should I get an ssd?

[Seromontis]

I am building a new computer and I have all the parts figured out, but I can't decide if I should spend $200 on an ssd. I play a lot of games and do average surfing just like everyone else. I hear the OS load times are faster, but considering I restart maybe every 4 days or so I don't see that as a real benefit.
What I'm wondering is, will I see my overall system run much better?
Will I see decrease in load times for games, or is that all the gpu?

The system I'm building will have an asus sabertooth 55i, i5-760, 8gb of 1333 ddr3 gskill ripjaw ram. If you need anymore info let me know, otherwise it would be nice to hear what I should be expecting from an ssd.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

You can expect near instant access to everything but large files from your hard drive with an SSD. However, with a latest-gen SATA drive, you're going to get pretty good performance as well, so it won't be jaw droppingly different than if you just bought a nice shiny new SATA drive. Now if you are doing things that will be pounding your disk, then an SSD will make a *huge* difference. Normal usage, gaming, etc. on a desktop the margin of improvement from a new SATA drive to an SSD won't be that noticeable.

Having said that... installs will go much faster, (re)booting will be that much faster, and seeing things load almost instantaneously does have a pretty large cool factor. It looks like you're building a pretty primo system. If I was building a new computer today I would definitely put an SSD in it.

 

[pcslookout]

I am building a new computer and I have all the parts figured out, but I can't decide if I should spend $200 on an ssd. I play a lot of games and do average surfing just like everyone else. I hear the OS load times are faster, but considering I restart maybe every 4 days or so I don't see that as a real benefit.
What I'm wondering is, will I see my overall system run much better?
Will I see decrease in load times for games, or is that all the gpu?

The system I'm building will have an asus sabertooth 55i, i5-760, 8gb of 1333 ddr3 gskill ripjaw ram. If you need anymore info let me know, otherwise it would be nice to hear what I should be expecting from an ssd.

No. Not from what I can see. I got a Intel G2 80 GB SSD and mainly game and surf the internet too. Was disappointed.

Yes bootup is faster but I never turn off my pc so it doesn't matter and I hardly have any system tray icons. Do you run any VMs, photoshop or video encoding ?

 

[pcslookout]

Forgot to say I won't be buying another SSD until they are instantaneous. Until then I may have one but really didn't need it. Prefer to have spent it on a bigger monitor or save for my next video card.

 

[Seromontis]

No. Not from what I can see. I got a Intel G2 80 GB SSD and mainly game and surf the internet too. Was disappointed.

Yes bootup is faster but I never turn off my pc so it doesn't matter and I hardly have any system tray icons. Do you run any VMs, photoshop or video encoding ?

no, I don't run any of those.

I've been looking specifically at the 120gb vertex 2, if anyone has any experience with the vertex 2 drives and can compare that to something like a spinpoint f3, that would be exactly what I need.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

I've been looking specifically at the 120gb vertex 2, if anyone has any experience with the vertex 2 drives and can compare that to something like a spinpoint f3, that would be exactly what I need.

I run a Vertex 2 at work (I'm a software developer). And I run 7200.12's in my home computer. As I said, my (new) SATA drives at home are nice and fast. But the stuff I do on my work computer let's me see just how fast SSDs can be, and then when I come home and do normal computing stuff, I tend to notice the times when my home computer does have to wait on the SATA drives. Is it a long wait? No. Do I notice it? Yes. Would I buy an SSD for my home computer if I was building it new today? Yes. But then I do occasional video editing and development work at home. Also, my Steam folder (etc.) isn't big enough to make a 120GB SSD too small at the current time. There are always mitigating factors.

 

[Seromontis]

I was going to put the OS, MS Office 2010, firefox, and multiple games on it. I will store my other stuff on the 2 1.5tb hard drives I have

 

[FishAk]

Before you load a game to the SSD, play it from your HDD, so you can see if there is much of an improvement. Most, but not all games, load sequentially, so they don't benefit as much as the OS and programs with many small random files.

If you're like pscoutlook, and cut your computer to the bone, negating all the conveniences that make an advanced system such a pleasure to work with, and you never reboot, then apparently, an SSD will do little good. However, if you use your computer the way most people do, it will make a big difference.

You should note that 3rd generation SSDs are coming out soon, and prices are expected to drop dramatically for current models.

 

[Seromontis]

ya, I think I'll wait for the new ssd's to see what they can do, either that or once the new ssd's come out, buy the 120gb vertex 2 at a more reasonable price. For now I will just get a $55 1tb spinpoint f3

 

[tweakboy]

Verdict is in. If you dont care about boot times or a application opening 1 second faster then get a new generation mechanical hard drive. Also you wont be able to fit all your games with a 200 dollar SSD anyway. So you would need a hard drive anyway.

Instead spend 60 dollars and get 20x more storage space then a SSD.

LOL as I said long time ago, when SSD is as fast as RAM that is when I will upgrade. As for you dont bother because you dont do video editing or run a DAW ... so you'll be set with a good third gen mechanical drive. Also fill in your specs on your signature so we can help you better. You can buy a WDC Black 1TB 64mb for 70 to 100 dollars. The black stands for their best performance high end drives. There is green and also blue I don't recommend those. good luck and let us know...

 

[FishAk]

LOL as I said long time ago, when SSD is as fast as RAM that is when I will upgrade.

It wasn't that long ago, but you already forgot that an SSD IS RAM.

