Need help deciding the right storage options : SSD vs mSATA SSD vs HDD

Stanjohn123

Honorable
Nov 29, 2013
7
0
10,510
I'm building my Alienware 17 laptop and due to a very tight budget I'm limited to the following options. Can you please advise which setup is better for performance ( Gaming , video rendering , photo shop etc)

1) mSATA Option: Operating System Installed [Default] w/ mSATA(s) selected below
60GB Solid State mSATA III
750GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache (SATA II - 3GB/s) - Default (SKU - HDD022)
No Second Hard Drive (Primary Hard Drive Required When Adding a Secondary Hard Drive)

2) No mSATA SSD
750GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache (SATA II - 3GB/s) - Default (SKU - HDD022)
Second Hard Drive : 120GB Samsung 840 Evo Solid State Drive (Read 540MB/s - Write 410MB/s (SSD2 - SATA III)) (SKU - SSD007)

3) FREE! 1TB 5400RPM Hard Drive - [Will replace stock Primary Hard Drive]
mSATA Option: Operating System Installed [Default] w/ mSATA(s) selected below
60GB Solid State mSATA III
No Second Hard Drive (Primary Hard Drive Required When Adding a Secondary Hard Drive)

4) No mSATA SSD
750GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache (SATA II - 3GB/s) - Default (SKU - HDD022)

5) FREE! 1TB 5400RPM Hard Drive - [Will replace stock Primary Hard Drive]
mSATA Option: Operating System Installed [Default] w/ mSATA(s) selected below
256GB Samsung PM841 Solid State mSATA III
No Second Hard Drive (Primary Hard Drive Required When Adding a Secondary Hard Drive)


You guy's are very knowledgeable here , so appreciate all your feedback's.
 
Solution
In terms of sheer performance, option two would be best. Your getting a reasonable size SSD and a 7200RPM HDD, though options 3-5 all have greater capacity.
If I were picking one of them, I would go for 5 (which is the same as 4...). You get the most SSD and HDD storage, while leaving you a 2.5" bay to put in a new drive down the line if you wanted. In terms of performance it isn't as good as #2, but I think the capacity wins here.
In terms of sheer performance, option two would be best. Your getting a reasonable size SSD and a 7200RPM HDD, though options 3-5 all have greater capacity.
If I were picking one of them, I would go for 5 (which is the same as 4...). You get the most SSD and HDD storage, while leaving you a 2.5" bay to put in a new drive down the line if you wanted. In terms of performance it isn't as good as #2, but I think the capacity wins here.
 
Solution

Stanjohn123

Honorable
Nov 29, 2013
7
0
10,510


Thanks a lot for your reply.

I have few more questions.I do not know about the current gen games as to how much space or resource each game would take while installing the games on the SSD. For eg. how much would a game like the latest Crysis ( I'm assuming this is a very resource demanding game ) take in space and will the 256 GB of SSD be enough for OS and games installation. Obviously media files and documents can be stored in the normal HDD.

Will there be a better performance in games while installing them on the SSD compared to HDD , or will there be not much visible difference ?

 
Crysis 3 is roughly 20GB in size, as would other games of that caliber.

Having a game based off an SSD wont improve performance, in terms of FPS nothing or very little will happen. The only benefit would be much faster loading and startup times, which in some games (Fallout 3, Skyrim, Mass Effect) with fairly constant load screens is probably worth it.
 

Stanjohn123

Honorable
Nov 29, 2013
7
0
10,510


Thank you very much for clarifying.