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Reddit mentions of Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-7TE250BW)
Sentiment score: 111
Reddit mentions: 181
We found 181 Reddit mentions of Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-7TE250BW). Here are the top ones.
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Features:
Specs:
| Height | 0.2755905509 Inches |
| Length | 3.93700787 Inches |
| Size | 250 GB |
| Weight | 0.110231131 pounds |
| Width | 2.749999997195 Inches |
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E3W1726/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Here you can get the 250g on Amazon for $109 compared to Neweggs $149. You still get the game free with this deal also. Picked this up yesterday and just gotta wait for the email code
I'd also have to recommend the Samsung 840 Evo. I got a 250gb one for around $110 on sale back in march, and it's amazing.
They're still around $120 but it's totally worth it. I'd also recommend this size in particular. 120 is too small and the others are too expensive.
Transferring Windows over was a huge pain, but once it was done and I restarted, it was totally worth it. If you do a clean install it's way quicker. Seeing your pc boot to an instantly usable desktop in less than 10 seconds is totally worth it. Also putting steam on it was awesome.
I've been able to quit a cs:go competitive match, restart my computer, open steam, and rejoin the game well within the 3 minute window before you get penalized for leaving.
tl:dr get one
>storage capacity would go up in multiples of 8
It's not always advertised like that though. You can get 250GB or 500GB SSDs. But yes, typically with flash cards and USB drives, it's multiples of 8.
woot ordering, how does this one look? ty for input everyone
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1415202913&sr=1-1&keywords=ssd
The Samsung 840 EVO provides good capacity, reliability and speed for the money. At $140 for 256GB of storage, it also fits into your budget while supporting SATA III.
Ah. And a good question none the less. No it doesn't. Which I didn't even know about. So I actually just went ahead and cancelled my eBay order and ordered it on Amazon for $109.99 and got far cry 4, which steam has listed at $59.99 all for $109.99 with free shipping.
The far cry 4 deal only applies to Samsung 840 EVO 250 GB and above I believe. After ctrl + f for far cry, it comes up on specials and promotions for the 250 but not the smaller one.
Link for those who are lazy: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417413707&sr=8-1&keywords=samsung+evo+840
I'd definitely recommend making a post on /r/BuildAPC. The build looks nice but I'd definitely recommend getting at least a 1TB HDD for about $50. Liquid CPU cooling is overkill for you since the CPU you chose can't be overclocked. A simple $20 cooler will keep it sub 60C for most workloads.
Also, I'd pay an extra $10 for this Samsung 840 250GB SSD instead. Speeds ar emuch better, plus it comes with a download code for Far Cry 4.
TL;DR: For the amount of your budget, buy the SSD and RAM I recommended. Either spend $200 on a GPU or spend $150 on a mid-tier GPU, up your budget to $400 and get a better MoBo for future upgrades. Good luck!
Edit -- I just saw you have an AMD CPU. I've heard that nVidia & Intel work better together, and AMD works best with the other cards. Adjust accordingly.
The biggest WTF for me concerning the Ursa is the use of those ridiculously expensive CFast cards. With that 17 pound behemoth of a camera, they couldn't figure out a way to squeeze in an SSD slot?
This 250 GB SSD's dimensions are:
> Product Dimensions: 3.9 x 0.3 x 2.8 inches ; 1.9 ounces
That's roughly the size and weight of a deck of playing cards. That's nothing. It's $129.
The price for a 256 GB Cfast card? $1,414.55. Four of those memory cards is as expensive as the damn camera!
It is absolutely worth it. I have an early 2011 MBP and the speed bump from switching to an SSD was enormous. I can't recommend it enough.
If you are looking for hardware suggestions, look at the Samsung 840 Evo. I have it, some people I know have one, we all are satisfied and it seems to give you lots of bang for the buck.
the 840 evo 250gb is currently on sale. for ~20 more you can get twice the storage
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394632204&sr=8-1&keywords=840+evo+250gb
For the T440s? I would go with following upgrades:
Everything else stock. If you don't need 10 to 12 hours of battery life, you can go for a smaller battery. The 6 cell rear battery will stick out of the bottom. I don't know if you want that. Then I would buy a 4 GB RAM module and a 250 GB Samsung 840 EVO and stick it in instead of the HDD. The prices right now on the 840 EVO series from Samsung are crazy.
I'd say get an ASUS N550JK and put a Samsung 840 Evo into it. You'd have a really high quality multimedia laptop with a beautiful IPS display, a quad-core i7, 8GB RAM, and a fast SSD for well under budget.
If you want more portability and a higher res display with more RAM and battery life, the Dell XPS 15 is also right up your alley. It weighs only 4.4lbs, is .7" thin, and can get up to 11 hours of battery life. It has a 512GB SSD and 16GB RAM with a 15.6" 3200x1800 IPS display.
I noticed you didn't mention an SSD. You will absolutely need to get one of those, these days there's no excuse not to with a budget of $1k. I would recommend the Samsung 840 Evo. I have the older 840 and I've recommended Evos for both my friend's recent builds, they've had no issues with them at all so far.
I would install your OS and a couple most-played games on the SSD. Make sure to move your documents and temp folder to the HDD. Don't forget to install whatever programs you use on the secondary drives because the SSD will fill up fast if you don't.
Other than that, this is a strong build. Others here will be able to give better recommendations on any changes to the Mobo/CPU, but the most important thing would be the SSD.
I recently swapped from a single SATA3 physical disc to a pair of SATA3 solid state discs (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E3W1726/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) in RAID0. KSP load time did not change much, seems to be processor bound rather than memory or IO bound.
Other apps load incredibly fast. Especially warcraft.
The only thing I've picked up is this SSD from Amazon (comes with FC4!)
LINKS FOR EVERYTHING
2 Way SLI - 780 Ti Superclocked edition
Intel i7 3820 3.6GHz
Corsair Hydro Series Extreme Performace Liquid CPU Cooler H100i
2 packs of Corsair Dominator Platinum 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz (PC3 12800) Memory
Gigabyte GA-X79-UP4 Motherboard
Samsung 840 EVo 250GB SSD
Beats Pro Over-Ear
Male White Fiberglass Mannequin Head
Oculus Rift Development Kit 2
Deluxe Triple Monitor Stand Desk Clamp
Seagate 3TB Barracude
Corsaie Air Series SP120mm Quiet Edition
Rosewill 1000Watt Bronze Certified PSU
NZXT Phantom 630 Gunmetal Edition
Three Acer H236HLbid 23" LCD IPS monitors
Wallart USA Panorama New York
Blue Snowball Microphone
Flexible Gooseneck Microphone Holder
Microphone table clamp
Razer Lycosa Mirror special Edition
Razer Abyssus Optical PC Gaming Mouse
Xbox one controller
IKEA Tables (both 73" and 96" are used)
IKEA Table legs (8 used)
$119.99 on amazon
Will probably be even cheaper on Black Friday / Cyber Monday...
Hey man, I don't know much about the SanDisk Extreme II 240GB that's listed there for 139.99, but I know Samsung SSDs are usually highly recommended here and on /r/buildapc. Its on sale right now for the same rate here . If that's your price range, I'd recommend going for that. I got mine last year for $180 and its worth every goddamn cent. Plus the Samsung Magician software that comes with it is pretty sweet.
I think he means Amazon has had it on sale at this price for a while. It looks like since August 19th.
http://camelcamelcamel.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/product/B00E3W1726
This looks like a great starter build! Allthough your build will more than likely fit into a small tower case so if you want some extra space you could change it, allthough if you keep it, extra space gives better cooling so you could also keep it, your choise there.
Very nice build, what you got there is pretty much all you need, if you can put some extra budget I would strongly recomend getting a 250GB SSD which will allow you to startup in around 10 seconds, but that is not essential and is kinda expensive, so whatever you choose.
SSD on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00E3W1726
samsung 850 pro
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LF10KTE/ref=twister_B00M0QYEWC?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
my friend used the 840 evo in his and it works flawless also!
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726
Why isn't he recommending the Samsung 840 EVO - it's cheaper than the SanDisk SSDs? Is it not suitable for hackintosh's?
