3TB SSD? Other options for high speed computer and game storage?

[EliteRetard]

I've got near 600 games now...and my old 2006 computer can't play much of the newest stuff. That and its only got a 1TB 7200RPM drive (got it for $25 before the floods) so I can only fit about a third the games on it. Strongly considering a system upgrade (Haswell and new GPUs?), but I want to move to SSD. What are my options for high speed storage in the multi-TB range? I've got 4-6 people playing games on this computer, so its easiest to have them all loaded and let anybody play what they want. I could actually consider a 3TB SSD if it were under $2k and actually worked perfectly normal (like a HDD) and was quick and reliable (another 6+ years of heavy use).

I'm on XP but most likely would go with Win7 64bit (do I need pro or anything?). Tried Win8 and its infuriating.

Can any of the new GPUs run OpenGL and older games? Maybe I'll keep the old computer for the emulators and 95-XP games.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I believe that AdamK47 went with a 6-drive RAID-0 array of 512GB SSDs.

 

[BFG10K]

There’s no such thing as a 3TB SSD; consumer SSDs are basically capped at 512GB. You’d have to RAID six of them to get 3TB.

3TB of SSD storage will cost a fortune and from my own tests, SSDs are not worth it for games at the current costs. Not to mention that your OS doesn’t even support TRIM.

In your situation I’d just buy a pair of 3TB Barracudas and use the second as backup. Or maybe 3x 1TB VelociRaptors, which would likely load games as fast as the hex SSD setup while costing far less ($660 vs $1800).

 

[Denithor]

Um, easy solution here: Intel SSD caching.

1) Buy a Z77 motherboard.
2) Buy a 60/64GB SSD + 3TB spinner.
3) Enable caching in BIOS.
4) Enjoy.

I would still recommend a separate SSD for your boot drive, since your games aren't going on this one you can go for a 60-128GB model (won't need that much storage space with games on the spinner). Redirect your My Documents/etc onto the spinner as well and you're set.

 

[tweakboy]

I've got near 600 games now...and my old 2006 computer can't play much of the newest stuff. That and its only got a 1TB 7200RPM drive (got it for $25 before the floods) so I can only fit about a third the games on it. Strongly considering a system upgrade (Haswell and new GPUs?), but I want to move to SSD. What are my options for high speed storage in the multi-TB range? I've got 4-6 people playing games on this computer, so its easiest to have them all loaded and let anybody play what they want. I could actually consider a 3TB SSD if it were under $2k and actually worked perfectly normal (like a HDD) and was quick and reliable (another 6+ years of heavy use).

I'm on XP but most likely would go with Win7 64bit (do I need pro or anything?). Tried Win8 and its infuriating.

Can any of the new GPUs run OpenGL and older games? Maybe I'll keep the old computer for the emulators and 95-XP games.

3TB SSDs .... that will come out in 2024 ..........

 

[ShintaiDK]

Just cleanup instead. I am pretty sure you dont need 600 games installed.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

A 1tb Ssd is available on newegg I think but easily costs 1-2k plus. 3tb across 6 512gb Ssds will set you back 2.5-3k plus.

 

[corkyg]

"I've got near 600 games now..."

I can't decide whether to laugh or cry.

 

[EliteRetard]

How about a 512GB SSD for the OS and programs, and a 3TB array of raptors with SSD cache? I have no idea how that would work or get setup...and for something like steam, how would I ensure that it and all of its files and such stick to the second HDD array?

I just bought another 16 games today.

To be clear, I wouldn't be doing this on my current rig...I think I'll build a new machine when the new CPUs and GPUs show up in a few months.

How about backups? I don't know anything about RAID...would there be a setup that could provide backups while also allowing an array of fast HDDs/SSDs (and not lose TRIM if using SSDs?) Would it be faster/easier to make some sort of copy of the array with all the games installed so I could copy it all back if something failed? I could use just a single 3-4TB slow HDD for the backup...but with games don't they tie into all kinds of other crap? You can't just copy and paste a game folder and make it work can you? Would it be possible to make incremental backups of just changed files, like say once a month update the backup to have a copy of the latest saved game files and such?

Edit: I just checked and I now have (at least) 593 unique games, not including expansions or dlc (I should have most if not all for each game).

You know, I'll actually need to have space for an HD copy of all the My Little Pony episodes as well... D:

 

[Emulex]

stick to jbod unless you plan to give raid the attention it needs. Raid is more a liability than not for most casual users.

 

[Coup27]

"I've got near 600 games now..."

I can't decide whether to laugh or cry.

I just bought another 16 games today.

What about now?

 

[Coup27]

Ideally you want a small SSD, maybe 128GB for your OS and programs and then a bunch of HDD's for your games with an SSD cache for the HDDs. Maybe you can share a single SSD between OS/programs and SSD cache but I've never used SRT so I dunno. At least if you have an SSD cache for your HDDs you'll get SSD speeds for the games you play the most without having to manually shuffle them about. Because of the SRT, it negates the need for RAID0. You could RAID5 multiple HDDs if you wanted but I doubt it's worth the hassle.

We can advise you on the hardware but if you go down this route you're going to have to do some dummy runs playing with RAID and SRT to learn it all before migrating over but it'll be your best option in long run.

Backup will have to be a big NAS somewhere I guess.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

The way I would do it:

Single 3TB HDD
128GB System drive for OS + Programs don't even put any games on it unless you really want to for a couple things.

No point in all the Raptor and RAID junk as games don't load that much faster on an SSD.

Source, I have a SSD.

