Agility 2 - lower IOPS, noticeable for what I need to do?

[poguesquadron]

So, the PC I'm building will primarily be used for Photoshop/Illustrator work, gaming, and obviously, day to day activities like email and what have you.

I was originally looking at the Vertex 2 60GB, but with all of the fuss about the two different versions, I'm kind of worried that I'd have the wrong one sent to me by mistake and I'd have to go through some drama to get the correct one.

I'm looking at the Agility 2, which seems to have comparable read/write speeds, but apparently has a lower IOPS. The question is, for what I need the SSD for, is this a big deal at all? I thought I may have read that this lower IOPS might only be important if the computer is a server or workstation, so I thought I might be okay if I check out the Agility 2.

**As a general side question, I notice that a lot of SSDs have a very high read speed, but a very low write speed. Is this because most people use an SSD as a boot drive? I'll be working with Photoshop files that range from 100-300MB each, so being able to save these files quickly is pretty important to me, which is why I have been looking at SSDs that have slightly higher write speeds.)**

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Have you read the Windows/Photoshop/SSD optimzation guide over at the Adobe forums?

How do you plan on using your ssd? Is it going to be an OS + Adobe disk or is it going to be used as a scratch disk for Photoshop?

 

[poguesquadron]

I haven't been on the Adobe forums at all, but I'll check it out. I just didn't know how the IOPS would affect day to day activities, or dealing with large files. Sometimes you see that one product has a much higher number on paper, but it translates to an insignificant difference in the wild, so I just thought I'd see if this was one of those situations.

And basically it was going to be OS and programs, with media and work files on the HDD.

Edit: Just wanted to say that I've been looking around and I can't seem to figure out what IOPS benefits in a real world situation.

 

[RetiredChief]

Good read:
http://thessdreview.com/ssd-guides/buyers-guide/the-ssd-manufacturers-bluff/
From above Link
Top 5 Most Frequent Drive Accesses by Type and Percentage:
.
-8K Read (7.60%)
-8K Write (56.35%)
-1K Write (6.10%)
-16 Write (5.79%)
-64K Read (2.49%)
Top 5 account for: 78.33% of total drive access over test period

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Here is a link to the Adobe Photoshop CS4 / CS5 optimization guide:

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/404/kb404439.html

Scroll down the page to get to the ssd section.

 

[poguesquadron]

A scratch disk sounds cool but I'm not going to go that route for now. It will just be for the OS and frequently used applications.

That article was pretty informative. I mean, with that taken into account, I'm actually thinking of going with a $100 64GB Crucial c300, or maybe the $120 64GB M4. Keep in mind my computer is about 5 years old, and any of these are going to seem incredibly quick to me, haha.

EDIT: After talking it over with a buddy of mine, I'm going to try to find an affordable reliable 80GB SSD instead of the 64GB. I'm looking at the Intel 320 (or maybe an older X-25 M if I can get one cheaper). I'd like to go with the Vertex 2 but all the fuss about the original/updated version has me worried that I wouldn't get the right one. Thanks for the info guys.