Building new gaming rig, SSD drive or not

[Dirtybird42o]

I've never built my own computer before, so this is all new to me. What I'm wondering is, for a gaming rig what is the advantage of having a SSD drive. I haven't made up my mind if I want one yet. So I'm hoping to get some feedback from you guys.

Build is:
MSI 990FXA-GD65V2 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD FX-6200 Zambezi 3.8GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor FD6200FRGUBOX
MSI N660 TF 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
Western Digital WD Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
XION AXP-700K14XE 700W ATX SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80+ Bronze Modular Power Supply
LITE-ON Black 12X Blu-ray Burner with Blu Ray 3D Feature SATA IHBS112-04 - OEM
ASUS PCE-N53 PCI Express Dual-Band Wireless-N600 Adapter
ASUS Xonar DGX 5.1 Channels PCI Express x1 Interface Gaming Audio Card
Microsoft Windows 8 Professional 64-bit (Full Version) - OEM

[Deleted]

Having an SSD greatly improves the write/read data speed of your PC, meaning you will load things MUCH faster.

[Deleted]

if budget allows it yes but it isn't worth getting less cpu/gpu power. (since ssd main gain is speed but not actual game performance)

[Kezotar]

No, SSD improves 0,0% in gameplay. Loading although it increases, but really. Unless your HDD is 20 years old it shouldn't be too much, 2-3 seconds at most.

Conclusion - Why waste 120 bucks for a SSD when you could imrpove your GPU/CPU with it? Something that actually benefits gameplay.

[The Cat]

SSD doesn't really increase gaming performance beyond loading the data (load screens), but it does increase the overall performance of the computer quite a bit. Opening programs, boot up, shutdown... It's really quite difficult to go back once you've experienced it.

[sirputyourpantsbackon]

If you get Windows 7 , absolutely. I bought a SSD for my new computer and it's so much faster,i love it. Since i only have 120Gb, i'm putting all my music,etc in an external HDD (1TB). I only play 3 or 4 games tho, so i have enough space.

On Windows 8 the start time is a lot faster on normal HDD, but doesnt really affect SSD (Booting in 16 second on Win 7)

[The One Percent]

I'd get an SSD for at least putting your OS files on, maybe enough for a game or two you frequently play. Everything else on a secondary 1TB.

[Perrito]

is the way to go if you go serious about it. you dont really want to have a 1 tb 7000 rpm disc loading and decreasing the performance of your processor.

just to give you a picture of how fast SSD drives are vs the best of the best of hard drives

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/IDE/SSD_v...or_Raptor.html

they say that an SSD is 27 faster in transfering data than a 10k rpm hard drive.

it help a ton.

[Tehterokkar]

OS is the only thing a SSD is worth getting for. Booting up and shutting down is miles faster.

[Deleted]

is the way to go if you go serious about it. you dont really want to have a 1 tb 7000 rpm disc loading and decreasing the performance of your processor.

just to give you a picture of how fast SSD drives are vs the best of the best of hard drives

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/IDE/SSD_v...or_Raptor.html

they say that an SSD is 27 faster in transfering data than a 10k rpm hard drive.

it help a ton.

Read performance:
The partitioning trick did help: the 32 GB Velociraptor performed 37% better than the full disk, and the 32 GB Raptor partition performed 32% better than the full disk.
Still, the SSD is almost 27 times faster than the 32 GB Velociraptor partition. It's interesting to note the total time per 4 KB transfer (includes access time):

Raptor 32GB: 7.1ms (Raptor all: 9.4ms)
Velociraptor 32 GB part: 5.9ms (Velociraptor all: 8.1ms)
MemoRight GT SSD: 0.22ms
most people won't comprehend the timings you are quoting the 27 times faster, both have sufficient speed by default for such tasks.

main reason for SSD is OS boot times and responsiveness of certain programs which load large data sets. (smaller ones also but that difference is minor compared to say a current 7,2k RPM drive)

[Perrito]

