32 replies to this topic

[Lord Letto]

OK, I think my old 250GB SATA WD Caviar Blue (wd2500aajs-60z0a0) is starting to fail so now I'm thinking of getting something to replace it, Most likely from Canada Computers though I may just order it from a online store if I Decide to go for it. in any case, I'm hung up on whether or not I should spend my $80-85 Canadian on a 120GB SSD or a 1TB HDD?
Here's what i'm currently Looking at:
if I were to Walk into Canada Computers for a SSD, it would be a Kingston SSDNow V300 (SV300S37A/120G) on sale for $60 (+13% HST would make it $67.79) until Wednesday: http://www.canadacom...&item_id=055640
if I were to get a HDD:
1TB WD Blue 7200RPM 64MB Cache for $70 ($79.09 after HST): http://www.canadacom...&item_id=050727

if I were to order Online:
List of 120-128GB SSDs in my Price Range: https://ca.pcpartpic...sort=a10&page=1

1+TB HDDs 7200RPM 64MB+ Cache: https://ca.pcpartpic...,512,256,128,64

Sidenote: I have a 500GB Seagate Momentus 5400.6 (ST9500325AS) That I pulled from my old Acer Laptop that should still be good and is used as a Secondary/Backup HDD

Edited by Lord Letto, 21 May 2015 - 02:16 PM.

[Gremlich Johns]

go with a Samsung or Crucial SSD. Stay away from OCZ (the two I had bricked soon after installation) Look at reviews for the Kingstons before you commit.

[Goose]

It's a Best Practice to leave ~20% of an SSD as free space, else it starts to lose it's speed: Can you do this?

If you spring for the SSD, and install the Momentus as a data drive, can you show some discipline and not let everything install on C:?

[Ano]

It depends on what your budget is, and whether you've got any stretch.

Just taking a look at Canada Computers, they have the Crucial BX100 250Gb for $134.99. That's a little more than your examples above, and I don't know how much of an issue it might be for you to scrape together an extra $50 over the 1Tb regular hard drive (or whether sales tax is included).

That would give you the same amount of internal storage you have now, but MUCH better performance. Granted, the BX100 isn't the fastest SSD out there, not by a long chalk, but coming from an elderly HD, that doesn't make much difference -- it'll still be orders of magnitude faster than what you're used to!

If your limit is $90, then you have a tricky decision. The SSD will be leaps and bounds faster, but I suspect you'll struggle a bit having half as much disk space as before (I'm reading between the lines here and assuming you don't have any additional drives in use for general storage). The 1Tb drive will give you tons of space, but you might regret missing out on the extra speed.

A disclaimer: I don't personally own a BX100. I have a 4-year-old 120Gb Intel SSD in my desktop (which cost me about £250+ back then), my wife's PC has a 250Gb Samsung 830, and I have a pair of 2012 retina Macbook Pros with 500Gb SSDs (plus miscellaneous Dell laptops with whatever SSD Dell was supplying that month which are used for presentation display, remote access and not a lot else). Per this article on RPS, it's probably the most cost effective upgrade for the moment.

[Arbalister]

Get both.

There are such things as SSHD drive - Solid State Hybrid Drives. They are cheaper than SSD's with the capacity of an HD. At Canada Computers, there is a 1 TB unit for $100: http://www.canadacom...&item_id=058475

I've used them, benchmarked them extensively. The performance is so close to pure SSD that it'll make it seem like you've upgraded your computer.

[Lord Letto]

$80-85 is all I have right now ($69.60-73.95 Before Taxes) unless I sell some stuff or wait about a month and a half or so to maybe get about a extra $60-65 that would make it $140-150 ($121.80-130.50 before Taxes).
if I were to go for 250GB Storage I'd need a minimum 300GB SSD to go with 20% from full to prevent slowdowns as Goose recommended, Cheapest 300GB+ SSD@ Canada Computers is a 480GB Kingston SSDNow V300 (SV300S37A/480G) For $249 ($281.37 after taxes) then it's a 512GB Crucial MX100 (CT512MX100SSD1) for $279 ($315.27)
if I were to go for a 120-128GB Crucial, Samsung or Intel, Cheapest is a 128GB Samsung 850 Pro Series (MZ-7KE128BW), Regular price is $130 ($146.89 after Taxes), on sale till June 1st for $115 ($129.94 After Taxes): http://www.canadacom...&item_id=074181

