[RocShemp]

The RAM of my PC died (4 GB down the drain) so I decided it was upgrade time. I ordered a Corsair High Perform Vengeance 16GB DDR3 1600MHz 4-pack of RAM and a XFX Radeon HD 6850 Black Edition 1GB DDR5 PCIe video card (to replace my Sapphire Radeon HD 5670) from TigerDirect.


Once it's all installed, my new setup will be the following:

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

Corsair High Perform Vengeance 16GB (4 × 4GB) DDR3 1600MHz RAM
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 750 @ 2.67GHz

XFX Radeon HD 6850 Black Edition 1GB DDR5 PCIe
MSI P55M-GD41 Mainboard

Aerocool PGS Qx-2000


Can't wait to play Battlefield 3 and Mass Effect 3 on that setup.

 

[MSmith83]

It looks like a good upgrade. Enjoy!

 

[asdf512tx]

Nice setup. I will be building this fall.


The only thing I would of added would've of been a SSD.

 

[N8DOGG]

Once you go to an SSD, there is no going back!

 

[RocShemp]

Thanks, guys. I really wanted a SSD but couldn't afford one.

I also need to get two exhaust fans to install in my case. One intake fan is not enough cooling.

 

[pcweber111]

Yep gotta build the system one piece at a time, no worries. Once you can afford an SSD though I would highly recommend it. I won't ever go back to a standard platter boot disk.

 

[Dashboard]

Nice setup, looks like the one I have.


You'll have plenty of fun with this!

 

[newfmp3]

SSD are nice, I use them in servers quite a bit. But I still do not trust them for important data. For my home machine I'd mirror them at the very least.


Speed wise there is no question....very quick.


In my latest build I'm playing with a SSD Caching driv in front of a Raid mirror using sata drives. Where you take a small SSD, in combo with a Z68 mobo, and you sorta get some SSD performance. It's ...interesting so far, not as quick as a true ssd obviously. I do not have a final opinion on it yet.

 

[RemoWilliams84]



Quote:
Originally Posted by newfmp3 /forum/post/20880676


SSD are nice, I use them in servers quite a bit. But I still do not trust them for important data.

I don't trust them for important data either. I use my 120gb SSD for my operating system, my most used applications, and whatever games I happen to be playing. All of that is easily reinstalled if it ever goes out. Everything else goes on my 2tb HDD.


Makes a world of difference in cold boot times as well as app load times. I used to turn on my pc, go get a drink, and go to the bathroom and still have to come back and wait for it to finish booting. Now I turn it on and within 15 seconds I'm up and running.

 

[newfmp3]

it takes me a day or more to reinstall. So I'd mirror two 120 ssd's. I use my machine for quite a few things. Pain in the @#$ to setup. Besides, no telling what I'd lose with only one hd as my OS drive. I often leave important files on the desktop, or in my profile. I've ran a mirror for my OS for so long now, I can't go back to a single drive....I'd be paranoid.

 

[RocShemp]

Thanks for all the info, guys. I was always thinking of using a SSD as a boot drive and keep all my data in my HDD. Guess I had the right idea.

Of course, I have no idea how to set that up since I've never used multiple HDD's (or an SDD for that matter) before.

 

[RemoWilliams84]



Quote:
Originally Posted by newfmp3 /forum/post/20880854


it takes me a day or more to reinstall. So I'd mirror two 120 ssd's. I use my machine for quite a few things. Pain in the @#$ to setup. Besides, no telling what I'd lose with only one hd as my OS drive. I often leave important files on the desktop, or in my profile. I've ran a mirror for my OS for so long now, I can't go back to a single drive....I'd be paranoid.

Yeah, I've also got an external I back up to regularly. I've been burned too many times to rely on one storage device.

 

[JediSpork]

I think a ssd only speeds up the initial loading of a os or program. Would be handy for games that have long load times. While nice to have I don't think its worth it when the drives are limited on space and have reliability issues.

 

[MSmith83]

An SSD is also good to have for modern games that stream lots of data off of the drive in an in-game environment. It significantly cuts down (and in many cases, eliminates) associated stutters.


Mechanical hard drives are really showing their age with games, and the nature of the technology can very much be the weakest link in a good gaming PC.

 

[JediSpork]



Quote:
Originally Posted by MSmith83 /forum/post/20884237


An SSD is also good to have for modern games that stream lots of data off of the drive in an in-game environment. It significantly cuts down (and in many cases, eliminates) associated stutters.

I have a 32 gig ssd that was a tight fit with windows. If you had to choose wouldn't a ssd be better as a gaming drive since the os is already in ram?

 

[mudfrog]

I typically run a 64GB SSD in my pc builds. It's enough for windows and your more frequently used programs. Just install the rest to a separate hard drive and your good to go.

 

[LexInVA]

I'm going with one large SSD for the OS and programs and another for games and the rest will be high-end HDDs. That's how I'm rolling. I just tested a Windows 7 install on a 160GB Intel SSD (with no programs other than the Windows stuff) and it left me with about 100GB after all the updates were installed and I removed the restore points/gobbledegook, so I would go with something bigger than 64GB since you need breathing room to maintain performance.

 

[mudfrog]

If you have enough RAM you do not need "virtual memory" which is the added performance.


On my work PC I use a 64GB SSD. I have Win 7 64bit installed, my more commonly used apps such as Office, etc. Since I have 8GB of memory I disabled the page file as it's not needed. I still have 28GB free as well.


Granted since this is in the HTPC section he will probably not be using 8GB but 4GB would also be enough to disable the page file. I have 4GB in my HTPC and I've never seen more than 2.5 GB used. That includes while gaming.


However I do not use an SSD in my HTPC. It's just overkill in my eyes. Since movies / music will be stored on a separate HDD you really will not see a huge difference unless your constantly boot your pc.

 

[MSmith83]



Quote:
Originally Posted by JediSpork /forum/post/20884249


I have a 32 gig ssd that was a tight fit with windows. If you had to choose wouldn't a ssd be better as a gaming drive since the os is already in ram?

That's a tough call, but I would probably use the SSD as a gaming drive and save up for a large capacity SSD for the OS, programs and currently played games.


Having the OS on the SSD will make things like full system virus scans much faster and less annoying. But, just putting some games and select programs on the SSD will likely yield more benefits if your focus is on gaming.

 

[N8DOGG]



Quote:
Originally Posted by JediSpork /forum/post/20884203


I think a ssd only speeds up the initial loading of a os or program. Would be handy for games that have long load times. While nice to have I don't think its worth it when the drives are limited on space and have reliability issues.

No, it speeds up everything related to the OS that is on the drive. Installing programs, games, programs etc.