[Solved] Installing SSD after the fact?

Forum Systems : CyberPower [Solved] Installing SSD after the fact?

Hello everyone, I ordered the below system on 1/1/2012 and am now considering that I should have gotten an SSD. I chose the 2TB HDD because it was $13 more on holiday sale than the 500GB HDD and figured it would be nice to move from machine to machine as I upgrade to keep all of my media etc.

Now I am considering ordering an SSD. My concerns are:

1) Difficulty of install?
2) PSU (How much more will this pull and will I have sufficient power supply still?)
3) Warrenty (Would installing an SSD void my warranty with cyber power?)

This is the SSD I am considering currently:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227706

Gamer Xtreme 1000 SE (NO MONITOR)
GX1000SEZ, http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system [...] e_1000_SE/
*BASE_PRICE: [+899]
BLUETOOTH: None
CARE1: Ultra Enhanced Packaging Solution - Protect Your Dream System During Transit [+19]
CARE2: Professional Wiring for All WIRING Inside The System Chassis - Minimize Cable Exposure, Maximize Airflow in Your System [+19]
CAS: CoolerMaster HAF 912 Mid-Tower Gaming Case w/ Adjustable HDD Cage (Black Color)
CASUPGRADE: None
CD: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive (BLACK COLOR)
CD2: None
COOLANT: Standard Coolant
CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-2500K 3.30 GHz 6M Intel Smart Cache LGA1155 (All Venom OC Certified)
CS_FAN: Maximum 120MM Case Cooling Fans for your selected case [+9]
ENGRAVING: NONE
FA_HDD: None
FAN: CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo Gaming Cooling Fan [+4]
FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
FREEBIE_VC1: FREE Just Cause 2 Game Coupon [+0]
GLASSES: None
HDD: 2TB (2TBx1) SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [+0] (Single Drive)
HDD2: None
IEEE_CARD: None
IUSB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
KEYBOARD: Xtreme Gear (Black Color) Multimedia/Internet USB Keyboard
MB_SRT: None
MEMORY: 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory [+10] (Kingston HyperX)
MONITOR: None
MONITOR2: None
MONITOR3: None
MOTHERBOARD: [CrossFireX/SLI] GigaByte Z68X-UD3H-B3 Intel Z68 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ Lucid Virtu Intel Smart Response Technology & 7.1 Dolby Home Theater Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, 4x SATA-III RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe, 3 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI (All Venom OC Certified) [+66]
MOUSE: XtremeGear Optical USB 3 Buttons Gaming Mouse
NCSW: None
NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
OS: None - FORMAT HARD DRIVE ONLY [-83]
OVERCLOCK: No Overclocking
POWERSUPPLY: * 850 Watts - Corsair CMPSU-850TXV2 80 Plus Power Supply - Quad SLI Ready [+76]
RUSH: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 10~15 BUSINESS DAYS
SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
SPEAKERS: None
TEMP: None
TVRC: None
USB: None
USBFLASH: None
USBHD: None
USBX: None
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB 16X PCIe Video Card [+41] (EVGA Superclocked [+25])
VIDEO2: None
VIDEO3: None
WNC: None
_PRICE: (+1085)

Message edited by CapC on 01-06-2012 at 04:41:08 PM

Reply to CapC

1) plug it in and use it like a normal HDD. If you want to get the most bang possible then there are plenty of windows/BIOS tweaks to try which will make a huge difference in performance and longevity of the drive, but they are not required to make the SSD work properly
2) SSD will take less power than a traditional HDD
3) Read your warranty to see if it will void it. Most companies do not mind the replacement or addition of a HDD or CD/DVD, while others will void warranty just by opening the case. If you cannot read the legal jargon then give the company a call, I am sure someone there will be able to give you clear direction.

OCZ drives do work great, so long as you have the latest firmware. Buying one new *should* have the latest firmware installed already, but you will want to do a little research just in case. I would also look into Samsung or Crucial, as their prices are beginning to match OCZ (at least in the high end drives), but their drives are far superior when it comes to quality of parts, better firmware, better stability, etc. OCZ still wins on sequential read/write, but 99% of what you will do with the drive (programs and OS) are not sequential, so it does not matter.
All that being said, I have an OCZ and enjoy it

Note that you will need a windows disc or restore CD to re-install the OS to the new drive as imaging from a HDD to SSD has limited success, and even when it does work things tend to run slower than a clean install on the drive. Copying a backup image to the SSD is not the same as a clean install.

Lastly, you could save some money building a similar machine yourself. The only thing you gain by buying pre-built is the warranty and a little piece of mind that you wont mess up building it yourself. But building PCs is very easy, and there is plenty of online help out there to help you do it right.

Message edited by CaedenV on 01-06-2012 at 04:55:31 PM

------------------------------ PC: ASRock Extreme3 Gen3, i7 2600, CM Hyper 212 EVO custom fans, 16GB Corsair XMS3 @ 1333, GTX 570, OCZ ZS 750W, 2.5GB HDD Space, Thermaltake V3 Black Edition, Hanns-G 27", Win8CP 64bit

GPUs: http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] cs-card-re
Reply to CaedenV

The SSD will consume much less power so forget about that issue. I recently cloned my boot HDD to a much smaller SSD using a transfer kit provided by a company called Apricorn. Cost about $20 on Newegg or you can buy it included with an M4 SSD from Crucial which, from reviews, is more reliable than the OCZ you're considering. I'm very happy with my M4.

Reply to ram1009

Best answer

Power supply will not be an issue, they don't pull much power.

I skimmed through the warranty and didn't see anything about it being voided by adding a part like that, but I could be wrong. You may want to read it thoroughly, or ask the company directly.

As for the difficulty, generally it's very easy depending on what you want to do. Do you want to use it as storage for fast applications, or do you plan to reload Windows onto it? If that's the case, there is quite a bit to consider when having SSD as the main drive. A) most people recommend setting your drive to AHCI before installation so that it uses that driver to allow your system to achieve faster speeds. Also, you need to disable disk defragmentation and drive indexing on the SSD. Probably a good idea to redirect personal files and other system storage points off to your physical drive to free up space on the SSD for applications/games.

Reply to digitalzom-b

Thanks for all of the great info! Let me clear up a few things before I ask the next question...

I plan to keep the 2TB HDD for a media storage and use the SSD for boot/adobe photoshop and a game or two most likely. The 2TB HDD I'm assuming will be connected when I receive the PC but will come blank.
I have a copy of Win 7 Pro 64bit I plan to install. So when the machine arrives...
I plan to remove the HDD, connect the SSD, run the initial windows install on the SSD then connect the HDD.

Is this the correct way to perform this?

Additionally, I plan to run a virtual machine or two, should these be created on the SSD or HDD?

Message edited by CapC on 01-06-2012 at 05:37:25 PM

Reply to CapC

Yes, that's the best way to do it .

However, for the virtual machine, I guess that's up to you. How much space do you want to dedicate, and what kind of performance do you want out of your virtual machines? I run my VM out of my storage drive because I don't need the speed, and want to save the speed for my games/applications on the SSD. SSD space is precious, just keep that in mind .

Reply to digitalzom-b