GPU Boost

[Besidilo]

I have to say you've missed the point. There are plenty of benchmarks that put those two cards ahead of the 7970, so in part I was debunking any thought that the 7970 is the top card (unless you meant in price per performance, in which case you would be mostly correct).

 

 

But this statement is fundamentally false and you're preaching it like if I was the one spreading BS about the 7970 being the fastest card on the market.

 

It's a matter of fact that the 7970 with updated BIOS (1GHz Edition, if you will) and 12.10 Catalyst drivers onwards (or was it 12.9?), performs overall better than any other single GPU card out there, period. Nobody who has any idea about this market would argue otherwise. I'm not even going to bring up the benchmarks since you're ignorant enough to post Passmark for GPU comparison and tell me that it's just one of the benchmarks that proves the GTX670 to be the better card. Lack of words, really.

 

Seriously, just ask anyone with a bit of knowledge on this forum or elsewhere, if you don't trust my judgement. Or look up some graphics card reviews from Anand, Techpowerup, HardOCP, Vortez, Tom's Hardware, Guru3D, etc.

 

That it's a tremendous value for money card compared to the vastly overpriced GTX670 4GB is just a bonus.

[Besidilo]

Its all good guys. I'm happy with my purchase. I just know I have to get a an SSD when I can afford one. Any recommendations for SSDs? I have literally no idea where to start.

What budget?

 

I'd go with something around $200, like the Crucial M4 256GB:

 

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148449&nm_mc=OTC-FroogleNEW&cm_mmc=OTC-FroogleNEW-_-Solid+State+Disk-_-Crucial-_-20148449

 

Or if you can find a Samsung 830 256GB for $10 more, get one, because it's overall a faster and even more reliable SSD. Bear in mind that 840 is not a direct replacement for the 830 and is actually a slower drive.

[thalastwon]

I'd like to shoot for around $100, but I still want to get something that's effective. Honestly, I think I'll probably only need about 64 to 128GB.

[PCG4m3r]

Its all good guys. I'm happy with my purchase. I just know I have to get a an SSD when I can afford one. Any recommendations for SSDs? I have literally no idea where to start.

What budget?

 

I'd go with something around $200, like the Crucial M4 256GB:

 

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148449&nm_mc=OTC-FroogleNEW&cm_mmc=OTC-FroogleNEW-_-Solid+State+Disk-_-Crucial-_-20148449

 

Or if you can find a Samsung 830 256GB for $10 more, get one, because it's overall a faster and even more reliable SSD. Bear in mind that 840 is not a direct replacement for the 830 and is actually a slower drive.

@Besidilo,

 

Since you mentioned the 840, what is your opinion on the 840 Pro? I hear good things about that over the basic 840 model and was considering picking up a Pro very soon. Here are a few of several articles I found. Most seem to say very good things about it.  

 

https://www.anandtech.com/show/6328/samsung-ssd-840-pro-256gb-review

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Samsung/840_Pro_SSD_256_GB/

 

https://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/12/10/samsung_840_pro_ssd_review/1

 

 

Btw...this will be my first SSD. I know the performance is better than a mechanical HDD, but I've been hesitant to buy one, because I read some things in the past about potential data loss, garbage collection issues (something like that), or that they may not last as long as regular HDDs. It seemed SSDs weren't mature enough yet for reliable, daily use by most users. I'm sure much has changed with newer controllers now that it's a couple more generations ahead, but it will be new territory for me.

 

I know SSDs can't be defragged (bad for the drives?), but beyond that, any concerns I should be aware of or are they pretty simple to setup and use, without any regular maintenance? And this first drive I get I will not be using as my main boot drive, but my next one will. I want to get comfortable with using an SSD first before I take that leap -- this one will be pretty much for improving loading of games like fully-modded Skyrim and other big ones.

 

EDIT: Oh and my motherboard (ASUS Rampage III Formula) has SATA 3 (6gb), but it uses a Marvell 9123 controller, which I read Marvell actually produces slower performance than Intel and doesn't have TRIM (don't know what that is), so I'll be hooking up to a SATA 2 port (Intel). When I eventually upgrade my motherboard again, I'll be sure the next one has a better controller, so I can take advantage of the extra speed.

[Besidilo]

Tis the top dog, as far as I'm concerned. If it wasn't for the price, I'd grab one myself.

 

Potential data loss - I'd like to point out that Samsung used to make industrial grade SSDs exclusively. Their failure rate is crazy low, even lower than Crucial's controllers. The chance of an SSD failing is probably a fraction of that of an HDD's.

 

The reliability concerns have vanished with early OCZ Vertex revisions. Even the cheap brands use quality NAND controllers these days and albeit some are still more reliable than others, the great concerns are non-existent.

 

Garbage collection - TRIM issues, have been resolved years ago on the Intel controller. But they're still present on Marvell SATA 3 controllers. In that case, I would opt out of using the SATA 3 controller and just go with SATA 2. But then again, you won't be able to enjoy the full benefit of your SSD with that solution, therefore it would be advisable to get a cheaper SSD for now, because the prices of NAND keep falling and if you're not upgrading any time soon, it will be a waste of money.

 

Look into the Crucial M4 and Samsung 830, they're great SSDs for less than $200.

 

About the only thing you have to do is enable AHCI in BIOS, as far as I know. Unless you use some ancient OS, like XP, then you will have to do a lot of tweaks manually. Windows 7/8 natively support SSDs and all the tweaks out there are unnecessary.

