Help deciding whether to buy ssd

[FullHalfEmpty]

Hello, I am soon upgrading my CPU and Motherboard therefore having to reinstall windows. I was considering buying a new SSD because I know it will significantly increase the performance of games but not sure if it will speed windows up (im not bothered about start up times of my computer).
I wasnt sure whether to upgrade now, or save up for a larger drive. Also, how easy is it to transfer windows from HDD to SSD, without losing data, or would that not be nesecary and just use the drive for games etc...
I really would just like to hear you guys' opinions, or what you would do.
Thanks in dvance!

 

[FullHalfEmpty]

Just so you guys know, the SSD I am likely to buy will be a 120gb or 240gb kingston drive off amazon because it is the cheapest

 

[herrwizo]

If you want an SSD to improve performance in games, you are looking at a wrong hardware. SSD will improve your loading times only - meaning faster windows startup, faster application startup, faster games startup, faster level loading. But your frames per second will get 0% boost.

I would also avoid Kingston drives, especially if it is a V300 model which has decreased in quality a lot during the last year. Get Samsung 850 EVO or Crucial MX100, much better quality.

Transferring windows including all data from a HDD to an SSD can easily be performed by using any of the hard drive cloning tools, like Easeus Todo Backup, Acronis True Image and many others. You don't have to migrate all data, just WIndows with applications. HDD is still best for storing large files, since SSDs are usually small and you don't want to fill them up completely.

 

[mx_mp210]

Hello, I am soon upgrading my CPU and Motherboard therefore having to reinstall windows. I was considering buying a new SSD because I know it will significantly increase the performance of games but not sure if it will speed windows up (im not bothered about start up times of my computer).
I wasnt sure whether to upgrade now, or save up for a larger drive. Also, how easy is it to transfer windows from HDD to SSD, without losing data, or would that not be necessary and just use the drive for games etc...
I really would just like to hear you guys' opinions, or what you would do.
Thanks in dvance!

Yes, SSDs will improve OS performance but it will not affect the gaming experience much, it's your preference to use SSDs or not. SSD cost higher then HDD and again it depends what you want , read/write speed or more space. Adding up SSD will only improve loading speeds. While adding faster RAM, Graphics will have positive effect on gaming experience. If you are not bothered on start up times I'd recommend to get HDD for more space.

Important : Since you mentioned about changing CPU - Motherboard , it's advised to do a clean install , because older chipset drivers might crash entire OS on your hard drive. Depending upon hardware vendor it might not happen but taking precautions are good.
And if you are planning to install it on SSD along with new motherboard and new cpu, of course you cannot move entire OS without breaking it. So do a clean install and move your important data from system drive to other partition in your HDD.

 

[sjefrawww]

I bought a SSD to have games on. Bought it mostly for cutting down loading times for anno 2070, but the difference is unnoticable. But with games like BF4 I'm one the first's in on the map

 

[FullHalfEmpty]

Thanks guys for your help! How easy/ quick is it to transfer a file (such as a game) from HDD to SDD (and vice versa). Also, can I keep transfering data (eg. When I want to play a game, put it on SSD, and when I finish playing, put it back on HDD to save space) or is that not recommended and I should just leave it where it is?

 

[mx_mp210]

Leave the files where they are, HDD is a good place, writing cycles are considered bad so transferring files back and forth will only do harm to lifespan of hardware, not good for little performance gain.

 

[sjefrawww]

Your HDD will be your bottleneck. Your SSD won't be able to send data faster than your HDD can write.

 

[FullHalfEmpty]

Thanks everyone for your help! Turns out I knew hardly anything about SSDs... I've decided I'm going to wait before buying a SSD, primarily so I can save up to get a better one.