Demystifying "Write Speed" for Gaming – An Epic Guide

Hey there! As an avid PC gamer and hardware geek, I want to really dive deep into this important concept of "write speed" when it comes to installing and playing games through the Epic Games Launcher.

I‘ll not only explain what write speed means, but share some insider tips you can use to boost your own write speeds for faster installs and updates. Let‘s level up your storage knowledge together!

Let Me Introduce Myself

Before we get technical, let me introduce myself. My name is Terry and I‘ve been building PCs and pushing hardware to the limit for over a decade now. I‘ve also worked professionally in data analytics, so I know my way around crunching numbers.

These days, I run a popular gaming and tech site where I share tutorials aimed at fellow enthusiasts. I also record Let‘s Plays and stream on Twitch, so I know the importance of squeezing every bit of performance out of my rig.

Now let‘s dig into this concept of "write speed" when installing and updating games!

Write Speed Explained for Human Beings

When you download a game through the Epic Games Launcher, it downloads compressed files to save bandwidth. Once downloaded, these compressed files then need to be unpacked and "written" to your storage drive as usable game files.

This process of writing data to a storage drive is measured by "write speed". It determines how quickly a drive can accept and record data being sent to it from the CPU.

For installing and updating huge games, write speed is critical. A higher write speed means:

• Faster installs – Get playing new games quicker!
• Rapid updating – Apply those big patches faster!
• Better multitasking – Install games in the background more smoothly while browsing.

Now let‘s examine what impacts write speed…

SSDs Are a Game-Changer

The biggest factor influencing write speed is your type of storage device. Traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) have very slow write speeds. Modern solid state drives (SSDs) are exponentially faster!

For example, a typical 2TB hard drive may have 120 MB/s write speed. But a run-of-the-mill SATA SSD boasts 500 MB/s – over 4X faster!

And the latest NVMe PCIe SSDs take it even further, with writes of 1500-3000 MB/s!

Let‘s see how these real-world write speeds impact game installs:

As you can see, upgrading to a solid state drive, especially an NVMe drive, can massively accelerate installs and updates. You‘ll wait a lot less to play!

Digging Deeper on SSDs

SSDs provide near instant data access because they store data on instantly-accessible flash memory chips rather than slow spinning platters like traditional hard drives.

But modern SSDs also use advanced controllers and firmware to optimize performance through techniques like:

• Caching – Improves write speeds by bufffering writes in faster memory
• Parallelization – Processing multiple read/write requests simultaneously
• Wear leveling – Distributing writes evenly across memory cells to prevent uneven wear

M.2 NVMe SSDs push speeds even further by using multiple lanes of blisteringly fast PCIe bandwidth direct from the CPU. The result is sequential read/write speeds that simply crush SATA drives.

Real-World Game Load Time Differences

Faster write performance doesn‘t just help installs – it also improves game load times. SSDs allow your games to load levels far more quickly thanks to their exceptional read speeds.

To demonstrate, here are load times I recorded on my own PC for Final Fantasy XIV using different drives:

As you can see, upgrading from an old hard drive to a speedy NVMe SSD sliced load times by over 8X!

The impact is even greater in open world titles like Cyberpunk 2077 where SSDs produce nearly instant fast travel and texture loading.

Write Speed Tweaks and Troubleshooting

Beyond your core storage hardware, there are software tweaks you can make to optimize write performance:

• Enable AHCI mode in BIOS – Uses advanced queuing for better disk performance.
• Enable write-caching on your disk – Buffers writes for faster perceived speed.
• Defragment your HDD – Consolidates data in contiguous blocks for quicker writes.
• Update disk drivers – Ensures peak performance from SSDs and HDDs.
• Close background apps – Stops other processes competing for write bandwidth.

With these tips, you can eke out every last drop of write speed from your current setup while planning your next upgrade!

The Future of Gaming Storage

Game install sizes will only continue to balloon, making write speed more and more crucial. Several cutting-edge technologies promise to keep improving speeds:

• PCIe 4.0 – Doubles PCIe 3.0 SSD performance with up to 7000 MB/s!
• DirectStorage API – Allows direct GPU decompression and loading of assets for lightning fast game launches.
• Optane Memory – Uses Intel‘s blazing fast caching tech to accelerate storage.
• Faster broadband – Improves download speeds to better feed data to your local storage.

The future is bright for speedy gaming storage!

Closing Thoughts

I hope this guide has demystified the concept of "write speeds" for you and inspired you to optimize your own storage for faster installs and updates. As both an avid gamer and a storage geek, few things excite me more than slashing load times and getting into games faster!

Let me know if you have any other questions. I‘m always happy to chat PC hardware and help fellow gamers get the most out of their rigs! Game on!