Silicon Power S70 240GB SSD for $89.99 (other drives added)

[Docjon]

Silicon Power S70 240GB 5K P/E Cycle Toggle MLC 2.5" 7mm SATA III 6Gb/s Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009GG ... ITGFW0OQJA

Read some reviews, and while this is an older drive, it still holds up with very good performance. If you're running a SATA II (3 gig) motherboard like I am, this will max out it out. The bottleneck is unfortunate, but it's still a whole lot faster than a standard HDD. If you're bottlenecked, there's no sense in going for the fastest drive out there anyway, the extra speed will just be wasted. Don't overspend here.


Here's a NEW review of this drive, even though it's been out for a couple years. I like it because it reviews the drive NOW, in context with other drives and improvements that have been made since then. Spoiler: The drive comes off pretty good.

http://www.nikktech.com/main/articles/p ... ssd-review


Other SDD drives on sale for Black Friday - Prices and mini-reviews:
http://www.thessdreview.com/ssd-guides/ ... d=noscript

[Larva]

It's tough to argue against a 240 GB SSD for under $100. I highly recommend getting an SSD for your OS and program files if you don't already have one. It will change your experience. After you click your power button, by the time you sit down, turn on your monitor, and put on your headset, your OS will already be waiting for you. The load times for your games and your programs will spoil you so quickly, you will wonder how you ever survived booting from an HDD.

I also recommend that you store ALL your document files on your HDD. Doing so will conserve space on the SSD, extend it's life, and make it easier to back up all your important files because they'll all be in one location.

Remember, even if the SSD is SATA 3 and your current MB is SATA 2, it just means you'll be able to reuse the SSD in your next system at full speed when you finally do have the pleasure of upgrading.

[Docjon]

It's tough to argue against a 240 GB SSD for under $100. I highly recommend getting an SSD for your OS and program files if you don't already have one. It will change your experience. After you click your power button, by the time you sit down, turn on your monitor, and put on your headset, your OS will already be waiting for you. The load times for your games and your programs will spoil you so quickly, you will wonder how you ever survived booting from an HDD.

I ended up buying this. The reviews all like it. It's not at the top in performance, but it's not far from it, and it's pretty inexpensive. Guess they'll use Black Friday to get rid of old inventory.

It's tough to argue against a 240 GB SSD for under $100. I highly recommend getting an SSD for your OS and program files if you don't already have
I also recommend that you store ALL your document files on your HDD. Doing so will conserve space on the SSD, extend it's life, and make it easier to back up all your important files because they'll all be in one location.

Yeah, I don't store data or install programs to my boot drive if I don't have to. I install programs to a second logical drive, data to another. Breaks things up for easier archiving/backups. Gonna use like 120+ gigs for my Game drive. That's like a half-dozen big games not called Titanfall.

Remember, even if the SSD is SATA 3 and your current MB is SATA 2, it just means you'll be able to reuse the SSD in your next system at full speed when you finally do have the pleasure of upgrading.

Yep, I wasn't going to go so far as to buy a SATA2 drive. When I get a new motherboard with SATA3, this will give a sizable boost in speed.

[Docjon]

Other SDD drives on sale for Black Friday - Prices and mini-reviews:
http://www.thessdreview.com/ssd-guides/ ... d=noscript

[Paladin]

Unsure why would you get that first no name drive over the Sandisk version for the same price?
Actually the Sandisk is $5 cheaper. Not that you made a bad choice, they are probably not that different in the end.

Link is listed first thing from your other SSD drives link so you know about it. i i

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M8ABEIM/?tag=thssre-20

They have the 480GB version, DOUBLE the size for $180
Finally hitting the sizes I require for a good price..

Damn I had to get one of those. THAT was too tempting.
THANKS DOC!!!!!!

I won't get one for my main PC's OS drive though as I am not rebuilding my system if I don't have to
Cloning to them is not always easy... And I have a 1TB HD now so...



