Picking a SSD for a Media PC

[Deleted]

I'm about to buy a Media PC for my parents living room (in conjunction with a new 42" LED TV) and I'm not sure what SSD to pick.


The parts (pasted directly from the site; sorry for Swedish):

	Asus E35M1-I Deluxe Fusion	1 310 kr			1 310 kr
	640GB Samsung 2.5" HM641JI	497 kr			497 kr
	Corsair 4GB (2x2048MB) CL9 1333Mhz VALUE	277 kr			277 kr
	Scythe Kama Flow 2 80mmfan (1400rpm/14dBA)	80 kr			160 kr
	Hauppauge WinTV HVR 2200	1 132 kr			1 132 kr
	Antec ISK310-150 150W Svart/Silver	749 kr			749 kr
	Optiarc 5640H Slim BluRay-Combo	1 048 kr			1 048 kr
	Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Svensk OEM, SP1	963 kr			963 kr

The price-tag lands at a very reasonable 6 195 SEK, which corresponds to about ~$620-$650.


Now, I want an SSD for the OS and any programs that might go on there, and I feel that a 60Gb will be enough. There are a few to choose from, and the ones I've looked at are these:

Intel SSD 320 40GB Retail SSD, 2.5", Storlek: 40 GB, SATA, SATA 3,0 Gbit/s

Betyg: 4.5

761 kr

OCZ SSD Vertex 2 60GB SSD, 2.5", Storlek: 60 GB, SATA, SATA 3,0 Gbit/s

Betyg: 4.8

899 kr

OCZ SSD Agility 3 60GB SSD, 2.5", Storlek: 60 GB, Buffertminne: Nej, SATA, SATA 6,0 Gbit/s, Rotationshastighet: Nej

Betyg: 3.6

990 kr

A-DATA SSD 599-Series 64GB SSD, 2.5", Storlek: 64 GB, SATA, SATA 3,0 Gbit/s

Ej betygsatt

997 kr

Corsair SSD Force Series 60GB SSD, 2.5", Storlek: 60 GB, SATA, SATA 3,0 Gbit/s

Betyg: 4.6

1 110 kr

Intel SSD 320 80GB OEM SSD, 2.5", Storlek: 80 GB, SATA, SATA 3,0 Gbit/s

Betyg: 5.0

1 347 kr

I was initially going for the Vertex 2 60Gb SSD, but I wanted some opinions. The budget for the SSD is around 1000SEK, which ends up being ~$90-$100. The important thing here is that I want the SSD to be fast, have enough space for the OS, any basic programs (like Outlook, Office, etc) and perhaps some pictures, etc and be "proof". This computer will be sitting at my parents house and I don't want them to call me every other week about any issues (I've heard some bad things about the Agility 3 SSD for example).


Thanks for any advice!

[Asera]

Putting an SSD in a HTPC is a waste of time and money, honestly.

[Deleted]

You forgot a CPU.

Oh and by the way, why on earth do you need an SSD in a Media PC? You want cheap storage on a unit like that, not rapid expensive storage because it'll contribute to nothing.

[Skelly]

The Vertex 2 in that list seems to be your best pick. I've heard of some problems with the 320 series. I believe the vertex 2 is pretty reliable, and if I'm wrong, you'll be able to find info on it quite easily since they've been out for a while.

[tankz]

Well it depends.. I have an SSD as I store all my media on my server, it makes loading times SO much better and XBMC runs quicker too. I would go with the Intel SSD 320 as you wont need that much space for the media software and windows

[Erous]

For a media PC, wouldn't you want as much storage as humanly possible, with running backups? The SSD for a media PC is probably overkill.

[vesseblah]

As said above few times HTPC is something that don't really need an SSD, as those are meant to be kept always on and have terabytes of storage space.

[Deleted]

Storage shouldn't be a huge issue. With that case, the best I can do is 2x 640Gb, but looking at my parents computer usage the past couple of years I'm fairly certain that 640Gb will be enough, with perhaps a 2TB external to be added in the future.

