Upgrade Advice Needed - Separate SSDs or Single

[NHDataHound]

I completed a build recently with a Samsung 840 EVO 250GB and a WD Caviar Black 2TB. The HDD is just for project files, photos & video storage and was not intended for gaming (even though 7200 RPM should be fine).

The operating system and gaming performance is flawless, I love the Samsung drive. The problem is that I'm starting to feel a little bit cramped for space. With the OS, some developer tools and several games I'm already down to 90 GB of free space. There is no way that I have found to split my game libraries and install some Steam/Origin games to the HDD and some games to the SSD, so it seems like an 'either or' decision for game storage.

I am torn between upgrading my SSD to either:

Option 1:
Samsung 840 PRO 128GB (OS+Tools)
and
Samsung 840 EVO 500GB (Games Only)

Option 2
Samsung 840 EVO 500GB (Everything)

Option 3
Samsung 840 EVO 1TB (Everything)

This is one of those things that I know doesn't really matter in terms of performance, but for some reason I'm stuck on and could use some expert opinions.

Option 1 exists because in the back of my mind I want to think that there might be a performance gain by splitting the OS and games into different drives...however I might be wrong and it is actually worse for gaming performance.

Option 2 exists because splitting the OS might not actually help anything, it's $100 cheaper and still doubles my SSD storage space.

Option 3 exists because I'm already willing to spend for option 1 and if performance will be boosted a lot compared to the 500GB version, then why not a little more.

Any tips or insight would help me finally drop the hammer on final storage setup and put this build to bed.

 

[Entomber]

Option 1 is pretty pointless, your choice will simply be between Options 2&3 depending on how much money you're willing to drop on a SSD.

Personally, I wouldn't be willing to buy a 1TB SSD because the price is just crazy.

 

[USAFRet]

There is no way that I have found to split my game libraries and install some Steam/Origin games to the HDD and some games to the SSD

Steam does this natively.
Steam on the top Menu
Downloads
Steam Library Folders
Add Library Folder

Point it to where you want

I have 3 locations. 1 on the C SSD, 1 on the secondary SSD, and the main bunch on the HDD.

 

[swifty_morgan]

didn't one of you admins make a sticky of this? was a good write up about this very thing.

 

[NHDataHound]

Option 1 is pretty pointless, your choice will simply be between Options 2&3 depending on how much money you're willing to drop on a SSD.

Personally, I wouldn't be willing to buy a 1TB SSD because the price is just crazy.

I have a bit of a trick up my sleeve in the form of $100 in credit on Amazon, so it eases the pain a bit on the price. Unless the 1TB would actually perform worse than the 500GB, that's the way I'm leaning if not option 1.

So, there would be no advantage to splitting Windows onto a separate, high performance SSD separate from game installs then?

 

[NHDataHound]

There is no way that I have found to split my game libraries and install some Steam/Origin games to the HDD and some games to the SSD

Steam does this natively.
Steam on the top Menu
Downloads
Steam Library Folders
Add Library Folder

Point it to where you want

I have 3 locations. 1 on the C SSD, 1 on the secondary SSD, and the main bunch on the HDD.

That is a game changer. I'm still going to upgrade for the breathing room, but that means the HDD, might get a lot more use than it would otherwise.

Trying this as soon as I boot up tonight.