Is 120GB enough?

[shaqxolotl]

Is 120GB of an SSD enough for FPS games. I am building a system and was waning to have 1 60GB SSD for the OS and other applications and a 120GB on for games but was wondering is it enough for 5-9 FPS games like BF3, WoW, MW3 ect...?

Thanks and could you tell me the approximate size of a game like BF3?

Thanks again.

 

[cuecuemore]

5 yes, 9 no...most likely. We don't know how big MW3 or BF3 will be. The BF3 beta with slimmed-down features and one map runs 4GB. I would suggest getting 2x 80-100GB SSD and running them in RAID 0. Then you can put your OS and your games on the same drive and be just fine.

 

[BohleyK]

120GB SSD is fine as long as you have a storage drive. I've been using a 120GB SSD as my boot drive for about a year now and when I run out of room, apps get sent over to the storage HDD.

I'm generally a gamer with a few editing apps.

 

[hunuok]

Obviously depends on the size of the game.

I have 13 titles (3 FPS, 5 Racing sims, 2 Flight sims, 2 RPG and 1 one sport) installed on a 120Gb SSD with 16Gb free.

As a personal rule of thumb, newer/resource demanding titles on the SSD, older/less demanding titles on a 1Tb Caviar Black.

 

[cats_Paw]

My sugestion is to use an ssd ONLY for OS+programs that load up on start up.
The loading times of games wont be significantly faster (meaning it will drop for example from 43 to 35, not to 10). But the load of everything needed for system (and this includes a few programs/services that run when you turn on a game) will boost over all speed.

When you expirince problems with some games (one example would be Oblivon with 120 mods installed) then i suggest you switch it to the SSD.

 

[shaqxolotl]

That's what i'm trying to say everyone, I am using a 60GB SSD for my boot drive and all my applications like anti virus applications and drivers for my GPU, CPU and other hardware like my mouse software, keyboard software, gaming headset software ect..

Will a 60GB SSD be enough for those things?

Also, my second drive (preferably a SSD) for just games and software like Steam ect...

Will a 120GB be enough for JUST games? I honestly don't buy to many games, I just stick to ones I like, like black ops, Minecraft, Terraria ect... Ill probably have 3FPS games 1MMO and miscellaneous like Minecraft, terraria ect...

All the help will be appreciated! And please let me know.

 

[hunuok]

Will a 60GB SSD be enough for those things?

YES.

Will a 120GB be enough for JUST games? I honestly don't buy to many games,

YES.

 

[shaqxolotl]

Will a 60GB SSD be enough for those things?

YES.

Will a 120GB be enough for JUST games? I honestly don't buy to many games,

YES.

So which setup would you recommend?

This:
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_902_1006&products_id=17788
+ this
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_902_1006&products_id=17369

Vs this:
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_902_1006&products_id=17788
+this
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_344&products_id=14837

The second option is $70 more expensive but more storage.

Thanks!

 

[cats_Paw]

Well, lets put it this way:
A 120 SSD will have about 109 usefull space if im correct.
a game that currently comes out (one of the smaller size) or those that already exist, are normally witih the range of 5 to 10 gb.
Most are closer to 10 gb.

That means that, assuming older games (gears of war, mass effect, starcraft2, COD, etc), you wont be able to install 10 games (dont forget you need to leave about 15% free space or the SSD speed drops considerably (i think it was 15% but im not sure, google it).

If we talk about big games like GTA4, .... MW2, Rage...
Dont expect to have more than 3-4.

In my book: not enought and not worth it.

 

[shaqxolotl]

So what do you suggest? Me getting the second option ^ above that i listed?

Thanks!

 

[hunuok]

IMO I would stay away from Velociraptors. Neither here or there.

Latest SATA3 HDDs (WD Caviar Black 1 or 2Tb, Samsung Spinpoint F3 1Tb, Seagate Barracuda XT 2Tb or 7200 1Tb) have similar/better performance at less cost than Velociraptors.

@ cats_paw 3-4 games? Is that a practical or theoretical calculation?

@OP At the end of the day it's your money (no disrespect). How much is the latest gee-whizz gizmo worth to you at the expense of storage space?

If you still can't decide, get a 1Tb WD Caviar Black/Spinpoint F3/Seagate 7200 (they're relatively inexpensive) and go from there.

Good luck.

 

[shaqxolotl]

IMO I would stay away from Velociraptors. Neither here or there.

Latest SATA3 HDDs (WD Caviar Black 1 or 2Tb, Samsung Spinpoint F3 1Tb, Seagate Barracuda XT 2Tb or 7200 1Tb) have similar/better performance at less cost than Velociraptors.

@ cats_paw 3-4 games? Is that a practical or theoretical calculation?

@OP At the end of the day it's your money (no disrespect). How much is the latest gee-whizz gizmo worth to you at the expense of storage space?

If you still can't decide, get a 1Tb WD Caviar Black/Spinpoint F3/Seagate 7200 (they're relatively inexpensive) and go from there.

