want to get my first SSD

[Rescue119]

First .................Merry Christmas to all............


Ok since there wll be some good deals on boxing day I want to get a SSD and a bigger HD

Since I havent had a ssd yet I was wondering what I should look for. I am looking at around 60g SSD and a 2T HD. I havent used raid much so would like some advice or a link to a beginners setup to this kind of setup.


And the brands I am look at for the SSD are crucial, OCZ and Kingston.

Thanks in advance.

[AkG]

Why do want to RAID SSDs?
The 60s are slower than the 120s and for the price of two 60s you can get one 120gb ssd AND have a lot left over to put towards the HDD. ;)

TBH I always recommend getting the best and biggest SINGLE SSD you can afford rather than two, as it is easier to add an second one later IF you need even more speed. BUT most peeps are more than happy with one SSD.

Where you are running Win7....just about ANY SSD would be good. The "best of the best" are A) Intel B) SandForce C) Crucial

I wouldnt get a Intel (unless its a killer deal) as the gen 3s are coming out soon and while good the gen2s are showing their age. For SF drives, look at the Vertex 2, Mushkin Callisto Deluxe or other FULL speed firmware enabled drives they are worth the couple bucks more over the hobbled versions (Agility 2, Corsair Force, Patriot Inferno, etc). The Crucial C300 is also a very good drive. Pick one of those three controller based SSDs and you cant really go wrong.

[Rescue119]

ok so i get one ssd and use that as a primary with the OS and maybe a few games I play the most..........then just have the HD as storage etc.......If i run out of space on my SSD i can install the games on my HD and have no problems..........

sry i have always had just one HD.......maybe i will just get a 120 SSD and keep my 250g HD

[AkG]

Yes. That is what I do. Though what I personally do is I have a Seagate XT 3TB for my Steam folder and have all my apps and the such on the SSD. I dont mind a little longer load time as my fav games wont fit on a 120gb'er (my steam is about 400gb's). YMMV but a fast HDD like the 2TB WD Black or Seagate XT 2TB is very fast for games (not AS fast as when they are on the SSD...but fast).

Personally, no matter what you do with your games I would keep 15-20% free on the SSD as that way it will have more room for the wear leveling to work. With the 120s, I like to consider them 100s and with the 60s I like to consider them 50gb'ers. The more room free, the more free cells, the longer the SSD will last. This assumes you plan on keeping it for 3+ years as otherwise I doubt you could do anything to it to kill it faster than that! :)

[Rescue119]

ok cheers

[Fudd Rucker]

Got my SSD up and running and jesus the perfomance is like night and day. Only had enough room on my drive for windows and 1 game mind you. But my Civ 5 problem is finally fixed.

[FreeKnight]

Too late to this thread to add any help,
but AKG you know you can install steam games outside of the steam folder?
Tutorial: move single Steam games to other partitions/drives - Steam Users' Forums

[BootlegUsher]

Hey guys, I want to get my first SSD too and this is the lowest price I have seen this drive for:

Kingston SSDNow V100 2.5in SATA II Solid State Drive, 128GB at Memory Express Computers

Should I get it? I am on AMD so I hear TRIM doesn't work, and these are supposed to have good garbage collection. Thoughts?

[Scart]

I am in exactly the same boat as BootlegUsher.
I plan on hitting up MemEx tomorrow and am not sure which drive to get (and have AMD).

Some similar deals are these:
Intel:
Intel X25-M SATA Solid-State Drive Kit, 120GB w/ Adapter at Memory Express Computers

Corsair:
Corsair Force Series Solid State Drive, 120GB at Memory Express Computers

Zalman
Zalman N Series Solid State Drive, 128GB w/ SandForce Contoller at Memory Express Computers

[Blu]

^ I would personally go with the Intel one as they seem to perform pretty good in reviews, check out the latest mushkin review here, Mushkin Callisto Deluxe 40GB SSD Single & RAID Review

Just to check out the comparisons of the other devices.

I've also heard pretty good about the sandforce controllers so maybe that might be a better choice.