Why SSDs are a must for your gaming rig

Hard drives aren’t the most glamorous component in a system, that’s for sure, but a high quality one can have a huge impact on performance. While traditional HDDs (Hard Disk Drives) continue to become more efficient, durable and larger, if you want a high-end gaming system that delivers as much performance as possible, then SSDs (Solid State Drives) are the way forward.

Access Speed

A typical HDD takes around 5-10,000 microseconds to grab data. That doesn’t sound like much, but it can be noticeable. This is especially true if you’re gaming. Occasional lag or micro freezes while playing can be caused by data access, and that’s the last thing you want in the middle of Dark Souls 3 boss fight.

Solid state drives, on the other hand, can access data in 35-100 microseconds. Pretty fast. Fast enough that you’ll open software and games instantly, and there’ll be no lag when accessing data during gameplay.

Reliability

If you’re on the move a lot with your gaming laptop, then it’s bound to take a knock or two during your travels. An HDD operates using magnetic platters, which wear out the more they are used. They’re also potentially vulnerable to shock damage. 

Power, size and heat

These three aspects are arguably the most important to gaming systems, especially gaming laptops. An SSD beats the traditional HDD in all categories here. Thanks to lower power requirements, you can game that little bit longer if your system is fitted with an SSD.

The fact that there are no moving parts in a solid state drive also means that it generates much less heat when in use than an HDD, which is again very beneficial to a gaming system, as you’ll want to keep operating temperatures in control when tweaking or pushing your rig.

Then there’s space requirements. SSDs are much smaller than their counterparts, available in sizes of 2.5” and lower – the perfect fit for a portable, powerful gaming laptop.

RAID 0

Here at ROG, of course, we’ve got plenty of SSD options for our dangerously powerful gaming laptops like the GX800, GX700, G752 and the ultra mobile G800 and G701 – but what makes these even more efficient and super-fast at data access is the inclusion of SSDs in RAID 0 configuration.

RAID 0 (also called disk striping) essentially breaks up all files and data into smaller parts, and distributes it across all drives present in your system so that your operating system, programs and games can access all those drives simultaneously. This gives a great boost to performance, which means you’ll be opening games instantaneously, as well as any other programs. To keep these lightning-speed levels of performance up, you can also keep your OS on one partition and use another for gaming.

For more info about what which SSD is which and the benefits of each, check out our easy guide here.

If you’re having trouble deciding on which laptop to go for (understandable, they're all appealing), then head over to our helpful community for tips, tricks and advice.

 

By Simon Marshall