SSD?

Playdo

I'm looking to speed up my pc by adding an SSD (It seems to be the best solution). It's a Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R board http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2743#ov and I'm leaning towards a 250GB Samsung 840 EVO http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/memory-cards-hdd-odd/ssd/840-evo/MZ-7TE250BW (unless there are better SSDs?)

The board is SATA 2, the SSD is SATA 3, and I'm running Vista. After researching it all, it looks like it will run fine. But I thought I'd run it by here first, for any problems I've overlooked, or for better suggestions.

EarthQuake

1. SSD = win
2. Samsung 840 EVO is a good model, 250GB is a good size
3. It will work fine on your Sata 2 port, might be a littler slower than it would be on Sata 3 but will still be much faster than a HDD
4. Shouldn't be a problem with Vista but, you'll likely want to re-install your OS anyway so might as well go with Win 7.

almighty_gir

if you're planning to build a new machine in the near future, get a sata3 SSD. if you're not, save some money and get a sata2 SSD.

EarthQuake

Almost all the drives on the market these days are Sata III, so I'm not sure there would be much/any savings finding an older Sata II drive. Plus, SSDs are rapidly developing tech, go with the newest model.

Evo 250gb 840 is $140: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147248&cm_re=evo_250gb-_-20-147-248-_-Product

Or he could save $30 for an older, less reliable Mushkin model http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226153 Not worth it IMO.

The rest of the Sata II drives on newegg are actually more expensive.

ghaztehschmexeh

If your budget allows, you should look into PCI SSDs. They basically plug straight into your mobo so you don't have the SATA bottleneck. Their speeds are insane too, some surpassing 1000mb/s read/write.

EG http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120gb-ocz-revodrive-3-25nm-mlc-flash-x4-slot-pci-e-read-975mb-s-write-875mb-s-120k-iops

EarthQuake

PCI-E SSDs are cool, but they're also 3-4x as expensive as a Sata SSD and, unless you have some very specific industrial purpose (like running servers) you're unlikely to see much benefit.

On the other hand, even at Sata II speeds of 3gb/s, thats still a significant improvement over a 7200rpm HDD. The first SSD I owned was a Sata II model and it provided a big benefit over a traditional HDD.

Its simply a matter of diminishing returns. Going from a slow HDD to SSD (even capped at Sata II speeds) will make a noticeable difference. The difference between ultra fast loading and ultra ultra fast loading however is much less tangible.

For the cost of a good PCI-E SSD, he would be better off putting that money into a new mobo/cpu/ram with a sata III ssd.

almighty_gir

EarthQuake wrote: »

Almost all the drives on the market these days are Sata III, so I'm not sure there would be much/any savings finding an older Sata II drive. Plus, SSDs are rapidly developing tech, go with the newest model.

Evo 250gb 840 is $140: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147248&cm_re=evo_250gb-_-20-147-248-_-Product

Or he could save $30 for an older, less reliable Mushkin model http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226153 Not worth it IMO.

The rest of the Sata II drives on newegg are actually more expensive.

fair points all around!

Envart

SSDs are amazing, however I would strongly recommend getting a 500gb samsung evo.

Playdo

Cool, Sata 3 seems like the way to go then. Yeah the OS could do with an upgrade too, but I need to keep this as low budget as poss.

Jon, I've currently used 100GB of my main drive - I'd only use it for OS, programs and working project files. So 250GB should be good.

I've found two versions of the Samsung Evo (a basic version MZ-7TE250BW, and a standard MZ-7TE250KW),with noticeable difference in price. I take it the basic one will fit my needs well?

EarthQuake

Yeah the basic one will be fine, I can't really see what the difference is. It looks like the basic one does not come with a mount bracket, so you may need to buy one (depends on your case), but other than that they have the same specs.

Joost

If you have the money go for 500. I hate managing space on my 250gb drive. There's not even really enough room for my games.

ghaztehschmexeh

Man, 250GB sounds like a huge luxury to me. I bought mine when SSDs were expensive as hell, so my main drive is 80GB :P

EarthQuake

I agree 250GB is small if its yours ONLY drive, however if you have a secondary data drive its totally fine. In my workstation I have a 250GB SSD for os, apps and working art files, and then 1.6TB of HDD space that I archive stuff to when I'm done working on it. When I had a 120GB ssd is was a bit of a pain, but 250GB is easily workable.

In my laptop I have a 500GB SSD though, because its the only drive there.

ZacD

You can find good 256GB SSDs for $100, I'd say it's definitely worth it to grab one over a 128GB at that price, it's kinda a sweet spot.

The Crucial MX100 256GB was $99 2 weeks ago. And here's a few similar deals

http://slickdeals.net/f/7173308-sandisk-ultra-ii-240gb-sata-iii-ssd-95ac-tigerdirect?v=1
http://slickdeals.net/f/7173226-intel-520-series-sata-iii-ssd-240gb-110-120gb-60-free-shipping
http://slickdeals.net/f/7172710-240gb-sandisk-ultra-ii-sata-2-5-solid-state-drive-ssd-100-free-shipping

Joost

Yeah I got 2 1 tb drives for like £50 each and they're pretty good. But it would be nice to have my games library on my SSD. I guess it's a bit of a luxury though, not really necessary.

Playdo

I couldn't see the difference between the two EVOs either. I'll check out my case. Yeah, I'll use the same setup as you Earthquake. 500GB would be nice but it doubles the price.

Komaokc, you got a 1TB SSD for £50?

slipsius

ya, definitely get an SSD for your OS and apps, but a large HDD for your games / saves. Your saving will be a LITTLE slower going between the two (since your app will be on the SSD), but its hardly noticeable. The real difference you`ll see in the drive speeds is with booting and what not.

moose

I was just thinking about this! I think I'm in direneed of a Windows refresh, and was thinking of doing it to a new HD. My comp is about 7 year old now (shit!), not sure I have the right guts to hook it up, need to research a bit and learn something new

ZacD

Sata is backwards compatible, as long as you have a SATA 2 port, you'll be fine.

almighty_gir

yeah, SATA and pci-e are both backward compatible. a SATA3 device will run on SATA/SATA2, and a pci-e 3 graphics card will run on a first edition pci-e motherboard, however they will be bottlenecked to the maximum speed on the motherboard.

mystichobo

EarthQuake wrote: »

Yeah the basic one will be fine, I can't really see what the difference is. It looks like the basic one does not come with a mount bracket, so you may need to buy one (depends on your case), but other than that they have the same specs.

To add to this, it's pretty easy to knock up your own mount anyway, being flash memory, it doesn't really care how it's orientated or anything. The one I had in my old pc was held in with nothing but cable ties, and it was never an issue.

Shadownami92

I got a Samsung EVO 840 120GB for the OS and some software I always use. I love it, boot times are basically instant, it also came with a mounting bracket and a cable and software to easily transfer it out for an upgrade.

I haven't run into any real problems with space yet, I put all games, lighter weight software and test builds of software onto my terrabyte so only the software I use on a daily basis that takes the most advantage of the read speeds goes on the SSD.

Lamont

SSD with a UEFI mobo and Win 8 you have 4 seconds (from pushing power button) to desktop. Shut down in 3 seconds. Crazy fast.

Playdo

Cheers all. Yeah Slipsius, I have a large HDD for everything else. I'll keep my working project on the SSD/desktop and then move it over to the HDD when finished, so all should be good.

iadagraca

My main drive is a 64GB SSD

It is used only for the most important software!

One of these days I'll upgrade, those prices keep dropping.

WarrenM

I have a 256GB that I got on some awesome sale one time ... totally worth it. That one purchase has given my aging PC a few more years of life, easily.