Looking for First SSD

[ArcticCatZRT]

So after hearing all the good things about running TS and FSX off of SSDs am I ready to jump into the SSD world. Right now my biggest question is what capacity to get. I am planning on only putting a few games on the SSD such as FSX and TS. I might put a game or two more on it but the main two will be trains and planes, I also have a 1TB 7200RPM main drive. So here are what the two take up space wise:

FSX 35.8 GB so I am saying 40 GB
TS 68.4 GB so I am rounding up to 75 GB

I want to stick with Intel for various reasons, major one is reliability/trust from previous products. I either want to go with a 240GB or 480GB. How much can I realistically put on each drive without jamming it up? I'd prefer the 240GB for price but I wanted some input from more seasoned SSD guys.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820167190

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 4YW2CA3989

Thanks.

[Ericmopar]

It varies by manufacturer, but the 240GB drive will give you a real world of about 200GB. Maybe a bit more with the newer generation of SSDs.
It has to do with free cells for the controller to swap out during wear leveling.
I have experience with 3 Samsung SSDs. 1 830Evo, 1 840 Pro and 1 850 Evo 500GB. The last one is my OS drive.

[ex-railwayman]

FSX 35.8 GB so I am saying 40 GB
TS 68.4 GB so I am rounding up to 75 GB
Thanks.

Yes, but, don't forget that both of those statistics will dramatically increase over the next few years with the amount of content you install to each game. I would say you'd require a MINIMUM of 500GB, also, don't forget that the SSD volume will not be what it is displayed at when you plug it in, a 500GB will only have say 475Gb available, and a 250GB will only have say 225GB to play with, you need to consider this in your equation when deciding on what to get.

Good luck anyway, there are a lot to choose from these days, SSD's have come down in price a lot and quite affordable to most folks' budgets.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

[fraserm]

If you only have space and funds for one drive I'd recommend the 480GB. What Ericmopar said is partially true about capacity. There are actually EXTRA memory chips in an SSD so that you have the true unformatted capacity stated (240/480GB) and the extra chips make up for any locations that go belly-up. Formatted you'll get somewhat less than stated capacity, just like a platter drive. Also, don't be afraid to fill up an SSD. They don't require much, if any, free space to operate properly. Where a platter drive tends to slow down as you approach capacity SSDs do not.
I have a total of three SSDs, a 256GB Sandisk that came with my laptop. I'm using that for just boot and cache, a 1TB Crucial brand for apps on the laptop, and a 960GB Crucial that I put in my desktop after my dual 500GB RAID 0 platter setup failed. I chose Crucial for the very same reasons you are choosing Intel. Previous experience with their products (memory chips) and name recognition. So far I'm very pleased with the performance, and the prices sure are coming down.
Good luck with the SSD. You won't regret your decision, I'm certain.
Hope this helps.
Best,
Marc

[buzz456]

I have RW on a 250 Samsung and it rocks. If I understand correctly the Samsung comes with a 5 year warranty.

[Ericmopar]

I have RW on a 250 Samsung and it rocks. If I understand correctly the Samsung comes with a 5 year warranty.

Yes the Evo comes with a 5 year warranty and the Pro models are 10.

Samsung is the only SSD manufacturer that produces all aspects of their SSDs in house. They don't farm out anything.
Everyone else has to pay for rights to Controllers and software. Or farms out their chip manufacturing.

That being said, Intel must make a good drive.

Here's some tests from Tom's Hardware.
The warranty info is a bit old though, Samsung has upped their warranty periods.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd ... ,3269.html