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SSD boot drive for audiophile PC?

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pbowne   03-05-2009 at 04:16:10 PM

I am trying to build an audiophile PC and keep costs low. With 1tb HDD's under $90, I can store all the music I want.

Since the prices of some SSD's becoming reasonable (STT & OSZ under $150), I'm thinking about using an SSD for the boot drive -- low noise. Since there will be little input other than selecting the music, will the low write speeds be a problem? I can't afford any dropouts during play, but lag times between songs are fine.

Am I fishing in the wrong stream with considering an SSD? Or would the cheap MLC's work fine for this purpose?

Thanks in advance,

Peter
Hoffman Estates, IL

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shabaa   03-05-2009 at 05:27:57 PM
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If you are trying to keep the costs low why are you even considering a SSD? Fans will make more noise than most of todays mechanical harddrives......
Besides the data will be coming from your large storage drive..... not the OS drive... What type of MLC were you considering... Remember it has to be big enought for all of the software......

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Ignatowski   03-05-2009 at 07:26:24 PM
- 0 +

pbowne wrote :

I am trying to build an audiophile PC and keep costs low. With 1tb HDD's under $90, I can store all the music I want.

Since the prices of some SSD's becoming reasonable (STT & OSZ under $150), I'm thinking about using an SSD for the boot drive -- low noise. Since there will be little input other than selecting the music, will the low write speeds be a problem? I can't afford any dropouts during play, but lag times between songs are fine.

Am I fishing in the wrong stream with considering an SSD? Or would the cheap MLC's work fine for this purpose?

Thanks in advance,

Peter
Hoffman Estates, IL



MLC drives can work for os drives if you have the ram to keep it from swapping regularly ( 2gb+ depending on apps). its not really the write speeds that hurt mlc drives its multiple io streams.

example: the 128gig ocz ssd i stuffed in my laptop benches at 100mb/s read 60mb/s write on a single io stream. when i send multiple reads at it it drops to 30mb/s read and 25mb/s write. slc drives dont drop off that fast.

this doesnt come in to play when i just load up a movie to watch or emailing or ... but when i fire up sql server and start crunching data its immediately apparent that the drive is struggling to keep up. so if you just fire up the playlists and let it go you shouldnt have any problems.

Quote :

Fans will make more noise than most of todays mechanical harddrives......


yup and the more sources of heat you remove the less fans you need.
also he says

Quote :

audiophile PC

meaning any noise is unappreciated.

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Message edited by Ignatowski on 03-05-2009 at 07:48:37 PM
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jsc   03-05-2009 at 07:51:22 PM
- 0 +

Ignatowski wrote :

MLC drives can work for os drives if you have the ram to keep it from swapping regularly ( 2gb+ depending on apps).

Quote :

Fans will make more noise than most of todays mechanical harddrives......


yup and the more sources of heat you remove the less fans you need.
[/quote]



As long as you have one fan, it will be noisier than something like a 1 TB WD Green drive. Now, as soon as the OP builds a silent - everything including the PSU - passively cooled PC, it's worth considering an SSD for a boot device.

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antiacid   03-05-2009 at 08:01:33 PM
- 1 +

get a mechanical drive and put the computer in another room?

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Ignatowski   03-05-2009 at 08:02:20 PM
- 0 +

jsc wrote :

As long as you have one fan, it will be noisier than something like a 1 TB WD Green drive. Now, as soon as the OP builds a silent - everything including the PSU - passively cooled PC, it's worth considering an SSD for a boot device.



you mean something like this? Silentmaxx Fanless 400W MX460-PFL01 http://www.silentpcreview.com/article312-page1.html

Quote :

The nice thing about fanless power supplies is they generally don't make any noise. A very slight hum or buzz could be heard within a few centimeters, but no noise was audible from a normal operating position.



its entirely possible to build a fanless machine altho i tend to like a single 120mm low rpm exhaust fan which tends to be on a few db's above ambient.

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pbowne   03-06-2009 at 04:56:50 AM
- 0 +

Thanx all! These are exactly the answers I wanted/needed. And I didn't know about the fanless power supply, so that was topping on the cake.

Peter
Hoffman Estates, IL

Reply to pbowne
jsc   03-06-2009 at 07:04:30 AM
- 0 +

Ignatowski wrote :

you mean something like this? Silentmaxx Fanless 400W MX460-PFL01 http://www.silentpcreview.com/article312-page1.html

Quote :

The nice thing about fanless power supplies is they generally don't make any noise. A very slight hum or buzz could be heard within a few centimeters, but no noise was audible from a normal operating position.



its entirely possible to build a fanless machine altho i tend to like a single 120mm low rpm exhaust fan which tends to be on a few db's above ambient.


Yes, indeed.

pbrown, something else you can do is underclock the CPU to where is is just fast enough to do what you want. You can eliminate a lot of heat that way.

Reply to jsc
shabaa   03-06-2009 at 04:20:10 PM
- 0 +

antiacid wrote :

get a mechanical drive and put the computer in another room?



I like that solution: get what you want, build it and put the box somewhere else.... Wireless remote controls.... what a concept!
That way noise is not an issue.... Good call +1

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