Mini ITX and SSD caching

[Airin]

Ps for those of you like mini builds.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500069

Newegg is about to have the new Z68 MiniITX 1155 board. Finally one to which we can overclock.

Also I wanted to ask about he SSD caching, for this how large of a SSD do u think would be needed.

Would something like a 16gb or 30gb be enough you think? 30 gigs is a lot for a cache I would think. My build currently can accept 1 3.5 and 2 2.5s, I have a 1TB drive and i wanted to add a 500 2.5 for fraps and then a small SSD for caching off the 3.5. Still iffy on how that would be set up.

[vesseblah]

SSD cache is mostly a curiosity and a toy. Having a real SSD drive as boot disc is lot more effective and not a lot more expensive either.

[coldfiredragon]

Unless money is no object I would not waste time with an SSD drive of any type. They still over 1,000 times more expensive (Price per Gb) then a normal drive.

Take the Intel 320 Series 160Gb SSD is about $300 which is $1.86 per Gb of Storage.
Take the WD Caviar Black 1Tb about $90 which is $0.09 per Gb of Storage

The small performance jump overall does not warrant the expense IMHO. You would be better off spending the extra $$ on a faster CPU or Video Card or more RAM.

Unless money is no issue then sure go for the fastest of everything.

[Deleted]

They still over 1,000 times more expensive (Price per Gb) then a normal drive.
Take the Intel 320 Series 160Gb SSD is about $300 which is $1.86 per Gb of Storage.
Take the WD Caviar Black 1Tb about $90 which is $0.09 per Gb of Storage

0.09x20 = $1.8

does 20 = 1000 now?!

OT : I personally wouldn't shell out for an SSD since there is so much about them failing around on forums etc. When the technology becomes more "stable" and more consumer friendly, I may personally look at one but until then, Id rather enjoy a few beers + twice the storage

[vesseblah]

Unless money is no object I would not waste time with an SSD drive of any type. They still over 1,000 times more expensive (Price per Gb) then a normal drive.

Take the Intel 320 Series 160Gb SSD is about $300 which is $1.86 per Gb of Storage.
Take the WD Caviar Black 1Tb about $90 which is $0.09 per Gb of Storage

I think you have your estimates off by few decimal points...
Corsair Force F115 has currently best $/GB ratio for decently sized SSD ($180/115GB = $1.56/GB) making it really good buy.
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB gives currently best bang for your buck on regular HDDs ($60/1000GB = $0.06/GB)
... the HDD is 'only' 26x more expensive.

The small performance jump overall does not warrant the expense IMHO. You would be better off spending the extra $$ on a faster CPU or Video Card or more RAM.

Performance jump between the SSD and HDD I linked above is around double for sustained transfer rates and 100x higher for seek times. SSD is not meant for storage, but to speed up everything you do on the computer. There's a practical limit in how much RAM you can put into computer, and how powerful GPU you can stick into mini-ITX case, and when you've reached those (pretty early btw), SSD gives significant performance boost.

[Notreally]

Unless money is no object I would not waste time with an SSD drive of any type.

You've obviously never used an SSD.

[Airin]

Performance jump between the SSD and HDD I linked above is around double for sustained transfer rates and 100x higher for seek times. SSD is not meant for storage, but to speed up everything you do on the computer. There's a practical limit in how much RAM you can put into computer, and how powerful GPU you can stick into mini-ITX case, and when you've reached those (pretty early btw), SSD gives significant performance boost.

Not necessarily, that current board accepts 16 gb of 2133 ram (when ever they release 8gb sticks this will be obtainable). Since no more then 8 is really needed now it fits 2 4gb sticks, and the case I have can fit and cool one 580 (though I will prob just go with the 560Ti, 570 if i have the money at the time) with the available x16 slot located on that board as well. So I really don't see to much of a limit. OT if i had the money I would get the 160 or 240 SSD, but i was just curious if anyone has had experience with the SSD caching on the Z68 boards and if they really help enough to be worth it since a 16 or 30gb ssd is only 50 to 70$ respectively and since i have my OS and everything on a terabyte drive already.

[vesseblah]

Not necessarily, that current board accepts 16 gb of 2133 ram (when ever they release 8gb sticks this will be obtainable). Since no more then 8 is really needed now it fits 2 4gb sticks, and the case I have can fit and cool one 580 (though I will prob just go with the 560Ti, 570 if i have the money at the time) with the available x16 slot located on that board as well. So I really don't see to much of a limit. OT if i had the money I would get the 160 or 240 SSD, but i was just curious if anyone has had experience with the SSD caching on the Z68 boards and if they really help enough to be worth it since a 16 or 30gb ssd is only 50 to 70$ respectively and since i have my OS and everything on a terabyte drive already.

Going above 4GB is pointless on HTPC, even more pointless than in gaming computer, and as you said there's no 8GB sticks so you have 8GB of hard limit anyway. There's also zero point with GTX580 in HTPC. It means you run out of any meaningful hardware upgrades really fast, and SSD is actually very good speed boost on everything.

Also to use the SRT you will have to reformat the boot disc anyway, you cant use it on existing disc since it requires making a RAID array of SSD+HDD in BIOS.

[Airin]

Going above 4GB is pointless on HTPC, even more pointless than in gaming computer, and as you said there's no 8GB sticks so you have 8GB of hard limit anyway. There's also zero point with GTX580 in HTPC. It means you run out of any meaningful hardware upgrades really fast, and SSD is actually very good speed boost on everything.

Also to use the SRT you will have to reformat the boot disc anyway, you cant use it on existing disc since it requires making a RAID array of SSD+HDD in BIOS.

Except this is not an HTPC, its my main desktop. I just enjoy the small footprint MiniITX gives me without cutting on performance. Yea u might be able to do SLI with a larger board or case, but I'll be content when i get my 570 and 2500k in there.

And thanks I thought that might be the case, I never looked to see if it needed that. Since I was still seeing if anyone found it to be useful.

[Cyanotical]

Not necessarily, that current board accepts 16 gb of 2133 ram (when ever they release 8gb sticks this will be obtainable).

there are 8gb ram sticks, but they are ecc server sticks, not exactly something you want

[Deleted]

I'm pretty SSD caching can only use SSD's that are like 40GB or less. I could be wrong. Also, I personally think you are just better off with a larger SSD and a HDD for programs you don't often use and storing pictures, movies etc.

[Fuzzykins]

I can't help but think how cool it would be to get two 580's in a water cooled loop, with the CPU, all in a miniITX form factor...
The ability to carry around an insanely powerful computer in that form factor is neat. x3

[Airin]

I can't help but think how cool it would be to get two 580's in a water cooled loop, with the CPU, all in a miniITX form factor...
The ability to carry around an insanely powerful computer in that form factor is neat. x3

Yea, accept MiniITX doesn't have room for the second PCiE slot, though my case can fit the 590, but that's as close as you can get to having SLI in there and would be getting really snug lol.
Which is fine for me cause I never really have the need to SLI I'm not too serious of a gamer anymore with internships and school everywhere. But it is fun to have a computer that's 8.74" x 7.48" x 13.78" and can perform just as good. I like my desk space.

[Cyanotical]

of the two itx's i've built, both used low wattage external PSU's, like laptop ones, not exactly the kinda thing that powers SLI

[Fuzzykins]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130659
It'd take a majorly custom rig >.>