120GB ($99.99): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3W15P0
250GB ($176.99): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3W1726
I've heard really good things about the Samsung Evo 840 and it seems pretty affordable. Here's a link: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726
Some suggestions to trim the fat:
I have the Mid 2010 13" MBP as well. I threw a Crucial M4 in it almost 2 years ago and it blows my mind how smoothly the computer still runs. The only other thing I've replaced is the battery. I honestly think this computer will continue to run this smoothly for another year or two. I'm so incredibly happy with it after 4 years.
I cannot recommend this enough. For less than $150 your computer will be so much faster you will hate yourself for not upgrading sooner.
SSD's are known to slow down with decreased performance as they fill up, ive heard estimates that one should keep around 20% free space for optimal speed. So I guess you can choose between everything being a bit slower or having a faster os and slower skyrim. I would personally think you will be fine if you dont go too overboard with it.
With the price of ssd's at the moment you could even try and pick up a 128gb one for skyrim pretty cheap
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=lp_1292116011_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1412574241&sr=1-1
If you decide to try an SSD to replace the slow 5200rpm hard drive that came in that iMac, I'd recommend checking out the Samsung 840 Evo SSD. Best bang for your buck and an SSD should definitely speed things up.
250GB
500GB
You can always use the SSD alongside a HDD. OS goes to SSD, with some other stuff like browsers, and some games. Other stuff like videos and music goes to HDD.
And a 250GB Samsung Evo is $130 right now, well worth for the huge improvement.
Well you can't upgrade your GPU so don't worry about that factor. As for RAM and SSD, both will definitely provide a boost in responsiveness, but that assumes everything else is operating normally. Your comments about the MacBook's recent laggy performance may indicate an issue.
As per /u/Sir_not_sir's suggestion, remove the bottom case and check for dust buildup on the fans. Here are iFixit instructions on doing that. But be careful if you're using canned air. You can use it to blow dust out of the area surrounding the fan, but don't use it in such a way that the air stream turns the fan bades, as that can damage the fans.
Another factor is that your model of MacBook Pro is widely reported as suffering from GPU failures, with lots of owners seeing issues. I have the same model, and was working for Apple at the time of purchase. We saw several models come in for repair for various issues early on, and noticed with all of them that they had way too much thermal paste on the CPU and GPU. My coworkers and I who had purchased the 2011 models all spent a night removing the logic boards, cleaning, and then reapplying the correct amount of paste. None of us have had the issues reported recently [knock on wood]. So that might be one area to look into, although don't do it if you're not comfortable with computer repair; see if you can find a local service provider (Apple itself won't do it for you).
As for the upgrades, you don't want to buy something and discover that your problems were due to an unrelated hardware failure. So what you may want to try is to find a retailer that accepts returns on the SSD and RAM (most companies will charge a restocking fee on opened items, somewhere around 15 percent, but call ahead to companies like Other World Computing, explain the situation, and ask if they can make an exception on their return policy). That way you can try to upgrade and see if things improve. If not, you're not stuck with expensive components, as you won't be able to use either the RAM or SSD if you end up buying a new MacBook Pro.
I have a 512GB Samsung 840 EVO and 16GB of OWC RAM in my 2011 MBP, and it still runs like a champ for just about everything other than intensive video encoding/rendering. If you can sort out the performance and heat issue, yours should have no problem getting you through the rest of school.
it'd have to be pretty fucking cheap, you can get a 250GB Samsung EVO 840 for $140 from amazon. i mean, if you can pick it up for less than $100 then MAYBE, but i'd go with a more reputable brand.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726
For example, I want to buy 10 of these SSD from Amazon. But they only allow 4.
Edit 1: Never mind. I just edited my cart to 10 and it let me do that. I was being retarded.
Edit 2: Nope. I got excited for no reason. Wouldn't let me buy more than 4.
A 250GB Samsung EVO
The EVO is the most popular SSD right now, striking a perfect balance between price, speed, and reliability. A cheaper option is a Crucial M500 which is still pretty good, but not as fast.
EDIT: Btw these are $10-$20 cheaper on Amazon, which is why I linked there, sorry.
Same price on Amazon if you have Prime for free 2-day shipping. Or just, you know, gift cards to use.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1395859043&sr=8-2&keywords=samsung+840+evo
Wouldn't he be better off with http://www.microcenter.com/product/434177/core_i5-4690k_35ghz_lga_1150_boxed_processor
Slightly faster, slightly newer, noticeably cheaper. If only to double up the ssd to actually fit games and an os http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00E3W1726?cache=9f4a20c3b67c2f7c433c4e3d291332ce&pi=SX200_QL40&qid=1409031702&sr=8-1#ref=mp_s_a_1_1
The EVO is $139.99 now:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E3W1726/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Ive been thinking about getting the Samsung EVO 240GB (link) when it was 139. Is this drive comparable to that in performance or should I wait for another 240GB drive with better performance to fall near the $120 price point?
This would be used to replace a Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SSD.
For SSD, the Intel 730 line are praised for their reliability but they aren't the fastest nor the cheapest. I've always been partial to the Samsung 840 Evo Series.
For HDD's I always stick to Western Digital. I've never had any problems with mine; they just always work. Possibly go for a 3TB Red for tons of space. If you decide to get multiple, the Reds are good for RAID setups.
My gf still uses her 2007 MBP to this day and it works like a champ. Granted I've had to replace the HDD and reinstall OSX a few times, but the hardware will last a long time if you take care of it.
OSX can get a little sluggish after a year or two. I highly recommend reinstalling and restoring from backup instead of upgrading between major versions (and anytime things start to slow down)
I also recommend upgrading to an SSD. We're upgrading all MBPs at my office to Samsung EVOs. Of all the things you can do, this will probably have the most drastic effect on speed... especially on start-up time. If you combine that with a reinstall and restore, you'll practically have a new computer.
We had an old 2006 iMac that took 30 minutes (yes, minutes) to boot.... and was so slow she hadn't used it in years. I was afraid the HDD was about to die, but after some ram and a fresh install of Mavericks, its better than new. If it wasn't such a pain, I'd upgrade it to an SSD too.
How slow is it? Finder should not be slow at all.
Assuming that you have a mac that you can open up (not a new iMac), buy an SSD. This will improve program loading times and boot speeds.
You will need a T6 screwdriver, but they are easy to install.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1420893928&sr=8-2&keywords=samsung+ssd
Yeah sure, the Samsung ones are really great. Price wise they go for more than a hard drive but are definitely worth it. This one here is going for around £88 new for 250GB ($130) but will be cheaper if you are buying in a already built PC.
The sales pitch is that SSDs are around 10x faster than regular hard drives. The reason this is useful is because DayZ has a lot of landscape and objects that are read directly off your drive every time they come into view. The faster the drive, the faster your game. It will also increase your FPS by a healthy amount. My game looks fantastic after upgrading and I was even able to run the game in full 1080 HD which was uncomfortable before (the FPS was too low for me to enjoy it).
Also DayZ is currently really processor heavy and doesn't necessarily rely on a graphics card as much as other games. This may change in the future however. I would suggest getting an Intel processor definitely with at least 3.0Ghz power or more if possible.
Since this is a laptop you are buying, I would suggest looking for one with an Intel processor (i5 if you can) with an SSD and a graphics card if you want. The Intel chip has an inbuilt graphics card which will run the game fine if you have an SSD but the game may rely on a graphics card more in the future so getting one could be a good idea in the long run.
This may cost slightly more but will run the game 10x better than the laptop you posted and you will be so much happier I promise. The Intel chip will also help you do everything else you need to do on the PC brilliantly and will last you a long time. Hope I've helped and see you Chernarus!
CPU | Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor | $229.99 @ Newegg
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler | $29.99 @ Microcenter
Motherboard | ASRock Z87 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard | $129.99 @ Newegg
Memory | Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $49.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk | $176.98 @ Newegg
Storage | Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $59.98 @ Outlet PC
Video Card | MSI Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (2-Way CrossFire) | $299.99 @ Newegg
Video Card | MSI Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (2-Way CrossFire) | $299.99 @ Newegg
Case | Antec Three Hundred Two ATX Mid Tower Case | $57.99 @ Microcenter
Power Supply | XFX ProSeries 750W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply | $109.99 @ Newegg
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) | $85.99 @ NCIX US
| | Total
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. | $1517.87
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-23 21:35 EDT-0400 |
First off, don't plan on trying to get a certain overclock as it's all luck of the draw. You're i5 may be stuck at 4.1Ghz or you might be able to get 4.8Ghz easily. I made that mistake (I was shooting for a 4.5Ghz overclock as well) and my 4670k will only reach 4.3Ghz at reasonable volts.
