SSD Size?

[Swoops McGee]

Hello everyone, 

 

I have recently built my first PC but did not initially go for an SSD as I already had a HDD that I had planned to use. It was my plan to eventually get an SSD to boot and to run some basic applications. That time has now come. 

 

I plan to store WIndows 10 64bit, the whole 2016 Office Suite, Google Chrome, MSI Afterburner and possibly some other small applications on the SSD.

My current Windows 10 install has been active for about 2 years, so I am sure it has saved some cache over its use if I understand it correctly. 

120gb SSD's are running for about $20 on Amazon and 240gb's are about $30. I know that's not much of a price difference to effectively double the storage, but that $10 savings is considerable for me right now. 

So my main question is: would a 120gb satisfy my storage needs for what is listed above? And if so, is there a bit of room to spare?

 

And a side question. Would installing my GPU driver on the SSD make any difference? I am not too familiar with this side of PC's, so please go easy on me, haha.

 

Thank you in advance!

[Electronics Wizardy]

Get a 240, the extra space is nice, and there normally faster, and you will be happer later on when you need the extra space.

[LIGISTX]

A 120 would be enough, but just enough. I would go for 256 so your not cutting it close.

 

In all honesty, that assortment of programs is likely only 50-60 GB tops, even with windows 10 installed. But, imo it would be worth 10 more dollars to get your entire programs library onto SSD, and have some room for the future.

 

Also tho, what SSD’s are you looking at for that price? Cheap SSD’s are actually not very good options... just depends who the manufacturer is. Western digital, crucial, adata, Corsair and Samsung are basically all I would ever buy. 

[CharminUltraStrong]

5 minutes ago, Oll_Greg said:

Hello everyone, 

 

I have recently built my first PC but did not initially go for an SSD as I already had a HDD that I had planned to use. It was my plan to eventually get an SSD to boot and to run some basic applications. That time has now come. 

 

I plan to store WIndows 10 64bit, the whole 2016 Office Suite, Google Chrome, MSI Afterburner and possibly some other small applications on the SSD.

My current Windows 10 install has been active for about 2 years, so I am sure it has saved some cache over its use if I understand it correctly. 

120gb SSD's are running for about $20 on Amazon and 240gb's are about $30. I know that's not much of a price difference to effectively double the storage, but that $10 savings is considerable for me right now. 

So my main question is: would a 120gb satisfy my storage needs for what is listed above? And if so, is there a bit of room to spare?

 

And a side question. Would installing my GPU driver on the SSD make any difference? I am not too familiar with this side of PC's, so please go easy on me, haha.

 

Thank you in advance!

As someone who uses dual 240 gig m.2 ssd's, I'd recommend the 240 gig. It gives you more headroom in a big way. Also, 240 gig ssd's tend to be faster, Linus did a video about it on tech quicky.

[mxk]

Get a 240/250 or even a 480/500 if you want to.

[RayMurr]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Get a 240, the extra space is nice, and there normally faster, and you will be happer later on when you need the extra space.

I agree. 10 Dollars for that much extra is great. 

My favorite drives are ones by samsung and crucial and corsair but thats just me 

[LIGISTX]

O, and Kingston and sandisc are fine as well

[LukeSavenije]

for another 120 gigs 10 bucks is almost nothing. I was at the time you had to pay 120 bucks for a 500 gb 860 evo...

Just now, LIGISTX said:

O, and Kingston and sandisc are fine as well

or wd, as sandisk is literally WD

[LIGISTX]

This is the cheapest SSD I would buy on amazon. There is more to good performance than the word “ssd”. Cheap ones use crappy flash and bad controllers...

 

SanDisk SSD PLUS 240GB Internal SSD - SATA III 6 Gb/s, 2.5"/7mm - SDSSDA-240G-G26 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F9G43WU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_ae2pCb6455D3H

[LukeSavenije]

1 minute ago, LIGISTX said:

This is the cheapest SSD I would buy on amazon. There is more to good performance than the word “ssd”. Cheap ones use crappy flash and bad controllers...

 

SanDisk SSD PLUS 240GB Internal SSD - SATA III 6 Gb/s, 2.5"/7mm - SDSSDA-240G-G26 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F9G43WU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_ae2pCb6455D3H

for another 5 bucks you can get a cached high quality ssd too...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0781VSXBP/?tag=pcpapi-20

[manikyath]

if a $10 savings is important enough to deal with the shortcomings of a 120GB SSD, you shouldnt be buying that SSD and use the money for more important stuff instead.

 

in the end, it's *just* load times..

[Mooshi]

47 minutes ago, Oll_Greg said:

Hello everyone, 

 

I have recently built my first PC but did not initially go for an SSD as I already had a HDD that I had planned to use. It was my plan to eventually get an SSD to boot and to run some basic applications. That time has now come. 

 

I plan to store WIndows 10 64bit, the whole 2016 Office Suite, Google Chrome, MSI Afterburner and possibly some other small applications on the SSD.

My current Windows 10 install has been active for about 2 years, so I am sure it has saved some cache over its use if I understand it correctly. 

120gb SSD's are running for about $20 on Amazon and 240gb's are about $30. I know that's not much of a price difference to effectively double the storage, but that $10 savings is considerable for me right now. 

So my main question is: would a 120gb satisfy my storage needs for what is listed above? And if so, is there a bit of room to spare?

 

And a side question. Would installing my GPU driver on the SSD make any difference? I am not too familiar with this side of PC's, so please go easy on me, haha.

 

Thank you in advance!

My first SSD was a 120gb for $250 and this was considered a good price in 2011. There's absolutely no reason to settle on 120 when 240 is cheap these days. 

 

If $10 is a make or break difference right now, maybe you shouldn't consider worrying about computer hardware until $10 becomes "it's just $10 more".

[LIGISTX]

43 minutes ago, Mooshi said:

My first SSD was a 120gb for $250 and this was considered a good price in 2011. There's absolutely no reason to settle on 120 when 240 is cheap these days. 

 

If $10 is a make or break difference right now, maybe you shouldn't consider worrying about computer hardware until $10 becomes "it's just $10 more".

This... my first SSD was a Vertex 4 120, I paid 169 or so iirc.

 

My motivation was my MacBook which has windows 7 on it was my school laptop. I opened it up one day in a lecture hall type class to 124 windows updates. It took almost the entire 2 hours of lecture to finally hit the windows desktop... I figured an SSD would be worth it to never experience that again, and it was worth it, never missed lecture again because of updates, at least not more than a few minutes...

 

So, I agree, if 10 bucks is a make or break it deal, unless your in a similar situation were the lack of an SSD is potentially costing you something, be it financial or some other loss, it may just not be worth it. They are nice, no doubt, but if it’s not in the cards for you right now, they will only get cheaper over time

[Swoops McGee]

Thank you all for the replies. 

 

I was hoping to get an idea of how much said os and programs would roughly take up in total. I do appreciate the budgeting advice, but it gets a bit more complicated than that here on my end!

 

I am aware of the storage/performance differences between the 2 options, but came here to hopefully gain some understanding of the sizes of these programs and go from there.