So I grabbed a 240 Sandisk one. Going to use it as a larger one for my After Effect scratch drive. My current one is 128GB and gets full easily.

I am going to then use the old 128 After Effects scratch drive for my HTPC as that runs 24/7.
128GB is plenty of room for that as it is just the OS, XBMC/VLC and a few utilities. Maybe put my Usenet software on it.
I am using an older PC now that only has a 120GB HD in it so that will be a perfect replacement.

I was also able to put my old Nvidia 460 video card in this HTPC. The one with the broken fan on it.
I removed the broken fan. The other fan, it had two, does not move. So I just removed it and added a normal case fan and have it sitting on top of where the other fan was, should do the same thing i i

That card was useless for most things and just sitting there. For my HTPC it will ROCK! All it has to do is be able to play Blur Ray movie files which it will do easily. Also since it is a 400 series it has HDMI surround audio out which I now need. Win win and a GREAT re-purpose of older tech!!

[Larva]

Paladin, with multiple SSD's you might want to consider running multiple OS's. This way if you have to do an OS reinstall, you only have to do it for a portion of your functionality set. Set one up just for gaming, with Origin/Steam. You can just copy those files over and have Origin/Steam discover them so you don't have to download them again. It doesn't take more than a few hours to re-install games for Origin/Steam. If you've got other games on disc, then yeah it will take a little time.

You may get improved stability by splitting up your programs across OS's too. I've got one for: work, programming, databases, paying bills, etc; one for games, video editing, and music. It is possible to have too many programs installed on a single OS. It gets too hard to maintain. It's something a co-worker suggested to me several years ago and I've never stopped thanking him for his suggestion.

[Paladin]

No thanks man. I am not using this for anything but a scratch drive on my main PC.
But doubling the scratch drive will help with my After Effects editing once I start using that again. Soon I hope.

Until SSD's get large and as reliable s a normal HD I won't be using one for my main OS.
I am not being stubborn, I just have a very complex build as we already talked about. I don't want to have to boot and maintain multiple OS's like that. To me that is a total pain in the ass and is not needed. Since I pulled the memory my system has been fine. I feel stupid I didn't just do that sooner. <SIGH>

I am already installing Windows 8 on my 128 GB one I was using as my scratch drive for the OS for my HTPC however.
Only using W8 because it boots and sleeps faster so I may be able to turn this HTPC on and off instead of leaving it run 24/7. Only turn it on when needed etc...

I also hate using a work version of an OS at home because I have to log into a VPN a few times a year and re verify that it is legit etc... Kind of a pain but not too bad i guess in the end.

[Docjon]

Unsure why would you get that first no name drive over the Sandisk version for the same price?
Actually the Sandisk is $5 cheaper. Not that you made a bad choice, they are probably not that different in the end.

Link is listed first thing from your other SSD drives link so you know about it. i i

Meh, I'm satisfied with my choice. It's not the fastest, but it hangs in there close with everything. It's been out over a year, so any problems it might have would have shown by now. The benchmarks show it to do better than a lot of drives when it gets 50%-75% + full, which is what will happen to it when I use it in the real world. I'm not gonna go second-guessing myself - it's plenty fast, it gets great reviews(even compared to newer drives), and doesn't bog down as I use it. I'm sure I could drive myself nuts and go blind going over and over various reviews to find something that out-performs it in every category, but probably not so much that I'd notice it. I just decided to get it done and not drive myself crazy over it.

Enjoy your new drive, dude. When you put your old SSD in your HTPC, you'll be able to turn it off and save yourself some on your electricity bills, in addition to supercharging it.

I'm REALLY looking forward to this drive. I'm already DL'ing the newest versions of everything I normally install, and installing them now to test them out before the new build. I don't always keep up-t-date with all my installs - if it ain't broke. . . Tonight I'm trying either the newest video card drivers, or the latest Logitech Gaming Software. I haven't decided which.