11 replies to this topic

[Napoleon_Blownapart]

i just reinstalled everything on my comp and win7 and MWO and everything is 28gigs can i get away with buying a small 64gig SSD and just put win7 and MWO on it?do you just put the OS on it?games too?my MB is older and only sata2 i think.i have 2 small 7200 rpm HDDs for other files.

[ShinVector]

Gorantir, on 13 October 2013 - 06:16 PM, said:

i just reinstalled everything on my comp and win7 and MWO and everything is 28gigs can i get away with buying a small 64gig SSD and just put win7 and MWO on it?do you just put the OS on it?games too?my MB is older and only sata2 i think.i have 2 small 7200 rpm HDDs for other files.

120-128GB Minimum for OS and some games..
Future upgrades with would 240-256GB myself.

[ball0fire]

you can get away with that, 120 would be better to fit more on it, but yes its do-able

so long as you dont put too many games on it, windows updates will fill it up

and unlike mechanical drives , doesnt get slower the fuller it gets

[Gremlich Johns]

make sure that AHCI is set before you install the SSD. check out the "best solution" at tom's hardware:

http://www.tomshardw...ard-drives-ahci

[Goose]

20% free space is a "best practice" for SSDs …

You'll want a RAM drive to protect said SSD.

[Hougham]

You can always use a SSD cache drive some times called a accelerator drive. This will automatically store currently active and most used files on it for optimal performance. Drives such as SanDisk ReadyCache, Corsair accelerator Series, OCZ Synapse Cache, Crucial Adrenaline Caching and such like. Have a look at the results http://forum.avsim.n...-the-road-r1636 Though a SSD will not do much to improve in game performance past initial load times slightly.

Edited by Hougham, 13 October 2013 - 10:55 PM.

[POWR]

Goose, on 13 October 2013 - 08:43 PM, said:

20% free space is a "best practice" for SSDs …

You'll want a RAM drive to protect said SSD.

Protect it from what? Your paltry <10gb RAM drive will do nothing but annoy.

[Catamount]

OP, the two things of importance are capacity and controller.

64GB is NOT ideal, it's workable, maybe, but the OS needs too to grow past its initial install, and you'll find that capacity gets taken up by little things, like getting only most of that capacity, some random programs, the need for some free space to be reserved, etc, that leave room for far too few games. Spring for a 120/128, which will still require some data management over time, but not as much. Trust me, when you see how non-capacious even a 120 is, you'll thank us for steering you away from the 60/64.

Secondly, avoid OCZ like the plague, and in general avoid Sandforce-based drives, if possible. Samsung is generally regarded as the way to go. The 840 EVOs are fantastic, but whatever the budget accommodates. For your system, an 830 series would probably do just as well if you could land it on the cheap somewhere.


Edit: at home looking at this on the PC finally, and my tablet managed some AMAZING typos. Hopefully now this post is readable.

Edited by Catamount, 14 October 2013 - 12:29 PM.

[Zashel]

ball0fire, on 13 October 2013 - 06:54 PM, said:

you can get away with that, 120 would be better to fit more on it, but yes its do-able

so long as you dont put too many games on it, windows updates will fill it up

and unlike mechanical drives , doesnt get slower the fuller it gets

Goose, on 13 October 2013 - 08:43 PM, said:

20% free space is a "best practice" for SSDs …

You'll want a RAM drive to protect said SSD.

http://www.anandtech...playing-with-op

for the TL:DR crowd, provisioning is a great way to keep your SSD performace up. i would roll with a 192-256gb SSB at minimun for the OS if you want to toss a few games on there as well.

Hougham, on 13 October 2013 - 10:45 PM, said:

You can always use a SSD cache drive some times called a accelerator drive. This will automatically store currently active and most used files on it for optimal performance. Drives such as SanDisk ReadyCache, Corsair accelerator Series, OCZ Synapse Cache, Crucial Adrenaline Caching and such like. Have a look at the results http://forum.avsim.n...-the-road-r1636 Though a SSD will not do much to improve in game performance past initial load times slightly.