Anyway, now on to the build.
>1) Is it worth 94 pounds to upgrade the initial 1TB 5400 rpm HDD to a 750GB 7200 rpm HDD as they offer on the first link I posted? (SSDs are too expensive)
94 pounds?! Absolutely not! Do you need all that storage space? because for that price, you can get this.
That's an actual SSD, much lower capacity, but still a much better value.
>2) Or would it be better to replace it "myself" with an SSHD drive? as I have seen a 1TB SSHD for 60 pounds and installation is about 30 pounds, it would be more or less the same cost
You can do the installation yourself, if you feel up to it.
Keep in mind, SSHDs include a very small SSD, which places only the most commonly used files on it. You're not going to get the same performance for everything stored.
If the SSHD you're mentioning is this, note that the HDD it uses is 5400rpm.
>3) Would changing the hardware void the warranty?
I would be surprised if it did, but you should probably ask Asus' customer suppport.
>4) Would I have to reinstall Windows if I changed the drive myself and how hard would that be?
You'd have to reinstall, yes. The Asus has an optical drive, so just getting some blank DVDs to make recovery discs should be a simple enough affair.
Samsung
Crucial
SSDs provide little to no improvement in overall game performance only improvements you will see is load times.
http://m.hardocp.com/article/2013/12/10/hdd_vs_ssd_real_world_gaming_performance/3#.VKnoD8vTnqA
Arma is one of the most hard drive intensive games on the market cause of its textures and still you get virtually no benefit. SSDs main benefits are quick OS boot (10sec for Linux-ubuntu) 20-30sec for windows; silent operation and more durability esp in laptops as if you drop it it won't damage the HDD.
That being said SAMSUNG 850 / 840 Evos are the best bang for buck. but the PRO line willast forever practically. (Test writing and rewriting up to Several PETA BYTES (1000TB) and little to no performance degridation.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726 and 50$ more for 250GB model. Samsung's drives are tested as some of the fastest on the market as well as most reliable.
Edit: spelling and SSD recommendation
CPU | Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor | €166.79 @ Amazon Deutschland
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler | €32.99 @ Amazon Deutschland
Motherboard | ASRock H97 PERFORMANCE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard | €51.07 @ Amazon Deutschland
Memory | G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | €76.83 @ Amazon Deutschland
Storage | Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | €54.99 @ Amazon Deutschland
Case | Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case | €95.37 @ Amazon Deutschland
Power Supply | XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply | €61.13 @ Amazon Deutschland
Storage| Samsung 840 EVO 250GB| €110.00 @ Amazon Deutschland
Graphics Card| Gigabyte Geforce GTX970 Gaming Grafikkarte| €340.00 @ Amazon Deutschland
| | Total
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | €989.17
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-05 21:15 CET+0100 |
You don't need the cooler tbh, but if you're anal about temps/noise it's a good choice. Else save the €33.
edit2:
Fixed links and titles, PCPartpicker doesn't list some stuff from amazon.de
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1419370703&sr=1-1&keywords=ssd
A 240gb solid state drive. If you are capable of cloning your OS from your current HDD to this SSD, you will notice a dramatic improvement in speed. Run programs off of that drive, keep all traditional data stored on your traditional HDD.
That's pretty distasteful (the death threats, not your question), hell I've been building PCs for 16 years and I'm not positive you can't build a laptop. Certainly not in the traditional sense of buying individual components, but I bet you could piece together some sort of frankenlaptop from existing parts. Or build a PC into a briefcase emulate a laptops portability. Which I know works cause I know someone who did it back in the 90s.
I get that you don't want to go back to /r/buildapc but you really don't need to spend $2400.
16GB of RAM isn't strictly needed for games, very few will take advantage of that much. I can think of 1, Planetary Annihilation.
Anyway this is off the top of my head w/ out any research into cutting costs whatsoever. Spending some time on google you could prob shave off a few hundred.
4690K - $233
16GB RAM - $147
GTX 970 - $350
SSD - $127
PSU - $60
Motherboard - $140
HDD - $78
KB+M - $15
Windows - $92
Unless you are buying a $1200 dollar computer case, there's your good PC at half your expected cost.
I didn't include a monitor cause I'm going to assume that since your presently gaming on your 360 you have a TV and you can just plug your PC into that w/ a HDMI cable. Hell you can use same one you were using on your xbox after you throw it out since this PC will crush it. :-P
The Kingston V300 SSD is apparently dodgy (see the recent reviews on http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00A1ZTZNM/), here's an alternative http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00E3W1726/
Huh. Well, I found this and this. What would you say I should go with? The Samsung is cheaper, but I heard they had firmware issues. Someone else told me that Intel SSD's are more power-hungry than other drives, but are more reliable (the power doesn't matter that much since I use my laptop with the charger all the time anyways)
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1417468271&sr=1-1&keywords=ssd
how about this one?
http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Z97-A-DDR3-2600-Motherboards/dp/B00K2MAU5Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1417468426&sr=8-2&keywords=Z97+mobo
and this?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_BanFub1NNABAJ mobile link
The voucher will be emailed to you street a few days. I was going to do what I said earlier, but Amazon messed up my order and I was able to make out better with their solution.
FYI, OP's deal is now on Amazon as well.
You can get good SSDs from Samsung, Crucial, Intel, and SanDisk
You can get good RAM from GSkill, Corsair, Kingston, and Crucial
The safest way to choose is just to look at reviews. The best thing to see is a bell curve review distribution, like on this SSD. What you don't want to see is a very scattered distribution of reviews.
Thanks, I really appreciate it, one more question if you don't mind. According to the manual the Toshiba has a 640 GB SATA HD, so I'm thinking this Samsung 840 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Single Unit Version Internal Solid State Drive would be a good choice. Protools, the music engineering program for mixing and mastering music, uses a lot of resources so I think this would be a good choice. Even though the Samsung SSD is 500 GB vs 640 in the notebook right now it should be faster because it's SSD and has much newer technology?
If you have the original hard drive from 2011, it's possible that it's starting to wear out and slow down, even if Onyx says it's healthy. One of the best upgrades you can do for any computer is replacing your hard drive with a solid state drive, as they are much faster, and your hard drive is probably the bottleneck for everything your computer does.
If you can use a screwdriver and you're gentle, you can replace a macbook hard drive, it's incredibly easy in that model.
Price-wise, you can get 250GB for just over $100 ($130 or $110 being popular options) or 512GB for about $200 ($199 or $239). For your average consumer, the crucial is fine.
Here are some instructions on replacing it.
Good luck. Since you reinstalled OS X, I doubt there's much wrong on the software side. This upgrade really will give you a nice speed bump.
Samsung Evo is on sale on amazon right now
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1415814329&sr=1-1&keywords=samsung+evo
Yes, you can use either either a SATA 2 or SATA 3 port for your SSD, you may just run into some bottlenecking without SATA 3 (3gbps and 6gbps, respectively).
This is a good place to start looking for SSD's, although I'd recommend the 840 EVO.
IMO
I personally am majoring in CS also! I also would like a laptop that could handle light gaming but not a beast or heat-machine. I was trying to find that slim look with the good specs, and I ended up finding the Asus N550JK after about 3 weeks of constant searching. It will be coming in this Wednesday! Can't wait!
The only issue I saw with it is that it comes with a 1TB 5400 RPM HDD, which is a good size but far too slow. I ordered a samsung 500GB SSD and am going to swap it in as soon as I receive it!
Asus N550JK
Amazon Link
Samsung SSD
Also I purchased a bay ($10) to replace the DVD drive and now I can put in another hard drive bay, which I plan on sticking that 5400 RPM HDD in there until I save up some money for another SSD
Heres some specs on it
cpu runs at 2.4GHz-3.4GHz
Glossy Touch Screen
15.6" screen
Win 8.1
If you're not gaming on it, you should get around 5 hours on time on it (Big one for me!)
Not hot!! (Also a big one for me!)
Not noisy, even while running games and pushing the laptops limits
1080p
Audio is said to not be too great, but it comes with a little speaker which vastly improves the quality and plugs right into the laptop
Remember you can always buy the laptop now, and save money for a SSD and things later!