Looking on the Canadian PcPartPicker, the cheapest Crucial, Samsung or Intel 120GB+ is a 120GB Samsung 850 EVO (MZ-75E120B/AM) for $75 on Amazon with free shipping, Not sure how HST Works for Online Purchases though if I need to add HST to the $75 or not, if so it would be $84.75: http://www.amazon.ca...I/?tag=pcp0f-20
a step up in the 200GB Range, there's a 250GB Crucial BX100 (CT250BX100SSD1) New on Amazon for $117 (If Taxes Apply, would be $132.20) or 1 used in Very Good Condition for $101.09: http://www.amazon.ca...ils?ie=UTF8&me=
300GB+ there's a 500GB Samsung 850 EVO (MZ-75E500B/AM) For $199 ($224.87 after Taxes) at Canada Computers (None in stock at my local store so never showed up in my search on their website: http://www.canadacom...&item_id=080111

if I Were to get a Smaller one, I'd Put Windows on it along with Steam (With Some, Not all my Steam Games)& MWO and the rest could go on my Backup

As for Hybrid Drives, Cheapest on PcPartPicker is a Seagate 500GB 2.5" 5400RPM Hybrid (ST500LM001), Regular Price of $82 ($92.66 if taxes added), on sale for $78.31 ($88.49 if Taxes Added) + whatever shipping would cost @Shoprbc: http://www.shoprbc.c....php?pid=110161

Followed by a Seagate 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid (ST1000DX001) for $82.98 (93.77 if Taxes Added) @ Direct Canada: http://www.directcan...sku=14120DR4117

That ST1000DX001 & The ST1000LM014 Arbalister Posted are the cheapest @ Canada Computers (According to PcPartPicker Anyway, $100=$113 After Taxes), the ST1000LM014 is on sale for that price till Monday then the Regular Price is $110 (124.29 After Taxes) Plus they're out of stock at my local store, there's 4 ST1000DX001 left in stock though & $100 is the Regular Price.

Edit: Just Had a Look at Walmart (I still have a $100 Walmart Gift Card left from Christmas) and they have some 500GB-3TB External Hard Drives that would be in budget also if using a External as a Main/Boot HDD would work, they also have 4 WD Internal HDDs that (3 of them) would be in budget also, Though not available in store, would have to get them online (Though it may or may not be possible to get it shipped to a store and then pay for it in store), there's a 1TB Blue in stock for $74.88 ($84.61 after Taxes), 500GB Black with limited stock for $96 ($108.48 after taxes) or a 2TB Black in stock for $169.88 ($191.96 after Taxes), there's also a 1TB Black that's out of stock for $87.88 ($99.30 after Taxes)

Edited by Lord Letto, 21 May 2015 - 06:26 PM.

[Arbalister]

There are 500GB Hybrids at Canada Computers, too, in stock at all except about 2 of them. $79.

http://www.canadacom...&item_id=058474

[LT. HARDCASE]

Buy a 120GB SSD and use the 500GB HDD for everything else.

The hybrid drives aren't all that great for the price.

Edited by Kevjack, 21 May 2015 - 07:25 PM.

[Bill Lumbar]

Arbalister, on 21 May 2015 - 04:10 PM, said:

Get both.

There are such things as SSHD drive - Solid State Hybrid Drives. They are cheaper than SSD's with the capacity of an HD. At Canada Computers, there is a 1 TB unit for $100: http://www.canadacom...&item_id=058475

I've used them, benchmarked them extensively. The performance is so close to pure SSD that it'll make it seem like you've upgraded your computer.

I have a Seagate hybrid drive, 500GB and it is not really any faster then a standard TBH. Nothing to jump up and down about for sure like a SSD. I know it sucks paying the extra for a SSD, but I did about a year ago and got a Samsung 500gb, I use a 1.5tb drive for storage. It is one of the best upgrades I did for my computer for sure.

You really do not want a 5400rpm drive for your boot drive, trust me. If I had to pick between the WD blues and blacks, I would go for the blacks if I could for a boot drive every time. AS long as Wally world didn't have WD dumb down the specs, the blacks should still be 64 mb cach, 7200rpm speeds, and I have had good luck with them in my rigs. If you can afford the SSD, I would go with it for sure though.

Edited by Bill Lumbar, 22 May 2015 - 05:23 AM.

[Flapdrol]

I have a 120GB crucial in my desktop and a 90GB kingston in my notebook. No complaints other than their small capacity.

I've got mechwarrior on the ssd, as it's a relatively small game, but with the size of modern games you run out of space quickly.

[xWiredx]

Kingston SSDs aren't terrible, that is definitely a viable choice IMO if space isn't an absolute necessity.

[darqsyde]

I'm going to recommend limping along until you can get a 256Gb+ class SSD.

Saving up to $200+ opens up the possibility of going for a 500Gb SSD.

Don't bother to half-ass upgrade. If you are going to do it, go all in.

Edited by darqsyde, 23 May 2015 - 10:08 AM.

[MavRCK]

the bx100 is an excellent SSD - see anandtech -- you need the space so dont bother with 120gb and eat some kraft dinner and get than 250 gb

[Capt_Kobalt]

MX 100 500 gig good SSD. I have 2 SSD in my system, and 4 standard hard drives. 1 SSD for boot and main files and programs. SSD 2 is main game drive, games I play the most. Other drives I segregate backups, music, movies etc to different drives.

