how big should my SSD be (win8.1 system drive)?

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giantbucket

giantbucket

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i've kind of decided to replace my C:\ drive in my work/game machine with an SSD. currently it has a 750G WD Black but it's been partitioned down to 80G or so, since the OS+apps is taking up around 50G of space. my Steam game install and media and docs are on a separate drive.

ok, so how big SHOULD the SSD be that i'm going to transition this to? double (120/128G)? or four times (240/256G)? i can't justify one that would be large enough to also hold the Steam games (415G) - at least not this year. while a 480/512 would be nice, the cost is a no-go. and i game only occasionally - the machine is used mostly for office work.

(i'll keep the 750G Black as the D:\ drive and put the docs & game files onto that UNLESS i find a super-cheap 512G SSD)
 
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popatim
I'm still/only rocking a 64gb Patriot Pyro on an HTPC and it still has over 20Gb of room left. I'm not sure how your system partition grew to 50Gb but then I dont really have anything installed at all beyond a handful of apps. My other htpc is running a 120gb ssd with tons of room left. All the apps & software gets installed to its 2Tb hdd.

The choice is yours ultimately. I would suggest a 240+. Once you start using it its hard not to want to install things to it....

As an alternate choice, the Samsung 850 evos 250Gb are also going for about $100 on both amazon and newegg.
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sincreator

sincreator

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If you have the budget, the Crucial mx-100 SSD 512gb is an awesome price and comes form one of the most reliable names in SSD technology. 550mb/s read and 500mb/s write speed:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148821&cm_re=crucial_mx100_512gb-_-20-148-821-_-Product This drive is going for the same price as some 256gb drives so maybe you can pull it off.

The 256gb version is found just over $100 and also gives huge bang for buck:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148820

I have the 256gb version and love it. I do wish I had bought the 512gb version though.

The read and write specs listed are wrong for the 256gb version. It should be 530mb/s read/ and 330mb/s write. For some reason the write speed shows 150mb/s. That would belong to the 128gb version, lol.

EDIT: I guess they fixed the spec list, but it still writes higher than the 300mb/s listed in the specs. It should be 330mb/s. That's what I get every time. ;)
 
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giantbucket

giantbucket

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disclaimer:
i don't care that much about those inflated and superficial peak sequential read/write speeds. most SSD's are going to be in the same +/-20% range (and many times faster than my HDD no matter how i slice it), and i'm pretty sure that most actual system use will be 4k read/write type which gives lower speeds anyways. i doubt i'd spend any time running benchmarks to make sure i'm getting every last advertised MB/s, every day, and tuning. i'm more of a plug-n-play kind of guy. *cough*


yeah, the 512ish stuff is around $210 to $250 here in Canada. it's not something i can justify yet (and OS+Steam would eat up 465G of that anyways, leaving nearly no breathing room). prices drop too fast for me to be ok with that kind of purchase. the 128G stuff is $65-$85, and 256G stuff starts at $110 which is the most i'd be willing to spend. for me, the difference is between "can afford" and "can justify". i can afford a $35 hotdog. but i can't justify one.

so as far as reliability of an SSD and wear leveling and whatever i'm vaguely familiar with, do i go 2X or 4X?
 
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sincreator

sincreator

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The crucial mx-256 is easily your best option at the $110 price point. Crucial has a very good reputation of quality and reliability. What is this 2x and 4x you are speaking about anyway? These drives run on Sata 3.0, not the pcie bus. If that is what you are asking?
 
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giantbucket

giantbucket

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i meant 2x and 4x as in twice the size of my windows install, or four times the size of the windows install. just a question of how much excess an SSD should have in order to work properly and reliably. :)

(yeah, sorry - sometimes i go "short-hand" and it doesn't always make sense)
 
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popatim

popatim

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I'm still/only rocking a 64gb Patriot Pyro on an HTPC and it still has over 20Gb of room left. I'm not sure how your system partition grew to 50Gb but then I dont really have anything installed at all beyond a handful of apps. My other htpc is running a 120gb ssd with tons of room left. All the apps & software gets installed to its 2Tb hdd.

The choice is yours ultimately. I would suggest a 240+. Once you start using it its hard not to want to install things to it....

As an alternate choice, the Samsung 850 evos 250Gb are also going for about $100 on both amazon and newegg.
 
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smc805

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Agree with popatim. Better to have more than you need on your boot for adding programs etc.

Keep all the media files and what not off the SSD, but for programs and drivers and all of that good stuff I like that stuff launching as fast as possible.
 
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giantbucket

giantbucket

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oh, i totally forgot about this thread! i ended up using a 240G for my game machine. fast but cheap. it's a Silicon Power S70 240G that seems very well put together. i checked speeds and compared against a 120G 840Evo that was going to a server, and it was basically within 10% for all CrystalDiskMark tests, so good enough for me.
 
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geraldoferrero

geraldoferrero

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Hi,
I added a 128 GB SSD for my laptop last year, and I installed win 8.1 and all software on the SSD. the system and programs takes 60GB or so. So 128GB is big enough for operating system. it'll be perfect if you can buy a 512G SSD at a low price.
 
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