I also am putting another 8GB stick of ram into it (totaling 16gb)
Any questions, feel free to ask, I will be LOADED with info come the 30th when mine arrives. Can't wait!
Edit: Only issue is the laptop is about $100 out of your range, so if you would like to pull a tiny bit more cash out, it looks to be very promising!
Maximum throughput of modern HDD's hovers around ~160-170MB/s [0] (SATA II is 300MB/s ~3Gb/s [1]).
A Samsung 840 evo has a maximum sequential read of ~540MB/s [2], so yeah. SATA II will cause you lose ~240MB/s
[0] Western Digital Black Spec Sheets
[1] Math
[2] Benchmarks
I had a 120 and it was never enough because I like to keep certain games on it. I'd get a 240. Samsing EVO 240's are pretty cheap. I got mine for ~140.
Edit: On sale for $119
You may have swapped his words.
It's best IMHO to put your OS and most-used applications on your SSD and put everything else on the HDD. This way, your OS boots extremely fast and your most used applications come up almost instantly.
Also, a 1-2tb SSD is extremely expensive. I find a 250GB SSD (Samsung 840 EVO comes to mind) to be a good sweet spot between cost and size.
Edit: Now you've got it correct :) I'd recommend the SSD I linked above then get a 7200rpm Western Digital 1-2tb HDD for everything else. That'd get you a pretty optimal setup as far as storage goes unless you planned on utilizing RAID.
If you are talking about a pure boot time increase in performance an ssd is the way to go. I personally have both upgraded my ram and hard drive to an ssd and the ssd is the major increase in preformance. ram only increases performance if you need more ram capacity which at 4 GB you shouldn't need. If you are referring to a better gaming performance you are kinda are screwed as your laptop does not have a 4x pci expansion slot or thunderbolt capabilities.
here is a link for a very good 500gb ssd and here is a cheaper however only 250gb ssd. pm me if you have any questions
CPU | Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor | $329.98 @ OutletPC
CPU Cooler | Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler | $97.16 @ Amazon
Motherboard | Gigabyte G1.SNIPER Z5S ATX LGA1150 Motherboard | $152.86 @ Newegg
Memory | PNY XLR8 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $127.56 @ Amazon
Storage | Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk | $150.00
Storage | Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk | $150.00
Storage | Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $59.98 @ OutletPC
Video Card | EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card | $489.99 @ NCIX US
Case | NZXT Phantom (Black) ATX Full Tower Case | $119.99 @ Best Buy
Optical Drive | Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer | $19.98 @ OutletPC
Monitor | Asus VS239H-P 23.0" Monitor | $160.00 @ B&H
Monitor | Asus VS239H-P 23.0" Monitor | $160.00 @ B&H
| | Total
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. | $2017.50
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-03 22:41 EST-0500 |
Awesome build. If I was building this, the only thing I would do would be to swap the SSD for a Samsung EVO. The 250gb version is only $20 more than Crucial drive you have chosen. Other than that, I don't see anything else you should think about changing.
Edit: I really should read everything. Just saw you are not in the US. See the bot that has replied to me. It will probably help you out.
$140 with free shipping.
amazon has a deal on them today:
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=dp_ob_title_ce
If you don't want to do I full system rebuild, here are some things you could do.
Other than that, there is not much you can do as a standalone upgrade. To upgrade CPU you need to get a new motherboard. To get a more expensive graphics card you need a bigger PSU. Etc. That said, the two upgrades above would give you a pretty big boost in performance. Enough to max out fallout and skyrim. I'm not sure about DayZ, I'm not very familar with how demanding this game is.
EDIT: Also, I agree with SDCrafter, your CPU is plenty fast enough for gaming and his GPU PSU suggestion is good.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394731656&sr=8-1&keywords=840+evo
This one is a steal right now.
Based on your description this is the type of RAM you will need.
You will need two 4GB sticks of PC8500 DDR3 1066MHz SO-DIMM to get 8GB of RAM (the maximum your Mac can use).
You can get the specs from OWC’s site and shop around on Amazon if you like.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Apple_MacBook_MacBook_Pro/Upgrade/DDR3
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/8566DDR3S8GP/
I can't give you a viable SSD recommendation until I know what you space needs are and what type if things you do in the MacBook.
OWC sells several SSDs of varying capacities and speeds.
The latest version of SATA will probably work fine in your MacBook but you will not see any extra speed advantage over a slightly older SATA version.
I just replaced my 2010 13" MacBook Pro's hard disk with a 500GB Samsung SSD and this has made my old Mac far more usable.
This Samsung SSD is a good value for storage space vs price.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/
In that case, if I was buying a SSD at the moment I would go with this SSD, it is currently topping many of the review sites. I know you said you wanted Newegg, but at the moment their website is not functioning properly for me... I am sure you could find this same drive on Newegg.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726
Most anyone will tell you the Samsung 840 EVO is the best SSD on the market right now. The 250 GB Model is $140, couldn't be happier with mine!
ssd's in my opinion are like a luxury thing, but if you are going to get one go with a samsung evo or a corsair one i got some links for you below!
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396265476&sr=8-1&keywords=ssd
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Neutron-2-5-Inch-Exclusive-CSSD-N240GBGTXB-BK/dp/B00AW3O4WU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1396265506&sr=8-3&keywords=ssd+corsair
I know the Samsung EVO ssd's are widely recommended on this sub. I'm not sure why they are preferred, maybe someone else can chime in on that.
As for the GPU, you won't get more performance per dollar out of SLI. A single powerful card will almost always offer more value. However, one thing I've seen is that you can get an extra boost for free if you're upgrading your GPU by using your old GPU as a dedicated PhysX card. I was just reading an article on it here: http://volnapc.com/how-much-difference-does-a-dedicated-physx-card-make. The improvement is apparently quite substantial, though this will only benefit games that use PhysX.
I've heard that the GTX 770's are a great buy. I'm waiting for my 770 to be delivered tomorrow. I plan on using my old GTX 560 TI as a dedicated PhysX card to see if it has any benefit. I would avoid the AMD R9 cards as they're still inflated due to miners snatching them all up.
Everything else looks pretty solid.
Samsung EVO 250GB Only $9.00 more at Amazon. I've used 64GB and 128GB as OS/Program drives, the 64GB was obviously too small, the 128GB wasn't too bad but it was still just a touch too small. I don't keep a lot of useless programs around either; if I stop using something, it gets uninstalled.
Replace your Toshiba HDD with an SSD.
Here is a good one: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410016229&sr=8-1&keywords=SSD
Spend the rest of your $400 on a better video card.
It will be like a new machine, I promise.
I don't think you will get a 1440 screen (assuming that's referring to the 2xxx by 1440 screens on the surface pro 3 and the lenovo carbon) at that price point. If you go way down on the screen resolution and come up on the weight, you could end up with a $600 laptop and let him install a 200+ SSD into it and come in under $800.
Something like http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/g-series/g510/ along with a SSD like http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408162369&sr=8-1&keywords=samsung+840+250
How soon do you plan on building this? If you can wait a couple months the NVIDIA GTX 880 will be out soon, and it's supposed to be around the price of the 770 when it came out (about $400, US). This is probably the worst time of the year to build a computer. Devil's Canyon and Z97 did just come out, but Intel is still do for X99 and Haswell-E, NVIDIA is releasing Maxwell, and AMD probably has some stuff being announced soon.
Otherwise it looks good, the only things I would change would be the power supply (for an EVGA SuperNOVA), the motherboard (to something from ASUS), I would maybe get a cheaper SSD as the 850 Pro series don't really offer much more for the premium. An 840 EVO or a Crucial MX100 of the same price would be the optimal as far as price/performance. I would also recommend against getting a 7.1 headset, I've tried them and they're terrible, as an alternative I'd get a cheap pair of studio headphones like the Audio-Technica ATH-M50 and a desktop microphone.
Edit 1: I would recommend getting a case with better airflow as well. Something like the Phanteks Enthoo Pro is a good value case with much better airflow, and has a nice aesthetic.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403142866&sr=8-1&keywords=samsung+840
Any standard 2.5" SATA SSD should be fine. I usually suggest the Samsung 840 Evo; Amazon has the 250GB model for $130, which is a pretty good balance of price and capacity.
