What SSD should I get

So I just ordered myself a new envy17. Unfortunately, it comes with a 1TB 5400 rpm drive (the upgrade to a 120gb SSD was 600!!!). So I will probably be using the 1TB drive as main data storage and for secondary applications.
For the system drive and the main application I am thinking about getting a SSD.

First, I am not sure if a 120gb should be enough or if I have to put more money down to go to a 240gb. My old notebooks system (xp) and program partition is only 90gb and seems to be good enough.
Now as of what SSD to get. There seems to be a lot of differences as in what you are using it for. So here are my uses.

1.) CAD and 3D CAD applications like Revit or Archicad.

2.)Adobe CS suite with pretty large files (nothing much smaller than 250MB, I can easily get up to 1gb file sizes). When it comes to Adobe, I usually have photoshop, illustrator and inDesign running at the same time.
The above two probably make up about 60% of all work.

3.) office applications 15%

4.) Rendering programs (Artlantis and V-ray) 10%

5.) Web and gaming 15%

I have been looking into these 3 SSDs in particular:

Samsung 470 128GB
OCZ Vertex 2 120GB
Kingston SSDNow V+ Series (on sale at newegg + $50 off mail in rebate).

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks guys.

 

I don't think you will be comfortable with a single 120GB to be honest. My own 120GB proved to be far less than enough for both CAD and CGI usage. You might want to get a larger SSD or be prepared to use an external "storage" drive most of the time.

I have no experience of using those, but I am very happy with my Intel SSDs. For instance, Intel X25-M 160GB might be worth considering as something suitable for your needs.

 

I would still have a 1TB secondary drive installed, so storage would not be the issue. I was more worried about the applications maxing out the space. I would assume that CGI would run better if the tmp files could be on the SSD rather then the regular HDD.[/QUOTE]

A bit on the pricy side, but it might just be the good alternative in between the 120 and 240, and I did only hear good things about the intel drives. So yes, I will look into this one. Thanks

 

Absolutely. Also, you might want to keep in mind that your SSD would feel much better if you leave 25%-30% free space on it all the time.

 

btw. sweet setup on your Sager

 

No need for 25% empty space on SSDs as far as I know. In my experience they keep more than 95% of their performance at 95% full.

Intel G2, Vertex 2, Corsair Force and Samsung 470 all perform at similar levels.

I'd probably look for a good deal on a Vertex 2 or Corsair Force 240. Samsung gen 2 256GB is often very cheap on Ebay.

 

Just keep in mind that if you plan to get a Vertex 2 or Corsair (or any other Sandforce drive), keep your Adobe scratch files on your 1 TB drive; Sandforce doesn't like incompressible files like photos and video.

 

I'd say samsung if you're gonna handle large incompressible files..I think it's one of the best at transferring large files cause of the high write speeds..Otherwise go with the OCZ or Corsair..Just make sure you understand the risks of the high failure rate.. I don't have hands-on experience, this is just an observation based on extensive internet research on ssds..I currently don't have one yet, still choosing what would be the best buy..