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SSD upgrade or video card upgrade?

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Graphics card Expert

I can't really decide which one to upgrade first, but I don't have the money for both for now. For the SSD I will go for the Crucial M4, which its very cheap and offers good performance. For video card, I will either getting GTX 660 / GTX 660 Ti / HD 7850 since they are cheap and also good performance cards. SSDs are alot faster than HDDs, uses lesser power, and lower failure rate. A video card gives better gaming performance.

Heres my current specs:
Intel core i7 2600
8GB DDR3 RAM - 1333 Mhz
AMD Radeon HD 6770
1TB HDD in RAID 0

I think my HDD is bottlenecking my system. Thats why i might go for a SSD. But I want a better video card as well... Any suggestions for which should I upgrade first?

More about : ssd upgrade video card upgrade

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Graphics card Master

That is a matter of personal preference because both will add something to your system and it would depend on what you do with it. If you feel that your hdd is bottlenecking your system then adding a better video card will futher add to that bottleneck. I don't think your hdd is bottlenecking your system especially if you have a raid setup and the cpu and ram definetly are not so at this point a video card would be the first choice. If you are a gamer then the video card will give you the most performance increase , aa SSD will only help in loading the maps in gaming after the map is loaded the SSD has no effect so the video card will be the thing to go with first.
Graphics card Expert

inzone said:
That is a matter of personal preference because both will add something to your system and it would depend on what you do with it. If you feel that your hdd is bottlenecking your system then adding a better video card will futher add to that bottleneck. I don't think your hdd is bottlenecking your system especially if you have a raid setup and the cpu and ram definetly are not so at this point a video card would be the first choice. If you are a gamer then the video card will give you the most performance increase , aa SSD will only help in loading the maps in gaming after the map is loaded the SSD has no effect so the video card will be the thing to go with first.


My HDD RAID 0 setup is kinda BS. My cousin set it for me, and i wasn't that good in technology back then. I realized that my RAID 0 setup is 2 totally different drives, one of them 1TB and one of them 500GB. I guess both of them are 7200 RPM. One of the HDDs is about 6 months old, while the other HDD is about 4 years old.... I am kinda scared that my older HDD will fail somehow. Whats your opinion about it?
Graphics card Master

If your concerned about the raid then the best thing to do is break it up and just use them as single drives. I would still go with the video card upgrade first.
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Graphics card Master

I definitely wouldn't use raid 0 with those. And Harddrives don't bottleneck your system as far as gaming is concerned. All you'd see is faster load times so a GPU is the way I'd go. an SSD is just SN "extra"
Graphics card Authority

ipwn3r456 said:
Does SSDs gives better gaming performance as well? Why or why not?

It will reduce loading times. But unless you're getting a high capacity (256GB or higher) SSD, it is going to fill up quickly if you install all your games on it. Especially if you use Steam and have multiple games installed at once. I tried steam on my 120GB SSD and it was full before I got all the games installed. Get a video card, it will improve gaming way more than a SSD.

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Graphics card Master

The only benefit you get from a SSD in gaming is that it will load the maps faster. I would still get one but as I said the video card should come first.

You say it was two completely different drives? Did he set it up in a JBOD array?

Do you get the full 1.5TB?

I'm fairly sure there's almost no performance increase with JBOD arrays.
Graphics card Expert

Umm, since major of you guys commented getting a video card, which video card should I go for? I am thinking of the HD 7850, GTX 660, or the GTX 660 ti. But I heard rumors said that GTX 660 Ti is around $299 to $329, so I think i would either go for HD 7850 or the GTX 660. Should I go for the HD 7850, or wait for the GTX 660?
Graphics card Expert

AidanJC said:
You say it was two completely different drives? Did he set it up in a JBOD array?

Do you get the full 1.5TB?

I'm fairly sure there's almost no performance increase with JBOD arrays.


I put it on RAID array... So i only get 1TB on RAID 0.
Graphics card Authority

ipwn3r456 said:
Umm, since major of you guys commented getting a video card, which video card should I go for? I am thinking of the HD 7850, GTX 660, or the GTX 660 ti. But I heard rumors said that GTX 660 Ti is around $299 to $329, so I think i would either go for HD 7850 or the GTX 660. Should I go for the HD 7850, or wait for the GTX 660?

I believe the 660 and 660ti are a few months away from release. When did you want to upgrade? The 660ti will outperform a 7850, and a 660 probably will too, so it might be worth the wait.
Graphics card Expert

Might not going for GTX 660 Ti because it quite too expensive for me. I am in budget... So I hope the GTX 660 will beat the HD 7850 in performance. But I think that Nvidia is too late for their mid-range market... AMD is getting more money from it... I can't wait until the GTX 660 or GTX 660 Ti to come out.
Graphics card Authority

ipwn3r456 said:
Might not going for GTX 660 Ti because it quite too expensive for me. I am in budget... So I hope the GTX 660 will beat the HD 7850 in performance. But I think that Nvidia is too late for their mid-range market... AMD is getting more money from it... I can't wait until the GTX 660 or GTX 660 Ti to come out.

What's your budget then?
Graphics card Expert

Was supposed to be $200. But since the HD 7000 series and the GTX 600 series uses 28 nm technology, uses less power, and i have a 460 watts power supply... Have to raise my budget for about $250. So yeah $250 U.S. dollars is around my budget.
Graphics card Authority

then your options are 560ti, 6950, or 7850. I'd go with the 7850 for performance and less power consumption.

Or wait out the 660, might be about $250. That's what has been speculated anyway..
Graphics card Expert

6950? I don't think my power supply can handle it. GTX 560 ti is a pretty good card, but the HD 7850 still beats it on performance by a little. So probably the GTX 660 or the HD 7850 is my best choice.
Graphics card Authority

ipwn3r456 said:
Does anyone know when does the GTX 660 comes out?

No exact date is set. All we know is that its supposed to be Q3 of this year.


Also, you can run a 6950 with that power supply. I would still recommend the 7850 over it though.
Graphics card Expert

Q3 2012? Guess i have to wait for atleast 2 more months... And the HD 6950 would probably kill my power supply if i am going to put one of these.... Even if it works, It might underperform...
Graphics card Master

ipwn3r456 said:
Can anyone answer my question?



There have been no news on that subject and there's not even any leaks or rumors. People are just guessing because it only makes sense for the card to be released sometime this year. I think that unless you want to wait without knowing a date then you have to go with what's in front of you for a video card selection.
Graphics card Expert

inzone said:
There have been no news on that subject and there's not even any leaks or rumors. People are just guessing because it only makes sense for the card to be released sometime this year. I think that unless you want to wait without knowing a date then you have to go with what's in front of you for a video card selection.


Yeah I know theres no rumors about the GTX 660, but theres alot of rumors about the GTX 660 Ti. Rumors have said that the GTX 660 Ti have 1152 CUDA cores, while the GTX 660 have only 768 CUDA cores.... very huge difference. I guess prices between those two cards will be quite large.
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