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getting my first ssd

X

xnikx

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 25, 2006
Messages
1,730
well im going to be buying an ssd drive on tuesday from my local microcenter.
im looking to put my os, drivers?, and a few games on it.
the only games ill be putting on it as of now is bf3 and crysis 3, when i get more demanding games these will go on the ssd.
other games such as cs go, l42d will be staying on my hdd.

is a 128gb ssd plenty or should i dish out the extra cash for a 250gb?
i was looking at the samsung 840 series, are these good?
http://microcenter.com/product/4026...TA_60Gb-s__25_Internal_Solid_State_Drive_(SSD)
http://microcenter.com/product/4026...ATA_60Gb-s_25_Internal_Solid_State_Drive_(SSD)
or the corsair force series
http://microcenter.com/product/3705...Drive_(SSD)_with_SandForce_SF-2200_Controller
if you would like to make a better suggestion, pick from here
http://microcenter.com/category/4294945779/Solid-State-Drives-SSD

and last, do ssds require a lot of power. im currently on a 850w but im really pushing it with my current system(see sig, 7 case fans)

edit: just noticed the samsungs dont come with an adapter. would i just need to buy a separate 3.5 bracket for my tj09?
 
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I'd say 128 gigs would be plenty for an OS drive. How much room does your boot partition currently take up? How big are those games? I have Windows, Office and a few other apps on an SSD and they total about 55 gigs. As a side thought, I'm not sure you'll see much difference in game play between an SSD and an HDD. The SSD will load faster but once everything is in RAM there's not much for the drive to do.

Note that the two Samsungs you are comparing differ not only in size but in the technology they use. The 128 is an 840 PRO, while the 250 is a plain 840. The PRO should be faster overall and have superior endurance, but it's going to cost more for a given size. The plain 840 is likely fast enough for most folks, and likely will last long enough for most folks and will definitely save you some bucks. Only you can make the call as to which is a better value for you.

SSDs use little power. That said, you've a lot of gear in your box. Let's hope your new toy is not the straw that breaks the camel's back!

I'm not familiar with your case, but from looking at online photos it appears it does not use any sort of caddy to hold individual HDDs. Rather, they attach directly to the side of the drive cages. You will need some sort of adapter to fit the SSD into one of your HDD slots. Some Samsung SSDs come with an adapter, they will have "KW" in the product number rather than "BW." Your SSD will have pre-drilled screw holes on the bottom. All you need is some sort of plate that's been pre-drilled so that you can screw the SSD to it and thereafter screw the plate into the 3.5" bay. Look at the picture of that Corsair drive you linked to to get the idea. The black plate is the 3.5" adapter. You can see the screw holes the SSD will attach to and the screw holes you will use to attach the adapter to your HDD cage. Microcenter should have something like that available.

Have fun with your new drive!
 
I think going with a 256 minimal is a good idea. They will last longer since there are more blocks for wear leveling to work with. Plus in some cases the larger SSD's perform better than the smaller ones.

Also keep in mind that many new games are requiring 20-30GB or more of disk space. I only have a few things installed on my 120GB and only have 40GB free.
 
bigdogchris said:
I think going with a 256 minimal is a good idea. They will last longer since there are more blocks for wear leveling to work with. Plus in some cases the larger SSD's perform better than the smaller ones.

Also keep in mind that many new games are requiring 20-30GB or more of disk space. I only have a few things installed on my 120GB and only have 40GB free.
Click to expand...

ya thats what i was thinking, a 120gb will fill up in no time.

think i might dish out the extra cash and get the 256mb 840 pro?
 
go for 256gb. i don't regret my decision to go 128gb when i did but i can tell you right now that i have 2 128gb in my setup and not in raid. ssd 1 gets os and ssd 2 gets games. 3x 1tb hdd gets stuff.
 
ok, will go with the 256gb.
but can anyone comment on whether or not i can expect to see smoother gameplay, not fps wise but less stutter, in bf3?
 
Personally I haven't heard of any "smoother" gameplay on SSDs, other than faster load times.

It may help with things like texture pop-in, but that's not very likely unless you're playing a poorly coded game, have an ultra-slow drive now, or are playing with a Video Card with very limited VRAM. (I mean, even the 360 doesn't have terrible pop-in issues in most games, and that's decade old tech)
 
yup loving my 256mb 840 pro so far :D
just the everyday improvements are alone worth buying it for.

i also picked up a 1200axi so the psu is no longer an issue
 
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