoys traveling, photography, and reading history. At The Geeks Club, she leads the editorial strategy and contributes long-form how-to articles.

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