should i install windows 7 on my hard drive or SSD

arnie2013

arnie2013

arnie2013

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11 Apr 2013
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284
Hi all

im in the middle of building up my new pc

I have the asus sabertooth z77 motherboard and the zalman z9 plus case

now I know the saberooth z77 supports smart response or what ever it is called. where you can install an SSD and it uses to to cache etc

now my question is. should I install my window 7 ultimate 64bit onto the SSD or my hard drive
also I have been told not to buy an SSD any bigger then 120GB is this correct?
 
Id also have the os on the ssd, and a few of my most commonly used programs/games. All other stuff is on a standard hdd. I had a 120gb ssd but found it filled up quite quickly so i moved to a 250gb samsung 840. Brands that are highly regarded are crucial and samsung.
 
ok cheer,s do you still see a performace change with your 260gb SSD,

just I heard that Intel said anything bigger then a 120gb then you would see the performance and you might had well just use a hard drive.
 
Performance over a mechanical drive was very good on my first 120gb drive. Even though it was an older sata 3gbps drive. The newer 250gb drive is even better again. I still use a mechanical drive for os and games/programs on my second system, but tbh it feels pretty slow compared to when i use the system in sig.
 
setter said:
Performance over a mechanical drive was very good on my first 120gb drive. Even though it was an older sata 3gbps drive. The newer 250gb drive is even better again. I still use a mechanical drive for os and games/programs on my second system, but tbh it feels pretty slow compared to when i use the system in sig.
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What's the rest of the specs of your other PC? Could be the system is just slower and not just the HDD vs ssd issue :)

But yeah I'm going be be using the Samsung 840 evo 250gb ssd in the upgrade I'm currently building, was using the 128gb crucial m4 ssd but it seems to have stopped working(wasn't being recognised in the BIOS of my old PC) so I ordered the 250gn Samsung.

BTW setter I notice you also have the Maximus vi formula(I'm also going 4770k but 6950 xfire for the time being before upgrading to 290x/780), did you have any issues fitting it into your case? I've been having issues first with the scree holes on the motherboard not aligning with the standoffs in my case(the cooler master cosmos s, bought the corsair 750d but had same issue), now that the screw holes are aligned(after fiddling around with the I/o shield) a few of the holes are high so the screw doesn't go to the thread so don't screw in.
 
My other system is an i7 930 @4ghz, asus p6 x58 de, 6gb of 1600mhz ram.

Regarding the MVIF, it's a very nice board indeed. Pic to give you an idea of sli/xfire spacing.



Regarding fitting of the board, yep it took a little bit of pressure to align the screw holes up. Ive owned 4 or 5 asus boards now that use the padded i/o shield. Everyone has been the same to fit. Ive found that once you get it lined up, it's best to screw in the 3 screws closest to the front of the case. This then holds everything nicely in place.
 
setter said:
My other system is an i7 930 @4ghz, asus p6 x58 de, 6gb of 1600mhz ram.

Regarding the MVIF, it's a very nice board indeed. Pic to give you an idea of sli/xfire spacing.


Regarding fitting of the board, yep it took a little bit of pressure to align the screw holes up. Ive owned 4 or 5 asus boards now that use the padded i/o shield. Everyone has been the same to fit. Ive found that once you get it lined up, it's best to screw in the 3 screws closest to the front of the case. This then holds everything nicely in place.
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The left middle(there one under the back panel), bottom left and middle bottom(the one by the connectors for the cases front panel) are the three I'm having issues with. Have managed to get the bottom left screwed in but that is causing the corner to bend so I'm worried or might cause damage to the board, will two of the screws not being screwed in have any issues when fitting the GPUs, CPU cooler(I have an ocuk h2flo which is an unbranded corsair h60) etc?
 
Couldnt honestly say as luckily ive never had a situation such as yours mate, i still reckon it could be the padding on the i/o shield that is forcing things out of allignment. It's weird that it has happened on two different cases. Is the i/o shield seating perfectly flush in the case? Sometimes they need a good thump to get them seated right. I actually had one a few years ago that required a bit of trimming with sand paper to get it to fit properly.
 
Are you sure it wasn't "don't buy an SSD smaller than 120GB" ?
The small SSDs don't offer the same performance as their bigger brothers and you can't fit so many of your programs/games on them so you'll see less of a boost compared with a larger SSD.
 
no problem than kyou for all your help

so just to clarify: I need to buy or at least id see a performance increase if I do the following:

1 x SSD about 250GB - to install my OS and frequently used programs on

1 x HDD - for all my data, pictures, music, videos, programs etc
 
Yep arnie, yove got it sorted that way. AHCI in bios for your windows install on the ssd. All the other stuff on a secondary hard drive. But if you are coming from an old system that has important data on the hard drive. Back it up, things like documents,pics, music etc. I tend to back up things like photos and music to an external hdd. Yes im a wee bit sentimental about my photos lol. But for a new system just stick the os on the ssd and enjoy. Im off now to look at old photos from my school days.:D
 
arnie2013 said:
no problem than kyou for all your help

so just to clarify: I need to buy or at least id see a performance increase if I do the following:

1 x SSD about 250GB - to install my OS and frequently used programs on

1 x HDD - for all my data, pictures, music, videos, programs etc
Click to expand...

That's correct arnie, I bought the Corsair force 3 120gb SSD not long after they were released and I found after installing the OS, steam and origin, there was never going to be enough space. Even now only Origin(for Battlefield 3/4) is installed along with windows 8 and over half the drive is taken. I have a couple of other hdd drives also and one of these is also being used as a dual boot to Windows 7, the speed difference between this and the SSD is very noticeable so I will at some point buy another SSD, and Deffinately at least a 240gb.
In my view if you're wanting the best load times for games/frequent programs, then this is the best way, then get a large sata drive for your other stuff, I guess you know you can move your documents, pic,music etc to point to your hdd drives to save space on your SSD also.
 
Hi

Yes at the moment I have a 1tb hard drive in my current system which as a lot of films on it as well as programs, pictures, videos and music

Now I know I carnt backup my programs il have to reinstall tgem all
But how can I backup all my pictures, music and movies.
Carnt I just leave them on this hard drive as what im thinking of doing is
Buying 2 x 2tb hard drives: 1 for my movies 1 for everything else
Then il buy 1 x ssd to install my o/s on

Once these are in I can just simply transfer my music/ pictures and documents from my old hard drives to my new data drive carnt I.

Can anybody give me the steps or link to the steps to allow me to set all this up

So il have in total: 3 hard drives n 1 SSD

So I can use the intel smart response
 
A 120gb SSD is plenty for your OS. I always turn off my page file (I have 16gb of ram) and windows recovery too as these waste space and write unnecessarily to the SSD. I also relocate the My Documents, My Pictures etc folders to another drive as well to save space. My 120gb drive still has about 50gb left after installing everything.
 
arnie2013 said:
Snip...
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Steps you'll need to follow:

#1 - Plug in your SSD only and install windows onto it.
#2 - Back everything onto your new HDD & format the old one to get rid of the old system files.
#3 - Begin to organise your files/folders/films etc.
#4 - Install some programs/Games on the SSD and the rest on the HDD.
#5 - Enjoy your PC!

I do this currently with a 120GB SSD & 1TB HDD (2 partitions of 500GB), SSD has my OS, BF4, Crysis 3 (Currently playing) & some applications.

1 x 500GB has my storage files, so downloads, My Documents, My Pictures, Videos etc, and other folders I use, my other 500GB I install programs & games to, so I have Adobe Master Collection & Microsoft office installed along with the majority of my games.

Hope this helps.
 
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