New
#111
I just got my second SSD, a 256GB Crucial M4. Right now I am copying my Steam and Adobe folders to it, then some other non Steam games.
Had to delete the local content of quite a few Steam games to get the folder down to size.
the 1TB WD Black that I am copying from needs to get RMA'd anyways since it sometimes make a abnormal grinding sound when reading.
I also had to add a PCI-E SATA card so I wouldn't have to remove another drive due to lack of SATA ports.
My friend bought a Crucial 128GB SSD a few months ago and was so impressed with it that he said I should get an SSD and offered to buy me one, so I took him up on the offer and got the 256GB.
My current board has 4 SATA II and 4 SATA III.
I had 7 Hard drives and a BD-Rom, added the first SSD and had to remove a hard drive, I didn't want to have to remove another one when adding the second SSD so I got the 2 port SATA card.
My i7 870 setup had 9 SATA ports on the board and I was a happy camper with 8 drives and a BD-Rom, upgraded to the i7 2600K and couldn't find any mobos within reasonable price with more than 8 ports, so I had to remove a drive.
It seems that every time I upgrade, I have to lose a drive, lol
My Q6600 setup had 9 Hard drives, 7 SATA and 2 IDE, and a BD Rom drive,
Sounds like a lot of trouble, lol. I've never used more than 2, but I'll be using 3 now since I'm getting an SSD. Both of my SATA III will be used and only one of my SATA II.
Apparently, lol. I haven't even used my 640gb. That is one fat case as well. Do you leave it open all the time?
By luxury I mean they are not initially imperative. I'm not debating/denying the benefits of SSDs for as you already know; I am an SSD advocate myself.
However in regards to more mileage, a faster CPU + a HDD to begin with, followed by a SSD a little later as per the OPS's plan would produce even better overall mileage in the long run than skimping on the CPU and obtaining an SSD to begin with.
In fact by waiting, the OP is a better position to grab a larger/better SSD.
Games may be a waste of time for yourself, but they aren't a waste of time for everyone.
As for learning from games, you would be surprised exactly how much knowledge can be gleaned about many aspects of computing due to games.
In fact a lot of my diverse knowledge about computers and how they work are due to games being a catalyst.
Different file types and functions, OS services, cause and effect of such, how drivers work, software tweaking, modding software, how software affects a hardware, diagnostic skills like reading crash dumps/interpreting event viewer logs, general troubleshooting etc.
Then there is the hardware side things. What components affect what, what are the best for a given task, safe parameters, over-clocking components, what OS/driver/software affects what components etc.
Plus a heck of lot more.
Basically shedloads of knowledge, instigated by games. The antithesis of 'waste of time/learning nothing'.
1. My theory is that the CPU is rarely the bottleneck in a system (unless you encode videos all day long) but the HDD is always a bottleneck. That's why I recommend to install the SSD first and a better CPU later. Ideally, of course, you do both at the same time. But that may be a budget problem.
2. Games - well I guess there are people who like them. But the extra knowledge you have listed is mostly useful in the context of games. But that's OK. It never hurts to learn something.