 

[itsmydamnation]

they way i do it is 120gig OS ssd, 2tb mirror RAID for data . I install all games to the data drive. If there is a game that im playing at the moment i move it to the SSD then use mklink to junction (symbolic link) the game folder back to the data drive.

most people are only playing one/two game at anyone time.

 

[zCypher]

I find some games benefit more than others from SSD, but the improvement is much less dramatic than say, how much snappier Windows feels on an SSD. I have no reservations about putting games on a decent spinner until larger SSD are down in price. What I would do in your case is buy the best value HDD storage (probably 3TB Seagate or Western Digital, whichever happens to be best deal at the time). Buy several of them since they are going to cost you a fraction of the price compared to the equivalent SSD storage.

Use an SSD as the main OS/apps drive. This is what I do, and I have no problems keeping all my games installed. Install Steam on your HDD, and then whichever games you feel the most benefit from SSD, keep them installed on the SSD. Steam allows you to choose which drive to install the game on, for most games.

 

[grandpatzer]

I've got near 600 games now...and my old 2006 computer can't play much of the newest stuff. That and its only got a 1TB 7200RPM drive (got it for $25 before the floods) so I can only fit about a third the games on it. Strongly considering a system upgrade (Haswell and new GPUs?), but I want to move to SSD. What are my options for high speed storage in the multi-TB range? I've got 4-6 people playing games on this computer, so its easiest to have them all loaded and let anybody play what they want. I could actually consider a 3TB SSD if it were under $2k and actually worked perfectly normal (like a HDD) and was quick and reliable (another 6+ years of heavy use).

I'm on XP but most likely would go with Win7 64bit (do I need pro or anything?). Tried Win8 and its infuriating.

Can any of the new GPUs run OpenGL and older games? Maybe I'll keep the old computer for the emulators and 95-XP games.

Are you saying that under 2k USD for 3TB storage for games on SSD would be acceptabel?

I have 2x Crucia V4 in Raid 0 (2x 256gb = 512gb), they work excellent for my needs (installed games, movies, documents).
But if you look on newegg however alot of ppl have problems with them..

You could buy 12 of them for about 2k usd on newegg.
Seems like they come with 3 year warranty(?).

Or you could get the higher quality 12 of Crucial M4 for 2.3k usd.

However it's going to be difficult having so many small disks, maybe make Raid 5 (have about 5 harddrives but only get 1TB space, last disk for redundancy).

Edit-- > just realized 512gb is same price ratio as 256gb.
you could get Crucial M4: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148531

I'm not sure how many drives can be had in Raid 5, but if 7 disks is possible you could get 6 x 512gb = 3tb then if one of the disks fails just replace it.

however the above costs 2.7k usd, no Raid it's 2.3k for 3TB

 

[Yukmouth]

Diablo 3 sucks on spindle drives compared to SSDs so im sure newer games will start to see the same gains. Id keep your pre 2012 games on 7200rpm spindle drives, everything 2012 and beyond on SSD drives.

4 250gig ssd's would cost 6 to $700 which should be enough for two years of game installs. Hopefully by then larger ssds should be cheap enough to hold your entire collection.

 

[EliteRetard]

Funny, I don't have Diablo3 or Starcraft3 yet. They took so damn long to come out and then nothing happened...never head of them again. Friend just recently asked if anybody still plays Diablo3 and I was like "????". Looking online it looks just like Diablo2 in HD, instead of 800x600 they simply updated it to run at higher resolutions and it still costs $60. I don't know anybody that bought it or plays it...wasn't sure if I should get it or not. $60 can buy me a lot of Indie games, many are actually really good too. Never heard anything about starcraft 3...not even a friend to ask about it. Seems like that one was completely DOA or something, I never even thought to look into it until just now. Time to go do some goggling. Its probably still $60 too.

Can they even be played though? So many games have stupid DRM shit and online only required to play but they bomb so hard they they shut down the servers and stop supporting them so you can't even play SOLO.

 

[tential]

Can anyone even think of 600 worthwhile PC games in here?

 

[taltamir]

Um, easy solution here: Intel SSD caching.

This is the only sane solution if you are not willing to only have some of the games installed.

 

[MrX8503]

I would have a 512GB SSD for OS, programs, and a few games that are important to you. Then have a 3TB HDD with a 60GB SSD for cache.

 

[Insomniator]

I said this in the Adam thread but there is no way you have any reason to have 600 games installed/backed up on your PC.

I've been a gamer for 15 years and probably have not played 600 games total on any platform.

 

[BrightCandle]

I think the practical solution is Intel SRT with an SSD cache. That is the only reasonably priced solution that doesn't involve a lot of expensive hardware that for the most part is going to be idle.

Its doable with Raid around about the prices you are mentioning but I doubt the benefits are all that tangible rather than spending considerably less on a basic HDD and an SSD cache.

 

[fixbsod]

Shrug, D3 seemed fine to me -- I do use 20 GB SSD SRT caching w/2 TB WD Black but in like the 450+ (sigh) hours I played before kicking that crap to the curb I swear I was always the FIRST player to be ready when entering a dungeon/new area.

Diablo 3 sucks on spindle drives compared to SSDs so im sure newer games will start to see the same gains. Id keep your pre 2012 games on 7200rpm spindle drives, everything 2012 and beyond on SSD drives.

.

 

[kmmatney]

I guess the other option to using Intel SRT cache is to buy a few of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148837

I believe they go on sale for lower cost. I recently picked up a 500GB version (smaller cache) for $49 shipped. These are fast, cool and laptop format so you can fit 2 at a time into a hard drive bay with a $10 adapter.