Going for it

[Egghead]

So I have been using HD and I am ready to get some SSD's. Problem is that I am seeing a lot of reviews from sites and people with data and there is a lot. So I wanted to know what you all think I should fall under.

 

I play games, use Microsoft Office for work (running a business) and I install and uninstall a lot of programs. What I do is test out programs like antivirus programs and utility programs to see whether or not they are as good as they say. I probably do 2-5 a week. I also "sandbox", not sure if SSD's will improve anything there. Currently, I have Windows 7 64-bit, mobo has ICH10R and is triple channel and currently I have two Seagate HD in RAID0, but as mentioned I want to dive into the SSD world.

 

Everyone seems to say that the higher the read the better for games and OS for loading. But since I do the install/uninstall stuff, I wonder should I push the write speed as well?

 

I am looking at the following;

Crucial C300's 64GB (high reads, low writes)

G Skill FM-25S2S-60GBP2 60GB (high reads and writes)

Corsair Force CSSD-F60GB2-BRKT 60GB (high reads and writes)

 

My plan is to move the two Seagate's as just for storage (music, videos, My documents, My Pictures) and then get SSD's for the OS and programs. I back up daily as well.

 

So just needing some good input on what to do. Question is what am I looking for, low writes or high writes or does it even matter in my line of work and the stuff I do? Two SSD's in RAID0 or just one? Thanks

[Shurman292]

So I have been using HD and I am ready to get some SSD's. Problem is that I am seeing a lot of reviews from sites and people with data and there is a lot. So I wanted to know what you all think I should fall under.

 

I play games, use Microsoft Office for work (running a business) and I install and uninstall a lot of programs. What I do is test out programs like antivirus programs and utility programs to see whether or not they are as good as they say. I probably do 2-5 a week. I also "sandbox", not sure if SSD's will improve anything there. Currently, I have Windows 7 64-bit, mobo has ICH10R and is triple channel and currently I have two Seagate HD in RAID0, but as mentioned I want to dive into the SSD world.

 

Everyone seems to say that the higher the read the better for games and OS for loading. But since I do the install/uninstall stuff, I wonder should I push the write speed as well?

 

I am looking at the following;

Crucial C300's 64GB (high reads, low writes)

G Skill FM-25S2S-60GBP2 60GB (high reads and writes)

Corsair Force CSSD-F60GB2-BRKT 60GB (high reads and writes)

 

My plan is to move the two Seagate's as just for storage (music, videos, My documents, My Pictures) and then get SSD's for the OS and programs. I back up daily as well.

 

So just needing some good input on what to do. Question is what am I looking for, low writes or high writes or does it even matter in my line of work and the stuff I do? Two SSD's in RAID0 or just one? Thanks

In your line of work, I believe that a Sandforce drive would do very nicely (285 read/275 write). Because you do lots of installs, a high write speed would be very beneficial. Out of experience, I highly suggest you go for it. Do not chintz yourself on the size of the drive because they have an average of 2 million hours between failure, so chances are you will keep it around for a long time. Do not purchase the Crucial C300 unless your motherboard supports SATA 6gb/s. Any of the Sandforce drives will do, as I believe they are all fairly similar. I have the OCZ Vertex 2 which I bought for the high IOPS compared to some drives, but the Mushkin Callisto drives are good as well. Just go with a company you trust.

[SpeedCrazy]

Just as a caution. The more you install and uninstall, the quicker the drive will wear out. But other than that go for it.

[Egghead]

So would sticking to a single drive to utilize the TRIM support help with the wearing out? Or since I do install/uninstalls so much that it will not matter, I will just be wearing it regardless of TRIM?

 

I am not well versed yet on these SSD's, but I am looking at this from one side performance and I needed to have my feet planted and you guys have helped out. I need to look at this from also from a reliability side. I wait for your responses, but I agree what you say, don't get a small drive. I think a 120GB would do good.

[Shurman292]

So would sticking to a single drive to utilize the TRIM support help with the wearing out? Or since I do install/uninstalls so much that it will not matter, I will just be wearing it regardless of TRIM?

 

I am not well versed yet on these SSD's, but I am looking at this from one side performance and I needed to have my feet planted and you guys have helped out. I need to look at this from also from a reliability side. I wait for your responses, but I agree what you say, don't get a small drive. I think a 120GB would do good.

120 GB is a decent sized SSD, this should do you nicely. From what I understand, TRIM has nothing to do with wearing an SSD out. On an SSD without TRIM, if you delete a file the data for that file is still written on the drive but the address within the OS's system file is deleted. So when that sector of the SSD needs to be written to again when placing a new file in that sector, it has to delete the old content and then write the new content, effectively slowing the drive down. Instead, TRIM forces the SSD to actually delete blocks of data when the OS deletes them so that when new files are written to the SSD, the OS is writing to "fresh" memory. I hope this makes sense and if not there are tons of websites that try to explain TRIM out there. If I were you, I would not mess with assigning any SSDs to RAID because chances are your RAID controller will give you issues and the SSDs are already much, much faster than any HDD RAID array could ever be due to their low seek time.

 

As far as reliability goes, you will most likely replace the drive with a faster one before it dies

[Egghead]

120 GB is a decent sized SSD, this should do you nicely. From what I understand, TRIM has nothing to do with wearing an SSD out. On an SSD without TRIM, if you delete a file the data for that file is still written on the drive but the address within the OS's system file is deleted. So when that sector of the SSD needs to be written to again when placing a new file in that sector, it has to delete the old content and then write the new content, effectively slowing the drive down. Instead, TRIM forces the SSD to actually delete blocks of data when the OS deletes them so that when new files are written to the SSD, the OS is writing to "fresh" memory. I hope this makes sense and if not there are tons of websites that try to explain TRIM out there. If I were you, I would not mess with assigning any SSDs to RAID because chances are your RAID controller will give you issues and the SSDs are already much, much faster than any HDD RAID array could ever be due to their low seek time.

 

As far as reliability goes, you will most likely replace the drive with a faster one before it dies

 

 

What you said makes total sense to me. So sites are so convoluted with detailed statistics, it's hard to understand what the hell they are talking about. Your explanation was easy to understand and thank you. Thanks for the advice, will do.

[Shurman292]

What you said makes total sense to me. So sites are so convoluted with detailed statistics, it's hard to understand what the hell they are talking about. Your explanation was easy to understand and thank you. Thanks for the advice, will do.

You're welcome, hopefully everything works out well for you!