Is this SSD worth it?

[computerbuildin]

Its a great deal. Its a 128gb for $150, pretty cheap compared to everything else, there is no bad reviews however its slower than the rest of the samsung SSD's, its something like there is a 470 series and another 830, and the 830's are faster, I dont care as long as this one is very very fast like a SSD should be. Id just be using this one for the OS and games. I then have a 500gb caviar blue. So im new to SSD's, when I say that what I mean is, I know what they are and what they do and how they work, I just dont know how exactly.. you would RAID them, so what I mean is I dont know how to raid a SSD and a HDD together. I think this is how it goes, please correct me if im wrong.
1. I already have my HDD in, im going to install my SSD now.
2. Boot into BIOS, change something to AHCI, this is where im lost, ive never done raid, so where do I go and what do I do?
3. Install the OS to the SSD
4. Yayz
This build has never even booted, its a brand new build, nothing has been done yet, I dont even have the OS installed, as you can see in my sig, my PSU blew up in my face so were waiting for a new one, I already RMA'd it. I took this time to decide if I should get a SSD.

 

[Kenmitch]

SAMSUNG 470 Series MZ-5PA128Z 2.5" 128GB SATA II is the one your talking about for $150? If so it'll make a great first SSD. You'll enjoy it.

Which motherboard did you get? Didn't see one listed.

On first boot just go into bios and load optimized settings and reboot. Most likely it'll alreay be in AHCI mode anyways but double check by going back into bios after the reboot. Most of time it'll be found under the advanced tab > SATA Mode if not change it and reboot.

It would be best to just boot with the SSD hooked up at first and install windows as it may save you some grief later if you change out your HDD. Reason being is windows sometimes will put the boot files wherever it feels like. No biggy untill your HDD fails or is swapped out. Better safe than sorry later.

 

[JBT]

SSD is a huge impovement for most computers. The only time they arn't noticable is on laptops with really slow cpu's.

 

[computerbuildin]

kenmitch, I dont understand, I thought I need both the hdd and ssd in? So what your saying, this is what I should do.
1. have ONLY the SSD in, install windows
2. once done with that, shutdown and unplug/powerdrain if needed
3. Plug my HDD in
4. Go into bios, set to AHCI (which is raid or something right?)
5. Done?

Edit: motherboard is the intel extreme series DP67BG

 

[groberts101]

pretty close there.

move #4 to #1 and you're good to go. then just be sure to initialize the HDD with W7's disk mgmt and partition it accordingly to be used as your storage drive.

 

[computerbuildin]

then just be sure to initialize the HDD with W7's disk mgmt and partition it accordingly to be used as your storage drive.

Confused again

 

[IGemini]

With ONLY the SSD plugged in:
- Set disk mode in BIOS to AHCI
- Install Windows 7 on SSD
- After installation, power off and plug in HDD
- Enable HDD in Disk Management if necessary

It's the best practice to enable AHCI before the operating system is installed, not after. AHCI enable additional features for the drives.

The computer may not start the HDD after plugging into a fresh Windows install, so you'll need to go into Disk Management in Computer Management (Admin Tools in Control Panel) and initialize the drive manually.

If Windows 7 is installed with more than one disk drive connected, it will put the boot loader and the MBR on separate drives, which means you can't remove the HDD and expect the system to still work.

 

[computerbuildin]

I got it now. Ok so im buying this SSD, thanks everyone for the help.

 

[Kenmitch]

I got it now. Ok so im buying this SSD, thanks everyone for the help.

Guess they straightened it out for you. It's more of a precaution than anything else. When windows 7 installs it'll make a 100mb or so hidden partition on your drive which it needs to boot up. It just kinda puts this wherever it feels like so it could be on your SSD or even on a HDD. To be safe and make sure it's on the SSD you just install with it as the only place available....Thus leave HDD out on first install.

Enjoy your new rig once built