SSD + Hybrid

vail3r · 16 Dec 2010 at 10:53

I am currently trying to decide what is going to be in my new build. I had one of those horrible 30GB Patriot SSD drives and got rid of it because it was pish!

Currently looking at what SSD to get for my OS drive, wondering if these are worth the extra over a standard SATA SSD:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-056-OC&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=910

And also thinking of geting a 500GB Hybrid drive for storage and to install my games, again is it worth it, as I did notice when I had my original SSD that any programs not on the SSD would take ages to load so is this a good compromise?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-233-SE&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1894

Zarf · 17 Dec 2010 at 07:31

No point in the Hybrid drive for games and media, It's only got 4GB of NAND and It only benefits small files - It only makes sense for OS/Apps, and even then I'm not convinced it's worth the money. You're better off with a Samsung F3 or the F4 320GB. Even better, stick a couple of F4 320GB's in RAID0 (make sure you have a backup plan though

).
SSD wise, It comes down to your budget and how much space you need. RAID0 / Revodrive / IBIS don't feel much faster than a single SSD most of the time, so make a decision based on £/GB. The more space you can afford, the more games you can shift on - which is nice but you need to weigh up just how much those loading times are worth to you.
I'd recommend you just go for a 64GB drive - that's enough for Windows, Apps and a couple of your Games that really benefit from an SSD. Any of the Sandforce clones or the Crucial C300 would make a good choice, and can be had without breaking the bank.

vail3r · 17 Dec 2010 at 09:23

I want to spend a maximum of £150 on the hard drives. I have an external NAS for my storage so its mainly just for OS and Steam games.

What about 2 of these in RAID0 :

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-006-IN&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=910

Surely that gives better performance and pretty much works out the same price as the intel 80GB drive?

Zarf · 17 Dec 2010 at 17:21

vail3r said:
I want to spend a maximum of £150 on the hard drives. I have an external NAS for my storage so its mainly just for OS and Steam games.

What about 2 of these in RAID0 :

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-006-IN&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=910

Surely that gives better performance and pretty much works out the same price as the intel 80GB drive?

Yeah, that'd be fine, but I'd probably go for Corsair F40's at the same price. The Compression algorithms to boost speed make a lot of difference on these low channel drives. The Sandforce controllers also have better error prevention and garbage collection.