SSD or fast HDD?


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Hi All,

 

I have had my rig for about a month, it is the first build I have done in almost three years and the first PC I have had in about the same :S

 

I have a WD 1tb internal HDD only, but I have seen a lot of info on SSD's to install programs etc on and then having an addition HDD for files etc.

 

So what I was wondering, are SSD's that good, and which ones is good performance and price wise?

 

Or is it more beneficial/reliable to get a fast internal HDD instead of an SSD?

 

Many thanks

CW-88

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An SSD is the way to go for improved performance, unless the rest of your system is ancient.

The Samsung 840 Pro is well regarded with respect to performance. The Samsung EVO series offers a more budget-oriented solution. If you don't require massive amounts of storage capacity and want a snappier system, definitely consider dropping in an SSD.

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I think it's best to run your OS and apps from an SSD - then your media files on a standard HD for size.

 

This ones currently a good price - you can get cheaper but not as fast (as far as I'm aware, correct me if I'm wrong)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-250GB-Basic-Solid-State/dp/B00E391OX6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398632930&sr=8-1&keywords=samsung+evo

 

And yep, they're really that good - a fast hard drive isn't anything like an ssd

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I say SSD for your OS, these have come a long way, fail rate is insanely low, but just to be in the safe side, always move your libraries such as Docs, Pictures etc to another HDD, and always keep a recent full system image backup somewhere too, so if something happens that your SSD gives up the ghost recovering will be a matter of minutes for you, I mean there's no comparison in terms of speed, you won't regret it.

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Thanks everyone!

 

I was contemplating it during the build but I couldn't commit to it but I think I will make the addition now.

 

in regards to cloning an HDD to the SSD is that a smart thing to do or would it best to completely wipe the HDD and reinstall OS and programs onto the SSD?

 

Either way it doesn't bother me as I don't have my files on my HDD, just programs, saved games etc.

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Trust me, when you go SSD. Its like meeting god. :)

 

Right now I am using a 256GB Samsung 840 Pro as my main drive.

And as for storage; 2x 2TB Seagate 7.2K RPM hard drive.

 

Samsung and Intel are the only SSD brand that I ve own. Both brand are reliable.

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So what I was wondering, are SSD's that good, and which ones is good performance and price wise?

Or is it more beneficial/reliable to get a fast internal HDD instead of an SSD?

Yes, they're that good. A Samsung 840 Evo, for example, will get up to 500MB/s for sequential reads, vs a very high end HDD which can get maybe 250MB/s. The only real question is whether you're willing to pay for that speed. A 500GB hard disk will set you back about ?30, whereas a 500GB SSD will set you back around ?200.

If you've got the cash to spend, and huge space isn't a requirement, an SSD is definitely a good investment for better performance. I install some of my games (and my OS) on my SSD, and the performance increase when loading things (jumping between levels, for example) is very noticable. Load times in Dishonored, for example, are about 2-5 seconds. I can also get Windows 8.1 to boot in about 10 seconds, and Linux to boot in about 12.

Also, don't concern yourself with reliability of SSDs. The general reliability of an SSD is equal to, if not better than, the reliability of an equivalent HDD. Both SSDs and HDDs have bad batches, so of course there's no guarantee that an SSD (or even a HDD) will last you 5 years, but most will.

With regard to which SSD to get, the choice is yours. I picked a Samsung 840 EVO 250GB for my build, very pleased with it, and the price/performance ratio is very good.

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Budget isn't really an issue but I just wanted to make sure the general consensus was "go for it" before I splashed the cash. :)

 

All sounds good to me, thanks for all your help!

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Thanks everyone!

 

I was contemplating it during the build but I couldn't commit to it but I think I will make the addition now.

 

in regards to cloning an HDD to the SSD is that a smart thing to do or would it best to completely wipe the HDD and reinstall OS and programs onto the SSD?

 

Either way it doesn't bother me as I don't have my files on my HDD, just programs, saved games etc.

 

Samsung SSD comes with Samsung Magician software which will copy your old hardrive to your SSD for you, but I always prefer to do a fresh install. Remove the other hardrive, in goes the ssd, install os, make sure all is working then pop the hd back in

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In the past year I have removed all spinners from my systems (OS X and Win 8.1.1).  As of thisd point I see no reason to ever go back to a spinner. . . :)

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Trust me, when you go SSD. Its like meeting god. :)

 

 

 

Indeed. There is NO going back. Use one for a while and you will realize just how huge of a bottleneck a mechanical harddisk has been to computer performance.

