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For most games that support both options, install the game on a SATA SSD if shorter loading and more consistent asset streaming matter to you. A hard disk drive (HDD) remains useful for a large, inexpensive secondary library of games that do not require an SSD. The size of the benefit is game-specific: some titles show very large differences, while others load nearly as quickly from SATA as from faster PCIe storage.
What a SATA SSD changes compared with an HDD
A SATA SSD and an HDD can hold the same game files, but they retrieve those files differently. An SSD has no moving heads or spinning platters, so its access latency is much lower. An HDD must position a mechanical head and wait for the platter to rotate, which becomes especially costly when a game requests many small files during a level transition or while streaming a new area.
That difference is most visible during the moments when a game is reading a large amount of data: the first launch, loading a save, fast travel, changing maps, or entering a new level. It does not create additional graphics-processing power. Moving a game from an HDD to an SSD can shorten waits and sometimes reduce storage-related streaming pauses, but it does not raise the game’s frames per second (FPS).
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A title may have separate timings for its initial boot, a save reload, a checkpoint restart, and a fast-travel transition. A game that shows a small difference in one scenario can show a much larger difference in another. Drive capacity, controller, firmware, the computer’s processor and memory, game patches, and the measurement method also affect the result.
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For that reason, there is no reliable “SSD is exactly X times faster” rule. Independent tests should be read as examples of particular games on particular systems, not as guarantees for every installation.
What independent tests show
Two 2025 test series illustrate the range of outcomes. TechSpot’s comparison, published August 12, 2025, used two 2.5-inch SATA 6 Gbps SSDs, PCIe SSDs, a USB SSD, an 18 TB 7,200 RPM HDD, and a 3 TB 5,400 RPM HDD across multiple games. PCWorld measured selected games on one system using a WD Black SN770 SSD and a Seagate BarraCuda HDD. The figures below are those tests’ results, not universal predictions.
| Game and test | SSD result | HDD result | What the test demonstrates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marvel Rivals load (PCWorld, 2025) | 8 seconds on the tested WD Black SN770 | 67 seconds on the tested Seagate BarraCuda | A very large gap is possible in a particular title and test system. |
| Warhammer: Vermintide 2 load (PCWorld, 2025) | 14 seconds | 22 seconds | Some games show a comparatively modest difference. |
| Cyberpunk 2077 load (PCWorld, 2025) | 6 seconds | 63 seconds | Another title can make HDD waiting highly noticeable. |
| Cyberpunk 2077 save reload (TechSpot, 2025) | SSD differences were negligible in the tested drives | Up to 3.8 times slower than SSD | The load scenario can matter as much as the game. |
| F1 25 load (TechSpot, 2025) | SATA was about 8% slower than the tested PCIe SSDs | HDDs were viable for that title | A SATA SSD can be close to PCIe, and an HDD can still be acceptable in some games. |
| Black Myth: Wukong load (TechSpot, 2025) | One SATA SSD took 36% longer than a PCIe 3.0 SSD | The slower HDD caused instability and obvious stutter | Demanding games may expose both SATA-versus-PCIe and SSD-versus-HDD differences. |
| Assassin’s Creed Shadows load (TechSpot, 2025) | The tested SATA drive took more than twice as long as an entry-level PCIe drive | The game displayed an HDD warning | Some current titles explicitly signal that an HDD is unsuitable. |
| Starfield first load (TechSpot, 2025) | SATA could be more than 50% slower than PCIe 3.0 or PCIe 5.0 in the tested first load | The comparison did not establish one universal HDD result | Even among SSDs, the gap depends on the title and load. |
| Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (TechSpot, 2025) | SATA struggled during a real-time portal sequence | The test showed title-specific behavior | Asset streaming can matter during play, not only at a loading screen. |
| Indiana Jones and the Great Circle fast travel (TechSpot, 2025) | PCIe loads were under five seconds | HDD play had prolonged loading and visible pop-in | Fast travel and texture streaming can make slow storage obvious. |
TechSpot also found that The Last of Us Part II and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart could load markedly more slowly from SATA than from PCIe. These results do not mean every SATA SSD performs identically, or that every HDD will reproduce the same symptoms. They show why the game’s own storage guidance and observed behavior should control your choice.
