Computers & Tablets

[inuyasha_demon]

Hello there guys

I have been trying to find an SSD for a desktop PC but see a lot claim to be for laptops. I need a 1-2TB SSD for my brand new gaming PC. I don't know if the laptop ones would work or not. 

[bobberuchi]

Well that is interesting.  I looked for them on you behalf and could only find spinning HDD for desktops. 

I have a 7200 RMP HDD in my gaming computer and it is pretty amazing.  It also has a 125 GB or so SSD.  I pretty much only use the SSD for the OS and core software like MS Office.  It makes for amazing boot times.

I had done some testing on my own and could not see a significant difference in game start times or performance between the 7200 RPM HDD and the SSD.  Most game start times are based on their interface with game clients.

However, I would keep searching for one.  I really like how quiet they are.  I had only SSD on my work computer and it has really cut down on noise and heat at my desk.  And I love being able to start my computer in 20 seconds. 

[inuyasha_demon]

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@bobberuchi wrote:

Well that is interesting.  I looked for them on you behalf and could only find spinning HDD for desktops. 

I have a 7200 RMP HDD in my gaming computer and it is pretty amazing.  It also has a 125 GB or so SSD.  I pretty much only use the SSD for the OS and core software like MS Office.  It makes for amazing boot times.

I had done some testing on my own and could not see a significant difference in game start times or performance between the 7200 RPM HDD and the SSD.  Most game start times are based on their interface with game clients.

However, I would keep searching for one.  I really like how quiet they are.  I had only SSD on my work computer and it has really cut down on noise and heat at my desk.  And I love being able to start my computer in 20 seconds. 

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I have read that the laptop ones can fit in a 2.5" bay area just fine apparently. 

[deusexmachina Valued Contributor · Accepted solution]

Laptop drives are 2.5", if you don't have an open bay that supports a 2.5" drive, you can get an adapter card that converts 2.5" to 3.5" for desktop bays.
Personally, I just let the hard drive sit loosely in the 3.5" bay. It's an SSD, so it's not like there are any moving parts to worry about.

I 1000% recommend an SSD over any 7200 RPM drive. You will definitely see a performance boost in general Windows operation as well as in most games. SSDs work differently for different games. For example, a game like World of Warcraft benefits immensely from an SSD. There are many large files and assets that load from your hard drive and an SSD has a much better read/write speed than a platter hard drive.

Most 7200RPM hard drives will read at 40-90 MB/s. 10,000 RPM Velociraptors will read in the 100-120 MB/s range. Additionally, since the platters on mechanical hard drives are circular, the outside ring spins slower and has a worse transfer rate than the middle of the platter. This causes even more inconsistent speeds on spinning hard drives than an SSD. My Samsung 970 m.2 NVME SSD reads at 3,000 MB/s. Most SATA-based SSDs will read in the 300-550 MB/s range.

I work for a university and I've recently just gone through and upgraded every computer on campus to use an SSD. The performance difference, especially with Windows 10, is night and day. I was able to revive some of the older computers (with 7200 RPM drives) that were getting bottlenecked by Windows 10 processes and hard drive utilization.

In short, I would check to see if your motherboard has an M.2 slot. If it does, I would recommend the M.2 style SSD. If you do not have an M.2 slot, get any 2.5 inch SSD. If it doesn't come with a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter, buy one...if you care.

[inuyasha_demon]

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@deusexmachina wrote:
Laptop drives are 2.5", if you don't have an open bay that supports a 2.5" drive, you can get an adapter card that converts 2.5" to 3.5" for desktop bays.
Personally, I just let the hard drive sit loosely in the 3.5" bay. It's an SSD, so it's not like there are any moving parts to worry about.

I 1000% recommend an SSD over any 7200 RPM drive. You will definitely see a performance boost in general Windows operation as well as in most games. SSDs work differently for different games. For example, a game like World of Warcraft benefits immensely from an SSD. There are many large files and assets that load from your hard drive and an SSD has a much better read/write speed than a platter hard drive.

Most 7200RPM hard drives will read at 40-90 MB/s. 10,000 RPM Velociraptors will read in the 100-120 MB/s range. Additionally, since the platters on mechanical hard drives are circular, the outside ring spins slower and has a worse transfer rate than the middle of the platter. This causes even more inconsistent speeds on spinning hard drives than an SSD. My Samsung 970 m.2 NVME SSD reads at 3,000 MB/s. Most SATA-based SSDs will read in the 300-550 MB/s range.

I work for a university and I've recently just gone through and upgraded every computer on campus to use an SSD. The performance difference, especially with Windows 10, is night and day. I was able to revive some of the older computers (with 7200 RPM drives) that were getting bottlenecked by Windows 10 processes and hard drive utilization.

In short, I would check to see if your motherboard has an M.2 slot. If it does, I would recommend the M.2 style SSD. If you do not have an M.2 slot, get any 2.5 inch SSD. If it doesn't come with a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter, buy one...if you care.

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Thank you for the information. I believe my tower does have a 2.5" bay area, but would need a SATA cable which doesn't come with most SSDs on BBY (that I seen) 

I also know some who just let their SSD sit loosely and have had no issues since their tower hardly needs moved, if ever. My HDD is a Western Digital Blue 1TB  7200RPM. I plan to get a Samsung SSD or whatever I can thru BBY.