For boot SSD is the only way to go. No matter what SSD you go with it will be a 100 times faster than a standard drive on boot and everything else.

[Kralizec242]

xWiredx, on 22 May 2015 - 07:54 AM, said:

Kingston SSDs aren't terrible, that is definitely a viable choice IMO if space isn't an absolute necessity.

They're not bad yes, but they did wind up switching out the controllers for the production models versus the review models sent out before launch on the V300 series, effectively making a bait-and-switch. For that reason, they're best to be avoided. Besides, Crucial, Samsung, ect. all make much better SSDs for only a tiny bit more.

[Hydrocarbon]

They have a 250GB Samsung 850 EVO for $119, GET IT! http://www.canadacom...&item_id=080110

An SSD is the #1 biggest upgrade per dollar you can do on a PC atm. Even a "slow" SSD is usually faster than 10k platter drives. Either get a cheap SSD that's been around a while with great customer reviews (so you know it will last), or get the Samsung.


Here's a Seagate 7200.x magnetic I compared against my a 1st gen IBM server SSD (SLC, should last decades):



My old 840 Pro (which is slower than my 850 EVO), keep in mind "speed" usually comes from the 4k numbers:

[Lord Letto]

Well if I were to get one, with keeping 20% Free I'd need a 300GB Minimum. Cheapest 257GB+ at CC is a 480GB Kingston SSDNow V300 for $220: http://www.canadacom...&item_id=064983

the Cheapest "Recommended" Brand is a 512GB Crucial MX100 for $279: http://www.canadacom...&item_id=073211
Followed by a 512GB Samsung 850 Pro for $309: http://www.canadacom...&item_id=074183

Looking online, Cheapest is a 480GB Mushkin Chronos for $196 after a $25 off Promo code +$6 Shipping from Newegg: http://www.newegg.ca..._source=afc-%zn

Cheapest "Recommended" Brand is a 480GB Crucial M500 M.2 2280 for $216 at Newegg: http://www.newegg.ca..._source=afc-%zn

followed by a 500GB Samsung 850 EVO for $219 @ Canada Computers (Out of Stock at my Local Store): http://www.canadacom...&item_id=080111

Edited by Lord Letto, 04 June 2015 - 06:17 AM.

[Odins Fist]

As soon as you say "CHEAP and BUDGET" you can just about plan on either lower performance or lower quality or both.

Wait for a sale or promo code, AVOID ---> A-DATA, Apotop, OCZ, PNY, Apricorn, Edge Tech, HGST, MyDigital, SanDisk, Super Talent, Transcend, Verbatim, VisionTek, Wintec and any other off brand/never heard of before brand.

If you don't avoid those you WILL get what you pay for.
That goes for ALL computer hardware as well.

Edited by Odins Fist, 04 June 2015 - 12:32 PM.

[TheStrider]

Don't get hybrid drives. I've rolled out dozens of SSDs and SSHDs at work, and SSDs are flat out better. I avoid them now, considering the cost of SSDs. I'm not going into benchmarks, I'm speaking from observation / experience. I've taken systems that were on SSHDs and mirrored them onto SSDs and saw considerable performance increases.

Didn't see if you were on a laptop or desktop.

I'd recommend a 240GB, plus a data drive if you are on a desktop. 128GB is crampy, especially if you want to put a few games on it. (Though if MWO is your only game, that's only 8GB.)

I've rolled out 40+ Kingston SSDNow V300s at work now, 128GB and 240GB drives alike with no issues whatsoever.
I run a Vertex 4 at home, and it's been fine. OCZ had more problems back in the Vertex 2 days, though I haven't used them much since they were bought out.

If you can afford better, buy better, but Kingstons are fine.



PS - you aren't near Ottawa eh? If you are, I'll give you a 500GB 7200rpm drive. We have boatloads of them here at work...

[Lord Letto]

it's a Desktop:
FX-4100 (OCed to 4.6GHz(Was 4.8 GHz But started to get Uncorrectable Hardware Error BSODs when in some games, so backed it down to see if it was the issue or the HDD)), Gigabyte 990FXAUD3 Rev 1.1 with 2 bad RAM Slots), Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus (With Stock Fan on it) & Arctic Silver Ceramique 2 Thermal Paste, VisionTek Radeon HD 6970 2GB (Maximum OC in Afterburner, 950MHz Core, 1450MHz Memory), 4GB G Skill DDR3 1333MHz CAS 7 Ram , BitFenix Outlaw Case with 1 BitFenix 120mm & 140mm Fan, OCZ GamexStream 700W PSU.

and I Live Just Outside Waterloo, about a 5 and a half hour drive or more south of Ottawa