It's very easy to replace the HDD. I got this SSD for $130 and put it where the 1TB HDD is. You'll need a T5 Torx screwdriver.
If you don't need an optical drive, you can also get a caddy and put the original HDD in the optical drive bay for extra storage.
An SSD is significantly faster than a harddrive, and isn't likely to break if you drop it, say when it's in your backpack. Gaming wise, you know how these load screens popup when you play games? Well those should be significantly mitigated or rendered nonexistant with the access speed and read times from storing the game in an SSD. Oh and if you're using Win 8 w/ ssd, startup times are like 5~15 seconds.
mx100 256gb
840 evo 250GB
If you're buying the Asus with 840M, don't expect to play new games in high textures or screen resolutions. The next best tier that allows that would be an 850M ddr5 / 860M, those start at around $950 base price.
SSDs are super cheap these days. I just got a 250 GB SSD for around the $120 mark on amazon. http://amzn.com/B00E3W1726 I'm not sure what your using this for, but that's enough space for files and a few games. A little under $90 will get you 120GB which is enough if you don't download movies or video games. I'm assuming with a machine like this it's mostly regular use like web browsing, email and watching youtube. 120GB SSD is more than enough for those task.
How is it compared to this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E3W1726/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Is this Pro a better buy than this Evo that I got for $100? Should I cancel that and pay the extra $40?
Just to be clear amazon's 250GB version (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E3W1726/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) also includes Far Cry 4. This is the one I bought - I already have a 128GB SSD for my OS, so I'm going to clone it to the new one and build in more space for games leaving my 1TB drive alone for movies and related stuff.
I'm not recommending a bigger SSD, I'm recommending a faster one. For example, I got this one which is $10 more than the one you have selected but its write speed is 50% faster than the Crucial you have picked out (according to that chart I linked to).
There's this one for less and it comes with FC4 as well.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E3W1726/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
That's effectively an SSD on a stick, which is great, but higher capacity and price range than I'm looking for. I already have an SSD, which provides over 500 MB/s read and write connected internally via SATA 6Gb/s.
I want to use a flash drive as an operating system install disk, as in I use it to install Windows/Linux. My old flash drive is too small for the latest Windows install file.
I guess I wasn't aware there was an 250 EVO, yeah no mine is the 840 EVO 250gb: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E3W1726/ref=ox_ya_os_product_refresh_T1
So it may now apply, if your model isn't one of the one's listed.
Go for this SSD . Costs a little more but it is a much more reliable drive and a bit bigger.
I'm going to second newegg. They have some killer deals and with some patience you will get a really amazing laptop. If I could suggest something for OP, it would be:
ASUS N550JK with a Samsung 840 EVO-Series 250GB SSD
For my y500 I bought a Samsung 840EVO in 250 Gigs. I love it. Sped up Battlefield 4 dramatically. Link!
Brand wise I recommend: Asus, Lenovo, Toshiba, etc. You should browse Dealzon when you have a rough idea what you want, to help yourself save money.
And as /u/morsmage said /r/suggestalaptop is a better place to ask.
This is something I bought, it's not an i3/i5, but it's not a normal i7 either. I present the 14" Lenovo Y40 gaming laptop for $750: w/ coupon @ Dealzon. It's a dual core i7 w/ hyperthreading, so has 4 logical cores. The one I purchased I bought an SSD, but the hybrid this one comes w/ might work for you. I'm happy w/ the battery life, can get up to 4 hours or more, depending on what you're doing. If you want a better battery life get rid of any mechanical HDD, and get an SSD. I personally bought this one, the 840 EVO series has the lowest idle power usage: Samsung 250GB SSD. If this laptop is too much for you, Lenovo has a bunch of other decent laptops for a lower price.
This looks good :-
http://www.amazon.in/Lenovo-Yoga-13-3-inch-Integrated-Graphics/dp/B00PLX2I88/ref=sr_1_10?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1425769258&sr=1-10#productDetails
It has already 500 GB HDD.So you can buy new 250 GB SSD
http://www.amazon.in/dp/B00E3W1726
It will cost you under 70k....
just see compatibility of SSD with that model.I am sure since it's SATA then there will be no problem.But it's good to do some research about it.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147372
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726
Any newer samsung or intel ssd is fine.
If youre current drive is a WD or Seagate acronis has free editions.You will have to install and then it will allow you to make a bootable disc wizard.Or you can clone within the operating system.I suggest you make a bootable.Then clone.
CPU | Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor | £238.99 @ Amazon UK
Motherboard | MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard | £59.84 @ Scan.co.uk
Memory | Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory | £103.98 @ Amazon UK
Storage | Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | £89.94 @ Aria PC
Video Card | Gigabyte Radeon R9 280 3GB WINDFORCE Video Card | £139.98 @ Amazon UK
Case | Fractal Design Define R5 (Titanium) ATX Mid Tower Case | £85.99 @ Novatech
Power Supply | EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply | £39.98 @ Novatech
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | £758.70
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-05 16:34 GMT+0000 |
Ya it would. I would recommend the following SSD though: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1426538134&sr=8-4&keywords=samsung+ssd+840+evo+pro
I have had that one in my 2012 MacBook Pro for about 2 years without any issues. It's crazy fast too.
The 850 is the newer model but I haven't used it before.
If you search your system logs for the similar errors using grep And you don't see lots of output lines, then it might just an error with my particular chromebook and you could be fine.
grep -r 'ERR kernel' /var/log | grep ata1
However I'm not sure if this is really the cause so still no guarantees.
Currently I've ordered a smallish sdcard for a 'permanent chroot', and plan to pair Inateck FE2006 USB3.0 with Samsung 840 SSD For a larger chroot / Duel boot if needed. The caddie has UASP which means it can theoretically get close to SATAIII speeds (70% - 80%) using USB 3.0. Not sure how well this will work for a chromebook, but it'll be handy to have in any case.
Asus has been putting these 7mm Hitachi drives into their laptops for years.
I just replaced this drive in my Asus laptop with this 7mm Samsung SSD drive for a ridiculous performance increase.
I hate to break it to them, but they are way late to the party.
Samsung 840 EVO
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726
BRO Here's what i have Found. 120GB is WAY too small. and for $15 more you can get 250GB
Here is the SSD.
Once you have an SSD, you can NEVER EVER Go Back! the 10-15 sec boot times, and having programs launch as soon as you click them, is nothing like you've ever seen before. you WILL NOT Regret it.
though an SSD wears down, you have plenty to buy a new one in a few years, and clone it, and be right where you were.
It's really only 28$ more, as the Samsung Evo 840 250GB is 72$ off on prime today.
Any reason why you chose the Sandisk SSD over Samsung? Just curious. Samsung's typically have gotten better reviews than most. Amazon has them listed for $180 with free shipping.
I installed one of these with the adaptor and enclosure listed above, along with 16GB of ram a few years ago. Computer runs incredibly fast still. MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011)
There's a difference between yellow smart attributes (which means the attribute has errors but is not totally dead, just worn) and red smart attributes (the attribute has many errors and the drive is basically dead). Many SMART reading softwares won't even show yellow marks.
You seriously think you need to replace mechanical drives every year? Wow. Average drive life for one of those is roughly 3-5 years. And an ssd even longer.
Also, I'll say it again. 300dollardatarecovery.com
We use HDDScan in our shop to run sector by sector scans and run smart reports.
EDIT:
Also, you are spending way too much on those drives if that's where you are buying them from.Same WD Black you linked: http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Black-Notebook-WD5000BPKX/dp/B00DSUTWMQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422507435&sr=8-1&keywords=WD5000BPKX&pebp=1422507422065&peasin=B00DSUTWMQSame Samsung EVO you linked: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1422507502&sr=8-2&keywords=samsung+evo+840+250Either way, 80 dollars is a lot of money just to gain some extra performance and longetivity that the kid is never going to notice anyway. It's still about half the cost for a 500GB mechanical (a very good mechanical at that) than a 250GB SSD with a serious performance issue unless you perform a firmware update on the drive.
Double EDIT: I just noticed that that is an Australian site. Disregard the amazon links. But my point still stands.
It's $105 on Amazon already. Link
No problem! Here's your best best: link
Expect your computer to boot to desktop under 25 seconds if not faster. You could also go for the smaller size, the 120Gb if it costs too much.