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Yes, they're that good. A Samsung 840 Evo, for example, will get up to 500MB/s for sequential reads, vs a very high end HDD which can get maybe 250MB/s. The only real question is whether you're willing to pay for that speed. A 500GB hard disk will set you back about ?30, whereas a 500GB SSD will set you back around ?200.

 

I think the majority of people don't buy for sequential reads/writes, it's more about the random I/O which is what makes them so damned fast in use.

 

You could go hybrid to get the best of both worlds, but from what I've seen, they never really match up to the performance from a dedicated SSD.

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I think the majority of people don't buy for sequential reads/writes, it's more about the random I/O which is what makes them so damned fast in use.

 

You could go hybrid to get the best of both worlds, but from what I've seen, they never really match up to the performance from a dedicated SSD.

 

You're absolutely right, Random I/O is much faster on an SSD. Sequentials were just the stats I had to hand at the time which demonstrated how much quicker an SSD could be :P.

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Thanks for all your replies! Normally when you see threads asking about specific hardware there are some negative comments thrown in/bad experiences etc but with this it has all been positive. Amazing. :)

 

So I just made a purchase:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-159-SA&groupid=701&catid=2104&subcat=2394

 

I went for this one because I have used up 125gb of my HDD with pretty much no actual documents saved, there is maybe 4-5gb of game mods, 1gb documents so I decided to go for a larger SSD to be safe.

 

Thanks for all your help!

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Thanks for all your replies! Normally when you see threads asking about specific hardware there are some negative comments thrown in/bad experiences etc but with this it has all been positive. Amazing. :)

 

So I just made a purchase:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-159-SA&groupid=701&catid=2104&subcat=2394

 

I went for this one because I have used up 125gb of my HDD with pretty much no actual documents saved, there is maybe 4-5gb of game mods, 1gb documents so I decided to go for a larger SSD to be safe.

 

Thanks for all your help!

Good selection, enjoy your new 840 Pro SSD :D

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Can't fault your choice. Nice work :)

 

For what it's worth, I have a 250GB SSD, and dual boot both Windows and Linux on it. I've still got plenty of space on the SSD (both partitions), you just have to be careful about where you keep stuff. Check the install directory when you're installing new programs, and keep massive or non-essential things on the hard disk. That way, you can keep your SSD space for the things that really need it (games, mainly :P)

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Always remember to back up things such as your docs in an area outside your SSD, just in case.

 

Very true, however this should be true of any useful stuff. Keep it in two separate places, and if possible make an offsite backup as well (Dropbox, Spideroak, Skydrive, Google Drive, can all be good cloud backup solutions :)

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Thanks for all your replies! Normally when you see threads asking about specific hardware there are some negative comments thrown in/bad experiences etc but with this it has all been positive. Amazing. :)

 

So I just made a purchase:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-159-SA&groupid=701&catid=2104&subcat=2394

 

I went for this one because I have used up 125gb of my HDD with pretty much no actual documents saved, there is maybe 4-5gb of game mods, 1gb documents so I decided to go for a larger SSD to be safe.

 

Thanks for all your help!

 

 

Good choice but you could have saved ?20 - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Series-256GB-Solid-State/dp/B009LI7CTY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1398708756&sr=8-4&keywords=samsung+ssd

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 I was excited :P

 

the last rig I had I had two HDD's, one for programs the other for docs so I will need to remember what you all said, check install directory before clicking confirm to ensure everything is on the SSD.

 

Now the wait begins, the most painful part.

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Once you've had an SSD, you can never go back. That's all there is to say :D

 

Seriously, a 4 second boot from grub to a fully loaded and working XFCE desktop is the bomb. Windows will obviously be slower, but still worth it. And that's just the boot up. Games, and other disk heavy apps really benefit from the access and write times. And don't forget noise, heat, and power.

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Thanks everyone!

 

I was contemplating it during the build but I couldn't commit to it but I think I will make the addition now.

 

in regards to cloning an HDD to the SSD is that a smart thing to do or would it best to completely wipe the HDD and reinstall OS and programs onto the SSD?

 

Either way it doesn't bother me as I don't have my files on my HDD, just programs, saved games etc.

 

Beware though once you felt to the dark side of the force there's no turning back.

 

You'll get used to SSD but every time you'll go back to a PC having a 7200rpm HD as a primary disk you'll want to tear your hair out.

 

The biggest difference between a SSD and an HDD is not really the speed. It is the ability of the SSD to sustain a lot of random IO without bringing the PC to an halt. This difference can be seen specially when booting. With an HDD once you get access to the desktop the system remains slow for some time while the OS loads all the background services. With a SSD once you see the desktop you are good to go with mostly full speed even if the OS is still loading background services.

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