what next?

ghutchison14078 · 23 Mar 2011 at 11:21

paradisiac said:
my music pretty much fills a 1TB drive, my films fill a 2TB drive too so dont think i will be getting these on a 64GB SSD.
with what i have now i am using around 60GB of my 1TB Raid0 so would only leave me 4GB free, now i know windows used to like atleast 21% of the drive to be free, is this still the case?

Pretty much!

Unless you have big cash to spend on the SSD your budget will be the limiting factor...if you can only afford one of the smaller capacity drives then you will have to install windows on it and then prioritise which other applications you use most frequently and would benefit most from the speed boost.

Remember you cant compare them to traditional HDD's drives for value...they are a completly different technology and product.

High end performance products are rarely value for money...but thats the price we pay to have a performance edge over mainstream tech.

paradisiac · 23 Mar 2011 at 11:22

cmndr_andi said:
This is how the upcoming Vertex 3 (240GB) compares (taken from this review). A 60GB version of this drive is expected imminently and looks like it will replace the Vertex 2E.

see im liking that, the figures look a lot better, but im sure it will have a hefty price tag?

paradisiac · 23 Mar 2011 at 11:25

ghutchison14078 said:
Pretty much!

Unless you have big cash to spend on the SSD your budget will be the limiting factor...if you can only afford one of the smaller capacity drives then you will have to install windows on it and then prioritise which other applications you use most frequently and would benefit most from the speed boost.

Remember you cant compare them to traditional HDD's drives for value...they are a completly different technology and product.

High end performance products are rarely value for money...but thats the price we pay to have a performance edge over mainstream tech.

but, is the technology still in such an early stage it would be crazy to spend £100 now, when in 2 or 3 months newer faster drives will be out pushing those prices down?
i know its the same with everything, the longer you wait the cheaper things are and there will always be better/quicker stuff on the horizon. but with SSD, is it still really early technology, which will make HUGE leaps in the next 12months or so?

ghutchison14078 · 23 Mar 2011 at 11:27

paradisiac said:
but, is the technology still in such an early stage it would be crazy to spend £100 now, when in 2 or 3 months newer faster drives will be out pushing those prices down?
i know its the same with everything, the longer you wait the cheaper things are and there will always be better/quicker stuff on the horizon. but with SSD, is it still really early technology, which will make HUGE leaps in the next 12months or so?

Again a valid point, always something bigger and better around the corner.

Get the best you can afford when you decide you need / want something...
...it would drive you mental always thinking "I could hold off and get something better in 3 months...." <---- this will pretty much ALWAYS be the case!!!

cmndr_andi · 23 Mar 2011 at 11:27

paradisiac said:
see im liking that, the figures look a lot better, but im sure it will have a hefty price tag?

It will be priced at the same level as the existing SSDs - so ~£200 for the 120GB version. However, on further investigation it doesn't look like there is a 60GB version planned at the moment.

paradisiac said:
but, is the technology still in such an early stage it would be crazy to spend £100 now, when in 2 or 3 months newer faster drives will be out pushing those prices down?
i know its the same with everything, the longer you wait the cheaper things are and there will always be better/quicker stuff on the horizon. but with SSD, is it still really early technology, which will make HUGE leaps in the next 12months or so?

It is in a relatively early stage, but at the moment the price is largely dependent on NAND flash prices. With the newer 25nm chips rolling into full production then hopefully things will get a bit cheaper soon - but with what is happening in Japan I wouldn't expect prices to go down too much in the next few months.

As for faster speeds - these vertex 3 drives are next generation drives. Drives that substantially beat these (and cost around the same) are not expected until at least 2012, however hopefully some competition with similar performing drives (like the Intel) will drive prices down a bit.

As mentioned above, there is always something faster round the corner - get the best you can afford when and if you need it.

paradisiac · 23 Mar 2011 at 11:36

thanks cmndr_andi and others. i think i will hold fire on SSD until the vertex 3 is out with some competition. if i can get a 120GB drive for the £130-£150 then that will be when i seriously look, ideally i would prefer £1 per GB but this looks like some way off.
so other than the HDDs, my system looks good?

ghutchison14078 · 23 Mar 2011 at 11:38

paradisiac said:
thanks cmndr_andi and others. i think i will hold fire on SSD until the vertex 3 is out with some competition. if i can get a 120GB drive for the £130-£150 then that will be when i seriously look, ideally i would prefer £1 per GB but this looks like some way off.
so other than the HDDs, my system looks good?

Yeah you have a strong system...if it does everything you need it to do at acceptable speeds then your laughing!!!

paradisiac · 23 Mar 2011 at 11:42

yeah it does most of what i want pretty quickly

just need to learn to use some stuff. am thinking stick in another 8GB of ram and maybe a blue-ray writer.

cmndr_andi · 23 Mar 2011 at 11:43

System looks very nice indeed.

Other than an SSD, the only things I would look to improve are either the monitor (go for either IPS or 120Hz), speakers/headset (depending on what you currently have) or mouse/keyboard (again depending on what you are currently using). Also, if you haven't already you may want to get an internal Blu-ray drive.

paradisiac · 23 Mar 2011 at 11:55

cmndr_andi said:
System looks very nice indeed.