When you get your build feel free to PM me, I'll help you overclock as I recently built a system very similar to yours and I've build several machines with that Intel G3258. Also the drivers for that Killer Ethernet port on the motherboard are kinda a pain. I can help you with that too.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1417958848&sr=1-2
so this is what I have come up with:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/txXJRB
If I decide to add a video card, I already have it.
PSU, Optical drive and HDD will be taken from her current computer.
EDIT: Looking at reviews for that SSD, and now I am wary. All the newer reviews are 1 stars that say the drive was changed and is now awful. Any thoughts?
EDIT2: switching out the SSD for this: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726
More expensive, but it seems to be better reviewed, and I have heard good things about them. Link isn't working right, it's the 120GB version
What do you mean the same? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2RDORPKT36D1R&coliid=I807JJQOZV8I6&psc=1
Says 250 numerous times. The Crucial M500 240GB clearly states 240 on every website.
Get the Samsung 840 EVO 120GB, this upgrade will be one of the most bang-for-your-buck performance upgrades. Faster read/write times than a mechanical drive.
Apple considers the hard drive & RAM user-serviceable, as long as you don't break something in the process. But honestly, as long as you have some patience and a somewhat steady hand, you could do it yourself no problem.
Here is a step-by-step guide on how to do the replacement.
Read through the whole procedure FIRST! If you find yourself really uneasy about it, take it somewhere to get done. iFixit is a great resource and I use it all the time, they've never failed me.
The only tool you might not have is a T6 Torx bit. In a pinch I have used a pair of pliers to twist off the screws. All you have to do is break the seal and you can use your fingers to do the rest. Or just get a T6 torx screwdriver!
_
Now, if you're thinking of getting an SSD, just remember that they are more expensive, but also much faster. Worth the investment if you can manage. I personally have a 500gb SSD, plenty of space for me.
Here is a great choice for an SSD.
__
EDIT: Just re-read your post... and none of what I wrote is relevant to a Retina display model. Sorry :(
I'm looking into getting an SSD, for the reliability. Do you think this one would work okay?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_dVSKub068GWR8
Together with this?:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G57BN1M/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_gWSKub1281A3F
So you're saying I should grab this instead?
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726
I guess ditching vista would be good too.
Thanks for the advice.
Can't be specific as use my PC from everything from graphic design (Cad) To gaming and music. I've decided I'm going to do an overall upgrade as I'm happy with my mobo.
Going to upgrade
-PSU to modular & higher wattage
-GPU to better MSI card next year
-Also going to get an 500GB SSD
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-500GB-Basic-Solid-State/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1419877618&sr=1-1&keywords=ssd)
Thanks for the help :)
I highly recommend, that whatever you get, make sure it has an SSD. Everything you do will process faster with one. If you dont see one you like, then buy a slightly less expensive one, then buy an SSD seperately, such as [this one] (http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417842886&sr=8-1&keywords=samsung+ssd). It comes with software to mirror the entire hard drive to the ssd, then just replace it, and you have a laptop with a Solid State Drive.
The machine doesn't seem all that bad. Pretty old and some older/slower RAM, but really I think just throwing an SSD on there would make the best performance boost and is cheaper than building a whole new machine. Up to you, though.
Grab something like a 256GB SSD or something like this: http://smile.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1417498227&sr=8-2&keywords=256GB+SSD
Install Windows 7/8.1 on it, tweak it some if you'd like to disable some services or whatever to save some RAM space, or add some faster/more RAM to the machine would be beneficial as well.
Upgrade your SSD. for 30 more bucks (right now) you can get a 240 for 100 and FarCry 4
http://www.amazon.com/b?node=10401555011
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=lp_10401555011_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1417462788&sr=1-1
I'm not a huge fan of the case. SATA cables tend to be a hard fit and the side panel is just ugly, but I'm also an aesthetics guy.
The 750 Ti is a little weak for gaming, and is unnecessary for other use since the i7 has an integrated GPU.
You can get the EVO much more cheaply: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7te250bw
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-250GB-Basic-Solid-State/dp/B00E3W1726/
It doesn't.
The BW costs £88.00.
The LW costs £111.99.
I think you could save some money by going with 2X4GB sticks of RAM. Unless your photo/video editing. The Samsung 840 EVO 250GB is only $109 right now. Looks good, otherwise.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=psdc_1292116011_t3_B00IF4NGEU
What about this http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3W1726/?tag=pcpapi-20
Never mind, how bout this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-250GB-Basic-Solid-State/dp/B00E3W1726
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726
It depends. If you are going for 1tb in SSD its a lot of money. I got a good size one (250 gb) for $130 on amazon. 250gb is a good starting point for installing games because you can get another if you need more space. SSD is wonderful because combined with SATA6 will pretty much eliminate loading times
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415302425&sr=8-1&keywords=Samsung+EVO+ssd)
You don't need to pay that much, most people (myself included) have an SSD + HDD setup so that the OS and applications can go on the SSD, and games/media/documents go on the HDD, where read times are much less important.
It's not just booting, every application is open before the dock bounce animation ends. Wake from sleep is much more responsive, and nothing ever has to load.
I recommend this 250 GB SSD, great performace for about $130. I use it with the same 3TB drive that you have in my desktop.
As others have said, almost machine will do. however seeing as a desktop PC usually becomes more than just a programming machine, and is often used for general content consumption as well as gaming. I tried to build a fairly decent machine while putting emphasis on sound. So it should be fairly quiet along with being fairly powerful.
CPU: Pretty much anything will do, I'd go for the i5-4570 or the i5-4670k, depending on if you're interested in overclocking. The price/performance ratio is pretty good, and if you want any better you're gonna have to go for the i7-4770 or something like that.
Heatsink: The stock is fine for general purpose stuff, but if you want something better and are willing to invest. Noctua NH-D14 is an excellent heatsink that keeps everything cool and is very quiet as well.
Case: The Fractal Design Define R4 is a great and a common choice, another alternative with similar features is the NZXT H440. They are both great in terms of looks and performance, and are both very quiet as well. They both have some included case fans and filters.
Fans/Filters: Additional case fans provide additional cooling and help in keeping the system fairly quiet. Noctua NF-P12 is a great all around case fan and again, very quiet. In general I'd recommend keeping your rig on a desk or something so that it doesn't colelct as much dust. But you almost always want some dust filters. Pretty much any filters will do but you generally want magnetic filters. Magnetic filters require no tools and attach on pretty much any case. They're easy to take off for cleaning and keep the innards of your rig clean. DEMCI makes some excellent magnetic filters if you need a place to start looking.
Motherboard: ASUS has excellent fan control software on their boards and almost any higher end ASUS board is gonna be great. Personally I'd recommend Asus Z97-Pro which is one of the best mobos I know and has everything you could ever want.
PSU: I almost always recommend Corsair for power supplies, their RM Series PSU's are fantastic and with a zero RPM fan mode are very quiet under normal load. the 550 watt PSU should be enough, maybe even the 450 one.
GPU: You don't need much if it's a pure programming rig, but in general the programming rig becomes "the everyday driver" so it's used for most things including gaming if your brother is into that. If you just want something to plug a monitor into the XFX R7-250A is a good passively cooled card that'll do that. For more performance I'd go for the ASUS GTX 970 StrIx. The GTX 970 provides excellent performance and ASUS' cooler makes it very quiet even under load
RAM: Pretty much anything will do. For a desktop PC that's used for general purpose stuff, I'd say at least 8GB, you can go for more too.
HDD: For general purpose get an SSD. It's much faster and makes less noise thanks no moving parts. Samsung 840 EVO is a good option, and the 250GB drive isn't that xpensive. For mass storage the 2TB Seagate Barracude is a great an affordable option. With a good case that has rubber standings for the HD it shouldn't make much noise either.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now the peripherals are where you can make programming a lot easier and more comfortable.
Keyboard: A good mechanical keyboard is going to make typing a lot faster and more comfortable. They are a bit loud, but some people like the noise. Now there are three main switch types you'll find:
Blue switches: These have an actuation point, basically you can feel a "click" when the button activates and you hear it as well. These are the loudest switches around.
Brown switches: Almost exactly like blues except a bit quieter
Red switches: These are linear switches, they have no real "point" of actuation that you can feel and rather go linearly all the way to the bottom.
