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SSD for storage

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  • SSD
  • Storage
  • World Of Warcraft
  • Windows 7
Last response: in Storage
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April 7, 2013 4:05:38 PM

What size of a SSD should i get if i want to hold windows 7 and wow and addons?

I have this build on pcpartpicker so im looking to add this to it. also what brand of SSD's are reliable.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/snakebite22/saved/1qZR

More about : ssd storage

April 7, 2013 4:29:06 PM

The Samsung 840 Pro series are some of the best SSDs on the market at the moment. However if you're going to use an SSD for a system drive, you need to take into account possible future usage.

If you plan on installing more games/programs in the future you should go with the highest capacity SSD you can buy, along with a large HDD for media storage.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1682...

Kingston HyperX SSDs are also a good option - and they come with a mounting bracket to make the 2.5" drives fit snugly into a standard 3.5" bay.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1682...
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a c 182 G Storage
a b Ý World of Warcraft
a b $ Windows 7
April 7, 2013 4:33:44 PM

Today, I think 120gb is sufficient for the os and a handful of games. You will have about 112gb useable.
I think Samsung and intel are the most trouble free, not that any are bad.
Here I a bit dated report on that: http://www.behardware.com/articles/881-7/components-ret...

On your build:

1. I think sabretooth is overpriced; you can buy any Z77 based motherboard that will do equally well for $100 less.

2. I would use a nice air cooler in your case which is well ventilated.
Liquid cooling tends to be noisier, and less reliable with more moving parts.
A leak can be disastrous. $80 buys you a Noctua NH-D14 or Phanteks which will cool equally well with a conservative overclock. Actually, $30 buys you a cm hyper212 which is very good for the price.
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April 7, 2013 4:52:47 PM

Apanzee said:
The Samsung 840 Pro series are some of the best SSDs on the market at the moment. However if you're going to use an SSD for a system drive, you need to take into account possible future usage.

If you plan on installing more games/programs in the future you should go with the highest capacity SSD you can buy, along with a large HDD for media storage.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1682...

Kingston HyperX SSDs are also a good option - and they come with a mounting bracket to make the 2.5" drives fit snugly into a standard 3.5" bay.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1682...


So for the size then would 128g be ok?
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April 7, 2013 5:10:41 PM

128 GB is more of a minimum IMHO. Not only do you want space for the OS, programs, some data, and swapfile, you want to leave some free space for the SSD's wear leveling algorithm to function. A SSD will move data around the drive on its own to even out how much each memory cell is used, and it does this best when you have about 20%-30% free space or more. If you drop the free space below that, writes to the drive can become slower.

128 GB is functional, especially if you have a HDD for bulk data storage. But if you're going to only have the SSD for storage, 160-256 GB will usually be more comfortable. I'd suggest looking at the size on disk of your current system (Windows, Program Files, Program Files (x86), Program Data, Users). If it's more than about 90 GB, I'd start thinking about getting something bigger than a 128 GB SSD.
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April 7, 2013 5:18:13 PM

128 allows you to install your OS and a few key games and programs. If you have a decent library of games, then you'll have to install most on your mechanical drive. That's no big deal though, games will load faster on an SSD, but once levels are loaded, it's all about the GPU & CPU. I don't think many people would suggest blowing your budget on a 512GB SSD for a gaming build. If you have more money to spend, I'd recommend sticking with a 128 and putting any extra funds into a better GPU.
RE the 840 Pro, that's a great SSD, no question, but personally I think it's overkill for a home PC. It's faster when you hit it with crazy workloads and it'll last longer (MLC NAND and greater overprovisioning), but again, unless you're writing heaps of data every day something like the standard Samsung 840 (non-pro) would do just fine. Again, either save your pennies or spend them on a better GPU.
One other thought, stepping down from a WD Black HDD to the same capacity Blue might save you a little cash. Blue's are more than adequate for a storage drive.
And +1 for Geofelt's suggestion of the Hyper 212 (I'd go the EVO). Save you some $$s and still good performance.
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April 7, 2013 5:37:57 PM

Solandri said:
128 GB is more of a minimum IMHO. Not only do you want space for the OS, programs, some data, and swapfile, you want to leave some free space for the SSD's wear leveling algorithm to function. A SSD will move data around the drive on its own to even out how much each memory cell is used, and it does this best when you have about 20%-30% free space or more. If you drop the free space below that, writes to the drive can become slower.

128 GB is functional, especially if you have a HDD for bulk data storage. But if you're going to only have the SSD for storage, 160-256 GB will usually be more comfortable. I'd suggest looking at the size on disk of your current system (Windows, Program Files, Program Files (x86), Program Data, Users). If it's more than about 90 GB, I'd start thinking about getting something bigger than a 128 GB SSD.


I have a 1tb of a traditional hard drive that is a 72000rpm is that good enough?
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April 7, 2013 5:45:53 PM

snakebite22 said:
Apanzee said:
The Samsung 840 Pro series are some of the best SSDs on the market at the moment. However if you're going to use an SSD for a system drive, you need to take into account possible future usage.

If you plan on installing more games/programs in the future you should go with the highest capacity SSD you can buy, along with a large HDD for media storage.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1682...