 

I have my OS and dozens of applications installed on my main SSD, and they only take up around 30 GB of space, so the rest can be filled with games. Just remember to avoid excessive writes to the SSD, I don't recommend moving pagefile from the main drive, but you could always shrink it to a couple of GBs (if you have sufficient RAM for your needs) and make sure that none of the programs cache excessive amounts of data on the main drive (e.g. torrents or other downloads).

 

I normally move my Downloads folder and Libraries to another drive, shrink the pagefile (required amount will vary depending on your use and RAM amount, but don't disable it completely) and system restore to save up a bit of space (never use it anyway), disable hibernation if not used (mind you, it's required to have it enabled for Hybrid Boot in Win 8).

 

Another thing you might want to look into is having Steam installed on your HDD and just using GameSave Manager's Steam Spreader to move the games you want to your SSD. That's what I do and it works wonderfully.

 

EDIT: make sure to have everything that you use a lot installed on the SSD. It really improves the overall performance and you'll be reluctant to use an OS running on an HDD again.

 

Oh, and install the latest Intel RST drivers if you use the Intel controller. They improve performance immensely.

[PioneerRaptor]

Another thing you might want to look into is having Steam installed on your HDD and just using GameSave Manager's Steam Spreader to move the games you want to your SSD. That's what I do and it works wonderfully.

 

EDIT: make sure to have everything that you use a lot installed on the SSD. It really improves the overall performance and you'll be reluctant to use an OS running on an HDD again.

 

Oh, and install the latest Intel RST drivers if you use the Intel controller. They improve performance immensely.

GameSave manager would no longer be needed to do that. You can create a Steam Library on each HDD/SSD through Steam now. So when installed Skyrim, merely choose to create a D:/Steam/ folder (or whatever the drive is) and it will automatically be installed to that drive and you can still launch it from Steam.

[Besidilo]

Another thing you might want to look into is having Steam installed on your HDD and just using GameSave Manager's Steam Spreader to move the games you want to your SSD. That's what I do and it works wonderfully.

 

EDIT: make sure to have everything that you use a lot installed on the SSD. It really improves the overall performance and you'll be reluctant to use an OS running on an HDD again.

 

Oh, and install the latest Intel RST drivers if you use the Intel controller. They improve performance immensely.

GameSave manager would no longer be needed to do that. You can create a Steam Library on each HDD/SSD through Steam now. So when installed Skyrim, merely choose to create a D:/Steam/ folder (or whatever the drive is) and it will automatically be installed to that drive and you can still launch it from Steam.

I prefer the GameSave Manager solution since that allows me to quickly move it back to the original drive and that's a full back up of my Steam folder. But I guess either solution works.

[PCG4m3r]

Wow, thanks for all the info Besidilo! :)

 

I'm looking to get the 512GB, since I currently have a WD Velociraptor 300GB and have been nearing the limit of space on that. A 256GB SSD would be a downgrade in capacity for me, but an upgrade in speed either way (same SATA 2 port). I'll eventually get a 256GB SSD for my boot OS/Applications later on.

 

I found that I can get the 512GB 840 Pro for a little less than the 512GB 830 retail (about $10 cheaper)...so I will definitely be getting the Pro at that price point. At least when I eventually do upgrade the motherboard, I will be able to take advantage of greater performance. 

 

Regarding your comment "to avoid excessive writes to the SSD", since I would be using this first drive to install many of my Steam games, and for Skyrim in particular will be constantly updating and trying out new mods, does that count as excessive, or will I be ok there? And how do I know if I'm writing too much to the drive and what will happen if I do? Performance degradation or potential data loss? My understanding is that the drives somewhat regain performance during idle time, so would issues caused by excessive writes eventually be undone or are they permanent?

 

Again, thank you very much for the advice. 

[Besidilo]

NAND memory has limited amount of writes over its lifetime, but it's designed in a way that even after you use up its memory, you will still be able to read from it (no data loss). In the end, the entire process takes years (10+ with the current SSDs), so I wouldn't worry about it too much. I doubt your mods will attribute to excessive writes to the SSD and all electronics degrade over time anyway.

 

Performance degradation is a side effect, but TRIM should care of that.

 

If you have so much money to spend on an SSD (which I advise against, it's wiser to just control your storage and get another SSD at a later date = more performance/capacity for less money as the NAND prices drop every year), you might want to look at the Intel's range of SSDs. They're fast and reliable, and might make a worthwhile investment over time.

 

I'd definitely advise looking into getting a new motherboard or SATA controller in the future, as you won't be able to enjoy more than a half of your SSD's potential. Plus a proper controller will allow you to RAID SSDs and double their effective performance. I think the new Intel SSDs even enable TRIM in RAID setups.

[z929669]

120 GB Samsung 840 SSDs on sale from Tiger Direct right now for $79 each (limit 2)

 

Here is the link

[WilliamImm]

My 90 gb SSD is looking really wimpy right now - god do I want that drive. I want it. Want it as my games drive.

[Farlo]

120 GB Samsung 840 SSDs on sale from Tiger Direct right now for $79 each (limit 2)

 

Here is the link

I want to buy that so badly...

[z929669]

120 GB Samsung 840 SSDs on sale from Tiger Direct right now for $79 each (limit 2)

 

Here is the link

I want to buy that so badly...

I could not resist grabbing two for myself ... I should have them in a couple of hours if UPS doesn't suck (they often do suck though).

[Besidilo]

 

120 GB Samsung 840 SSDs on sale from Tiger Direct right now for $79 each (limit 2)

 

Here is the link

I want to buy that so badly...

I could not resist grabbing two for myself ... I should have them in a couple of hours if UPS doesn't suck (they often do suck though).

Are you gonna RAID them? I hope you're gonna RAID them.

[toshaka]

Goddamn those are cheap O.o

Shame I live in Netherlands in Europe...