First build in 7 years. Question about AMD with SSD and HDD.

[dylan1776]

I've been wanting to upgrade my pc since my cousin came home from overseas and showed me his custom pc. So ive been doing lots of research since January trying to get back in the swing of gameing builds. The one thing thats been bothering me is AMD with an SSD with HDD vs. Intel cacheing. I've always been an intel fan but im looking to purchase the AMD fx-8120 and overclocking it. My cousin told me it would be better to get an SSD for my operating system Windows 7 and HDD for storage. The only thing is i have no clear answer for what cache is for intel since this is new to me.

So the question is will i be able to use AMD processor, compatable mobo and an SSD for my OS. and games, music, pics, applications on my HDD. Or is this only exclusive to intel. If so is SSD worth it.

All answers and comments are greatly aprreciated.

 

[jimmysmitty]

The Intel SSD caching is when you take a small SSD and use it as a cache for a large HDD to speed the HDD up.

You can use a SSD with a AMD system, its just the new storage type. But i would hope you did some real research into what to buy and are buying based on performance, not cores and what not.

Right now the best bang for buck CPU is a Intel Core i5 2500K.

As for is a SSD worth it, I have a 80GB Intel X25-M and its fast. Its only the OS and a few small apps but it makes Windows load much faster than a HDD can. Most HDDs take about 30-60 seconds, depends on the HDD along with loading apps, while most SSDs will take less than 10 seconds even with more apps loading.

This is mainly because most HDDs can barley hit 100MB/s while SSDs are at 250MB/s for SATA II and 550MB/s for SATA III. Right now the best SSDs are the Intel 520 and Samsungs SSDs. Both have insanley fast SATA III connections and hit about 550MB/s read and 450MB/s write.

 

[caqde]

SSD caching is currently an exclusive feature for the Z68 motherboards for Intel based systems. BUT, there are other options for caching using an SSD. Any system can take an SSD and use for installing windows onto though.

1) Romex is working on a software solution that uses both Physical memory and SSD for caching data you load/use from the HDD and store it onto a faster media for later use. Currently this is in Beta (0.7.2) and is free as of now I would mainly use this for caching data to physical memory it does provide a good speed boost to a system using a HDD. (Program is called FancyCache)

2)Nvelo offers a software solution (to Business customers for Consumer Products) that allows for caching data from the main drive to a smaller SSD to help speed up the drive (Downside is slow bootups when the system has an unexpected shutdown, I have no personal experience with this software but it is reported in many customer reviews) Some SSD's provided by Corsair, OCZ, and Crucial come bundled with this software and are the only way to get this software.

3) Some RAID cards offer SSD caching as a feature. This would be similar to what the Z68 provides.


ADDITION:
Whether you want to use an SSD as your main drive is dependent on your needs and how much data you prefer to leave on your C: drive not to mention budget. I prefer the caching method as I put a lot of data onto my main partition as I don't have the money for a large SSD so for now I am using FancyCache with 6GB of my 16GB of total system memory as a cache for my Main HDD. provides a good speed boost when loading my software.

EDIT: lots of changes.

 

[dylan1776]

Thanks for the info. I've been doing lots of research so don't worry. Like I said I'm a big intel fan. I used to shun anything to do with amd but the prices are very appealing. My original choice for a system was the 2500k overclocked with a asus z68 chipset mobo and some sort of GeForce 560 for gaming. I would've already purchased that setup if it weren't for the new ivy bridge CPUs coming next month along with the z77 mobos. I'm guessing the prices won't be to different from the current 2500k. Should I wait for the ivys and z77 then.

 

[dylan1776]

SSD caching is currently an exclusive feature for the Z68 motherboards for Intel based systems. BUT, there are other options for caching using an SSD. Any system can take an SSD and use for installing windows onto though.

1) Romex is working on a software solution that uses both Physical memory and SSD for caching data you load/use from the HDD and store it onto a faster media for later use. Currently this is in Beta (0.7.2) and is free as of now I would mainly use this for caching data to physical memory it does provide a good speed boost to a system using a HDD. (Program is called FancyCache)

2)Nvelo offers a software solution (to Business customers for Consumer Products) that allows for caching data from the main drive to a smaller SSD to help speed up the drive (Downside is slow bootups when the system has an unexpected shutdown, I have no personal experience with this software but it is reported in many customer reviews) Some SSD's provided by Corsair, OCZ, and Crucial come bundled with this software and are the only way to get this software.

3) Some RAID cards offer SSD caching as a feature. This would be similar to what the Z68 provides.


ADDITION:
Whether you want to use an SSD as your main drive is dependent on your needs and how much data you prefer to leave on your C: drive not to mention budget. I prefer the caching method as I put a lot of data onto my main partition as I don't have the money for a large SSD so for now I am using FancyCache with 6GB of my 16GB of total system memory as a cache for my Main HDD. provides a good speed boost when loading my software.