There are other switch types as well, clears, blacks, greens, and some more. They mainly differ in the amount of force required to press the button. Black switches for example are extremely heavy to press. For more info you can head out to /r/MechanicalKeyboards another good things about mechanical switches is that they're very very durable.
Another option would be to go for ergonomic keyboards like the Microsoft Sculpt. Keyboards are a lot about personal preference so ask your brother before getting one.
Another thing would be two monitors. As others have said a dual monitor setup is great for programming and good for general purpose as well. Dell Ultrasharp mmonitors provide pretty much everything you could want. There are a lot of Ultrasharp models but the one I linked is great for it's price. It's 1920x1200 so it offers a bit more than your standard full HD monitor, IPS panel, has a vesa mount and the regular stand has all ergonomic adjustments you could want. most important being pivot, basically the ability to turn your monitor sideways to gain more vertical space which is great for coding.
------------------------------------------------------
With the monitors the whole thing is gonna run you for about 1900$
With some changes you can cut out a 1000$ from the pricetag http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yLjnNG
And if you ditch the 2TB Hard drive you're looking at about 825$ for the whole setup.
None of the stuff I listed above is really required at all, you could get him a 3 year old machine fro 300$ and it'd be fine for regular coding and nonsense like that. But if he wants to do something else on the machine as well, then he might need some more horsepower.
Another option for a dedicated programming machine is a good ultrabook. Like say, Thinkpad x240, slap an i5 there, 8GB of ram and a 256/512 GB SSD, use a HDMI cable to connect it to a larger external monitor and you're golden. Or the Thinkpad X1 carbon, with 8GB of RAM and a good sized SSD. The advantage is that the laptop is much more portable, but on the other hand lacks the raw horsepower of a desktop.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413907580&sr=8-1&keywords=ssd+256
Dude, the Samsung 250GB EVO SSD is only 112 bucks now on amazon. Upgrade!
This is the SSD I got for my Late 2011 MBP and it took a dying MBP into what feels like a brand new one. I like it because it comes with a 3 year warranty. (If you get the PRO model, it comes with a 5 year warranty) I'd be careful about using a smaller 128GB model, because the more free space you have, the more reliable the drive will be. (I use about 110-130GB on my 250GB SSD). What I would do is get a program to look at all of your files and see how much space you're currently using on your HDD and then make sure you'll have enough extra space on the SSD.
RAM is a pretty simple installation, and really as long as you get the right kind, there's no going wrong. But overall, make sure you have good tools to use to open your MBP, because those little screws can easily get lost or stripped and then you'll have to replace them. Good luck! And I absolutely recommend any SSD and RAM upgrade, it'll feel like you've got a brand new computer.
Hey there,
Finding the right drive is easy. As long as you make sure you choose the right form factor (2.5" in your case, as it is a laptop drive) and the right connector, you should have no problems. In your case, the drive you want to replace has a SATA II connector. As long as the drive you choose has at least a SATA II connector, you should be fine. All you need to do then is choose the capacity of the drive. That is up to you.
Here are some links to possible SSDs:
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405201568&sr=8-1&keywords=2.5+ssd
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ocz-storage-solutions-petrol-256-gb-2-5-internal-solid-state-drive/1310399259.p?id=mp1310399259&skuId=1310399259&st=ssd&cp=1&lp=14#tab=buyingOptions
As long as you keep these things in mind, you should be fine:
Connector: SATA II or higher
Form Factor: 2.5"
I hope this helps
Awesome. I knew I was forgetting something component wise.
OCZ 120GB Vertex 3
Samsung Electronics 840 EVO-Series 250GB
Those are the two I'm using currently. My OS is on my 120, gaming stuff is on my 250. Everything else I store on a 1TB HD.
Believe it or not installing windows is pretty damn straightforward. If you have any questions just ask.
How much space are you looking to get on your SSD? Personally the sweetspot seems to 128-256GB (depending how much you want to put on the ssd) along with a 1-4TB hard drive on the side depending on what kind of storage you need.
300$ just for the SSD seems like a lot of money, a ~250GB SSD should only around 120-160 dollars and will be more then enough. Spend the extra money on a good hard drive.
Which SSD to buy? Samsung and Cruicial make great SSDs, others include PNY, and Seagate. If I'd had to pick for you an ssd to purchase right now, i'd go for a Samsung EVO http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405746504&sr=8-1&keywords=samsung+ssd
Check here for good deals on SSDs, just have to be careful since the SSDs on sale aren't really top brands or quality. http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/?count=25&after=t3_2b002k
Reading someone else who bought it, they went ahead and got this:
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404315983&sr=8-1&keywords=laptop+SSD
Would you recommend it? Much thanks for your first reply!
Intels are definitely great, and they feel nice and heavy duty, but here is the one I use that is also arguably the best on the market. I use the 250 one.
I'd go with 8GB of Ram from Newegg and the Sammy 840 250GB from Amazon
This is of course if you're in the US (which you might be if you're wishing a Happy 4th). It will put you slightly over budget. As of right now the RAM on Newegg is 69.99 +shipping / tax, and the SSD is $129.99 with free shipping from Prime (if you've never signed up you can get a free trial). I know it's over 200, and you said roughly 200, so as long as it's roughly a little more than 200 you can only make a small compromise.
Amazon PM'ed this. It's still $129.99 at Amazon.
I was just looking at that Samsung! I was literally about to ask you.
How about the same drive, bigger, lower price at Amazon?
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726
Get this SSD instead double the capacity for a tiny bit more.
I disagree. There is a $5 difference on Amazon between the Samsung 840 Evo 250 and the Crucial 250. The Samsung Magician software is worth the $5 by itself.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=8-1&keywords=840+evo
Any reason what-so-ever you're using a slower, older series SSD? The 840 EVO is going to blow that out of the water, and the 250 GB model is cheaper than that 128 GB.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726
Samsung Electronics 840 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Single Unit Version Internal Solid State Drive MZ-7TE250BW https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_GoZ.tb040P65X
I bought that one there. I went ahead and trusted the reviews. And I always back-up my stuff. :]
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407343864&sr=8-1&keywords=840+evo+pro+250gb
What do you use the PC for? Gaming? Video editing? General work? If it was gaming or video editing, I'd recommend upgrading your graphics card, maybe you could get an R9 280X.
But what I'd recommend most to you would be getting an SSD which would just provide a performance boost to everything on it.
The final thing I'd say you could upgrade would be the CPU, you might want to invest in an i7 or a newer i5
Hope I helped!
I am not familiar with the Team Vulcan RAM listed, but I would suggest a CAS latency of 8 for DDR3-1600. I also would suggest scrapping the Hybrid drive for a SSD, such as the Samsung 840 EVO 250GB with a storage drive like Seagate Barracuda 1TB.
What kind of display are you using, what resolution do you plan on playing at? Are you determined to get the Windforce model? There are options just as good for $100 less, or in most cases a 970 is the better buy which could save you even more...
You definitely will not need a 750W PSU, a 500W will certainly suffice.
I followed this guide: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-install-upgrade-ssd-ps4-playstation-4/
And bought this 250gb drive from amazon
Samsung Electronics 840 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Single Unit Version Internal Solid State Drive MZ-7TE250BW https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_sogkub1BMS902
He wasn't suggesting that you take an external drive around everywhere, he was suggesting you take out your DVD drive and put your current HD in place of the DVD drive. like this. Ive don't it before, however, you can get the EVO drives pretty cheap now, and they are pretty good on reliability from what I've heard. here's and amazon link
SSD - they are on sale at Amazon my man.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394030595&sr=8-1&keywords=Samsung+EVO
So, just generalizing here, let's say I buy a 120gb or 250gb SSD. I buy the caddy and put the SSD inside of it, and switch out the optical drive. I'm assuming the caddy has a connection on it that would link it up with the rest of the computer?
It's possible to move the OS to the new SSD but keep everything else on the regular HDD right? I figure I would keep the 1TB HDD it comes with and use the SSD for the OS and a few games to speed up load times.
Would this all work or is it more complicated than that?
Also how do I know if http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1398649673&sr=1-1
fits inside of http://hddcaddy.com/en/asus-hdd-caddy/845-asus-n550jk-hdd-caddy.html
It is all standard sizes right?
Also remember, an SSHD is not the same as an SSD, it has a small flash module (usually 64Gb) and a normal mechanical HDD, this allows for some of the caching benefits (greater speeds in often used files) without the full benefits of a full SSD.
