Building a new Mac Pro tower. SSD really worth it?


Recommended Posts

Ok I'm about to build a freaking speed demon of a machine and I'm wondering is dropping the money for SSD really worth it? They are so small and for a solid state drive that is 500GB it'll be at least $1400 :(

I couldn't have anything lower than 500GB for my boot drive/home folder drive since all my apps will be installed there. I could move my home folder/applications folder to another drive but that would defeat the purpose of having a SSD which is that your Apps launch and run faster... thoughts?

Yep.

You could get an after market Intel 80gb or 128gb SSD for the OS and programs and also put in a 1 Tb secondary drive for storage.

Well I'll have plenty of storage... my other 3 internal drives are going to be 2TB each. :) But 128GB isn't enough for applications IMO....

How many apps do you really have? I have more apps than most people (entire Adobe Suite, Visual Studio suite, Office 2010 suite, 3 browsers, ftp, steam, IM client, torrent client, 7zip, winrar, zune player, imgburn, microsoft security essentials, n all sorts of others, probably ~100 apps) and don't even use the full 80GB of my SSD (got 30GB left running Windows 7). I just keep games separate and my OS/main apps load super fast. Keep temporary files/downloads/docs/pictures/mp3s on another hard drive and you shouldn't need much more unless you have hundreds of apps installed. Maybe Mac OSX works differently than Windows though.

I use a 60GB SSD (~$200) for my Mac Pro's boot drive + Applications. Home folder is on a WD640AAKS. Granted, my workflow doesn't include a ton of huge apps, but I use Aperture, Photoshop, and Illustrator along with a bunch of smaller apps. Right now I have 45 GB free on the SSD.

How many apps do you really have? I have more apps than most people (entire Adobe Suite, Visual Studio suite, Office 2010 suite, 3 browsers, ftp, steam, IM client, torrent client, 7zip, winrar, zune player, imgburn, microsoft security essentials, n all sorts of others, probably ~100 apps) and don't even use the full 80GB of my SSD (got 30GB left running Windows 7). I just keep games separate and my OS/main apps load super fast. Keep temporary files/downloads/docs/pictures/mp3s on another hard drive and you shouldn't need much more unless you have hundreds of apps installed. Maybe Mac OSX works differently than Windows though.

I do HD movie and music editing.... Final Cut is a 50GB Install and logic is a 30GB install.... :(

Actually I don't use ALL the tools that final cut came with so I could cut the install down considerably... and I just saw some other areas on my boot drive I could skim down... I could get away with a 256 SSD... what's the cheapest yet fastest 256 or 250 I could get?

I'm thinking of buying one for my mac pro? whats the fastest / cheapest (storage space is not a problem, it'll be for the OS and Apps only) 30gb is fine.

Also what would you need to get them to fit in the mac pro bays (3.5")?

Yes it is, I just upgraded my MacBook Pro to a SSD drive, and the speed improvement is amazing. Photoshop launches in seconds, it truly is amazing.

As opposed to what? Minutes?? :s

A ?400 PC I sometimes use with a SATA 7200rpm drive will open Photoshop in sub 3 seconds

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • I am not a fan of haptic feedback touchpads. I've owned a Surface Laptop 7 (Snapdragon) with one and a Lenovo Slim (Intel), and I hated both to the point where I purchased different laptops. It's not that they don't work most of the time; it's that they don't work 100% of the time, and there is no advantage from a user's perspective over a good mechanical trackpad like what's on a ThinkPad X1 or a Yoga 9i. I do not believe that I'll buy another haptic feedback touchpad laptop again in the near future.
    • Works fine here too. About this build, I don't like to download any kind of Windows, from any site except Microsoft. The mod might work, but I don't know what it's inside. Can contain malware, backdoors... Long time ago I've used something like this but reversed - it was 98se with the look and some functionality  of XP. Or, later XP with Vista look. But I made it myself. Not downloaded from obscure sites.
    • Rockstar gives last-gen GTA V players free upgrades tomorrow by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe Rockstar is preparing to launch Grand Theft Auto VI later this year, but ahead of that, the company has revealed a new offer for some Grand Theft Auto V owners. It today announced that Xbox One and PlayStation 4 version owners of the 2013-released title will soon be receiving a free upgrade to the current generation version. The studio released the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 version of Grand Theft Auto V back in 2022, bringing significant upgrades to the original console editions. This included 60 FPS gameplay at up to 4K resolution, as well as major upgrades to textures, draw distance, and audio. Faster load times, ray tracing elements, and HDR support were also added with it. While this new and enhanced version needed a new purchase of the game to jump in, now Rockstar has decided to make it a free upgrade, dropping the $40 price tag entirely on consoles. "Beginning tomorrow, those who own any PS4 version or the digital Xbox One version of Grand Theft Auto V will be able to upgrade to the PS5 or Xbox Series X|S versions at no additional cost, and experience the best versions of GTA V and GTA Online," said the company in an official blog post. The free upgrade offer will be released tomorrow, June 18, for all Xbox One and PlayStation 4 owners of Grand Theft Auto V. Players who will be jumping in on the offer will want to check how to migrate their GTA Online profile from last-generation to current-generation consoles by heading over here. The offer lands ahead of The Kortz Center Heist hitting Grand Theft Auto Online, where players and crews will be tasked with stealing priceless international art from a prestigious gallery in Pacific Bluffs. It doesn't look like Rockstar plans to stop updating its previous game even with Grand Theft Auto VI being on the horizon. The latest title is slated to launch on November 19, 2026, across Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5.
    • Now comes with a money back guarantee instead of a replacement! Hah
  • Recent Achievements

    • One Month Later
      Vincian earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • First Post
      Jocimo earned a badge
      First Post
    • Week One Done
      suprememobiles48 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Windows Guy earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Month Later
      Prasann earned a badge
      One Month Later
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      511
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      172
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      89
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      76
    5. 5
      neufuse
      69
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!