I need SSD recommendations...

[Legobumb]

I recently learned that it's better to use a Solid State Drive for your operating system alone, then use a regular drive for pure storage. What I would like, are some good SSD recommendations, for just the Operating System. I think Windows 7 needs about 10GB of space, but I'm not sure, so a SSD with about 20-30GB would be all I need.

Or in the very least, a good brand to go by...

 

[Binky]

It's hard to beat the price of the OCZ Vertex in the 30gb size. I'm showing them at toshibadirect for $116 after rebate ($5 shipping). Look them up in google shopping.

There are several brands similar to the OCZ drives like Gskill Falcon and one of the Supertalent drives (I forget the model). Intel also makes great SSD drives (best for many applications) but they are 80gb+ and more expensive.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: Legobumb
I recently learned that it's better to use a Solid State Drive for your operating system alone, then use a regular drive for pure storage. What I would like, are some good SSD recommendations, for just the Operating System. I think Windows 7 needs about 10GB of space, but I'm not sure, so a SSD with about 20-30GB would be all I need.

Or in the very least, a good brand to go by...

i wouldn't use less than 60GB right now... leave it some room to grow...
64bit has all the 32bit files AND 64bit files on top of that (something about 64bit exe only working with 64bit dll and other components... its stupid), so that means much more space than you think. Install a few programs and it eats it right up...

An indilinx 60GB or an intel X25-M 80GB G2 are the best choices.. intel being better.
vertex, falcon, and ultradrive ME are all indilinx

 

[Legobumb]

What programs would you be talking about? I'd only be using the SSD for the operating system files ONLY. Nothing else. Everything else would be installed/written to the HDD.

 

[Majic 7]

Games in particular and any other program you use a lot. Having your operating system open really fast doesn't help the speed of your programs. They will all operate at normal hard drive speeds. So what's the point of having a SSD if 99% of what you are doing isn't affected by it. May be exaggerating but that is basically the point of getting a larger SSD.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: Majic 7
Games in particular and any other program you use a lot. Having your operating system open really fast doesn't help the speed of your programs. They will all operate at normal hard drive speeds. So what's the point of having a SSD if 99% of what you are doing isn't affected by it. May be exaggerating but that is basically the point of getting a larger SSD.

As a previous user of raid-0 irams in which I was limited to 8GB (just enough for functional XP pro after nlite trimming) I can say without a doubt this is the truth.

Don't cheat yourself into thinking you are getting the SSD experience if you go for the absolute minimal footprint possible that resides on an actual SSD media while having the rest of the data files and application files reside on the same old millisecond slow access time harddrives. You'll just sour yourself over the prospects of the technology being great.

I loved my iram setup, fast as all get out for reboots and opening simply windows apps. Then when I actually went to start installing applications (which had to be installed on a spindle drive) and accessing my datafiles the whole thing went south speed-wise.

Eventually I just pulled the irams out because they were no longer impacting my computing experience, my OS now resides on raid0 raptor array.

I won't be making the jump back to SSD's until the day comes that I can buy enough of them to make an array which will be large enough to easily house my OS, applications, and most typically used datafiles (stuff less than a year old I figure). Archived video sources can still go on my TB harddrives, but I don't want to have anything to do with the buyers remorse that came after those irams went no where in my rig.

 

[Legobumb]

Yeah that makes sense... I don't play a wide range of games though. Right now I have only one that I play right now (Guild Wars). However, I think 30GB is more than enough for a 10GB OS and a couple or more games that I may play regularly. I just don't have the cash right now to spend $200 on a single harddrive that doesn't hold much, regardless of speed. Even $120 is pushing my budget for a 30GB SSD. I'd mainly use the SSD for the applications I'd use regularly (like Firefox, and Guild Wars for example) and put things like media (music and video) on the HDD, and anything I wouldn't use a lot (such as Open Office).

Even if I got a SSD large enough to fill with games and whatnot, wouldn't I only be benefiting from a quick install and update processes, then launching the game? Not actual runtime of the game? Guild Wars, in particular, doesn't require any saving/downloading unless it's to get updates, which aren't that often (seasonal events excluded; about once a week).

So in the end, I guess it'd be all up to me to determine which applications get used to enough to warrant faster opening of the application(s) and reading/writing of files.