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Storage does not directly increase FPS. Frame rate is primarily constrained by the graphics processor, processor, memory, game settings, and the game’s rendering workload.
Storage can affect the time before play begins and, in some open-world engines, the smoothness with which new areas and textures arrive. Intel summarizes the distinction this way: “Upgrading to an SSD won’t increase your FPS, but it can result in an improvement in some open-world titles with game engines that load in new areas and textures as you play.” That is a conditional benefit, not a promise that every game will stutter less.
If the HDD is too slow for a title’s streaming pattern, symptoms may include long transitions, warnings, texture or geometry pop-in, hitching, or instability. In the TechSpot testing, the slower HDD produced obvious stutter in Black Myth: Wukong, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle showed visible pop-in during HDD play. If a game is already limited by the GPU, replacing the drive will not cure that bottleneck.
Capacity: plan for the library you actually keep installed
HDDs generally provide more capacity for less money per gigabyte, making them practical for a large library, archived installers, or games played only occasionally. SSD capacity costs more per usable terabyte in many markets, so assigning every game to an SSD can become expensive as the library grows.
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Modern installations can be large. Intel uses Call of Duty: Modern Warfare at more than 200 GB as an example. Treat that figure as an example from Intel’s guidance, not as a current size for every edition or a recommendation to buy a particular capacity. Updates, optional language packs, downloadable content, and platform-specific requirements can change the space needed.
Estimate usable space before buying
- List the games you want installed at the same time, rather than the full list you own.
- Check each game’s current store or publisher requirement for the platform you use.
- Add the install sizes and leave room for patches, temporary update files, and normal operating-system use.
- Decide which titles are played often enough to justify SSD space and which can live on a secondary HDD.
- Compare the local price per terabyte for the capacities that meet that total. A cheaper drive that is too small can cost more after a second purchase.
Do not size a drive from one famous install alone. Your own simultaneous library and the free space needed for updates are the useful numbers.
Cost: use current local prices, not an old headline
Price changes quickly with region, sales, capacity, NAND type, and drive availability. TechSpot listed a tested 2 TB SATA SSD at $92 and a tested 2 TB PCIe SSD at $107 in its 2025 article. Those are dated article prices, not current quotations and not a like-for-like SATA-versus-HDD market survey. They should not be used as today’s buying target.
For a current comparison, calculate:
price per terabyte = purchase price ÷ advertised capacity in terabytes
Then account for the capacity you can actually use and the value of your time. If an HDD saves money but adds a minute or more to frequent loads, that trade-off may be frustrating for a game you play every day. If the drive will hold games launched once a month, the lower cost per terabyte may matter more than the wait.
What to compare in a local listing
- Advertised capacity and the usable capacity reported by your operating system.
- Whether the drive is a 2.5-inch SATA model, another SATA form factor, or an HDD that needs a different bay and mounting arrangement.
- Warranty and return terms, especially for a drive that will contain a large library.
- For SSDs, whether the model is intended for the workload and capacity you need; a category comparison alone does not establish the performance of every model.
- For HDDs, rotational speed and the game’s requirements. The TechSpot comparison used both 7,200 RPM and 5,400 RPM HDDs, so “HDD” is not one performance level.
Compatibility checks before you buy
Confirm the physical and electrical interface before treating a drive as an upgrade. A 2.5-inch SATA SSD needs a compatible 2.5-inch bay or mounting method, a SATA data connection, and suitable power on a desktop; laptops and consoles have their own space and support limits. An HDD may require a different bay, mounting bracket, cable arrangement, or system support.
Check the computer or console manufacturer’s specifications and the available drive bay before ordering. Also verify the platform’s rules for replacing or adding storage and whether games must be reinstalled or can be moved. The benchmark results above do not establish compatibility for a particular reader’s machine.