Hybrid drives are a half measure. if your going to get a SSD you might as well exploit its full performance.

Catamount, on 14 October 2013 - 07:05 AM, said:

OP, the two things of importance are capacity and controller.

64GB is NOT ideal, it's workable, maybe, but the OS needs too to grow past its initial install, and you'll find that capacity gets taken up by little things, like getting only most of that capacity, some random programs, the need for some free space to be reserved, etc, that leave room for far too few games. Spring for a 120/128, which will still require some data management over time, but not as much. Trust me, when you see how non-capacious even a 120 is, you'll thank us for steering you away from the 60/64.

Secondly, avoid OCZ like the plague, and in general avoid Sandforce-based drives, if possible. Samsung is generally regarded as the way to go. The 840 EVOs are fantastic, but whatever the budget accosomewhere. For your system, an 830 series would probably do just as wellif you could land onencheap somewhere

Controller != brand

http://www.anandtech...or-review-256gb

OCZ is getting away from sandforce based controllers. and the reviews on newegg for these drives is pretty good across the (capacity) board.

Summary: Dont buy Sandforce Based SSD's (830/840 are good buys), Overprovision somewhere to about 20-25%, larger capacities will generally see better performace due to how they're built.

actually, if your stuck on SATA2 you might wanna consider springing for a SATA 3 board if possible.

[Catamount]

Zashel, on 14 October 2013 - 12:11 PM, said:

Controller != brand

http://www.anandtech...or-review-256gb

OCZ is getting away from sandforce based controllers. and the reviews on newegg for these drives is pretty good across the (capacity) board.

Summary: Dont buy Sandforce Based SSD's (830/840 are good buys), Overprovision somewhere to about 20-25%, larger capacities will generally see better performace due to how they're built.

actually, if your stuck on SATA2 you might wanna consider springing for a SATA 3 board if possible.

Anecdotally at least, I've been hearing about a LOT of failures, even on OCZ's non Sandforce based drives. Even when most companies were using Sandforce controllers, OCZ was a standout for failures, according to reliability statistics that were going around a year or two ago.

I simply cannot recommend buying their drives until they've established a demonstrated record of reliability to override their previous record of constant hardware failures.

Edited by Catamount, 14 October 2013 - 12:32 PM.

[Sen]

Quote

Even when most companies were using Sandforce controllers, OCZ was a standout for failures

This was true at one point. about 8-10 months ago they rolled out a firmware update that resolved MOST of the issues (from what I read on OCZ's forums at the time) I own 2 vertex 3, and have never had any issues from either of them.

Apparently the vertex 4 don't use the same sandforce controller the 3s use, so the only issue is "do you trust OCZ" Unfortunately they had such a huge debacle with the vertex 3 sandforce that most people still dismiss them completely.

I'd buy OCZ again, TBH. The one I stay away from is Samsung. WORST EXPERIENCE EVER. Considering Samsung has one of the better reputations in the industry, the whole thing comes down to perspective and experience.

Edited by Sen, 14 October 2013 - 04:33 PM.

[Hougham]

I too have had good luck with OCZ. OCZ took most of the effected drives back and you can pick up manufacture reconditioned ones up for not a lot at all. These come with a full OCZ warranty.

As for Cache drives don't let people dismiss then so quickly. Yes a full SSD setup is best but as people say 64gb is really not going to be enough. But if you don't wish to or can't afford to spend any more the Cache drive could be ideal. It will accelerate anything your mostly using at the time. Though as people have said if you can spend a little more the best option is get a little bigger SSD.

Almost forgot to add. If your system had a raid controller and you are happy to spend more down the line you could look into getting one small SSD and then merging it with a second drive down the line when funds permit. Though just be carful I have seen on some old raid setups they don't allow the merged drives to be the primary bootable drive.

Edited by Hougham, 14 October 2013 - 10:48 PM.