which HDD setup is better? advice needed

ok, which one of the following option is better for the m17x r3?

1.) Raid 0 2x Momentus XT hybrid drives
lots of disk space and decent reading speed, less battery life due to both HDDs spinning?

or

2.) 1 SSD (120GB) + 1 HDD setup
OS and applications on the SSD, not sure about games, don't think 120GB is enough? If I install games on the HDD then i won't be able to take advantage of the SSD's performance?

I have a decent amount of steam games so space would be of concern.

the SSD is pretty expensive for me and I don't want to invest wrongly, advise needed

 

I prefer 1 SSD, but 120GB seems a bit small... WHat I would do is get a cheap regular HD and then upgrade afrermarket with a good 240/256 or even 512GB.

TO answer your question, if you get a 120GB and install games on a 2nd HDD then the load times will mostly be afected by the HDD, you will for sure see a benefit in the overall load times being that the OS/Cache/Page file will be in the SSD, but most definately not the best case scenario.

my 2c

 

First off, battery life differences between SSD's and platter drives are negligible. Both use roughly the same power under normal use.

Personally, I went the SSD + HDD route. The SSD will be much faster than even your RAID-0 Momentus HDD's, and 128 GB is enough for your OS and a bunch of apps. Regardless of where you install games/applications, you will still get a big performance bonus from having the OS on the SSD. However, you should put your most-used applications/games on the SSD for optimal performance.

As for SSD capacity, 128 GB is enough IMO. Sure, more space is better, but right now the 256 GB drives cost at least twice as much as the 128 GB drives (and the 512 GB drives are stupid expensive) so I didn't think that was a wise investment. In the future you can always upgrade once prices become reasonable.

You should'n't need a page file, so assume your OS will take up no more than 6 GB or so and the rest is application storage. You should make sure any non-application file storage is done on the HDD. Things like music, movies, images, documents & data, etc... If you do this, you should have room for a fair number of applications and games on your SSD. Just don't expect to have your whole Steam catalog installed on there.

 

all these are aftermarket upgrades btw, i already have the default 320GB HDD. looking to do some upgrade and improve performance

sounds good i'm looking into the intel, corsair, kingston or mushkin SSDs, sadly no crucial from where i come from

 

Ahh ok makes sense, I stand by what I said....I think 120GB will force you to micromanage space, however I'd take that over a normal drive any day.

 

even 60GB SSD will be enough if don't plan to install games on it

BTW What games do you play? If Starcraft then you should install it on SSD. If you like shooter then you can install it on HDD.

 

128GB is plenty of space, but like a previous poster has said, it does lead to mciro managment. Still, all my games, movies, music etc etc go on the 750GB HDD and only OS and important apps on the SSD.

in a month ive used 19 GB of my SSD.

 

hmm.. i have SC2 too but i don't play often, i play Crysis 1,2, warhead, witcher 2 and FFXIV frequently, i have a couple of steam games (like 10 or so, bout 90GB).

witcher 2 save files is like 6GB lol but the latest patch kinda fixed that.

speaking of micro management, i use windows restore points, should i completely turn this off? is it possible to restore to the HDD instead of SSD ?

 

I didnt turn this off as i also use it. I just reduced the amount of space it can use to a minimum.

 

cool, also does SSD improve framerates if you install the games on it?

 

Havent installed a game on it but i dont believe it does. Just dramatically improves laoding times, which for me isnt a problem.

Just on the system protection thingy, i have it set to max usage of 1% which is 1.19GB. that for me is acceptable and means i can safely restore when things go south......

 

lol 1%, i guess i really need to learn some space management skills nowadays

 

LOL, there is an awsome SSD optimization guide in the SSD install thread by Jywang, from disbaling things like hibernation and pagefile to deleting SP1 back up files..

 

depends on how much RAM you have. Possible to increase couple frames

 

I have the same issues here, configured my R3 with 320GB and am torn between 1TB - 2X500GB Momentus XT RAID 0, or a 128GB SSD and a 750GB HDD. I'll probably go the first route since at the moment my C drive already has 90GB used...

 

if you really need space, you might wanna consider using that 320GB as an external HDD to store your movies..etc.

i have 8GB 1333Mhz rams

 

I already have an external drive filled with system images and other stuff. I'm curious if there's nobody who would back the Momentus XT up

 

Maybe very slightly. Though, it will make a noticible difference on I/O heavy tasks like level load times and the like.

 

If those are your choices, I'd look at the Intel 510 SSD. If you can get the OCZ drives where you live, they would be worth a look too.

 

i read here that the OCZ is having issues with the m17x r3?

 

That was the older Vertex 2 drives I think. As far as I know the Vertex 3 and newer drive models work fine, at least from a compatibility standpoint.

 

sandforce controllers are still a pita. I would go either for crucial, samsung or intel

 

Ah, another reason I'm glad I got my M4 then.