Im looking into eventually getting an ssd and I wanted advice in a few areas first.
1) Im having trouble deciding between the Samsung 840 Pro and the EVO. I hear from a lot of places that the Pro is great, but I've also heard that the EVO is somewhat similar in performance but cheaper. From what I know, the main difference is the type of chip they use to make the ssd is different between the 2 models and that the Pro uses a more durable/longer lasting chip. While I always love anything that works better longer, i believe i've also heard that it doesnt quite make a difference depending on the types of things you do (as in, for example, the EVO might last 10 years and the Pro might last 20 years, for the average computing experience.) However, I would likely upgrade within 5-7 years anyway so this wouldnt necessarily seem like as much of an issue in that case? Also, is speed more or less the same between the 2 for the average use? (other than that initial set-up where you are copying gigabytes of data, something that will be somewhat more uncommon later)
In terms of the types of things I do, it would generally be, for the most part in this order: gaming, internet browsing, MS Office stuff (aka schoolwork), light video editing. I would definitely keep the OS on the ssd as well as stuff like office and antivirus, and some key games, while the stored stuff (like music/movies/docs) and programs that see no measurable performance increase on an ssd (like HWMonitor, email client, video player, maybe itunes) would be on my 1 tb wd caviar blue HDD.
And so it brings me to the question of: EVO or Pro? I would like it to work fine for at least 4-5 years ( i assume this is a good number for a not-defective ssd), at which point i would hopefully get an upgrade and/or a new system.
2) With that in mind, I also want advice on a good size for the ssd that i want. I would prefer to save money, but obviously don't want something that is full to bursting. I will include a list of the majority of the programs (factoring in, let's say, 2 GB for all the drivers and core programs that came with the board as well as flash and some smaller programs that i dont feel like listing and are for the most part under 50-100mb each and arent too many) and then games that I have installed or will be installed on my computer right now below.
Is the 120 GB range big enough after stuff like formatting (which i believe would drop the size down to around 111 GB for the EVO and 119 for the PRO), and considering I have 8 GB ram (that means that there is an 8 gb page file default? i dont understand this bit as well), for my needs? And then factoring other tips for SSD health ive heard of such as overprovisioning (no clue how much space i need for this beyond default) and not going above about 80% capacity on the drives (which i would estimate would leave about 82 GB left for installations of all programs including the OS on the EVO and 88 GB on the Pro, my math could easily be wrong here).
!Advise using info below if you can, but stuff above is a bit more important to me
Below are the programs that I have, a # will mark the ones I think should be on the SSD. Please recommend if you know of anything that should or should not be on the ssd
*Programs
Windows 8 - 20 GB #
Core Driver Stuff- 2 GB #
Itunes+Quicktime-500 MB (overestimating) #
MS Office Pro Plus - 3.5 GB #
Premeire + Photoshop elements - 6 GB
Throw in another GB for random programs I forgot about - 1 GB #
Documents: 500 MB
Music: 10 GB
Other folders are insignificant
Total Program GB : 43.5 GB
**Games
Empire at War - 500 MB
Kotor 1 - 500MB
Kotor 2 - 1 GB
Battlefront 1 - 2 GB
Battlefront 2 - 4.5 GB
JK II - 500 MB
Republic Commando - 2 GB
Dragon Age Origins - 20 GB #
Mass Effect 1 - 12 GB
Mass Effect 2 - 15 GB
Oblivion GOTY - 7 GB (probably, with expansions)
Skyrim (the one with the expansion packs i think) - 9 GB #
SWTOR - 15 GB #
Total Games GB: 89 GB (from what I know SSD is best with games for loading times, like with that annoying mmo loading screen)
Total intended Programs to Install on SSD#: about 42.5 GB (without the OS which would make it about 60 GB.) I would of course like extra room to put other things on as needed, and would prefer to have the space to put on maybe another 20 GB (for, let's say, another large MMO or something like that)
****Finally, if anyone has any other alternatives that are similarly priced and are better than the samsung i would also love to hear them.
