SSD for this computer

[whoisme555]

4 GB ddr3 ram
P55-UD3 Motherboard
I5-750 processor
1 TB F3 Spinpoint harddrive
5850 Graphics card
Corsair 750 watt PSU
Antec 902 Case

I'm a gamer and want an SSD to help load times with both Windows 7 files and games. I play games like CoD MW2, Heroes of Newerth, the Sims 3(occasionally), Starcraft 2, and others. I'd like a SSD that will be very fast, worth the money, and have enough space to hold all these titles, windows 7, and still have room for future titles, if possible. I'm willing to upgrade computer parts if they are cheap enough (ram, if necessary). What SSD do you suggest? I'm thinking about waiting until after thanksgiving to see if there will be any black friday deals on an SSD, but I doubt that'll happen.

Suggestions for an SSD, please?

 

[Rightfuldon]

4 GB ddr3 ram
P55-UD3 Motherboard
I5-750 processor
1 TB F3 Spinpoint harddrive
5850 Graphics card
Corsair 750 watt PSU
Antec 902 Case

I'm a gamer and want an SSD to help load times with both Windows 7 files and games. I play games like CoD MW2, Heroes of Newerth, the Sims 3(occasionally), Starcraft 2, and others. I'd like a SSD that will be very fast, worth the money, and have enough space to hold all these titles, windows 7, and still have room for future titles, if possible. I'm willing to upgrade computer parts if they are cheap enough (ram, if necessary). What SSD do you suggest? I'm thinking about waiting until after thanksgiving to see if there will be any black friday deals on an SSD, but I doubt that'll happen.

Suggestions for an SSD, please?

Hello Whoisme555,

With your setup (which is VERY similar to mine), I would recommend getting a Intel x25m series SSD. Personally I have a Kingston V+ series 64gb SSD, as well as an Intel x25m 80g SSD. I use my Intel SSD for my OS (win7 64bit) as well as my programs (such as MS office, etc) and store and play my games on my Kingston SSD, because like you, I enjoy the extremely fast load times associated with an SSD. It is important to know that a SSD will not really affect fps, it will mostly just affect your load times.
I recommend the Intel one because Intel is on top of their firmware updates as well as the fact they provide great utilities such as the Intel SSD toolbox which allows you to manage your SSD much more easily. Also, the x25m series is extremely popular, so if you experience issues or have problems with the drive there is an abundance of information on the internet and in forums on solving these issues with your exact drive.
Also, you are using the Intel p55 chipset, which is my opinion seems to really interact well with the Intel drive without any issues at all.
I think the biggest issue you're looking at would be getting a SSD that is large enough to hold all those games, believe me space goes quick and you don't want to run out of room like I did and have to purchase a second SSD to compensate.

Personally, when choosing a size of a SSD to purchase, I would account 30gbs for your OS (Windows 7) and your various programs like MS office etc., then add up the amount of space required by your games(and guesstimate the amount required by games you would want to install in the future), then take the combined total of all of those things and multiply it by 1.2 to find out how much space you are actually going to need. The reason you multiply by 1.2 is because SSDs run most effeciently (and incur less wear) when 15-20% of the drive is left empty.

Personally I think you would need atleast 128gb to hold everything you listed. A single large drive is the way to go rather than 2 small drives, (raid 0 or otherwise).

We have a very similar setup and my processor is wei 7.5, memory 7.7, graphics both 7.8, and intel hard drive 7.7 (kingston used to be my primary hard drive and only recieved a wei of 7). And that's with my i5 750 processor OC'd to 4.0Ghz, so if you get an Intel M series SSD your processor should be the lowest rated component.

Hope this helped! let me know if you have any more questions or concerns.

 

[RetiredChief]

The Intel G2's are good, But in terms of performance - yesterdays news. Only get if price is right.

For best performance, If you plan to go to sata 6 (Your MB, like mine does not support Sata 6, I bought the $25 PCI-e Ausu U3S6 Card) then the Crucial RealSSD C300. Currently they are the only Sata 6 models – HOWEVER, If you can wait 1 to 2 months, others should follow shortly. The Sata 6 models will probably occuppy the price point of current Sata 3 SSDs, But SATA 3 SSDs should drop.

(1) Crucial RealSSD C300 – Shows comparission between C300 on Sata 3 vs Sata 6, Vortex-2 and Intel G2
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3812 [...] alssd-c300
(2) G.Skill Phoenix Pro - Came out after C300 review. (Almost Identical is Corsair Force F120) NOTE: Need to use the INtel AHCI storage driver (ver 9), Not the generic uSoft driver. For win 7 this requires "F6" load driver during install. For this reason cloning is not recomended.
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=25198
(3)Votex-2 Performance wise, about the same as Phoenix and Force

You would probably be happy with any of the above models - Look for sales, I just picked up the G.Skill Phoenix pro for $250 (less than the non pro model). My 4K random reads = 27.4 and writes = 62.9 (very close to the Benchmark in the link)

Stay away from:
Western digital Blue, Kingston value products and Dane-Elec (They advertized an Intel 80 gig – They forgot to mention it is the OLD G1). Make sure you check Reviews. The biggest diff between "stay away from" and a good one is in the 4K Random, The Lousy ones are ONLY 2 X better than a Mechanical HDD.

 

[blackhawk1928]

You can get a 64GB Imation drive for less then a 100 or you can get a 512GB drive for almost 10,000....which is why we need to know budget first.

 

[whoisme555]

4 GB ddr3 ram
P55-UD3 Motherboard
I5-750 processor
1 TB F3 Spinpoint harddrive
5850 Graphics card
Corsair 750 watt PSU
Antec 902 Case

I'm a gamer and want an SSD to help load times with both Windows 7 files and games. I play games like CoD MW2, Heroes of Newerth, the Sims 3(occasionally), Starcraft 2, and others. I'd like a SSD that will be very fast, worth the money, and have enough space to hold all these titles, windows 7, and still have room for future titles, if possible. I'm willing to upgrade computer parts if they are cheap enough (ram, if necessary). What SSD do you suggest? I'm thinking about waiting until after thanksgiving to see if there will be any black friday deals on an SSD, but I doubt that'll happen.

Suggestions for an SSD, please?

Wow, glad I got an email saying I recieved responses... *sarcasm*

Thanks for your responses guys, I've decided that instead of buying one for black friday, I'm gonna wait til february for the next models to come out, I'll see how the prices adjust for the SSDs, and see if I can afford a 256-300 gb drive. My budget is as much as I need to spend within a reasonable amount, hopefully under $400 by the time feb rolls around. But unlikely. I'll repost this around March, I'm sure . Thanks again!

 

[whoisme555]

Best answer selected by whoisme555.