OS on a separate SSD?

aXe

aXe

Member
Hi, first time poster, long time customer.

I'm going to be buying my next gaming PC very soon. I plan to have 2x 2TB Caviar Black HDD's and 1 SSD. I have heard some interesting things about performance relating to installing the OS on a separate, small SSD drive.

1. Am I right in thinking that boot speeds will be much increased with the SSD dedicated to the OS alone?
2. Aside from the possible increase in speed, are there any other advantages to this configuration?
3. Is this configuration something PCS can set up for me? Can I be really specific and state which letters are assigned to which drives? That final bit is important as I have heard that Steam will only install to C:. I wouldn't want the SSD to be C: as I'd have to put Steam there as well.
4. Assuming this is all worth it, which SSD would you recommend?

Many thanks for taking a look. :)
 
keynes

keynes

Multiverse Poster
1) yes
2) applications can run faster
3) not sure it is specific with letters but you can choose where to store your games
4) samsung or kingston hyperx
You can also find benefits of SSDs online, I was brief with my comments :)
 
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S

SlimCini

KC and the Sunshine BANNED
What's wrong with having steam on the SSD anyway? Even if it goes on the C drive, the games you install don't have to install on there (like Keynes says).
 
T

tshayter

Bronze Level Poster
You can install Steam where ever you like. You can even move a Steam installation if you know what you're doing (I have moved Steam before plus my current, and different, Steam client was installed on a drive that is not C: ).
 
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D

dogbot

Bright Spark
I used an SSHD in my Vortex III for some time and was quite happy with it. I have now fitted an mSata SSD since it gave me extra storage without sacrificing the existing drives. In practical terms I did not notice much difference. For video editing, it is the CPU which tends to be the bottleneck, not reading and writing to the drives.

For gaming (which I don't do) there may be a case for reading large files quickly when loading the next part of a program. Later in the year you might like to consider this one http://www.redsharknews.com/technol...hybrid-drive-with-record-breaking-performance
It has a 64 GB SSD incorporated into the HDD.
 
R

ricbai

Bronze Level Poster
I've got Steam "installed" on my SSD driven C: , but my SteamLibrary (consisting of 1.88Tb of games) is on the Western Digital Black 4Tb drive which is my D: drive. I've had absolutely no problems with this setup (and I had a similar setup previously on my old laptop) - so I wouldn't worry. Steam does allow you to have the library on any drive (in any location) you want - and even have some games (such as your favourites) on one drive (such as the SSD) and all others on another drive.
 
aXe

aXe

Member
Thanks for the replies guys. Think I'm gonna go for the Small SSD for the OS and a whopping great 4TB drive Steam and its games. Don't fancy mucking around moving games between drives.
 
B

BennoWilson

Bronze Level Poster
Hi there!

I would always recommend having your OS on and SSD. Boots much quicker, programs run quicker and they are overall much more stable.

As for which SSD - if you are going for just a 120GB SSD then look at the HyperX 3K SSD. If you are going for a larger drive, take a look at the Samsung EVO SSD's.

If you do purchase a PC, you can get in touch with our call centre and ask to have specific drive letters. We will put a task on the order so that when the system is in the testing stage, the drive letters are assigned. Of course, we would have to leave the drive with the operating system as 'C:' but any other drives can have any letter assigned.

As said, with Steam, this will install to the C: drive, but your games library can be stored on another drive.
For example, I have my SSD for my OS, Photoshop and Steam. But then on my 1TB HDD (G:) I have just my games. And on my 2TB HDD (S:) I have all of my design work.

Hope this has helped.
Benno.
 
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