Should I buy SSD for my setup and which one to buy?

[Pokot]

Hey people,

I have some money on my hands and I'm itching to spend it so I decided to take a look at SSDs. I'm running:

CPU	i3-2100
MOBO	Gigabyte GA-PH67-DS3-B3
RAM	8 gb 1333
GPU	xfx hd 6870
HDD	Samsung F3 1tb

and my options are:

BRAND/MODEL	PRICE	LINK
SanDisk 128 GB (SDSSDP-128G- G25)	110$	http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-2-5-In...DSSDP-128G-G25
OCZ Vertex 4 128 GB (VTX4-25SAT3-128G)	155$	http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-Technology...X4-25SAT3-128G
OCZ Vertex 450 120 GB (VTX450-25SAT3-128G)	~120$	http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-Technology...50-25SAT3-128G
Samsung 840 pro 120 GB (MZ-7PD128BW)	155-165$	http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electr...ds=MZ-7PD128BW
Plextor M5 Pro 128GB (PX-128M5PRO)	135+$	http://www.amazon.com/Plextor-Solid-...ords=PX-128M5P
Plextor M5S 128 GB (PX-128M5S)	~115$	http://www.amazon.com/Plextor-128GB-...ords=PX-128M5S
Crucial m4 128GB (CT128M4SSD1)	120$	http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-128GB-...ds=CT128M4SSD1
A-Data Premier Pro SP600 128GB (ASP600S3-128GM-C)	85-105$	http://www.amazon.com/ADATA-Premier-...P600S3-128GM-C
Corsair Neutron 128GB (CSSD-N128GB3-BK)	~125$	http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Exclus...SSD-N128GB3-BK

So as you can see not very powerful system. In regard to discs - the options are few, the prices are high. Thus my questions are:

1) Are there any decent SSDs on the list?
2) Do you think I would benefit from an SSD at this point, considering I am not planning on upgrading/buying a new system for now?

Thanks!

[DeltrusDisc]

The three best on that list are the Samsung 840 Pro, Plextor M5 Pro, and Crucial m4.

[MrPaladinGuy]

A TL;DR response,

As long as the SSD isn't using Sandforce controllers, then all SSD's of the same size are basically equal, and that doesn't mean larger ones are amazingly better than smaller ones, although performance usually increases because of that, but not enough to warrant getting it just for that.

It comes down to what's on sale and if you want a longer warranty and or which company has better customer service.

I do recommend you get a 256GB one though, when they're on sale they're less than 1$ per GB.

Samsung, Crucial, Plextor, and OCZ are the ones people usually get.

[Pokot]

The three best on that list are the Samsung 840 Pro, Plextor M5 Pro, and Crucial m4.

Okay thanks, but how do those compare between each other? Is Samsung pro worth getting with that price tag?

A TL;DR response,

As long as the SSD isn't using Sandforce controllers, then all SSD's of the same size are basically equal, and that doesn't mean larger ones are amazingly better than smaller ones, although performance usually increases because of that, but not enough to warrant getting it just for that.

It comes down to what's on sale and if you want a longer warranty and or which company has better customer service.

I do recommend you get a 256GB one though, when they're on sale they're less than 1$ per GB.

Samsung, Crucial, Plextor, and OCZ are the ones people usually get.

No such thing as things being on sale in my country, believe it or not. We do have Samsung 840 pro 256 gb for around 250-260$ as far as I can tell but that's where my second questions becomes the most relevant one - do I even get my money's worth from this purchase?

[MrPaladinGuy]

Okay thanks, but how do those compare between each other? Is Samsung pro worth getting with that price tag?



We do have Samsung 840 pro 256 gb for around 250-260$ as far as I can tell but that's where my second questions becomes the most relevant one - do I even get my money's worth from this purchase?

Hmm, I'm honestly not sure if I'd pay that much. I only got a 256GB one as insurance since I didn't want to run out of space, and to be honest I've never gone below 125GB of free space. I only paid $180 for my Samsung 830 256GB SSD.

Also, out of that list, I'd go with the Samsung 840 Pro.

In the end it's up to you, I think 256GB is the sweet spot atm, even just for space, as the 512GB ones cost over $300, and I'm assuming they cost quite a bit more for you to get a hold of based on the 256GB SSD prices.

[Pokot]

Hmm, I'm honestly not sure if I'd pay that much. I only got a 256GB one as insurance since I didn't want to run out of space, and to be honest I've never gone below 125GB of free space. I only paid $180 for my Samsung 830 256GB SSD.