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Choose by game behavior and playing habits
Choose a SATA SSD when
- You regularly play games with long initial loads, save reloads, or fast-travel transitions.
- A title requires or recommends SSD storage, displays an HDD warning, or shows pop-in, hitching, or instability from an HDD.
- You already own a compatible SATA SSD and want a substantial improvement over an HDD without moving to PCIe storage.
- Your system has a suitable 2.5-inch SATA bay and your capacity needs fit within the SSD budget.
Keep an HDD in the plan when
- You need several terabytes for games played infrequently or for a library you do not want to redownload.
- The games you place there are documented to work acceptably from an HDD and do not depend on rapid asset streaming.
- You are willing to move a game to SSD if its loads, pop-in, or stutter become unacceptable.
Consider PCIe storage instead of SATA when
- Your system supports the required PCIe form factor and interface.
- You are buying new storage for demanding current titles and the price difference at your required capacity is acceptable.
- Testing or the game’s requirement indicates that SATA is itself a bottleneck. TechSpot observed SATA trailing PCIe in titles such as Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Starfield, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.
A PCIe drive is not automatically necessary for every game. In TechSpot’s F1 25 test, the SATA SSD was only about 8% slower than the tested PCIe drives, and HDDs were viable. The right tier depends on the titles you play, not on the interface label alone.
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A practical mixed-storage layout
For a capacity-constrained system, a mixed arrangement is usually the most balanced:
- SSD: the operating system, frequently played games, competitive games where repeated waits are costly, and any title that requires or strongly benefits from SSD storage.
- HDD: less-frequently played games that tolerate HDD loading, older titles, media, and an archive of files you do not need every day.
HP describes this general strategy as putting the operating system and commonly played games on an SSD while using an HDD for less-frequently played games or media. Treat it as a starting layout. A game’s minimum requirement and your own tolerance for loading should override a generic rule.
How to move a game and verify the result
- Check the game’s storage requirement. Look for an SSD requirement or recommendation and note any known streaming warnings.
- Confirm the destination drive. Verify the SSD has enough free space for the game and expected updates and that the system recognizes the correct interface.
- Use your launcher or platform’s move function. Prefer the platform’s built-in library-storage control so files remain registered. If no move option exists, follow that platform’s documented reinstall or library-location procedure.
- Start the game from the new location. Test the load that matters to you: a cold launch, save reload, fast travel, or the area where you saw pop-in.
- Compare like with like. Use the same save, graphics settings, game patch, and background workload when judging whether the move helped.
- Keep the HDD copy only if it has a purpose. Once the SSD version is verified, remove the duplicate if you need the space; retain a backup only when you have a separate backup plan.
Troubleshoot poor results after the move
The game still loads slowly on a SATA SSD
First confirm that the game is actually installed on the SSD and that the launcher is using that library location. Then check whether the title is known to benefit from PCIe storage rather than SATA. TechSpot found SATA substantially behind PCIe in some newer games, while other titles showed little difference. A slow result can therefore be a game-specific limit, not proof that the SSD is defective.
The HDD version stutters or shows missing assets
Check the game’s current requirements and any warning shown by the title. If the game uses aggressive real-time asset streaming, move it to SSD and retest the same sequence. The TechSpot results for Black Myth: Wukong and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle demonstrate that instability and pop-in can be storage-related in particular titles.
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You ran out of SSD space
Keep the games with the longest waits or strongest SSD requirements on the SSD, and move infrequently played compatible titles to the HDD. Recalculate the total using current install sizes and leave update headroom instead of filling the SSD to its advertised capacity.
Bottom-line decision
Use a SATA SSD as the default game drive when your system supports it and you care about shorter waits. Keep an HDD as lower-cost bulk storage for games that tolerate it. Before spending more on PCIe, check whether the specific games you play show a meaningful SATA gap; the 2025 tests demonstrate that some do, while others do not. Capacity, current local price per terabyte, game requirements, and your own load frequency should determine the final layout.
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