Read performance:
The partitioning trick did help: the 32 GB Velociraptor performed 37% better than the full disk, and the 32 GB Raptor partition performed 32% better than the full disk.
Still, the SSD is almost 27 times faster than the 32 GB Velociraptor partition. It's interesting to note the total time per 4 KB transfer (includes access time):

Raptor 32GB: 7.1ms (Raptor all: 9.4ms)
Velociraptor 32 GB part: 5.9ms (Velociraptor all: 8.1ms)
MemoRight GT SSD: 0.22ms
most people won't comprehend the timings you are quoting the 27 times faster, both have sufficient speed by default for such tasks.

main reason for SSD is OS boot times and responsiveness of certain programs which load large data sets. (smaller ones also but that difference is minor compared to say a current 7,2k RPM drive)

yet is an acurate article with around 2-3 years old, for 3000 dollars sure, isnt worth it but when a 120 gb SSD drive only cost you around 100-120 bucks is totally worth it.

ppl say it dosnt improve gaming just loading screens, idk about you but the less time i spend watching a bar reach 0-100 is a huge improvement. game crash, NP reboot the system under 30 seconds if not way less. while on a veloci raptor takes 2-3 times the ammount.

then again if you have enough money and are serious about it is the only way to go, simple as that, if i could afford an SSD right now of 320 gb i would get it with my eyes closed.

im sure a veloci raptor HDD is way more expensive than a SSD atm either way.

[Deleted]

yet is an acurate article with around 2-3 years old, for 3000 dollars sure, isnt worth it but when a 120 gb SSD drive only cost you around 100-120 bucks is totally worth it.

ppl say it dosnt improve gaming just loading screens, idk about you but the less time i spend watching a bar reach 0-100 is a huge improvement. game crash, NP reboot the system under 30 seconds if not way less. while on a veloci raptor takes 2-3 times the ammount.

then again if you have enough money and are serious about it is the only way to go, simple as that, if i could afford an SSD right now of 320 gb i would get it with my eyes closed.

im sure a veloci raptor HDD is way more expensive than a SSD atm either way.

raptors are kinda a lost tech generation now since they lost their speed crown to ssd's some years back.
im not saying a ssd is bad but it should not be included at the loss of cpu or gpu performance because that is what makes you play that game with all the eye candy.

[Vinho]

SSD > HDD all day every day. If you're sacrificing your CPU from an i5-3570k and going down to an i3, for the SSD then I don't think it's worth it.

People can't really give you valid opinions (imo) until we know your budget or a build you had in mind.

[Dirtybird42o]

I went back and added in my build for those of you who where interested.

[Deleted]

I went back and added in my build for those of you who where interested.

that rig final already ? if not budget perhaps so we know to what extend we can tweak. (gpu 660 to 660Ti makes a big difference for example and some others maybe)
also got the soundsetup to warrant a dedicated soundcard? the more details the better.

[Dirtybird42o]

Yeah the build is final...just wait on the freaking ups truck to get here.

[Aertea]

Any new PC build should at least have an SSD as a consideration, even if it is only a 64-80gb drive for the OS. I don't know where people are pulling this $120 figure from, but if you keep your eye out for sales you can easily find a good one for as low as $75-$90.

In most other types of games, all the necessary resources are loaded during load screens. However in many MMOs, including WoW, a lot of the resources load on the fly. A SSD can really speed this process up, which will have a noticeable impact on gameplay.

A 128GB SSD is more than enough for the OS and a couple games. 64-80GB is an option if you just want to put the OS and general applications on it.

[Faithh]

If you're a guy who is rebooting every 10 minutes, an SSD is going to be useful. If you're a guy who only plays games still I don't see the point of an ssd in your situation. You rather spend the money for an i5 instead. You'll still be waiting in the loadingscreens with either an ssd or hdd but an ssd is significantly faster than an hdd. Just be patient and save some money for an ssd, for now just buy that i5.

[Deleted]

If you have the cash floating around and fancy faster load times then go for it

[baller1308]

OS is the only thing a SSD is worth getting for. Booting up and shutting down is miles faster.

I would install games on it also, shortens loading times.