Bitlocker generally has minimal impact on gaming performance and overall speed.
Bitlocker generally has minimal impact on gaming performance and overall speed.
This process isn't what it seems; the real data bypasses the TPM entirely, using only key exchanges. There will be some extra steps, but they won't affect performance much. I still maintain my 3.3GB/s reads and 2.2GB/s writes on the NVMe drive with BitLocker.
I question its effect on gaming speed. I think most of the encryption happens when saving files to the hard drive, not much during gameplay except for saving. You might notice a bit slower loading because some files aren’t encrypted, but it’s unlikely to be noticeable. I’d turn on encryption regardless of whether the software is open source or not. If your home is broken into and your PC is stolen, you’ll appreciate the protection (I remember feeling that when my laptops were taken).
I also began securing my drives after the apartment was broken into. I don’t rely on a TPM; instead, I’m using a USB drive as the key. This ensures my PCs remain inaccessible without it—or the recovery key—and I carry it with me.