SSD vs HHD

I am planning to get an alienware but the thing that troubles me the most is the option on the hard drive! it is between the 128GB SSD (with a 1TB external for memory) or a 500GB HDD.

thing is, is the SSD really worth the money? would the lack of space be troublesome? (since the OS and certain stuff will have to be on the laptop)

please give your opinions if the HDD is good enough or the SSD will make a big difference.. ty!

ooo.. and also if you think a 6GB RAM is good enough as compared to a 8GB

this is gonna be for a m15x

 

It depends on what you plan on storing on your internal drive and what your uses are.. If performance and speed (i.e. file transfers, boot times and less chance of a hard drive crash) are what is important, go with the SSD. If you plan on storing all your files, songs, games, media etc. on your internal hard drive, then the 128GB SSD may not be enough space. If you're gonna use an external for all your storage like you said, then it's a no brainer.. The 128GB SSD will be plenty of space for your OS and other common files/programs..

As far as memory goes, again, it depends on what applications you plan on running,, but generally speaking... 6GB of RAM is MORE than enough. 4GB is plenty. Most people go for the 8GB just to have "the best" and so they can fell all comfy cozy when they go to bed at night..

 

I personally am holding out on SSDs due to their price, but I look forward to them being affordable--they seem to be great additions to the pc world.

As for RAM, 4-6 is plenty. General concensus is that 8 is overkill for most users.

 

/thread
No seriously a SSD is well worth it, its the best upgrade you can do on any computer nowadays.
6gb is more than enough like GiSS and Crocs said.
The first few day with a SSD will feel unbelievable, but you will get used to it soon... Now when I use my desktop (with a HDD) I can't stand the waits

My 160gb SSD is about 65% free, I have few games installed, my music essentials, a movie or two and a couple of large programs!
I have 500Gb 2.5" portable HDD connected with the esata port (which is faaast!) and I have a terabyte 3.5" external HDD connected through USB.. So I don't need more space, even though I'm kind of a media !

 

I went with the 8 GB ram just because I plan on having this laptop for a long time and I want to continue gaming for a long time. 6 should be fine and I went with the 500 GB hard drive just because it would be easier in the long run plus it was cheaper. I have a 1 TB external harddrive so I have enough space.

 

Nice, I couldn't agree more.. For 1, I love having the best of the best and I have 6GB of RAM.. Also, I go for performance, which is why I went for the dual 256GB SSD's in Raid 0 as mentioned in my sig..

 

wow talk about overkill, i don't see a need to raid ssd.

 

You read my mind lol... The only top components I don't have in my system is.. I have 6GB of Ram instead of 8GB.. I have a Blu Ray player instead of a burner, and I could have gone with a better wireless card.. All said, I'm more than happy with my system, If I could get it to work properly lol.. If you're really wondering, it was about $4500 or so.

 

lol.. its hard for me to even consider one of those 256 GB SSDs..
... silly question.. would there be any point if say i store and run my games from the external? >"<

 

I think it depends on how you use Ram. in my case I set it up to speed up Loading up game maps Where it only take a second to load up. Like we can take Crysis. From One map to the Next Map Only a second. I dont worry about the textures becuse the dual gpus work just fine. The only slow down is the Hard drives. I will be buying a ssd drive after I build my next system.

My ram Disk Score


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This is basicly what I am trying to do From One part of Lord of the rings to another part of lotro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJzXm_4j8E4

 

Running your games on an external will bottle neck load times. It'll save on space, but your load is going to be limited by the speed of USB 2.0. and the external mechanical HDD read times.

 

I could barely afford an SSD but knew that I wanted to have one so I got the smallest size but best performing. I just keep all my storage files on external drives and am very diligent about deleting unnecessary files from the SSD. So if you can deal with having external drive(s) for storage you should be fine with even a small size SSD.

 

While my R1 was running I loved the SSD. It owned on all levels of the playing field.

 

This is an excellent solution may are doing and many are also switching their DVDs out for a bracket and hard drive swap as well.

 

The best thing you can do is get two 512GB SSD's and RAID 0 them for 1TB SSD. Now if you don't have a huge amount of money or an M17x I would get the 500GB HDD. But I don't find boot times that much of a big deal. But then again, I'm currently using XP. I have an ~1.5-2 minute start-up time with a 7,200 RPM HHD, 2.0Ghz processor, and 512MB of RAM.

 

Maybe a silly question but why isn't the net used more often for storage?
Besides the programmes I need to keep the computer running, there is nothing on my HDD. I save everything that needs saving on a virtual harddrive and everything I download that I don't need on my computer, I download directly onto an 8G memory card (U3). I also run programmes like Skype, Firefox, Thunderbird and translation software from there. Works great and keeps some space on your HDD for games.

 

I have read that if you run 6gb of memory that you can't run dual channel, which I believe is not a performance improvement. So I would say get the 8gb.

 

In my particular case, consistent, reliable, and fast access to the internet is non-existent. I must rely on local storage.

Besides, given the political climate in the US, I simply don't trust my private data in the cloud to be safe from government prying eyes.

 

I already have a thread and benchmarks about playing games off external hd. I turned the 5400 sata 2 drive that came with the m11x into an external gaming hd.

In truth the SSD is worth it. The load times, gaming smoothness, transitions... its hard to put into words. I wouldn't take te SSD back, that is for sure. I may get a larger capacity SSD when I have more money and they go on sale. Best Wishes, Steven X

 

yea... probably gonna get the SSD =D tyty

 

SSD is the best which is why I ordered a 200gb Vertex LE which is just the best SSD out there except for Vertex 2. Though both are quite similar in performance.

I will post test with the Dell SSD and after I switch to the Vertex LE SSD. I am pretty sure it will make some difference.

 

Hmm the best eh? Let me throw this in for you to compare to when you get her in eheheh. Its an OWC Mercury Extreme RE. You are welcome to find and throw in a vertex 2 score as well if you like.

Just having some fun. The 3 drives are up there as being superior but I would never jump on which is the best. I would like to see either of those drives when they are completely filled giving off the bench results seen below though.

 

Well I said the best, I should have said one of the best...

I will post bench results as soon as I have it in... Well maybe later as I might have the drive in way before the R2 comes in. Amazon already shipped it and Dell has my PC on estimated delivery around June 21st.

 

Les, could you do me a big favor and use the random data and take a screenshot? I would like to see how it performs when it's full and doesn't use the compression

 

How do I do that???

 

Keep the disk full as you have it and click File -> Test Data -> Default (Random)

 

Will admit the performance changes on this... It is the same with these disks and ATTO. I wouldnt believe that would account for uncompressed readings however would you? In any case the disk isnt full but i will see if I can dig up that scoring... it was low 200s read and just under for writes I believe.

 

Yeah I expected the performance to be lower, that's why I asked so I can confirm it. Since the thread is SSD vs HDD my comment here is that even on a full SSD the performance will be greater than that of a full HDD.

Les, whenever you have time could you post the results on the other thread so we can have them all in one place and make comparisons?

 

Is it worth it to get the SSD option from Dell? $220 for a 128 gb SSD or $570 for a 256gb SSD seems like a pretty good deal compared to similar sized drives for sale on Newegg.

 

I personally opted for the 256SSD from Dell & have been very pleased so far. The drive I have now has trim, though even with my first drive not having it, it was still extremely fast even after lots of use. They smoke the 7200 vr hdd in my desktop. I like it because its fast, quiet, & doesn't put off any heat.