Need help picking an SSD - opinions on these two? Also a question about installing windows

Meety Peety

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Dec 2, 2011
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Hey guys, looking to break into the world of SSDs and I have a few questions.

So I'm pretty sure I want to go with 128GB. I hardly use any space on my hard drives, just the OS and a couple games (WoW and LoL) so it seems like a 128GB would be plenty. I do want to know that I'll have enough space should I decide at a later date that I want to play a new game or something, but I will either buy an external or a small WD blue later on if I decide that I need more space. This leads me to my questions:

I'm brand new to SSDs - is there something that I may be overlooking when comparing similar (capacity) products? Are these $100 SSDs junk or just a good deal?

Also I've noticed some posts mentioning that it can be a pain in the butt to put windows onto a new hard drive.. at this point in time I have downloaded an ISO file and put it onto a dvd and I was told this was all I'd need to install my copy of windows 7 to any new hard drive. Is this the case or will I run into some sort of license issues? I own a legit copy of windows (yes I have the product key), but the hard drive that it was installed to died. I am still entitled to 1 copy of windows, correct? What concerns me is that currently I'm using a donor HDD from another computer and even without changing anything, it somehow knows that it was pulled from another computer and is giving me a popup saying I need a new product key. Buying an SSD AND a new copy of windows is pretty much out of my budget right now.

Lastly, here are the two SSDs I'm looking at. Can anyone give me some insight as to which one is the better buy? Any reason why I shouldn't buy either one? I have read good things about both, but I'm wondering if these are different in some way because their prices don't reflect what the reviews I've read mentioned.. for instance I recall reading that the Samsung 840 was one of the most epensive, yet here it is for $109. Any insight?

Kinmgston HyperX $99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820239045

Samsung 840 EVO $109
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147247

Thanks in advance for any input!

EDIT - Here's another Samsung 840 for $99.. what's the difference? I don't know what information to look for when picking an SSD..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147188
 

Meety Peety

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Dec 2, 2011
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Thanks for the input guys. So between the $89 regular 840 and the $109 evo.. is the general consensus that it's worth the extra $20? Or will the average user not even notice? Keep in mind I have never even experienced an SSD so I'm not sure if the difference will even be noticed. If it's worth it, I don't mind spending the extra $20.

As far as size goes, I think a 240/256 is just too far out of my budget. If I had the spare cash I would spring for it just to future proof myself a bit, but I really doubt I'd ever use the space. My old HDD was a 1TB using about 80-90gb and that included some audio recording software and other programs that I rarely ever used. I don't think I use my computer the way most people do.. having gone through so many hard drive crashes I've learned to travel light.. I keep almost everything on Flash memory and cloud storage. I don't download movies/music and I really don't run many programs or anything. If I ever do get back into recording music that will be the only issue, and that hobby actually benefits from running off of an external.
 

Fouchey

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I would wait it out a little if you could. The 840 might go down in price more considering the EVO has only been out for what a week? and the price for the 840 has already gone down $10.

Edit: Supply and Demand :)