1) Im having trouble deciding between the Samsung 840 Pro and the EVO. I hear from a lot of places that the Pro is great, but I've also heard that the EVO is somewhat similar in performance but cheaper. From what I know, the main difference is the type of chip they use to make the ssd is different between the 2 models and that the Pro uses a more durable/longer lasting chip. While I always love anything that works better longer, i believe i've also heard that it doesnt quite make a difference depending on the types of things you do (as in, for example, the EVO might last 10 years and the Pro might last 20 years, for the average computing experience.) However, I would likely upgrade within 5-7 years anyway so this wouldnt necessarily seem like as much of an issue in that case? Also, is speed more or less the same between the 2 for the average use? (other than that initial set-up where you are copying gigabytes of data, something that will be somewhat more uncommon later)
In terms of the types of things I do, it would generally be, for the most part in this order: gaming, internet browsing, MS Office stuff (aka schoolwork), light video editing. I would definitely keep the OS on the ssd as well as stuff like office and antivirus, and some key games, while the stored stuff (like music/movies/docs) and programs that see no measurable performance increase on an ssd (like HWMonitor, email client, video player, maybe itunes) would be on my 1 tb wd caviar blue HDD.
And so it brings me to the question of: EVO or Pro? I would like it to work fine for at least 4-5 years ( i assume this is a good number for a not-defective ssd), at which point i would hopefully get an upgrade and/or a new system.
2) With that in mind, I also want advice on a good size for the ssd that i want. I would prefer to save money, but obviously don't want something that is full to bursting. I will include a list of the majority of the programs (factoring in, let's say, 2 GB for all the drivers and core programs that came with the board as well as flash and some smaller programs that i dont feel like listing and are for the most part under 50-100mb each and arent too many) and then games that I have installed or will be installed on my computer right now below.
Is the 120 GB range big enough after stuff like formatting (which i believe would drop the size down to around 111 GB for the EVO and 119 for the PRO), and considering I have 8 GB ram (that means that there is an 8 gb page file default? i dont understand this bit as well), for my needs? And then factoring other tips for SSD health ive heard of such as overprovisioning (no clue how much space i need for this beyond default) and not going above about 80% capacity on the drives (which i would estimate would leave about 82 GB left for installations of all programs including the OS on the EVO and 88 GB on the Pro, my math could easily be wrong here).
!Advise using info below if you can, but stuff above is a bit more important to me
Below are the programs that I have, a # will mark the ones I think should be on the SSD. Please recommend if you know of anything that should or should not be on the ssd
*Programs
Windows 8 - 20 GB #
Core Driver Stuff- 2 GB #
Itunes+Quicktime-500 MB (overestimating) #
MS Office Pro Plus - 3.5 GB #
Premeire + Photoshop elements - 6 GB
Throw in another GB for random programs I forgot about - 1 GB #
Documents: 500 MB
Music: 10 GB
Other folders are insignificant
Total Program GB : 43.5 GB
**Games
Empire at War - 500 MB
Kotor 1 - 500MB
Kotor 2 - 1 GB
Battlefront 1 - 2 GB
Battlefront 2 - 4.5 GB
JK II - 500 MB
Republic Commando - 2 GB
Dragon Age Origins - 20 GB #
Mass Effect 1 - 12 GB
Mass Effect 2 - 15 GB
Oblivion GOTY - 7 GB (probably, with expansions)
Skyrim (the one with the expansion packs i think) - 9 GB #
SWTOR - 15 GB #
Total Games GB: 89 GB (from what I know SSD is best with games for loading times, like with that annoying mmo loading screen)
Total intended Programs to Install on SSD#: about 42.5 GB (without the OS which would make it about 60 GB.) I would of course like extra room to put other things on as needed, and would prefer to have the space to put on maybe another 20 GB (for, let's say, another large MMO or something like that)
****Finally, if anyone has any other alternatives that are similarly priced and are better than the samsung i would also love to hear them.
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