Other than an SSD, the only things I would look to improve are either the monitor (go for either IPS or 120Hz), speakers/headset (depending on what you currently have) or mouse/keyboard (again depending on what you are currently using). Also, if you haven't already you may want to get an internal Blu-ray drive.

i game on the TV, so aslong as i tick v-sync then everything runs pretty smooth. speakers are on my list to do, but again, as it all goes through the tv its a nightmare finding something that will give good quality sound through the 2 composite/phone jacks.
a blue-ray reader/writer is on my list of things i would like, especially with the price of blue-ray films at the moment, but @ £70+ for a writer, and rumours of a new HD format on the cards i dont want to shell out and get stung.

cmndr_andi · 23 Mar 2011 at 12:12

Do you use the TV mainly as a display for the PC?

If so, It would probably be worth getting a nice set of speakers that run off the integrated sound on your motherboard. This means you could get surround sound without having to pay for a much more expensive amp + speakers kit.

Alternatively, you could get a nice quality 2.1 system and hook them up to the audio output of your TV (so all devices connected to the TV would output sound through the new speakers). These speakers for example are excellent (got two sets at home).

May I ask what you have heard about a new HD format? This is certainly news to me.

paradisiac · 23 Mar 2011 at 12:15

cmndr_andi said:
Do you use the TV mainly as a display for the PC?

If so, It would probably be worth getting a nice set of speakers that run off the integrated sound on your motherboard. This means you could get surround sound without having to pay for a much more expensive amp + speakers kit.

Alternatively, you could get a nice quality 2.1 system and hook them up to the audio output of your TV (so all devices connected to the TV would output sound through the new speakers). These speakers for example are excellent (got two sets at home).

May I ask what you have heard about a new HD format? This is certainly news to me.

the speakers on the tv are poor, so at the moment we have a samsung homecinema thing attatched, which was ok, but the sub keeps cutting out. we have sky, so it would need to be something that would run off the tv dirrect rather than via the pc unfortunatly

i cant remember now, just remember at work we got a promotional thing through before xmas saying something was coming better than blue-ray. cant for the life of me find it now though

paradisiac · 23 Mar 2011 at 12:21

ok my bad, found it, it was heavily promoting Blue-Ray Dual Layer stuff.

cmndr_andi · 23 Mar 2011 at 12:24

paradisiac said:
the speakers on the tv are poor, so at the moment we have a samsung homecinema thing attatched, which was ok, but the sub keeps cutting out. we have sky, so it would need to be something that would run off the tv dirrect rather than via the pc unfortunatly

May I ask what model number of TV you are using?

If you got a 2.1 speaker system (like the one I linked to) then you would be able to bypass the homecinema thing (which sounds like its a bit broken) and connect it directly to the TV, so you will hear both the sound from the PC and sky through the new speakers. At my house we have those aego speakers connected to the HTPC and they are really very good ( Not just great for TV and movies - but also excellent for music).

paradisiac said:
i cant remember now, just remember at work we got a promotional thing through before xmas saying something was coming better than blue-ray. cant for the life of me find it now though

I really wouldn't worry - the next generation after blu ray will have to be higher resolution (my guess is 4K). However, this will not only need new disks and players but also an entirely new generation of TVs since the number of pixels needs to be much higher than what is available on a 1080p TV.

To me, a new generation of TVs and disks sounds like its a long way off - at least 5 years IMHO.

paradisiac · 23 Mar 2011 at 12:33

bush LT42M1CFA LCD.
yeh the sub sounds like its a lose cable or something but it wasnt really as good as i expected (cost best part of £200) for the money.
really need something with a volume remote, as the tv volume does not control the speaker volume, hence why we went for the homecinema solution this time

cmndr_andi · 23 Mar 2011 at 12:38

If you plug those speakers I linked to above (aego M) into the headphones jack on the TV, the sound will work fine and you should be able to control the volume via the remote (as the TV basically thinks they are headphones). That said, you will also be able to vary the volume of the speakers with a knob on the sub - I recommend you just set this to a medium level and use the TV remote to control the volume on a day-to-day basis.

paradisiac · 23 Mar 2011 at 12:41

cmndr_andi said:
If you plug those speakers I linked to above (aego M) into the headphones jack on the TV, the sound will work fine and you should be able to control the volume via the remote (as the TV basically thinks they are headphones). That said, you will also be able to vary the volume of the speakers with a knob on the sub - I recommend you just set this to a medium level and use the TV remote to control the volume on a day-to-day basis.

we tried that on our last set of pc speakers, the tv's built in amplifier setup is poor, the only thing the remotes volume controls is the built in speakers. i asked on pretty much every tv forum i could find when i got the tv as our old poloroid one did this fine, and its an issue with the tv

cmndr_andi · 23 Mar 2011 at 12:47

Ah, well that is a pain.

There are discrete speaker sets that have their own remote controls, but these tend to be very expensive (like the Logitech Z-5500).

A better idea would probably be put together a sound system with an AV receiver (perhaps with HDMI inputs), the speaker configuration you want and a dedicated remote control. But this is more hassle to sort out.

paradisiac · 23 Mar 2011 at 12:54

sounds like a pain, maybe need to get my screwdriver and soldering iron then

found a few for the £50-£120 mark, but they have wired remotes

cmndr_andi · 23 Mar 2011 at 13:01

I would suggest popping down to richer sounds (pretty sure I can mention them as OCUK don't sell home cinema kits with remote controls) and tell them your needs and budget. In my experience they have been very good to deal with so long as you know what you want.

If you buy a new kit like this (AV reciever, sub, sattelites, centre and cable) then you won't need any tools (other than perhaps some wire strippers if you want to cut the cable to length) as it all plugs together.