EDIT: lots of changes.

Thanks for the info. I've been doing lots of research so don't worry. Like I said I'm a big intel fan. I used to shun anything to do with amd but the prices are very appealing. My original choice for a system was the 2500k overclocked with a asus z68 chipset mobo and some sort of GeForce 560 for gaming. I would've already purchased that setup if it weren't for the new ivy bridge CPUs coming next month along with the z77 mobos. I'm guessing the prices won't be to different from the current 2500k. Should I wait for the ivys and z77 then.

 

[phyco126]

Personal opinion based on what I am doing: Wait for Ivy Bridge, it will be the same price and offer superior (okay, only 5 - 15%) performance over Sandy Bridge. It also looks to clock higher and cooler due to the die shrink. You should also wait for the new nVidia cards to be released. They are due around the same time as Ivy Bridge and are supposed to offer the best performance over AMD's GPUs (though this will yet to be seen as the cards aren't out yet). According to some rumor, the GTX 660 is supposed to be as fast as the GTX 580 is today.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Thanks for the info. I've been doing lots of research so don't worry. Like I said I'm a big intel fan. I used to shun anything to do with amd but the prices are very appealing. My original choice for a system was the 2500k overclocked with a asus z68 chipset mobo and some sort of GeForce 560 for gaming. I would've already purchased that setup if it weren't for the new ivy bridge CPUs coming next month along with the z77 mobos. I'm guessing the prices won't be to different from the current 2500k. Should I wait for the ivys and z77 then.

At first, IB will be more expensive. The retailers will price gouge early adopters.

The 5-15% is noce, but in gaming it probably wont be that much as most games are GPU bound these days.

 

[caqde]

At first, IB will be more expensive. The retailers will price gouge early adopters.

The 5-15% is noce, but in gaming it probably wont be that much as most games are GPU bound these days.

Also depends on the type of game RTS's will benefit alot from that extra 5-15%. Anandtech has an early preview of Ivy right now so we can see what type of difference there is in performance between the two. The performance shown on their site allowed for a good performance improvement in CPU bound games like RTS's but not much in many FPS type games that are GPU bound they also showed that the HD4000 is slower than the HD6550D (A8 Desktop) GPU in most (all but one) cases. Despite being connected to an obviously faster CPU.

Performance in games with a Discrete card.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5626/ivy-bridge-preview-core-i7-3770k/9

 

[dylan1776]

At first, IB will be more expensive. The retailers will price gouge early adopters.

The 5-15% is noce, but in gaming it probably wont be that much as most games are GPU bound these days.

I will post my AMD build choices shortly and you can tell me what you think

 

[jimmysmitty]

Also depends on the type of game RTS's will benefit alot from that extra 5-15%. Anandtech has an early preview of Ivy right now so we can see what type of difference there is in performance between the two. The performance shown on their site allowed for a good performance improvement in CPU bound games like RTS's but not much in many FPS type games that are GPU bound they also showed that the HD4000 is slower than the HD6550D (A8 Desktop) GPU in most (all but one) cases. Despite being connected to an obviously faster CPU.

Performance in games with a Discrete card.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5626/ivy-bridge-preview-core-i7-3770k/9

The thing about those reviews, Intel stated to Anand that the drivers were not ready so things may very well change upon relase. I wont get my hopes up but if Intel can smooth their drivers out they may be able to get their 2x better than SB in IGP marks.

Plus the CPU could see more of a benefit with finalized drivers.

But that said, IB will still be price gouged at first. We couldn;t get SB-E until a week ago because the only distributor was price gougin like crazy. Intel suggested $299, they wanted $390 basically $100 bucks more or 33%. We finally got a distributor who gave us the best price so we can sell it not too much above retail.

So I expect $250-$300 for the 3570K and $400ish for the 3770K to start, not quite worth the 5-15% I predicted and then there is mobos which will be a bit more.

I will post my AMD build choices shortly and you can tell me what you think

I would be happy to. I still say the 2500K is the best bang for buck but post your ideas and I will be more than happy to help you out.

 

[phyco126]

But that said, IB will still be price gouged at first. We couldn;t get SB-E until a week ago because the only distributor was price gougin like crazy. Intel suggested $299, they wanted $390 basically $100 bucks more or 33%. We finally got a distributor who gave us the best price so we can sell it not too much above retail.

So I expect $250-$300 for the 3570K and $400ish for the 3770K to start, not quite worth the 5-15% I predicted and then there is mobos which will be a bit more.

I remember when the E8400 came out. Better performance over the similar clocked E6850, but when it came out it was actually $70+ cheaper. It is something I have come to expect from Intel ever since, and looking at release prices of their processors before, each processor was faster and cheaper than the one it replaced (except the high-high end series). For Intel to release these processors at the same price makes me sad that they broke their steady price-lowering cadence.

