G73SW SSD - OS install or IRST?

With my G73SW running W7 starting to show it's age and a still empty hard drive slot after 2 years I've decided to finally get myself a SSD to improve performance as much as possible until it's last puff of smoke. What I'm trying to decide is whether I should go for a larger (and thus more expensive) SSD and do a full OS install plus a few programs on it, or opt for a smaller drive and use Intel Smart Response for caching. I have hardly used a PC with a dedicated solid state drive, but I do have an ultrabook running W8 using ISRT and find it fairly snippy (though to be fair it doesn't do much heavy lifting).

Obviously an OS install would perform much better overall, but I'm trying to weigh the costs v. benefits in the short and long term. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

Go full SSD so you dont have to rely on the HDD at all. You'll see a much better performance increase vs adding a cache drive. Also make sure to change the SATA connection type in the BIOS to AHCI.

 

I seem to remember Asus machines not supporting the caching technology but that may be that their caching is just simply done with another piece of software.

But I agree an OS on an SSD with your few most used apps is going to be the fastest.