[Hardware Question] SSD just for the OS?

[klem]

May I jump in as I am about to spend significant money on a new PC?
BUT This thread has raised a few of questions..

If it's inappropriate I'll post separately.

I am considering (almost decided on):
i7 950 Retail with Nehalem cooler
6Gb G.Skill NQ DDR3 160MHz (Triple Channel for ASUS board)
Coolermaster HAF912 Plus, Black, Chassis
OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Modular
Asus Sabertooth X58 TUF Intel X58 (Socket 1366)
Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive
Windows 7 Home Premium Operating System, Retail
1GB XFX HD 5870 XXX, PCI-E 2.0(x16), 5200MHz GDDR5, GPU 875MHz, 1600 Cores, DP/ 2x DL DVI-I/ HDMI (why buy PCIe 2.1?)

Plus existing:- 160Gb 7200 SATA HDD for OS, 160Gb 7200 SATA HDD for Documents/Photos/Crud and a R/W DVD.
My current 'Flight' disc is also a 160Gb WD 1600JS-00NCB1 7200 93.5MBps like the others.

So my questions.....
1. Isn't 1366 socket later/newer than 1156?
2. What's the better 'future' of these sockets/processors?
3. I was intending to use the SSD for my 'Flight' Drive (FSX at 17Gb including the SDK and IL-2/mods at 13.6Gb hopefully leaving plenty for SoW). These SSDs are quoted at something like 'up to 355MBps' vs my existing 93.5MBps. Would a new HDD really be better?
4. Does any genius know how much space SoW will take?

btw csThor (original poster? I'm stuck in 'Reply' ) The i7 950 only supports 1.5v memory not 1.6/1.65. (Source: my online chat with Intel Tech Team). Do you know what your 960 supports? I found it very easy to pick unsuitable memory.

Hoping for some replies..

klem

[WTE_Galway]

Originally Posted by klem

1. Isn't 1366 socket later/newer than 1156?

newer/older is irrelevant
1156 is the cutback budget version of the 1366 with less features but they are pretty much the same generation.

Originally Posted by klem

2. What's the better 'future' of these sockets/processors?

Probably neither. The P67 (socket 1155/2011 ??) based motherboards for Sandy Bridge will start to takeover from early next year.

Of course in terms of overclocking it seems the p67 motherboards may well have limitations with PCI bus etc locked to processor frequency which may give an extended life to the current chipsets.

Originally Posted by klem

3. I was intending to use the SSD for my 'Flight' Drive (FSX at 17Gb including the SDK and IL-2/mods at 13.6Gb hopefully leaving plenty for SoW). These SSDs are quoted at something like 'up to 355MBps' vs my existing 93.5MBps. Would a new HDD really be better?

Not sure what you asking here.

Originally Posted by klem

4. Does any genius know how much space SoW will take?

My tarot card guy predicts more than 5Gb and less than 100 GB

[Madfish]

3. I was intending to use the SSD for my 'Flight' Drive (FSX at 17Gb including the SDK and IL-2/mods at 13.6Gb hopefully leaving plenty for SoW). These SSDs are quoted at something like 'up to 355MBps' vs my existing 93.5MBps. Would a new HDD really be better?

If I understand you right you're asking if it was better to use an SSD instead of a regular HD. The answer is: depends on money.

One thing is for certain: If you go for a small SSD then definately put your OS on it. Not the games.
If you want to spend some money either get a bigger SSD or don't get an SSD at all and spend the money somewhere else (2nd GPU/better GPU, bit more Ram etc.).
Games do not run noticably faster / better on SSD. There are only a very few games that really run like 1% faster and load 10-40% faster. But once loaded you won't see any noticable difference anymore. (I linked a review about that in an earlier post but you can just search for one yourself)

[Codex]

Go SSD for sure. If you can afford it, get a 120GB to use for OS and games. Win7 rocks on SSD.

As for socket 1366, I wouldn't go down that path. Bang for buck you're better off with 1156, as the only difference you will notice will be in SLI / Crossfire bandwidth, and that will only become apparent if you're going to use 3 or more cards.

I don't know what SoW will ultimately be like on my 2 cards at 1920x1200 but I'm confident it will be more than enough.

[csThor]

Too late ... got the stuff yesterday and installed it right away. I'm still having issues (system runs but no pic on the monitor) but I'm taking the PC to the shop today. My guess is my 620W PSU is too weak ...

[Codex]

Well you won't regret it anyway, it should see through for a long time.

If you bought the system you posted on page 1, 650W should get you over the line, but only just. I'd say an 850W would be a better option.

You did remember to plug in the two molex connectors right?

http://www.guru3d.com/article/zotac-geforce-gtx-480/9

[Codex]

Ah .. you said 620W , yeah you'd be pushing it I think. Good luck.

[csThor]

Yes, I did connect both but believe me the second one had me flabbergasted for a while. Because I hadn't installed the cable with that connector before I had to search for it in my "parts shack". Took me a while to figure it out ... and then find it.

[T}{OR]

Originally Posted by csThor

Too late ... got the stuff yesterday and installed it right away. I'm still having issues (system runs but no pic on the monitor) but I'm taking the PC to the shop today. My guess is my 620W PSU is too weak ...

Only if you saved on the PSU, which would be a bad idea. 620 W PSU should be more than plenty to suffice your rig's power requirements. Higher brand PSU-s with 80% efficiency usually output much more than they are rated.

[csThor]

It's an Enermax PSU and already 4 years old. I'll take the PC to the shop in a few minutes and then we'll see ...