Question about storage config...

[Vicpdx17]

So i am building a new build with a Ivy bridge cpu and had some extra budget left over so I was thinking of doing this:

either 2 1TB Hard drives or 2 256gb SSD's. Windows would be on one SSD with games to.

These are the games I would be playing:
Flight Simulator X with PMDG 737NGX addon and Ultimate Traffic 2.
Mirror's Edge 1 and or 2
Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 3
Max Payne 3
The Sim's 3
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and 3
Battlefield 3
Sonic Generations
Bus Cable Car simulator
and More.....

What config would you recommend? Or would you recommend that I just get one of each and find a another part to spend the money on?

 

[chesteracorgi]

If you want a fast boot and generally faster operations then your best configuration is a boot SSD. Games, generally, do not get appreciable benefits from SSD storage.

I recommend that you get an SSD boot drive (preferrably Samsung 840 Pro or IBM) and a HDD for storage.

My SSD/HHDs:

2 X 256 GB Samsung 840 Pros in RAID 0 (Boot)
2 X 2 TB Samsung
2 X 1.5 TB Seagate
1 X 3 TB Hitachi

plus

2 X 2 TB Seagate on NAS in RAID 1.

 

[Vicpdx17]

oh ok I wont do a raid config. Now If I wanted to just an OS SSD and then a separate SSD for games only what size would you recommend for the OS one?

 

[StrikeMyrmidon]

You're going to want to get a 128GB SSD for your main OP. OR you can opt to get the 90GB from Muskin I think? I forget the name of the brand. I've run Windows 7 on a 64GB before and its just... pitiful how little room you have left. After installing drivers and windows updates, you're left with very little wiggle room.

As Corgi said: Games don't benefit as much from a SSD as the operating system does. Your best bet is to just get one SSD for OS boot and a HDD for games and everything else. As long as you're running SATA, you shouldn't have any issues.

Honestly, if you're going to run two SSD anyway and ignore what we're saying, there is no reason for you not to run RAID0 and stripe it. It might add a half second or so during boot since it needs to load the RAID drivers (from what I experienced) but your overall performance once you get in will benefit significantly. TRIM actually from what I remember doesn't work under RAID conditions (I might just be outdated), so you just need to make sure you let garbage collection is run.

Side note: I have a fairly large storage space/server as well.

Sitting on 2 SSDs on my main rig and something crazy like 16TB of HDD storage on my home server.

 

[Vicpdx17]

Oh ok I see what you guys mean So i am thinking of buying 1 corsair Neutron blue SSD for the OS and the games and media on a WD Blue 1TB or should I go black?

 

[chesteracorgi]

With the loading of games, the WD blue will be slower than the black, but the difference may not be all that great. I recommend the one with the better warranty and MTBF (probably the black).

 

[StrikeMyrmidon]

The black is definitely a better option if you have money to spare.

 

[Vicpdx17]

oh alright and I was thinking 2 ssd's because Someone told me that it will kill your hard drive faster if you game on it rather than an ssd.

 

[chesteracorgi]

Not really. Once a game is loaded it only needs to go to disk for commands that are not initially loaded. HDDs generally do not negatively impact gaming unless you are short of RAM and thy need to use artificial memory via a RAM cache to disk.

 

[Vicpdx17]

that makes sense! so pretty much I think I will go 120gb Samsung 840 series for my boot drive/some games I can fit and then the rest on the WD Black drive for multimedia and games I cant fit.