SSD vs HDD

[Fearless888]

I've been reading a bit about solid state drives lately and have become increasingly intrigued. If you take out the cost variable, it would seem that ssd's would be a much better option. Does anyone use an ssd as the main disk drive on their computer? Also, whether you have one or not, which would you recommend for your ideal gaming pc?

 

[Snipeye]

Yes, I'm using an OCZ Agility3 SSD (if I remember correctly). SSD's, if you can afford it, are best run as your primary operating system drive. If you got enough space left, you can install whatever you want. For me, that's primarily the OS + PC Games. I use regular HDDs as storage for all my media (music, movies, etc.) That way, I get every bit of performance advantage I can when gaming.

There's a number of SSD's available on the market ranging from high volume, high price to low volume, low price. It really depends up to you on what you're looking for, what you can use, and how much you can pay. Motherboard connections play a role in the decision, albeit a small one. Corsair and OCZ are the two brands that I'm familiar with and would recommend. There are a variety of SSD's they offer, but just do some research into it, and you'll get a feel for which are the top of the line, which are value driven, and which are best bang for the buck.

Sidenote: Never run Disk Defrag on a SSD. Regular HDDs, yes. SSD, No. It actually reduces the life expectancy of the SSD whereas for an HDD, it arguably increases it.

 

[LordNikon]

I had an OCZ agility 3 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227727) as well before I sold it for some extra cash. If you can afford the price difference, they are well worth the extra money. If cash flow was not an issue, I would always run with a SSD simply for the performance value that they add.

In my opinion, it's the very best bang for your buck. When I had the SSD I, like Snipeye, used it for gaming and had all my media/documents/misc files on a 1.5 TB WD external drive.

 

[phalanx]

I'm on my second SSD, my first drive, was a 30GB OCZ Vertex and it ran great. Quick boot, even when it was near capacity. I still have it as a back up just in case. I am currently on an Agility 3. Great bang for your buck with the Agility series. I got mine from Microcenter for $90 after I got the MIR, which OCZ was REALLY good about sending quickly. They told me to wait about 2 months. I got it back in two weeks.

 

[I'm your huckleberry]

Using a 160gb Intel X25M as my OS + programs/games. Great investment, especially considering the extreme prices of hdds atm due to floods. However, this could be causing ssds to cost more than they would if hdds were cheaper. Still a worthy investment alleviating one of the biggest bottlenecks left for PCs.

 

[JPigg]

all i have to say, and everyone that has one will agree, once you get a ssd you cant go back to normal hdd's .... I have the corsair force gt, ~550 mb/s read, ~515mb/s write .... and my storage hdd reads/writes around 100mb,s ... so you get the idea:drool:

 

[frost889]

/agree JPigg.

Rolling my first SSD now as my boot drive (Crucial M4). Couldn't be happier.

Pull the trigger and get one. Though remember they have a shelf life far less then a standard platter based HD.

 

[Fearless888]

Thank you for the feedback guys. Looks like I will start making an early Christmas wishlist.

 

[Cigarjohn]

I've been reading a bit about solid state drives lately and have become increasingly intrigued. If you take out the cost variable, it would seem that ssd's would be a much better option. Does anyone use an ssd as the main disk drive on their computer? Also, whether you have one or not, which would you recommend for your ideal gaming pc?

I am running two Crucial M4's 256 gigabyte each. On one drive, I partitioned it into two partitions. 100 gigabyte for my OS and utilities and the other partition for some productivity software like word and excel and some games.

My other M4 drive I use it for my Steam games and other various games.

I personally don't see the speed in load up times since I'm loading up many programs in startup but these drives are pretty snappy when loading levels in games.

I like Intel SSD's. They are a little slower but are very reliable and have many good reviews. The 320 series are golden and the new 510 series are getting better reviews with their firmware updates.

I chose Crucial M4 for its great reviews and speed bump compared to Intel drives.

OCZ's and Kingston make good SSD's also.

I'm not running my drives in a RAID (0) configuration. Windows trim seems to be working fine. Defragging SSD's will not hurt the drives according to Crucial Tech people but it will also not give you any improvements either.

And if your on a budget, I would recommend you getting a 120 GB SSD and linking it to a 2 or 3 Terrabyte mechanical hard drive and use the caching option. The caching option will only utilize no more than 64 gigs of your SSD and will make your game play and level loading much quicker. And the extra space on your SSD, you can add some of your favorite games or productivity software like video or photo editing or excel, etc. on it for better work performance.

And with the SSD's dropping in price, a 120 gig SSD is pretty affordable.


I hope I was able to help you out in some way. I wish you luck in your purchase.

Peace and happy gaming.

 

[Fearless888]

And if your on a budget, I would recommend you getting a 120 GB SSD and linking it to a 2 or 3 Terrabyte mechanical hard drive and use the caching option. The caching option will only utilize no more than 64 gigs of your SSD and will make your game play and level loading much quicker. And the extra space on your SSD, you can add some of your favorite games or productivity software like video or photo editing or excel, etc. on it for better work performance.

Could you explain this linking process please? Part of the SSD is configured as a cache for the HDD or something? Do I just create 2 partitions and somehow link an empty partition to the HDD? Thanks.

 

[Cigarjohn]

Could you explain this linking process please? Part of the SSD is configured as a cache for the HDD or something? Do I just create 2 partitions and somehow link an empty partition to the HDD? Thanks.

I personally don't know too much about this linking process. I personally don't use it. But if you use Youtube, there are many people on there demonstrating it and will show you how to configure your system to do it. If you need help in finding those links, just let me know and I'll do my best to direct you in the right direction.

I do know that after the 64gb SSd, you can partition your remainder SSD and you can also add as many partitions to your mechanical drive.

Peace.