 

[jimmysmitty]

I remember when the E8400 came out. Better performance over the similar clocked E6850, but when it came out it was actually $70+ cheaper. It is something I have come to expect from Intel ever since, and looking at release prices of their processors before, each processor was faster and cheaper than the one it replaced (except the high-high end series). For Intel to release these processors at the same price makes me sad that they broke their steady price-lowering cadence.

Intel is keeping the pricing the same as SB. But distrubutors and retailers like to price gouge early adopters to make extra money. Trust me, I work at a PC store. We sell parts and fix PCs and we tend to have to wait about a month when new stuff comes out to be able to get it at a good price.

As for the price lowering, Intel doesn;t have any major comeptition to warrant price lowering but we may see sub $300 6 cores in one or two more generations. Plus software hasn't really caught up to quads yet alon 6+ cores.

 

[phyco126]

Intel is keeping the pricing the same as SB. But distrubutors and retailers like to price gouge early adopters to make extra money. Trust me, I work at a PC store. We sell parts and fix PCs and we tend to have to wait about a month when new stuff comes out to be able to get it at a good price.

As for the price lowering, Intel doesn;t have any major comeptition to warrant price lowering but we may see sub $300 6 cores in one or two more generations. Plus software hasn't really caught up to quads yet alon 6+ cores.

Oh, believe me, I'm not arguing or disagreeing with you on any of it. I was simply reflecting how it sucks that prices will stay the same. Sure there is an early adoption, but in what, a month or two prices should normalize?

 

[dylan1776]

Personal opinion based on what I am doing: Wait for Ivy Bridge, it will be the same price and offer superior (okay, only 5 - 15%) performance over Sandy Bridge. It also looks to clock higher and cooler due to the die shrink. You should also wait for the new nVidia cards to be released. They are due around the same time as Ivy Bridge and are supposed to offer the best performance over AMD's GPUs (though this will yet to be seen as the cards aren't out yet). According to some rumor, the GTX 660 is supposed to be as fast as the GTX 580 is today.

Well I was waiting for the new CPUs to come out along with the new nvidia cards so the current ones will drop a little. I've had my eye on the current gtx 570. I thing the gtx 660 will be a little pricy. My plan would be to buy this now and upgrade the mobo and CPU when the new haswell processor comes out. I guess investing in the gtx 660 now would pay off into the future. What do you think?

 

[amuffin]

Just wait and see!

 

[dylan1776]

The thing about those reviews, Intel stated to Anand that the drivers were not ready so things may very well change upon relase. I wont get my hopes up but if Intel can smooth their drivers out they may be able to get their 2x better than SB in IGP marks.

Plus the CPU could see more of a benefit with finalized drivers.

But that said, IB will still be price gouged at first. We couldn;t get SB-E until a week ago because the only distributor was price gougin like crazy. Intel suggested $299, they wanted $390 basically $100 bucks more or 33%. We finally got a distributor who gave us the best price so we can sell it not too much above retail.

So I expect $250-$300 for the 3570K and $400ish for the 3770K to start, not quite worth the 5-15% I predicted and then there is mobos which will be a bit more.



I would be happy to. I still say the 2500K is the best bang for buck but post your ideas and I will be more than happy to help you out.[/

Ok. I've decided to go with intel because amd just doesn't beat intel/nvidia combo from what I've learned. I'm most likely going to purchase intel i5 2500k, asrock gen3 mobo (it's one of those gen3s I can't remember which at the moment), gtx 570 or gtx 660 when released next month. Haven't completely made my mind up because waiting for the new nvidia cards. So with that being said I would like it to be future proof but we know that's impossible when it comes to technology. So would probobly upgrade the CPU/mobo when the intel Haswell comes out next year, so I think the gtx 660 would be a good investment for the future. What do you think? I just feel the 2500k couldn't compete anymore against the Haswell.

 

[amuffin]

i5-2500k
asrock z68 extreme 3 gen3
8gb corsair vengeance ddr3
gtx 660 or 570
Corsair tx750w (Great model, has enough for sli)
128gb ssd
Case of your choice
cooler master hyper 212+ (great price/performance)

 

[dylan1776]

i5-2500k
asrock z68 extreme 3 gen3
8gb corsair vengeance ddr3
gtx 660 or 570
Corsair tx750w (Great model, has enough for sli)
128gb ssd
Case of your choice
cooler master hyper 212+ (great price/performance)

yeah thats pretty much my shopping cart at the moment. I chose the NZXT phantom case for future upgrades. Ill just wait and see what happens with new releases next month.

 

[amuffin]

Anther option is get an i3 or pentium gxx series cpu and then upgrade to the ivybridge stuff later on.

 

[dylan1776]

Best answer selected by dylan1776.