Also, out of that list, I'd go with the Samsung 840 Pro.

In the end it's up to you, I think 256GB is the sweet spot atm, even just for space, as the 512GB ones cost over $300, and I'm assuming they cost quite a bit more for you to get a hold of based on the 256GB SSD prices.

Yeah 512 gb versions are 480-520 here.

You're saying you've never gone below 125 gb of free space. May I ask what you have on your SSD apart from system and wow? Maybe I shouldn't even be looking at 128GB versions at all but can't wrap my head around what I want on those SSDs for now.

[ProfessorTjc]

I use the 120GB Sandisk SSD. It's been nothing but amazing and it only cost me $100. I heard that Samsung makes the parts for the Sandisk SSD and they have good manufacturer warranties.

Edit: If you do go with a Sandisk make sure it's the Ultra Plus version.

[MrPaladinGuy]

Yeah 512 gb versions are 480-520 here.

You're saying you've never gone below 125 gb of free space. May I ask what you have on your SSD apart from system and wow? Maybe I shouldn't even be looking at 128GB versions at all but can't wrap my head around what I want on those SSDs for now.

On my SSD; my OS (W7 64Bit), various software (that barely uses space, but greatly benefits from speed increases, mostly things like MSI Afterburner + CoreTemp), Origin + Battlefield 3 as the load times are awful in that game. Everything else is on my high-end 1TB mechanical drive, or rather, on one of them (as in a bajillion Steam games).

[Dasffion]

Pretty sure for consumer use Samsung evo is a better buy than the pro

[Pokot]

Snip

Thanks for your answer. I'm leaning towards Samsung pro 256 GB at the moment, although the price tag of 260 bothers me quite a lot.

Edit: If you do go with a Sandisk make sure it's the Ultra Plus version.

Unfortunately, no such discs at our market. I could probably order one but who knows how much time it would take for it to arrive not to mention the cost. Thanks though.

On my SSD; my OS (W7 64Bit), various software (that barely uses space, but greatly benefits from speed increases, mostly things like MSI Afterburner + CoreTemp), Origin + Battlefield 3 as the load times are awful in that game. Everything else is on my high-end 1TB mechanical drive, or rather, on one of them (as in a bajillion Steam games).

I see. I assume Battlefield is a rather large game. I think I would highly benefit from having samples for my MIDI keyboard on SSD. They would probably take half the SSD right away but I imagine the load times on instruments would be much better. Thank you.

[Buttfear]

Pretty sure for consumer use Samsung evo is a better buy than the pro

I just bought the 120Gb Samsung EVO for $99 from Amazon for my laptop.

It's fast as sin and I couldn't be happier.

Probably going to put the same thing in my desktop.

[Professor Expert]

Hey people,

I have some money on my hands and I'm itching to spend it so I decided to take a look at SSDs. I'm running:

So as you can see not very powerful system. In regard to discs - the options are few, the prices are high. Thus my questions are:

1) Are there any decent SSDs on the list?
2) Do you think I would benefit from an SSD at this point, considering I am not planning on upgrading/buying a new system for now?

Thanks!

Going from mechanical to SSD, using the SSD for your OS and programs, will greatly improve the responsiveness of your system. Once you start using a decent SSD you'll see just how slow mechanical drives are for launching programs and games.

Mechanical drives are still good for storing data like videos, music, pics and docs.

I would look at the Sandisk Extreme SSDs, or the newer Sandisk Extreme II. They both offer a very high level of performance for their price. I've been using an Extreme for several years with no problems.

You can boost performance and stretch the "life" of SSDs by buying two of them that are 1/2 of the total capacity you want and running them in raid 0. For example, if you wanted 500 GB of SSD space you would buy two 250 GB SSDs to run as raid-0...but even if you just get one you will see a huge improvement. SSDs are the best upgrade you can make to any system.

[Mercadi]

My Crucial M4 SSD (128GB) had some weirdest issues that started after 2 years of smooth sailing. Basically the PC started BSODing precisely every hour. Took me a while to figure the problem out - turned out that the outdated firmware on the hard drive was responsible, just had to update it. Barring that, would recommend it. Or something bigger than 128GB.
SSDs are super nice.

[MrPaladinGuy]

I'm leaning towards Samsung pro 256 GB at the moment, although the price tag of 260 bothers me quite a lot.

That Samsung 840 Pro would be my first choice too, the 830 one is fine as well if you can find it for less than the 840.

I see. I assume Battlefield is a rather large game. I think I would highly benefit from having samples for my MIDI keyboard on SSD. They would probably take half the SSD right away but I imagine the load times on instruments would be much better. Thank you.

