Need Help as to the Best Course of Action to Upgrade My System.

[TStahler]

My current system consists of the following:

i7 3770K
32GB DDR3 RAM
Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H Motherboard
OCZ 1,000W Power Supply
MSI Twin Frozr Edition 680 GTX 2GB
2 3TB Toshiba 7,200RPM Hard Drives
1 250GB SATA 7,200 Hard Drive
1 128GB Toshiba Q Series SSD
1 120GB Kingston V300 SSD
1920X1080 60Hz Monitor

I have a couple of options for a cost effective upgrade. I use my system primarily for my home recording studio computer. So a fast computer that is relatively quiet is important. But, I do like my computer fast. So, I have found a couple of great upgrade options. Does anyone have any thoughts as to which of these options seems the best?

1) I found a used 680 GTX 2GB graphics card for $100 on Craigslist. I would probably need another motherboard since I don't think my current one supports SLI. Also, Would this make noise an issue? Would I really see a benefit at 60Hz at 1080p? Can I really trust a used card being sold so cheap on Craigslist? I don't think that I will get accurate info from the seller as to whether it was previously overclocked or not.

2) The Samsung 850 EVO (Non-Pro Version) is on sale at Microcenter for $89.99. I think that this SSD would be faster than my current Toshiba one. I would then use the Toshiba one as a secondary drive instead of the 250GB SATA Hard Drive. The five year warranty seems nice too.

3) I run a recording studio. So, Extra storage can always help for space. I found a Samsung Barracuda 3TB 7,200RPM Hard Drive for only $79.99. I would have to replace the 250GB SATA drive to make space for it, but extra storage space can always help.

I am only going to pick one of these upgrade options. Today most likely. Which one would yield the most performance improvement for the money? Which of these options would best suit my needs? Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[kira70591]

The 850 Evo is quite a bit faster than the V300 in numbers. Unless you are using it for a scratch disk, you will not see much real world difference. If you play games, another cheap 680 would benefit you; however, if your board does not support SLI you would have to get a different board.

If I were you, I would go for the 3TB drive. Recording takes up a ton of space and that 250GB HDD seems out of place and for so little storage space, it is taking up quite a bit of physical space which would be better utilized by the 3TB HDD.

 

[Onus]

^Makes sense to me too. If the primary use is work (rather than gaming), the extra storage seems like a cheap and easy upgrade.

 

[TStahler]

My main Solid State Drive that I have right now is a Toshiba Q series 128GB SSD. The Kingston is just a second one that I have that I threw into the system for extra storage.

I currently have 6TB of regular hard drive space, but I guarantee that I will eventually fill it.

Thank you for the feedback.

 

[filippi]

Which of these options would best suit your needs? 3TB 7,200RPM Hard Drive. Its a home recording studio computer. Cant do much of that w/ a 250GB HDD

 

[TStahler]

I also found a Toshiba 4TB Hard arrive for $119.99 and a Toshiba 5TB for $139.99. But, The one that seems to be the most cost effective is the 3TB Seagate Barracuda one for $79.

My current SSD only has about 12GB of storage space on it left, so maybe I can somehow offshoot some of the stuff off of it onto the secondary Kingston SSD?

 

[filippi]

Gaming-wise i have to say yes 680 GTX 2GB SLI is a nice upgrade for a 60Hz at 1080p setup.

 

[kira70591]

I also found a Toshiba 4TB Hard arrive for $119.99 and a Toshiba 5TB for $139.99. But, The one that seems to be the most cost effective is the 3TB Seagate Barracuda one for $79.

My current SSD only has about 12GB of storage space on it left, so maybe I can somehow offshoot some of the stuff off of it onto the secondary Kingston SSD?

Make sure to go through your Downloads folder and clear out anything that you do not need in there. Adjust your page file size as well. Also, clean up your temp folder and Windows Updates folder. The clean up can be done through Disk Cleanup. A full Windows Install + Microsoft Office can load up a smaller capacity SSD pretty quick.

 

[TStahler]

What eats up so much of my current SSD is Windows 8.1 Pro 64-Bit, Microsoft Office 2014 Professional Plus 64-Bit, and Samplitude ProX Suite recording software that I use for my studio is between 60GB-70-GB in size in itself. So, Between all three programs running on my C-Drive. That basically eats up the entire thing, lol.

 

[TStahler]

So just to confirm, Even with my current SSD being so full, Even after all temporary and download folders being cleared out, I should still stick with the extra 3TB hard drive? I have run CCleaner many times and the best that I get free is maybe 16GB. Is there a way that I can move my recording studio program from the C-Drive to the second SSD without having to uninstall and reinstall it? Would that help. Thank you everyone for all of your help.

 

[Onus]

You could clone your C: onto a larger (e.g. 250GB-500GB) SSD; that would be another very nice upgrade.

 

[TStahler]

So, I have my two ideas now narrowed down to either buy the Samsung Evo (Non-Pro) SSD for $89.99 and then clone my current Toshiba Q Seriers 128GB SSD onto it. Then, I guess the Kingston 120GB SSD in the system and the then no longer used Toshiba Q Series 128GB SSD's just become some sort of secondary storage?

Or, Can I off-load some of what is on the Toshiba onto my Kingston. I could use the Toshiba for the operating system and the Kingston for the Recording Software and Microsoft Office? And then I could buy a third 3TB hard drive for my system. Giving me a total of 9TB of regular hard drive space instead of the 6TB I have now.

Now, I am somewhat confused as to the smartest way to approach this for the greatest benefit. Thank you.

 

[Onus]

Is there a reason you cannot add the larger SSD and a larger HDD?

 

[TStahler]

I would love to buy all three ideas if I could, but the main reason that I can only get one is quite simply put, Money. Right now, I have an extra $100 to spend to add a simple upgrade to my computer and I am just trying to add the most cost effective upgrade to my system while still utilizing my current hardware to its fullest potential.

 

[Onus]

The bigger storage drive is most likely going to be the update you need most.
You might free up some space on your C: by removing parts of Office you don't use. Tell Windows not to use C: for a swap file, then delete the hidden file pagefile.sys from C:\. If there's a hiberfil.sys, turn off hibernation and get rid of that too.

 

[kira70591]

Yeah, your best bet is still the larger HDD. That smaller capacity HDD is just sitting there taking up physical space without giving some sort of tangible gain. A larger HDD would allow you to store more which will become increasingly important the more you record.

As for installing and reinstalling, you would have to uninstall the software and then reinstall on the secondary drive. It would create a program files folder on that drive.