Is an SSD worth it?

Hello everyone, I noticed that when people post their PC specs and wonder about UE4 compatibility, they usually have an SSD, why? Does an SSD make that much of a difference in speeds? Can anyone here compare loading speeds that they have with SSD vs HDD?

I believe they use a SSD as their main OS for faster boot and load times of the operating system and software, the load time is ridiculously quick on anything with a Solid State.

The SSD is so fast it’s crazy… But they are horribly expensive.
On the other hand a HDD has more capacity that the SSD. And is WAY cheaper. And has WAY more storage. But is slower.
I have a WD black 1tb and it runs UE4 great. No problems.

Also, Here is what most people do. They get a small 250-500gb SSD. And install all the important software on it. (OS, UE4, ETC…) But they have a HDD (Or two) that they put all their files and other software on.
But for right now. The HDD’s cost makes it a better deal right now the SSD. In my opinion.

EDIT: UE4 seems to run the same on my both my HDD and my friends brand new 1tb SSD! Why is that?!

Maybe UE4 is more of a sequential read.

Also I know a guy who runs 2 SSD’s in RAID 0. He practically has to measure transfer speeds in the Gb/s

well my has 2xSSD’s in RAID 0 and takes about 5 seconds from pressing the power button to being fully loaded and ready to go, it would be quicker but it takes like 2 seconds to input the password. programs also load a lot faster(most load instantly), UE4 only takes a few seconds to load the launcher and the engine.

that’s true but not for long, although most people only use 1 or 2TB so I don’t think it really matters that much.

the only really noticeable difference would be how fast the editor and the assets load so it wont really effect how well UE4 runs.

yep, using 2 SSD’s in RAID 0 is awesome.

put youre unreal installation in the fastest drive you can get, and plan for lots of space there, as you will also want to get youre assets loaded fast and not just the Editor.

Hmm, I would like to have Windows on an SSD, but don’t feel like re-installing everything, I guess what I can do is just install Windows 10 on an SSD, my boot times are around 20-30 seconds from power button to being on desktop :\

I use a 250 ssd for my os and software like visual studio, unreal and etc.

it seems to be a good bit faster especially starting up.

if you look at new egg and etc ssd’s are starting to get pretty cheap compared to a year ago and etc.

Another thing to look out for is the pci-e ssd drives. I guess sata cables can be completely flooded by an ssd and the pci-e port can support more (nearly double the bandwidth from the little that I read).

From my experience with this, an SSD is one of the best upgrades you can get. The only thing that will speed up the editor more is a better GPU, or a CPU if you have a really old one, but upgrading from a good to a great CPU will give you less of a speed boost compared to moving from an HDD to an SSD.

Up until recently I used my SSD (250gb) for windows and all programs, and HDD for my projects, but I got a second SSD (500gb) and moved all my programs & Windows over to it using the automatic drive clone tool that comes with Samsung SSD’s, and use the 250gb for my projects. That also increased my load times / shader compile / visual studio compile times, and speeds up the editor even more.

If you haven’t re-installed windows for a long time, that too can give you a performance increase (especially with Windows 7, ver 8.1 seems to manage itself better). So re-installing is actually a good thing, I do it every 6 months to keep things fresh.

Highly recommend an SSD :slight_smile:

I have the same set up you had previous to your new one, you recommend a second ssd? I have been thinking bout it but haven’t really weighed the pro’s out yet.

It’s definitely worth it. I’ve got two machines at work that don’t have SSD but have faster processors than my system at home, yet my computer at home loads into Windows in like 15 seconds and I can immediately open the web browser. At work it takes a minute to get into Windows and another minute before any program will open.

It doesn’t give you as big of an increase compared to the one you get switching from HDD to SSD for your programs, but it does speed things up a bit more. If you have the extra money to spend it certainly does help, but getting a better GPU will give you more performance per dollar (if you already have a great GPU, go for it).

Yeah I think you just sold me on buying a second one lol

Btw man, Amazing work with the ocean system.

Just bought a second one myself.
I had a 120GB EVO 840 combined with a 1TB Western Digital Black
By the time I added an OS, Visual Studio, Epic Games launcher, 1-2 UE4 binary builds etc, the 120GB was at capacity and I was using the HDD for building and running a source built version of the engine.

Not fun :expressionless:

I recently purchased a Samsung 850 PRO 500GB and have made this my primary OS/dev drive.
Very happy that I did.

I actually wanted to get a Samsung 951, but my motherboard is slightly too old (wrong slot type) and I could not find one locally anway :slight_smile:
Thankfully, the 850 PRO will work quite well with any future purchases as a secondary storage drive.

SSD’s are getting cheaper, but even at the their current price are worth it for anyone working on C++.

I have SSD+HDD at home and only HDD at work. When I’m at home I can work within 1 minute from power on, at work I can go grab tea while waiting for the PC to boot. Yet, the PC at work is several times more expensive.

Yes, it is definitely worth it! If you have an SSD+HDD combo, you can abuse junctions using this program to put Program Files and other bloating files on your HDD to save gigabytes on things you don’t really need the speed for.

SSDs are great but expensive. You can try a SSD-HDD hybrid. The OS is mostly on the SSD, but other programs are on the HDD, and hybrids prices are much better.

For things like laptops they are awesome, they can take the bumps and vibrations or whatever better than an HDD.

I’m not sure how heavy of a storage device user you are, but once you reach about 100TB (model dependant, some can last VERY long) of writing, it starts to break down and use reserve sectors, this is fine and won’t have to much of an impact. Once it runs out of those reserve sectors, kapoot.

I saw a chart of different models and how long they last, can’t find it now, but unless you are dealing with a freakish amount of writing and deleting there probably won’t be any issues. Also, no need to defragment. From what I read fragmentation has no impact. :slight_smile:

Speaking of lifespan, I guess I better get a backup drive in case my HDD decides to die on me, and I lose my life’s work :frowning: From what I’ve read, Intel makes some of the higher quality SSDs, but the posts I am reading are from 2012 :\

The older SSD’s suck. They only seem to have a lifespan of 2years. The newer ones… maybe they fixed it?