Good luck.

This is my new setup that I thought of:

60GB SSD - OS, programs, applications and all the other stuff that i need.

400GB VelociRaptor - All my games, and just games on this.

500GB Caviar Blakc - Back up everything on the two drives I listed ^^^

Is this a good setup?

Thanks

 

[shaqxolotl]

No one is listening to me!

I am NOT going to use a SSD for games, ONLY WINDOWS 7, APPLICATIONS, PROGRAMS and DRIVERS, also software from stuff like my gaming headset, keyboard and mouse because they all come with software and drivers.

Will 60gb be enough for that or do you reccomend spending $50 more on a 90gb SSD?

I was thinking of these SSD's:
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_902_1006&products_id=17788
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_902_1006&products_id=18387
and maybe this one
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_902_1006&products_id=17369

Which SSD do you reccomend FOR MY NEEDS?

Thanks!

 

[shaqxolotl]

The 60GB corsair force will be great imo.

Or do you reccomend the 90gb version for $50 more or the 120gb version for $80 more? I will be loading all my drivers, applications, programs on the SSD so please tell me what would be the better size to get. I really like the sound of the 90gb version.

The common programs ill be loading on my SSD will be things like Steam, Windows live, anti virus protection ect... It's going to be a pure gaming rig so I will not have any intensive programs, just what i need for security, gaming and perfromance.

Thanks.

 

[shaqxolotl]

The 60GB will do you great but also be aware that wherever steam is installed the games also install to that folder.
So if steam is on SSD, the games will also be there..

Thanks for letting me know that, Ill have to put steam on my 400gb then. A might just get a 90gb SSD? What do you think?

Thanks!

 

[shaqxolotl]

It is really up to you.
However i suggested the steam issue because i have a huge library on steam (157 games)
So in my case i would definitly be screwed with an SSD in a sane price point.
Go ahead and get whatever size you feel is best.
Obviously the bigger the better imo

Yeah, Ill leave my games library on my 400gb HDD and OS/programs on my SSD (I'm going to play it safe and get the 90gb version).

Thanks!

 

[shaqxolotl]

Best answer selected by shaqxolotl.

 

[jitpublisher]

Check my signature, I use a 60 gb Force 3 SSD for the OS, and a 1tb Western digital black for data, programs, and backup. I have another 320 gig Seagate that I use to double archive some things like family photos, my music and important data as well just in case the 1tb drive ever bites the dust. Works pretty well for me.
The 60GB SSD, with MS office and a few other closely tied Windows apps that I loaded to the SSD uses about 25 gig of space on the drive leaving 35 gig free. This machine is a pleasure to use everyday, and game on too.

 

[Guest]

That's what i'm trying to say everyone, I am using a 60GB SSD for my boot drive and all my applications like anti virus applications and drivers for my GPU, CPU and other hardware like my mouse software, keyboard software, gaming headset software ect..

Will a 60GB SSD be enough for those things?

Also, my second drive (preferably a SSD) for just games and software like Steam ect...

Will a 120GB be enough for JUST games? I honestly don't buy to many games, I just stick to ones I like, like black ops, Minecraft, Terraria ect... Ill probably have 3FPS games 1MMO and miscellaneous like Minecraft, terraria ect...

All the help will be appreciated! And please let me know.

A 120 Gb SSD is the sweet spot for using an SSD as a non-cache drive. A 60 Gb SSD is just too small & is only good if you go on running an SSD as a cache drive for Intel SRT. I don't suggest getting smaller than a 120 Gb SSD or higher than 128 Gb SSD as you can always add up & buy another 120 Gb SSD (for additional storage space) & run it on RAID 0 for even better read/write performance. Even a single 120 SSD is enough for now.

If you read on some tech sites doing review on SSDs, some will start their review on a particular 120 Gb & higher SSD. Some experts will say that it's the sweet spot for SSD.

 

[shaqxolotl]

I think im just going to get the 90gb SSD because my back up drive is 500gb and my primary drive is 400gb.

400gb + 90gb =490gb

400gb + 120gb =520gb which is more than my back up.

+ there is not much performance difference.

90gb =550MB/s sequential read and 500MB/s sequential write.
vs
120gb =550MB/s sequential read and 510MB/s sequential write.

Not much difference.

How big is windows 7 pro OEM whithout deleting anything?

Thanks!

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I'd put in a 120 550 MBps SSD and a very fast HD (i.e. Seagate Barracuda XT).....If ya install to your own gamne folders (i.e. C:\[My-so-coolgame) it makes it very easy to swap out the game folder to the HD when ya not playing it that often. Ya renew ya interest and just copy it back to the SSD.

Any SSD will become cluttered up if ya not astute about how windows works ..... learn how to move user files to another drive, make sure e-mail is stored elsewhere .... sue a utility (i.e Steven Gould's Cleanup) to remove temp files, make sure e-mail is stored on another drive, etc.