23.5GB installed. I really don't see any other game worth adding to the SSD. Origin + Steam now let you select the drive you install a game to, so I can have Origin on my SSD and the actual games on my mechanical drives, and even if they didn't I could just use symbolic links.

I can't comment on the load times for your MIDI files, but you could try defragging your mechanical drive often as that should help, but never, ever, for any reason defrag an SSD. This also means to need to disable the built-in windows defragger (assuming you're using Windows). You'll get software with the SSD that will do this, as well as tweak a few other things that are no longer needed/hinder an SSD (and also eat up write cycles).

[Mercadi]

23.5GB installed. I really don't see any other game worth adding to the SSD.

I saw a big performance difference after moving WoW files to SSD. Same with TES: Oblivion and Morrowind. May be the older games perform better on SSDs compared to new ones? Not exactly sure.

[MrPaladinGuy]

I saw a big performance difference after moving WoW files to SSD. Same with TES: Oblivion and Morrowind. May be the older games perform better on SSDs compared to new ones? Not exactly sure.

I meant on Origin (and I'm retired from WoW), but anyways, good point, when I played WoW I had the game on my SSD, but I set up a symbolic link for the combat log and directed it to my Game installation mechanical drive since it would eat up write cycles like crack and also can take up a large chunk of space after enough time.

It's personal preference when it comes to load times.

[Pokot]

Pretty sure for consumer use Samsung evo is a better buy than the pro

Is it really?

Going from mechanical to SSD, using the SSD for your OS and programs, will greatly improve the responsiveness of your system. Once you start using a decent SSD you'll see just how slow mechanical drives are for launching programs and games.

Mechanical drives are still good for storing data like videos, music, pics and docs.

I would look at the Sandisk Extreme SSDs, or the newer Sandisk Extreme II. They both offer a very high level of performance for their price. I've been using an Extreme for several years with no problems.

You can boost performance and stretch the "life" of SSDs by buying two of them that are 1/2 of the total capacity you want and running them in raid 0. For example, if you wanted 500 GB of SSD space you would buy two 250 GB SSDs to run as raid-0...but even if you just get one you will see a huge improvement. SSDs are the best upgrade you can make to any system.

Erm, so what's the deal with SSD life? Do they like die in a year or something?

I've found Extreme II on the market but it's pretty much 240 for 240 GB. And considering Samsung presence in our country is more significant I should probably go with Evos or pros. Not sure yet.

That Samsung 840 Pro would be my first choice too, the 830 one is fine as well if you can find it for less than the 840.



23.5GB installed. I really don't see any other game worth adding to the SSD. Origin + Steam now let you select the drive you install a game to, so I can have Origin on my SSD and the actual games on my mechanical drives, and even if they didn't I could just use symbolic links.

I can't comment on the load times for your MIDI files, but you could try defragging your mechanical drive often as that should help, but never, ever, for any reason defrag an SSD. This also means to need to disable the built-in windows defragger (assuming you're using Windows). You'll get software with the SSD that will do this, as well as tweak a few other things that are no longer needed/hinder an SSD (and also eat up write cycles).

What about PRO vs EVO as some people are saying? Also, does defragging even do anything for HDDs anymore?

[MrPaladinGuy]

What about PRO vs EVO as some people are saying?

To summarize it, EVO = cheaper, PRO = faster. But keep in mind going to an SSD of any size (except Sandforce controller ones) to an SSD is what makes the difference.

If money is a serious issue to you, you could just go Evo route, the performance difference really won't matter.

Also, does defragging even do anything for HDDs anymore?

Yes, absolutely yes.

I defrag after installing anything.

But never defrag the SSD, it will appear to be fragmented to an insanely high degree in w/e software is viewing it, but it's supposed to since data is spread across multiple chips.

[Electroso]

Not to jack up the thread but how good are Toshiba SSDs ? I'm asking since I have found this offer at amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

[Pokot]

To summarize it, EVO = cheaper, PRO = faster. But keep in mind going to an SSD of any size (except Sandforce controller ones) to an SSD is what makes the difference.

If money is a serious issue to you, you could just go Evo route, the performance difference really won't matter.



Yes, absolutely yes.

I defrag after installing anything.

But never defrag the SSD, it will appear to be fragmented to an insanely high degree in w/e software is viewing it, but it's supposed to since data is spread across multiple chips.

Well Evo is 212 for 250 gb and pro is practically one for one for 256 gb. Can you also comment on life for SSDs? I'm getting scared.