Should I invest in an SSD? If so, what size?

T

tampac66

New Member
Hi all,

I built a desktop that I use for 3D Rendering and some minor gaming a few years ago. I just ordered some upgrades for it to hopefully improve the overall efficiency of the build and im now wondering if I should sink some more money into a SSD.

My current build (if fedex ever delivers my things) is:
- Corsair Carbide Series 500R Arctic White Steel Case (New)
- CORSAIR CX series CX750 750W PSU (New)
- ASUS Sabertooth X79 LGA 2011 Intel X79 (New)
- Intel Core i7-4930K Ivy Bridge-E 3.4GHz cooled by corsair H100i (New)
- Sparkle GeForce GTX 460 768mb (old)
- 4x2GB Gskill Ripjaw DDR3 SDRAM (old)
- WD Black 500GB 7200 RPM (old)


I have a couple of questions that hopefully someone can help me out with:
1) Should I go for a 120GB SSD and only use it for programs and OS? Or a 500GB SSD and use it for all programs, the OS, and work-related files and keep the WD Drive for music, movies, pictures, ect.?
2) If I choose the latter, will my SSD degrade because of excessive read/writing? If so, how quickly?
3) Which brands would you suggest? The intel SSDs seem crazy expensive. Are the Samsung drives any good? :confused:
 
tampac66 said:
Hi all,

I built a desktop that I use for 3D Rendering and some minor gaming a few years ago. I just ordered some upgrades for it to hopefully improve the overall efficiency of the build and im now wondering if I should sink some more money into a SSD.

My current build (if fedex ever delivers my things) is:
- Corsair Carbide Series 500R Arctic White Steel Case (New)
- CORSAIR CX series CX750 750W PSU (New)
- ASUS Sabertooth X79 LGA 2011 Intel X79 (New)
- Intel Core i7-4930K Ivy Bridge-E 3.4GHz cooled by corsair H100i (New)
- Sparkle GeForce GTX 460 768mb (old)
- 4x2GB Gskill Ripjaw DDR3 SDRAM (old)
- WD Black 500GB 7200 RPM (old)


I have a couple of questions that hopefully someone can help me out with:
1) Should I go for a 120GB SSD and only use it for programs and OS? Or a 500GB SSD and use it for all programs, the OS, and work-related files and keep the WD Drive for music, movies, pictures, ect.?
2) If I choose the latter, will my SSD degrade because of excessive read/writing? If so, how quickly?
3) Which brands would you suggest? The intel SSDs seem crazy expensive. Are the Samsung drives any good? :confused:
Click to expand...

I wouldn't even think of a build without an SSD BUT
if you do any serious gaming, then I'd say you need to upgrade your GPU. With that having been said. The cost of 120GB SSD and 250GB SSD have come down in price. In your case, I would buy a 250GB SSD and use it for OS, and the programs that auto install on the primary drive. All other programs, I would install to your current HDD. If you do choose the 500GB SSD, you won't be able to detect any degrade. The Samsungs are great. (see Tomshardware.com) The Samsung 840 EVO are great value with great performance. That isn't to say that the other SSD manufacturers aren't good.....because most are.
 
m3incorp said:
I wouldn't even think of a build without an SSD BUT
if you do any serious gaming, then I'd say you need to upgrade your GPU. With that having been said. The cost of 120GB SSD and 250GB SSD have come down in price. In your case, I would buy a 250GB SSD and use it for OS, and the programs that auto install on the primary drive. All other programs, I would install to your current HDD. If you do choose the 500GB SSD, you won't be able to detect any degrade. The Samsungs are great. (see Tomshardware.com) The Samsung 840 EVO are great value with great performance. That isn't to say that the other SSD manufacturers aren't good.....because most are.
Click to expand...

I haven't had a ton of time for games lately. I don't currently play anything that is super graphically intensive, but I tried to get a PSU that would allow me to pick up a GPU upgrade later on.

Thank you very much for your advice. I'll have to decide whether I should get the 250 or the 500 and which one is more reasonable for my budget.

I was looking on Newegg and I couldnt figure out what the difference is between these two SSDs. Why is the second one so much more expensive?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147249
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0AJ0ZF4582
 
Not entirely sure why. It might be a bit faster.

The first one is plenty fast enough. Samsung 840s are fast drives. You'll be happy with it. :)
 
tampac66 said:
How would that perform compared to say, a 770?
Click to expand...

You're probably better off with one 770.

Less power consumption, less heat produced, better airflow in your case, can add another one down the road for more performance. More stable drivers possibly.

I always one strong card over two weaker ones.
 
spirit said:
You're probably better off with one 770.

Less power consumption, less heat produced, better airflow in your case, can add another one down the road for more performance. More stable drivers possibly.

I always one strong card over two weaker ones.
Click to expand...


One other question.

Do I have to reformat my HD to put in a new system?

Or, i I set everything up, install the OS, programs, ect. on one Mobo, and then move it over to a new one, will everything work? Somehow I doubt it.
 
So, I ended up going to Frys and the 750gb was only 30 more than the 500gb so I just got that one instead.


Is there any reason now to have a HDD in there at all?



Thanks for all of your help by the way. I really appreciate it.
 
Not really, unless you need more then 500GB of space. Make sure to keep it for a couple days in case you need to transfer files.
 
tampac66 said:
So, I ended up going to Frys and the 750gb was only 30 more than the 500gb so I just got that one instead.


Is there any reason now to have a HDD in there at all?



Thanks for all of your help by the way. I really appreciate it.
Click to expand...

You can use it for large file storage or an internal back up.
 
tampac66 said:
So, I ended up going to Frys and the 750gb was only 30 more than the 500gb so I just got that one instead.


Is there any reason now to have a HDD in there at all?



Thanks for all of your help by the way. I really appreciate it.
Click to expand...

The 500GB driver is the newer 840EVO and a little faster than the older 750GB. In reality you most likely wouldn't notice the difference.

If you already have an HHD, might as well keep it as extra storage. I'm a believer in the more storage the better but on the other hand, if you know you won't use it, why waste the money.
 
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