An SSD is better than a RAM cache for almost everyone.

No, it’s not better. You’re overcomplicating this.

A RAM cache (like PrimoCache) on an HDD sounds clever—use spare memory to accelerate slow spinning disks. But in practice, you’re eating 64GB of system RAM for a volatile cache that disappears on reboot. Your HDD is still the bottleneck for sustained writes and large transfers. An SSD simply replaces the bottleneck.

Here’s the thing: that 64GB of RAM is expensive and your system needs it for other things. A decent 1TB SATA SSD costs about the same as two sticks of 32GB DDR4. You get persistent storage, zero configuration, and no risk of losing cached data if the power blinks. The SSD is plug-and-play. The RAM cache requires software, trial periods, and the occasional “why is my write speed suddenly terrible?” moment.

The only scenario where a RAM cache makes sense is if you already have 64GB of unused RAM and you’re doing something incredibly random-IO heavy (like running a database on an HDD) where every microsecond of latency matters. For a normal desktop or game drive? Just buy the SSD. Future you will thank you.

Save the RAM for applications that actually need it.