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SSD Solution

jrrandell

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 24, 2010
Messages
410
I recently came into some money and I think its about time I upgraded my storage soultion. Im really leaning to SSD since I currently have some disposal income but im really torn up about what to do. I recently ordered a Asus-Gene-Z motherboard (edit: also ordered an i5 with it xD) so thats what this will run off.

I kind of want a minimum of 120gb of storage with this new soultion for my OS and a few games and programs but im torn up what to buy.

Im interested in buying a straight up 120gb SSD but I also am considering buying 2 60gb SSD and putting them in raid 0, however i'm worried about the difficulty of setting that up.

Is setting up a raid 0 faily simple or overly complicated? will my MB support raid decently enought? ( Pretty sure the awnser is yes ) or would I be better off picking up a cheap raid card? Also brands, im leaning toward corsair (has never steared me wrong before) or OCZ (never used them before)

So basically im asking, is the raid 0 of 2 60gb drives worth the hassle?

Any input would be great thanks guys :)
 
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I'd rather buy a 256/240 GB drive. Sandforce and Crucial drives in that size range are much faster than the smaller drives.

RAID 0 won't dramatically increase your gaming performance. You would think the monster read speeds would cut your game/level load times in half, but that doesn't happen.
 
I'd rather buy a 256/240 GB drive. Sandforce and Crucial drives in that size range are much faster than the smaller drives.

RAID 0 won't dramatically increase your gaming performance. You would think the monster read speeds would cut your game/level load times in half, but that doesn't happen.

Ok understandable, the thing is I didnt run into that much disposable income xD

I was looking at spending around 250-300ish, but i would aim for a bigger drive if the raid 0 isnt worth it, i was possible even considering a larger SSD and then a really small say 20gb ssd to use the ssd caching. Would SSD caching be useful while already running your OS on an ssd, obivious not all my games would be on the SSD.

Main reason I really want a faster storage solution is I plan on playing SWTOR when it comes out, and MMO's seem to read/load a lot more data then most games.
 
Don't bother with the RAID 0 - just get a single larger drive. The Crucial M4 128GB is a great choice, and well-priced.
 
I wouldn't bother w/a RAID setup either, it's more hassle an the benefits are questionable... Yea sequential speeds go thru the roof, but are you transfering data from another source that's fast enough for sequential writes to matter?

Anyway, given your budget I'd just get a nice 120GB drive and be done with it. Sandforce drives have all sorts of reliabiity issues, the popuar choice right now seems to be the Crucial m4. I think I've seen the 256MB version for $380-ish, which might not be entirely out of reach for you.
 
Thanks for all the input guys, with what you said and after more research ill definally be skipping the raid, so im really looking at a 120gb drive. This will hve enough room for windows and swtor with about 40ish gb to spare for future things.

I was looking at the crucial m4 and the corsair force 3.

I read somewhere that the m4 doesnt have trim? is this true? is trim really needed anyway, from my understanding it will help the life of the ssd.

Edit:

So I checked newegg.ca and found the M4 128gb for 199.99 with free shipping, i think i might have to jump on that.

also links to what im debating
Corsair- http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233206
Crucial- http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442
 
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I read somewhere that the m4 doesnt have trim? is this true? is trim really needed anyway, from my understanding it will help the life of the ssd.
Not true at all. TRIM is somewhat needed. Go with the Crucial M4 128GB.
 
Not true at all. TRIM is somewhat needed. Go with the Crucial M4 128GB.

ok I think I shall order the m4 soon while that free shipping offer stands ;)

thanks

Edit: order the M4

Thanks for all the help guys, cant wait till it gets here :D
 
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The M4 has TRIM, and yeah, TRIM will help sustain the drive's performance over time.
 
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