Is 64GB SSD Enough for Windows 11?
As a lifelong gamer and YouTube content creator specializing in the latest PC hardware and software, I have tested Windows 11 on drives of varying sizes. My verdict after extensive use is that Microsoft‘s minimum 64GB SSD requirement leaves much to be desired – especially for gaming and creative work.
While technically meeting the bare minimum spec, attempting to run Windows 11 and modern games or professional creative software on a 64GB SSD proves extremely limiting. Upgrading to drives of 256GB or larger becomes mandatory.
Cramped Quarters: Windows 11 on a 64GB SSD
During my experiments with a entry-level 64GB SSD, I installed Windows 11 with only the bundled apps and no additional programs. At first, the experience felt snappy thanks to SSD speeds compared to traditional hard drives. But there was precious little wiggle room left – only 35GB or so of the 64GB drive remained free.
Attempting to install Adobe Creative Cloud, Steam, Battlenet, and other common apps quickly overwhelmed the meager 64GB. After downloading just a couple of today‘s 100+ GB AAA game titles, I invariably received installation errors due to lack of drive space.
Average Game Install Sizes
| Game Title | Install Size |
| Call of Duty Modern Warfare (2019) | 200GB |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 150GB |
| Microsoft Flight Simulator X (2020) | 130GB |
As you can see from some popular games above, the entirety of a 64GB SSD wouldn‘t even fit a single title. Needless to say, serious gaming is out of the question on drives this small.
Creativity Cramps on 64GB
My experiments creating YouTube videos and game live streams on a 64GB SSD met a similar fate. Installing editing software like Adobe Premiere and After Effects consumed over 10GB alone. Attempting to store captured 4K gameplay footage and uncompressed image assets caused constant critical storage warnings and errors.
Even a short single 4K clip female 30 seconds in length requires over 300MB. Complex editing projects with multiple clips, color grading, and effects require terabytes of drive space to prevent slow downs.
Version2: NVMe vs SATA SSD Performance
Compounding storage capacity issues, installing games and creative software on cramped, slower SATA SSDs leads to longer load times and laggy performance. The latest PCIe gen 4 NVMe SSD offer blazing transfer speeds up to 7,000 MB/sec compared to a maximum of 600MB/sec on SATA drives.
Feeding data to your CPU, GPU and RAM at 10X the speed of SATA makes utilizing NVMe SSD‘s full potential capacity critical – a task impossible on 64GB
My Personal Upgrade Journey Proves It
When I first built my Windows 10 gaming & streaming PC in 2016, I spec‘d it with a modest 120GB SATA SSD thinking it sufficient. After battling constant storage limits for 2 years, I upgraded to a 500GB NVME drive. Finally I could record gameplay and install more than 1 AAA game!
Last year I took the plunge to 2TB capacity when migrating my system over to Windows 11. The difference was like night & day! No more juggling what footage to keep or which titles to uninstall. Windows booted in seconds. Games loaded instantly. 500GB+ video projects played back smoothly during editing.
I understand not every user needs multiple terabytes of SSD storage. But in today‘s era of 100GB+ game installs and rich 4K creative media, settling for 64GB to run Windows 11 is a recipe for frustration.
Minimum Viable SSD Size for Most Users
If you‘re building or upgrading your Windows 11 gaming/streaming PC, I suggest at least 256-512GB of NVMe SSD storage for adequate performance headroom. Power users working extensively with high resolution footage or massive game libraries will want 1-2TB SSDs instead.
While technically meeting Microsoft‘s quoted spec for Windows 11 installation, attempting to operate long term on a 64GB SSD in 2024 inevitably leads to severe limiting of apps, games, and media capacity. Go bigger from the start and avoid storage headaches ruining your experience!
