120GB SSD, now what?

[Mark]

I picked up a 120GB SSD from newegg last week that was on sale. I have been wanting one for a long time but they were way to expensive. I finally got it and now after the impulse buy I am not sure the best way to take advantage of its speed? I have Windows 7 64bit and 2 1TB drives currently running in raid 0 configuration. What is the best way to use the drive? Should I install only windows 7 on it, and keep the other drive for my applications and games? I was thinking I could get by with the OS installed and just a few games that I play on a regular basis and uninstall them after I am done to play new ones. But after trying it and installing just two games I am already finding myself low on space. Seems Star Wars the old republic needs 50gb of HD space!

So what would be the best performance usage of this drive for me? I am thinking just the OS? Will that help the performance of gaming in general even if the games themselves are not installed on it, or did I just blow some cash to have a faster system boot?

Feeling kind of silly now, lol.

Thanks

[James]

Put windows plus any daily use applications on the drive. Install any of your current "love of the week" games to the drive, then remove them or move them when you grow bored with them.

Basically Windows + Email/Internet/music/videos applications and you'll be very happy. Gaming will be nice, but isn't quite as important.

[kujoe2002]

install that sucker and let 'er rip! BTW, which brand did you go with? I have the 160GB Intel 320 SSD. I only have my operating system (Windows 7 HP) and program files, applications and a few games. I store all of my data (documents, music, etc) on separate hard drives. 50GB of HDD space? Get rid of that game or run it off of another HDD. My biggest game is only 3GB!!

[kpxgq]

you should put as much of your most used application/games/data on your SSD... IMHO, its a waste to use just 15gb of 120gb for the OS and have the rest sitting empty while your apps and games still load slow from a mechanical hard drive.

this is the biggest reason i went from a 64gb to a 120gb SSD so i could have all my apps and games on the SSD.. i am even thinking of upgrading to a 240+ GB SSD so i can put my media/mp3s on the SSD as well since there is a slight lag when loading a new mp3 when your mechanical HDD is idle

[ua549]

Instead of going to a bigger SSD create a compressed folder and/or volume to hold media.
The speed is fantastic and you'll save a few bucks. I did that on a notebook that was approaching capacity. I really didn't notice the difference in speed loading music files.

[bldegle2]

Here is what I did, this is after several intinerations of loadage...

I have the Vertex 3 120GB unit, I have win7, MS Office suite 10, lots of Adobe and more video ripping/editing stuffs, and I have a 2gb fixed page file on the drive, and the rest of my stuff, games and data go on a 600GB Velociraptor 10,000 spinner...

Using a total of 40.2gb, I did eliminate the Hiberfil.sys to gain a whole lot of disk space...

You leave your two spinners in raid, the raid for games and whatever else will give a boost to performace, boot using the SSD...

Which one did you get?

Laterzzz.....

[dyne]

I had no idea they made a 600GB Raptor. I had the 150 Raptor X and loved it.

[bldegle2]

it is a 2.5" unit, but 15mm high/thick, too high for laptops (9.5mm or 12.5mm) and it runs on 12v, not 5v, in a huge cooling caddy...

it is an enterprise quality unit, SATAlll they ain't cheap...check the EGG...

they run really cool too and are more efficient. less electrons...

laterzzzz....