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SSD or not?

G

grandfatman

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 6, 2012
Messages
188
Im planning in the long run to upgrade my pc, (build a new one!)

Should i have an SSD just for boot? whats the smallest i could get away with? Can I install applications such as Adobe Premiere etc on a second regular harddrive for storage? What are the benefits of ssd (apart from mechanical failure) that is just used for a boot drive?

I currently have 3 SATA Harddrives and have had them for a few years and have never run into problems, although in a few older computers, i have had IDE's completley die on me hence making the move to SATA

Im very new to PC building,
 
The speed difference is massive, night and day, awesome, etc! :)

As far as smallest, depends on what you want to install, what OS, etc.
I would recommend at least a 256gb unit, as I found the 128gb a bit too small, even loading some stuff onto the slow ass HD.
 
I would not go less than 128GB since it does not make a lot of sense to pay $10 less for a 64GB model.
 
Prices are dropping like lead balloons, the technology is maturing well. Consider 120 GB your minimum, and 256 a maximum. My personal sweet spot for SSD's is 180GB. With 3 other drives available to you, there's little reason to store much non-program media on your ssd. I can't speak for the "budget" or lower IOPS versions, but i have used several brands of the types that claim high IOPS at 4k, and have never been disappointed. HardOCP has very good reviews, and its easy to go with their recommendation.

Newegg has great deals on them all the time (use the commissioned buying link through [H]).

So far, i've used OCZ Vertex 2 (this is older now), Kingston HyperX 3K, and Corsair Force GT, each in several sizeds, and have been happy with all of them. Regarding space, however, i was never happy with 60GB, because you really do run out of space fast.

Hope that two-cents helps
 
Unfortunatley i reside in the UK so newegg isnt an option for me unfortunatley, will either be ebay or amazon, but thatnks every one for your input, it has definatley given me something else to think about, What about installing programs to a seperate hdd? Is that possible? (Depends on the program i guess?) But like whats been said, for speed it would probably be best to install on the ssd?
 
What about installing programs to a seperate hdd? Is that possible?
Click to expand...

Yes. You can install individual programs on any disk in your system and even make them think they are installed in C:\Program Files. Or move them from C:\Program Files to some other folder on any ntfs disk in your system after the install and use a ntfs junction to link the folder to a different location.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS_junction_point

But like whats been said, for speed it would probably be best to install on the ssd?
Click to expand...

Everything but media files.
 
grandfatman said:
Unfortunatley i reside in the UK so newegg isnt an option for me unfortunatley, will either be ebay or amazon, but thatnks every one for your input, it has definatley given me something else to think about
Click to expand...
Samsung actually has a promo in the UK until September 30. They don't offer this for the 128GB, so it's either £20 back on the 256GB or £50 back on the 512GB - http://www.samsung.com/uk/student/cashback.html
I remembered seeing the discussion on Bit-Tech forums, so figured I'd let you know - http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=235917

Amazon appears to be on the cashback list, and this seems to be what most people are doing on Bit-Tech.£129.99 (£149.99 less £20 back) - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=103612307&pf_rd_i=B007BBQQ04

Edit: If you do decide to take advantage of the cashback thing, it seems you have to apply sometime 30 days after purchase, but before 45 days after purchase, giving you a 15 day window to apply. Oh Samsung lol
 
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SSD, not really a debate anymore. HDs are for large amounts of data for the general user. Recommending 128GB and up.
 
Another benefit is that they don't slow down from fragmentation.
If you have a light diet for storage get a 480gb one and ditch the mechanicals ;)
 
Id need ALOT of storage (video editing etc) so i think for the storage of video etc (1tb and up) i would have to stick with mechanical
 
Shame that they aren't running the deal for longer, its not bad at all, i just havent got the money atm :( BOOOO! lol
 
As others have stated... SSD's make a HUGE improvement in percieved system performance.

Single handedly the best upgrade you can do for the money these days.

And... Currently the best price points come on the 120ish GB drives.
 
MissJ84 said:
Amazon appears to be on the cashback list, and this seems to be what most people are doing on Bit-Tech.£129.99 (£149.99 less £20 back) - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=103612307&pf_rd_i=B007BBQQ04
Click to expand...
That's a great deal on a great SSD, sold by Amazon themselves too. If you're really short on cash you can get a 128GB SSD for around £80, should still be enough to fit all your programs and some games on there, just move all the My Music/Videos etc. folders to a HDD. You can still install Adobe Premiere on the SSD but just set the output directory to a HDD.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Convicted1 said:
As others have stated... SSD's make a HUGE improvement in percieved system performance.

Single handedly the best upgrade you can do for the money these days.

And... Currently the best price points come on the 120ish GB drives.
Click to expand...

I would go for 256gb at minimum, IMO.
 
Hagrid said:
I would go for 256gb at minimum, IMO.
Click to expand...

That's a very personal decision. Not all of us need a crazy amount of space. Win8, scratch installed, only takes 14gb once pagefile and hiberfil are dealt with so I'm still running on 64gb and don't have space issues since I can only play one game at a time and don't store documents/music/videos locally.
 
at the moment my primary drive (with a few other files, but mainly boot) Is currently using 96 gb (of 113gb space) So i think a 128gb might be about right for me
 
grandfatman said:
at the moment my primary drive (with a few other files, but mainly boot) Is currently using 96 gb (of 113gb space) So i think a 128gb might be about right for me
Click to expand...

128GB is probably fine then. You can also get rid of a few more GBs by disabling pagefile (or moving it to the HDD) and system restore once you get the SSD.
 
grandfatman said:
at the moment my primary drive (with a few other files, but mainly boot) Is currently using 96 gb (of 113gb space) So i think a 128gb might be about right for me
Click to expand...

