An SSD Setup Question

[Triggered Fridgekin]

Friend of friends!

I'm currently looking over amazon.ca for some SSD options and I am somewhat curious about a certain setup I have in mind which either: works, doesn't work or works but isn't cost effective.

I will be picking up a SanDisk 240GB Plus model which has some fairly solid reviews in regards to cost to performance. This would be a smaller but specific drive which I would use for select games which I often play such as Warcraft and Path of Exile as examples. I don't edit video or anything.

However, I'm also tempted to get an extra, smaller, 24GB PCI-E SSD and have it used as a dedicated OS/browser drive such as this SanDisk or Kingdian model.

My concern would be mixing SSDs/interfaces. The PCI-E models obviously won't be taking advantage of the bandwidth either but I am sure it would be a general improvement over an HDD.

Thoughts?

[godgunner]

id probably just go for a single msata or single ssd rather then getting a relatively small one just for the os. then get a large HDD for storage.
which mobo do you have?

[Masark]

However, I'm also tempted to get an extra, smaller, 24GB PCI-E SSD and have it used as a dedicated OS/browser drive such as this SanDisk or Kingdian model.

My concern would be mixing SSDs/interfaces. The PCI-E models obviously won't be taking advantage of the bandwidth either but I am sure it would be a general improvement over an HDD.

FYI, with those you either need an M.2 slot on your motherboard or a M.2-to-PCI-E adapter card, like this one and an open x4+ PCI-E slot.

There's no concern about that. The SSDs would act as completely independant drives, same as if you had two hard drives in the computer.

[chazus]

I'd recommend a few things.

1) When you get an SSD (assuming you don't already have one already), you're going to want to install OS and programs on it. Not just some. If you can't afford a big enough drive for it all, save up some. SSD's are super cheap. An extra 60 bucks isn't hard to swing for a long-time (4-6 year) purchase

2) I'd recommend Samsung EVO or Crucial, simply put.

3) Skip the small SSD idea entirely. Just don't bother. It's a waste of time/money/effort/performance

4) Just get a standard SSD 2.5". Largely m2 and pci-e are a novelty still, and don't really provide anything but fringe/luxury benefits with minimal real world value.

[Triggered Fridgekin]

Thanks for all the feedback and pointing out the M.2 adapter!

I'll likely stick to the 240/256GB range simply because my installed gaming library isn't bursting at the seams. While I do keep some permanently installed such as the previously mentioned titles, I generally don't hoard every title I own to be available to play a specific game on a rainy day in September when the moon is full.

Fortunately, the 250GB 850 Evo is also on sale and can be had for $95 after I use my Amazon gift card so with a bracket thrown on top, It'll be a little over $100 all in which doesn't seem like a bad deal.