Lightening The Load With Crucial And Seagate
When it comes to running real-world benchmarks, SSDs don't make a big impact, which is why they'reĀ generally given a lower priority in our System Builder Marathon series. But we know they have a much bigger experiential impact than the numbers give them credit for. So, with no budget cap on this PC, we decided to go with the parts list that'd yield top-end usability, and that includes an SSD.
Storage guru Andrew Kuās tests have shown that we canāt go wrong with Crucialās 256 GB m4.
Of course we couldnāt get by with just 256 GB, as this machine was made for more than just games. Video and large image files would require at least one conventional hard drive.
A pair of Momentus 750 GB drives give us the option of super-fast 1.5 TB RAID 0 or redundant 750 GB RAID 1 arrays. This 2.5” drives would increase airflow and reduce weight compared to their 3.5” siblings, and we still have a BD-R upon which to dump any accumulation of old files.
We were extremely pleased with the performance of LGās external drive, but disappointed by its selection of interfaces. The interface problem goes away when you install a drive internally, so we were even more pleased to find the internal version for $80. BD-R performance isnāt among todayās benchmarks however, so we substituted the new drive for a used part we had laying around.