I have an SSD as I store all my media on my server, it makes loading times SO much better and XBMC runs quicker too.

This would be the reason why. They are not insanely expensive either (at least not the 40-60Gb ones) and if they end up making Windows and XBMC run smoother/faster I feel that it's worth picking up.

You forgot a CPU.

The MoBo is a Asus E35M1-I Deluxe, which supports the new AMD Fusion platform with the E350 CPU/GPU. Basically, the CPU is included with the MoBo; a 1.6Ghz dual core CPU with integrated Radeon 6310 graphics.
http://www.asus.se/Motherboards/AMD_...E35M1I_DELUXE/

[Skelly]

Really now? Look again.

I can't find it either. I'm going to assume it comes with the mobo, but I can't really tell because the website is in a language I don't speak.

[ispano]

The CPU is integrated on the board... hobos.

[Deleted]

I can't find it either. I'm going to assume it comes with the mobo, but I can't really tell because the website is in a language I don't speak.

True, a bit stupid of me and apologies for that. I edited my post to explain it further. Yes, the CPU comes with the MoBo.

[taekvideo]

Actually an htpc is the only place an SSD would really shine other than a gaming pc... assuming you turn it off when not using it. If you want it to bootup quick like a blu-ray player does then a small ssd for windows (& xmbc) would really help. You should also be sure to remove any unnecessary processes/services... or at least take them off the boot list (start -> run, type msconfig, look at services and startup tabs and remove any programs/services that you don't need) so the htpc loads as few things as possible when it boots up.

[DeltrusDisc]

The Vertex 2 in that list seems to be your best pick. I've heard of some problems with the 320 series. I believe the vertex 2 is pretty reliable, and if I'm wrong, you'll be able to find info on it quite easily since they've been out for a while.

Vertex 2 used to be good, before we progressed 2011. OCZ at some point this year started changing some of the hardware in them it seems and thus we have a problem. They like to fail.

Either way OP, you don't need an SSD for a media PC.

[Deleted]

I use the Agility 3 for my Windows 7 and WoW installs. I can't really compare it to any other small capacity SSD but it loads WoW in under 5 seconds so it can't be bad.
I have no idea why you'd want an SSD though tbh, i'd rather go with 2x1TB Samsung F3's for mass storage and it'll be cheaper than a single one of any SSD.

[vesseblah]

Since you'll be only booting from the SSD, take a small disc. Sometihng like 30-40GB will be totally fine and save money.

For video storage RAID5 is best thing possible in HTPC use. Plenty of space and pretty high fault tolerance.

[Deleted]

I would advise against the OCZ Agility (3) series. It seems like OCZ screwed them up a little according to the newegg feedback.

Crucial M4 series seems fine however. Intels 320 series had a major bug until recently but a firmware update should have fixed the issue.

[Wries]

TV card looks fine but doesn't support DVB-C (digital cable) or DVB-S(/S2) (satellite). You may already know this and only want DVB-T but just thought I'd make sure.

The HVR-5500 which does support C+S2 doesn't cost much more. Recieving mine tomorrow hopefully

[DarkBlade6]

OCZ Agility 3

[Deleted]

I would advise against the OCZ Agility (3) series. It seems like OCZ screwed them up a little according to the newegg feedback.

Crucial M4 series seems fine however. Intels 320 series had a major bug until recently but a firmware update should have fixed the issue.

Care to enlighten on the Agility 3? I've never had any problems with mine.

Avoid the M4, the write speeds are so crappy.

[Deleted]

Care to enlighten on the Agility 3? I've never had any problems with mine.

Avoid the M4, the write speeds are so crappy.

Happy reading: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227725

I'm not saying it's bad, but it just seems like there's a high probability of it causing issues.

As for read/write speeds. Lower capacity SSDs all have fairly low write speeds. But write speed really isn't that important anyway and you won't notice the difference in normal use scenarios between an SSD with 120 Mb/sec and a 500 Mb/sec SSD.