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1. It's cheaper! Provide data showing how pre-made computers are more expensive that homemade options.
2. It's personalized to your needs.
3. It's future proofed for upgrades.
4. You know how to fix it if you built it.
5. It's a lot of fun!

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Short Answer

An SSD is much faster and will offer remarkably better performance when it comes to gaming, particularly in terms of loading times. HDDs, on the other hand, have a longer life-span and are much more cost-effective as a high-volume storage solution.

Solid-state drives have become all the rage in the recent years, all thanks to the unprecedented read/write speeds that completely blew traditional hard-disk drives out of the water.

It was not without a good reason that gamers around the world proclaimed SSDs as the undoubtedly better choice for gaming due to the sheer performance that they offer.
But are they really that much better?
In this article, we will be comparing SSDs and HDDs on all fronts, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of using each, as well as deciding which one is ultimately the best gaming solution.

The Showdown

Speed

As we have already stated, SSDs are superior to HDDs when it comes to speed, and there's no doubt about that. An SSD's data transfer speed can surpass that of an HDD several times over, although when put in practice, an SSD is roughly 2 to 3 times faster than an HDD.

In the image above, you can see just how much faster SSD load times are. As such, this speed will reflect on loading times in games, as well as the overall system performance.

Longevity

When it comes to the overall life-span, HDDs tend to last longer than SSDs do. While a lack of longevity is definitely there, it is hardly a noticeable one. Even with intense use, an SSD can last upwards of 5 years. Still, HDDs can easily last for over 10 years, although their performance is bound to degrade as time goes on.

Durability

There is no denying that that SSDs are more durable due to a lack of moving parts. HDDs, on the other hand, are prone to malfunctioning and to physical damage simply because of the mechanisms that their functioning relies on.

Capacity

When it comes to maximum capacity, both SSDs and HDDs that go as high as 8 TB, or even higher, can be found on the market today. However, a more important thing to consider is the price-capacity ratio.

Namely, HDDs are roughly 4 times cheaper than SSDs when it comes to storage. For example, a 50$ hard drive will have 1 TB of storage space, while a similarly-priced SSD will only have about 250GB. The situation is similar on the other end of the spectrum: an 8TB HDD will cost you about 300$, while a 4+ TB SSD would cost thousands.

Noise

As we have already stated, a solid-state drive has no moving parts. As such, it runs completely silent. Conversely, an HDD is bound to produce a certain amount of noise, but not every HDD is as loud as another.

Ultimately, the loudness of an HDD comes down to the following factors:

RPM - Today, lower-end HDDs start at 5400 rotations per minute while the more performance oriented variants can go over 10000. Naturally, the faster an HDD spins, the noisier it will be.

Age/damage - Seeing as moving parts are crucial to their functioning, an HDD may become louder over time due to its mechanisms wearing down or because of physical damage.

The Final Verdict

All things considered, there can be no doubt about who the winner is in the SSD vs HDD showdown.

An SSD is much better for gaming than an HDD is. The latter simply cannot compete with the performance offered by solid-state drives, so for anyone who prizes performance above all else, this is a no-brainer.

However, SSD is not without fault. Indeed, they are not that good as long-term storage solutions, both because of their inherently shorter life-span and because high-capacity SSD prices are bordering on ludicrous.

Our advice? Get both of them!

Many gamers take this approach. Simply use a 500 GB SSD as your system drive where you keep all your games installed while using a much more affordable 1 TB or bigger HDD for storing your data. This is, ultimately, the most cost-effective solution.

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SSD vs HDD - Which One Is Best For Gaming (Simple Answer)

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An SSD is much faster and will offer remarkably better performance when it comes to gaming, particularly in terms of loading times. HDDs, on the other hand, have a longer life-span and are much more cost-effective as a high-volume storage solution.

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Mobo I/O 2

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IDEA! Begin How-To with the goal of creating a PC capable of running this game, and build around that idea.

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If you are planning to take part in the upcoming PC beta for Black Ops 4, you will need to know the minimum and recommended specs for running the game in a satisfactory manner.

The good news is that Treyarch has just sent out the information via social media, giving gamers the lowdown on what setup they will need to play.

Straight away, you'll need to know that an Intel Core i5 2500k or AMD equivalent along with 8GB of RAM is part of the requirements to play the game on minimum settings.

For those looking for the recommended settings for Black Ops 4, you are going to need a premium setup, as Treyarch require an Intel Core i7 4770k or AMD equivalent, 12GB of RAM and either a Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 / GTX 1060 6GB or a AMD Radeon R9 390 / AMD RX 580.

The full specs for both categories are listed above so take a look and let us know what you can handle with your system. Are you happy with the results, or upset that you now may not be able to play on PC?

The Black Ops 4 beta on PC starts at 10am Pacific Time via Battle.net.

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Treyarch announces Black Ops 4 PC minimum specs

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If you are planning to take part in the upcoming PC beta for Black Ops 4, you will need to know the minimum and recommended specs for running the game in a satisfactory manner. The good news is that Treyarch has just sent out the information via social media, giving gamers the lowdown on what setup they will need to play.

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For the first time, Call of Duty®: Black Ops 4 is coming to Blizzard Battle.net in a fully-optimized for PC experience and fully integrated into Battle.net social features. Developed by Treyarch and Beenox, Call of Duty®: Black Ops 4 will be the most robust, refined, and customizable PC shooter experience we've ever created.

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Whether you love first-person shooters or hunting for treasure in pixelated paradises, there are times when you've wanted a little more from your gaming experience.

Maybe you want to experience your virtual worlds in higher definition, or you're curious about exactly what makes your computer run the way it does.

Building your own computer is the answer. Not only do you have complete control over which components you choose, you also get to peer under the hood and see what makes a PC run.

If that sounds intimidating, take a deep breath and relax. There's no need to break out the soldering iron. All you need to build your first gaming computer is the right set of parts, a screwdriver, and some patience.

Here are the components you'll need to build your first gaming PC.

Memory

Storage

Case

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Here Are All the Parts You'll Need to Build Your First Gaming PC

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Whether you love first-person shooters or hunting for treasure in pixelated paradises, there are times when you've wanted a little more from your gaming experience. Maybe you want to experience your virtual worlds in higher definition, or you're curious about exactly what makes your computer run the way it does.

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Simple image showing case size comparisons.

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Mobo I/O 1

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Skye Gould/Tech Insider
In the summer of 2016, I decided to build my own computer - specifically one that can handle running high-resolution video games.

I could've just bought a ready-made PC from Asus or Alienware, two of the most well-known gaming PC brands. But I like the idea of choosing the parts that go into my computer so I know exactly how much they cost and I can pick them based on my personal preferences and needs.

Plus, building your own computer is actually easier than most people might think, and it's incredibly fulfilling and satisfying, too! All you need is the parts and a screwdriver.

I should note that this particular PC cost me a lot of money, as I needed powerful parts to play games smoothly at the sharp 1440p resolution, which is sharper than 1080p. But you can build a fantastic gaming PC for starting from around $400 if you plan on gaming on a 1080p monitor.

More recently, I also decided to switch up the look of my PC pretty dramatically, which you'll see at the end.

Here's how I built my very own high-end gaming PC, and how you can do it too.

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I built my own PC and it was super easy - here's how to do it

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In the summer of 2016, I decided to build my own computer - specifically one that can handle running high-resolution video games. I could've just bought a ready-made PC from Asus or Alienware, two of the most well-known gaming PC brands.

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Wikipedia entry on mobo form factor.

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In computing, the form factor is the specification of a motherboard - the dimensions, power supply type, location of mounting holes, number of ports on the back panel, etc.