OP, I would direct you to this thread.

 

[darckhart]

for "normal" usage, 10k raptor to ssd was not earth-shatteringly different. kind of a letdown from all the hype really. BUT it sure beats the pants off noise and heat and power consumption of a raptor. where have i seen ssd to be great? i keep my VMs on one. very nice. load up laaaaarge video files for edit/re-encode. niiiice.

 

[flamenko]

Verdict is in. If you dont care about boot times or a application opening 1 second faster then get a new generation mechanical hard drive. Also you wont be able to fit all your games with a 200 dollar SSD anyway. So you would need a hard drive anyway.

Instead spend 60 dollars and get 20x more storage space then a SSD.

LOL as I said long time ago, when SSD is as fast as RAM that is when I will upgrade. As for you dont bother because you dont do video editing or run a DAW ... so you'll be set with a good third gen mechanical drive. Also fill in your specs on your signature so we can help you better. You can buy a WDC Black 1TB 64mb for 70 to 100 dollars. The black stands for their best performance high end drives. There is green and also blue I don't recommend those. good luck and let us know...

Terrible advise... It says, "If you dont care about performance and enjoying your system as it should be running, get a hard drive".

Quite frankly, since you are building, why dont you go and spend $140 on an amazing setup? You can get a Corsair 40Gb Force with the SandForce processor for $80 and a 1.5Tb Sammy HD for $60. Would that not be an ideal sit??? 1 of the Fastest drive and lots of space....

I run a 64Gb Crucial with the same HD and ask myself why we are spending so much or believing we cant achieve great performance with great savings?

 

[Voo]

It wasn't that long ago, but you already forgot that an SSD IS RAM.

Ah you shouldn't argue with a script you know, can't do no good

And I think anyone with more than a dozen posts by now knows to ignore tweakboy's advice by now anyhow, so it's kinda.. entertaining?

 

[Zap]

More performance costs more.

Fixed. :awe:

 

[Old Hippie]

Ah you shouldn't argue with a script you know, can't do no good

And I think anyone with more than a dozen posts by now knows to ignore tweakboy's advice by now anyhow, so it's kinda.. entertaining?

I've often read ridiculous posts on computer forums that end with "I read it on the internet" and wondered who would actually write that kind of nonsense.

After reading some of tweakboy's posts I fully understand. :biggrin:

The scary thing is that somebody's gonna believe him.

 

[Seromontis]

Terrible advise... It says, "If you dont care about performance and enjoying your system as it should be running, get a hard drive".

Quite frankly, since you are building, why dont you go and spend $140 on an amazing setup? You can get a Corsair 40Gb Force with the SandForce processor for $80 and a 1.5Tb Sammy HD for $60. Would that not be an ideal sit??? 1 of the Fastest drive and lots of space....

I run a 64Gb Crucial with the same HD and ask myself why we are spending so much or believing we cant achieve great performance with great savings?

I would need a 120gb ssd in order to fit my os, office 2010, firefox, and the games I currently play(probably more like 90gb, but I want to be safe).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227590
Is there any better than that for my purposes?

 

[pcslookout]

for "normal" usage, 10k raptor to ssd was not earth-shatteringly different. kind of a letdown from all the hype really. BUT it sure beats the pants off noise and heat and power consumption of a raptor. where have i seen ssd to be great? i keep my VMs on one. very nice. load up laaaaarge video files for edit/re-encode. niiiice.

Thank for finally being someone that tells the truth! I agree completely with noise, heat, and power consumption! I don't hear my raptor much though with my 8 GB of ram when it was used as the main drive.

Yes large files to open like VMs and video files for edit and encodes shine on a SSD. I don't really do that though. A little bit of VMs but that is it. SSDs and VMs were meant together! So if you run a lot of VMs a SSD is perfect!

 

[Old Hippie]

I would need a 120gb ssd in order to fit my os, office 2010, firefox, and the games I currently play(probably more like 90gb, but I want to be safe).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227590
Is there any better than that for my purposes?

It'll be fine.

I've had the Vertex2 drives and they performed just fine.

All SSDs have their particular advantages/disadvantages and the Vertex2 drives are no exception but they're as good as any.

Unless you have different SSDs side-by-side it would be difficult, if not impossible, to differentiate models.

 

[Old Hippie]

Thank for finally being someone that tells the truth!

After reading this thread I find that pretty amusing.

 

[beginner99]

Gameload time on hdd's is fine. might be faster on ssd but not really worth the price. Also game take alot of space.
The really benefit is the responsiveness of the system. Hard to explain. you must feel it for yourself. The eye opener is once you go back to a normal system after working with an ssd.

 

[dawza]

As beginner99 stated, the difference between an SSD and a spindle drive (even a VR) is most noticeable when going between two similar systems, one SSD-based, and one spindle-based. Of course, those with usage patterns that really benefit from the merits of SSDs will notice the largest and most dramatic differences.

 

[JimKiler]

maybe we should have a sticky for "should I upgrade to a SSD" with the answer always being yes, because the answer is yes.

 

[Seromontis]

If I were to get a ssd. It seems like I would put my os, microsoft office, and firefox on it and put the games onto the spinpoint f3. If I install the games onto the spinpoint, do I have to have an os on the spinpoint too, or how do I go about this?

 

[FishAk]

No. Just do a "custom" install, and install to the partition on your HDD. Some files will still be put on your OS partition, but the bulk will go to the directory you specify.