Kingston HyperX SSDs are also a good option - and they come with a mounting bracket to make the 2.5" drives fit snugly into a standard 3.5" bay.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1682...


So for the size then would 128g be ok?


If all you're using it for is to install Windows, and WoW on, then yes.

If you want future storage space for more games though, go with at least a 256GB.

An average game runs around 10-15GB today. They're huge. An average gamer, has 5 games+ on their PC. That's 50-75GB+ right there. The Windows 7 installation is roughly 16GB, before updates.

75+16 = 91GB. Cutting it pretty close for any future applications, or updates.

And as I said before, just use a plain old HDD for a media drive. You don't need read speeds upwards of 500MB/s for listening to some music or watching a movie.


So for example, I'd recommend:
256GB Samsung 840 SSD; System, games, programs
1tb HDD, 7200 rpm-10k rpm; Media, documents, etc
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April 7, 2013 5:53:49 PM

I hear what Apanzee's saying, but IMHO, unless you've got a pretty healthy budget, keeping most games on your mechanical HDD is just fine. My games library runs well over 200GB, no way I'm shelling out $400-$500 to keep them on an SSD. Steam allows you to choose your default install location. Same for Origin (shudder). You can always just choose a key game or two to put on your SSD (like WoW in your case), and keep the rest and any future games on your HDD.
Move your user data and downloads to your Mech HDD. 128GB is fine. By all means if you've got the budget, jump to a larger drive. I just don't think it's necessary and for a gaming machine there are better ways to spend your money.
This is, of course, completely my subjective opinion. I don't think there are any wrong answers here.
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April 7, 2013 6:04:21 PM

Quote:
I hear what Apanzee's saying, but IMHO, unless you've got a pretty healthy budget, keeping most games on your mechanical HDD is just fine. My games library runs well over 200GB, no way I'm shelling out $400-$500 to keep them on an SSD.


http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/memory-storage/MZ-7P... :p 
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April 7, 2013 6:14:48 PM

Apanzee said:
Quote:
I hear what Apanzee's saying, but IMHO, unless you've got a pretty healthy budget, keeping most games on your mechanical HDD is just fine. My games library runs well over 200GB, no way I'm shelling out $400-$500 to keep them on an SSD.


http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/memory-storage/MZ-7P... :p 


Yeah - but I want my OS and office too! So no, 256 is not enough for me!

Anyways - I didn't mean to make this about me.
OP, here are your options as I see them (quoting newegg only - shopping around you may find better prices).
- My recommendation: 128GB 840: $99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
- Apanzee's recommendation: 256GB 840 Pro: $249 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Is it worth the extra $150 for a larger and better quality SSD? Up to you. I certainly don't think so. But for sure, the 256GB 840Pro is a nice SSD, no question. IMHO it's just not the best use of your money.
All subjective opinions here. Good luck whatever you decide.
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April 7, 2013 6:15:42 PM

Apanzee said:
snakebite22 said:
Apanzee said:
The Samsung 840 Pro series are some of the best SSDs on the market at the moment. However if you're going to use an SSD for a system drive, you need to take into account possible future usage.

If you plan on installing more games/programs in the future you should go with the highest capacity SSD you can buy, along with a large HDD for media storage.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1682...

Kingston HyperX SSDs are also a good option - and they come with a mounting bracket to make the 2.5" drives fit snugly into a standard 3.5" bay.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1682...


So for the size then would 128g be ok?


If all you're using it for is to install Windows, and WoW on, then yes.

If you want future storage space for more games though, go with at least a 256GB.

An average game runs around 10-15GB today. They're huge. An average gamer, has 5 games+ on their PC. That's 50-75GB+ right there. The Windows 7 installation is roughly 16GB, before updates.

75+16 = 91GB. Cutting it pretty close for any future applications, or updates.

And as I said before, just use a plain old HDD for a media drive. You don't need read speeds upwards of 500MB/s for listening to some music or watching a movie.


So for example, I'd recommend:
256GB Samsung 840 SSD; System, games, programs
1tb HDD, 7200 rpm-10k rpm; Media, documents, etc


what is the difference between the 840 series and the 840 pro series for samsung?
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April 7, 2013 6:22:11 PM

Faster read and write speeds, lower power consumption.
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April 7, 2013 6:38:59 PM

OK... I'll bite again:

840Pro uses MLC NAND whereas the 840 uses the cheaper TLC NAND. There's a pretty complete discussion here http://www.anandtech.com/show/6459/samsung-ssd-840-test...
The thing to remember is that the read and write speeds only matter if the device your writing from is fast enough. While the 130MB/s write on the 840 looks terrible on paper. How often are you actually writing data from a device that's faster than that? No standard mechanical drive can provide over 130MBs, and that's also faster than a 1Gbps network can drive.
The main concern from some in using TLC is the fact that it's only rated at 1000 write cycles, but that's still something like 20 years if you write 15GB a day... which practically no one does on a regular PC.
I could rant on about IOPS too, which are better on the 840Pro, but again, I don't think in the real word of PC usage there is any difference. Run a database on it, or have 100 users hitting it over a network and the 840Pro takes the lead hands down. But for a single user PC? I don't see any reason to spend the extra $$s.
I keep promising myself not to post back... but can't resist. Maybe this will be my last. Good luck whatever you decide Snakebite.
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