Until you need more room. ;)

Also when formatted my 128gb is actually 119gb, so now I have to get a 256gb to be safe. And my pagefile is on another drive too. hehe
 
I just got my first SSD after waiting for 10 days. OCZ Petrol. Didn't work. Noticed a strange sound like something dropping inside each time i moved it. I am tired of RMA, i got 2 defective items in the past week and this shop seems sooo slow. So i thought "what the hell, i will open it and void warrancy".

One of the Hynix memory chips on the lower side was... detached... Next stop, trash bin. Looking for another SSD, it won't be OCZ.
 
Thats what worries me about SSD's is that (from my point of view) they are a relatively new technology, and harddrives have stood the test of time, i know for a fact i want to go ssd, but im starting to think its worth the extra few pennies to get a decent one.
 
grandfatman said:
Thats what worries me about SSD's is that (from my point of view) they are a relatively new technology, and harddrives have stood the test of time, i know for a fact i want to go ssd, but im starting to think its worth the extra few pennies to get a decent one.
Click to expand...

Yeah, having memory chips falling off a PCB is a novelty for me too, i am rethinking about SSD. I think i will wait for further price drop. I gave 64 euros for a paperweight and i don't want to give more for another. I changed some things between my 2 HDDs, leaving my primary one "free" to run only OS and programs and moved all HDD-intensive operations to the 2nd HDD. This will buy me time till prices drop, cause here, only OCZ seems to have cheap 128GB SSDs and i don't want to buy OCZ again.
 
Faethon said:
I just got my first SSD after waiting for 10 days. OCZ Petrol.
Click to expand...

Bad move. You bought the worst model of SSD from the worst of all SSD manufacturers.

If you did some research first, you would have seen that OCZ is best avoided if you want a quality SSD.
 
Faethon said:
Yeah, having memory chips falling off a PCB is a novelty for me too, i am rethinking about SSD. I think i will wait for further price drop. I gave 64 euros for a paperweight and i don't want to give more for another. I changed some things between my 2 HDDs, leaving my primary one "free" to run only OS and programs and moved all HDD-intensive operations to the 2nd HDD. This will buy me time till prices drop, cause here, only OCZ seems to have cheap 128GB SSDs and i don't want to buy OCZ again.
Click to expand...

yeah im running fine at the moment with mechanical drives, on primarily for OS and programs. I think like you i will wait until the price drops a little more, january sales or something
 
JoeComp said:
Bad move. You bought the worst model of SSD from the worst of all SSD manufacturers.

If you did some research first, you would have seen that OCZ is best avoided if you want a quality SSD.
Click to expand...

Yeah, unfortunately i learnt about OCZ's reputation a bit too late. By luck i had found that Sandforce (?) controllers are to be avoided, so this one had Indilix and i thought "well, how bad could it be?". After i ordered i started reading some complaints about OCZ, but i didn't expect that i would get a PCB with falling pieces...

Fact is, here, OCZ is by far the cheapest. I mean, the next cheaper SSD was Corsair Force 3 120GB, 20 euros more.

Now i know why it's so cheap... :mad: I didn't want a performance king, i wanted one that would be reliable and be faster than my HDD for a low price... I asked too much from OCZ i guess.

P.S.: The OCZ Petrol was also amazingly easy to take apart. Just 8 screws (4 outside, 4 inside) and it's all open... It's full of Hynix chips inside, on both sides of the PCB. Also has a green led light when it's powered. I didn't understand the purpose, since when it's closed in the enclosure i don't think its visible...
 
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I run a 128gb M4. As long as I limit myself to 2 installed games at a time and keep pics/movies on my caviar black I am sitting with about 50gigs left.
 
Hrmm..I got 2 agility 3s to RAID 0 them..but..I wouldn't recommend that(they tend to fail)
Samsung 830 64GB or Crucial M4 64 GB...for reliability and speed.there's some kinda PLextor one that's supposed to be good, too.
Stay away from SandForce-controlled drives ;)
 
ssd...yes...

128 min

256 better (i just got a M4 256GB drive) so much quicker than my old hitachi 1TB drive.

w/ the 256 i have room to install my games and programs and benefit from fast loading on all these.
 
chronicfx said:
I run a 128gb M4. As long as I limit myself to 2 installed games at a time and keep pics/movies on my caviar black I am sitting with about 50gigs left.
Click to expand...

Yeah with a barebones install of stuff its easy, but I didnt want to install on a regular HD if I didnt have to......Kicking myself now....
 
Agreed. Go for a 256GB SSD their current prices are the same prices as what the 128GB SSDs were going for not too long ago...:)
 
To this day, switching to an SSD has to be the most noticeable "seat of the pants" performance difference I've enjoyed in computing. I wouldn't hesitate to get into an SSD for a boot drive. They've become quite reliable in the past couple years. Things like steam spreader have made managing a smaller ssd boot drive quite practical.
 
I can't agree with OCZ bad reputation, got one vertex3 120gb in my laptop working for almost a year by now, no problems at all, only the performance seems to be a bit lower than it it was at the begining. I also have two vertex3 60gb in two workstations working 24/7 and also no problems at all. And beleive me I do use them heavily as a local storage for virtual machines and in software development (more writes than reads).

Regarding the topic, nowadays i would take at least 120gb, 256gb has a good capacity to price factor imho, but it depends on what you actually do, anyways as a "system disk" once you get it you won't go back to spindles ;)
 
I will also disagree with the ocz bad rap. Ive used an ocz vertex 2 180gb 3.5" for a year and a half in a rig that gets heavy use and probably under a hundred hours total being powered down. Never a hiccup. Though i did have a 60 die on me, they sent a replacement stat.

Maybe i haven't used enough of them to feel like they're any more prone to problems than regular hard drives or other ssd's. I guess YMMV applies ..
 
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