Also if you are going for an SSD I would suggest you buy from amazon as even with international shipping its a significant mark down Link.
Question about SSD and RAM!
I just got a new Acer laptop, runs 64-bit Windows 8 and I want to swap out the hard disk for an SSD, question is, when cloning, will the current hard disk partition (223GB/224GB) cause problems? D drive is completely empty, though. Also, will the SSD improve response time? Like, sometimes CTR+ALT+Del > Task Manager and it pops out slowly.
RAM, currently 4GB installed. Do I really need a badass one? I play games and all, but my laptop isn't something gaming edition. Am I better off getting something DDR3-1600?
Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:
Amazon Smile Link: 250gb version
|Country|Link|
|:-----------|:------------|
|UK|amazon.co.uk|
|Spain|amazon.es|
|France|amazon.fr|
|Germany|amazon.de|
|Japan|amazon.co.jp|
|Canada|amazon.ca|
|Italy|amazon.it|
|China|amazon.cn|
This bot is currently in testing so let me know what you think by voting (or commenting). The thread for feature requests can be found here.
Yes, SSD prices are finally going down. The going rate was $1/GB and anything less then $0.75/GB was a good deal
The Samsung 840 EVO 250 GB is selling for $154, which at $0.616/GB is a steal of a deal !
Edit: Fix broken link
Or around 485 on amazon.com
(http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1394513051&sr=8-2&keywords=samsung+840+evo)
yeah definitely! tons of online videos. i wouldn't consider myself an expert in computer knowledge, but i've built a couple of basic rigs and done work on my macbook. hardest part about replacing the hard drive is making sure you either
a.) have the necessary files to complete a full reinstall or
b.) can work a program like disk utility or carbon copy cloner to make an exact clone of your HDD (this is super simple either way)
I put a kingston SSDnow v300 120gb in my early 2011 macbook pro. it has a 2.7 i7, 16gb of ram (another easy and huge upgrade, technically overkill but i do graphic design and photography for a living) my mbp is great now.
I've read some trouble about the negotiated link speed on older gen MacBooks getting locked at 1.5gb/s instead of the 3 gb/s SATA II standard. This isn't really a problem, you can fix it i believe with a firmware patch, basically it means instead of getting ~200-210mb/s read and write, you'll get more like 128 mb/s and 170 mb/s ish. still A LOT faster than your standard hard drive. boot up time is dramatically reduced, and opening programs becomes a split second ordeal.
Here is the SSD i just installed | $69.99 (very good price for decent 120gb drive)
here is the connector to mount the SSD outside of the macbook to format it and clone your HDD to it. technically this isn't necessary, but its 8 bucks that might save you from pulling the computer apart again when you can't boot from the SSD.
-----------------------------------------------
Here's a good video that shows how straightforward replacing the HDD is in the older macbooks
Helpful video on how to clone an HDD with Carbon Copy Cloner
Great comparison on how drastically this improves your machine
Here's a few useful links:
Crucial.com | Sells RAM and SSD's, high quality and Mac compatible. Another alternative if you want to explore options
Carbon Copy Cloner download site. I used this to copy my HDD, had no issues
Samsun 840 EVO 120gb | Good price for a great SSD
OCZ Vertex 460 | Another great SSD
I'd recommend doing a RAM upgrade if you only have 1gb, that wouldn't run you much either. SSD is more bang-for-your-buck than RAM upgrade is IMO. Hope this helps! Feel free to pm me with any more questions!
Same price on amazon as well, with prime. $139.99.
Certainly! Depending on your price range, there are an assortment of different styles. As for an SSD drive, I recommend a 120gb Samsung EVO for 89.99 from Amazon. This is probably the most efficient for the price, but if you want a cheaper SSD, another good one is 120gb Crucial M500 for 69.99 from Amazon
Also, they are very thin because they run off of flash memory. They aren't as small as they look, but they are very thin. You attach it with a SATA cable and put it in a bay that you would put a regular HDD.
will update with cases in a second
does it matter if it is a sata III? I thought I read somewhere that it wouldn't be compatable.
This is what I was thinking about,
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=pd_bxgy_pc_img_z
and replacing my superdrive with it^
Yeah, I hope so too. Xotic offers a lot of customs that seem more gimmicky than improving performance, so it's tough for the layman like myself to tell what is worth the extra money. Last question, is this the SSD you were referring to? Want to be sure before I order.
It's because I am in the US, so it's cheaper ($140). Find out if you can ship the 240GB Samsung Evo 840 SSD below to Canada.. The extra $$ shipping would be worth it
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3W1726/?tag=pcpapi-20
I just recently bought an SSD and I was fairly disappointed with the performance gains I saw.
Actual boot time I haven't noticed much of a difference if any at all.
From password screen to desktop is where I've seen the difference. With a 7200 RPM drive I was choking up for a good 15-30 seconds (start a program, takes foreveeeeeeer to launch) and this was with a bare minimum set of startup programs.
Loadup time on dayz has improved (~10s or less to ~4s).
That's about it. If you're looking for FPS gains/being able to set higher graphics your money could (likely, depending on your current build) be much better spent elsewhere.
If you're still interested, Amazon has a deal on a Samsung 250GB SSD for $140. As someone who always checks newegg daily sales, that is a great deal.
well, cheaper than that
Fair enough, you can buy second hand really cheaply though if you do want something to tide you over.
this pc with this cheap video card and maybe an ssd or just a cheap 500gb hard drive.
Will play this okay, as well as basically any game with a few things turned down. If you just got the PC and the video card, it's $150.
Is it possible for this: SSD to be included? You still need a regular HDD too right?
I would opt for an 840 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" SSD to cut down the price a bit and wait for 3rd party 1070s like the Gigabyte G1 GTX Gaming which will definitely save you a lot.
Go with the samsung evo 250gb. http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726
personally, I'd buy a decent size ssd and an external usb enclosure. Put in the SSD, do a clean install of windows and programs, then put your old drive in the external enclosure and transfer the files you need. Also I'd lean towards a Samsung, for $10 more you get better write performance, more cache, and a better all around drive.
The only thing is I can't tell if the onboard SATA is II or III in your laptop, the specs are vague. With that gen processor, it should be III though. The main benefit of an SSD is the "seek" time, the read and write speeds are icing on the cake. So, even if it is SATAII, it will be a world of difference.
I have SSDs in everything and the slower the machine, the more of an impact putting an SSD in made. I have an ancient Acer AO721 netbook that is SATAII and a very slow AMD processor, putting an SSD in made that thing lightning fast. I'm a bit of an addict though and having > 2.5TB worth of SSDs in my big machine was just too many drunken nights with amazon 1 touch ordering.
Yep, and you can get a Samsung 250GB SSD for only $30 more.
The following is what I am currently eyeballing: SanDisk Ultra Plus SDSSDHP-256G-G25 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD).
The Samsung 840 EVO doesn't sound too bad, and not much of a price difference. Does the Samsung Software you mention work if the older/previous SSD is not a Samsung?
Is my PSU really considered a fire hazard? I haven't had any issues since I've had it, though it's not like I'm on my Big Rig every night, nor do I ever really push it to it's full potential (32GB of Ram and all).
I like the Samsung EVOs http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3W1726/?tag=pcpapi-20
The only thing that stands out negatively is the SSD. There's no need for a 850 Pro version that costs twice as much as another manufacter 250 GB SSD and doesn't provide enough benefits. Get the 840 Evo if you want to stick with Samsung:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3W1726
If you want to spend around 200 $ get this Crucial 500 GB SSD:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KFAGCUM
The most external 780Ti will blow hot air on the one closer to the CPU with that cooler. My advice is to buy this 780Ti to put near the CPU:
http://www.ncixus.com/products/?usaffiliateid=1000031504&sku=93804&vpn=GTX780TI-DC2OC-3GD5&manufacture=ASUS&promoid=1009
And a reference 780Ti to put closer to the PSU:
http://pcpartpicker.com/mr/newegg/zotac-video-card-zt7050210p
If you're wondering why I chose a reference card it's because they're the only cards (as far as I'm aware) that blow out air outside the case instead of a pull/push system like the custom versions. This means that the first card will pull air from the bottom and push it outside the case instead of blowing it on the other card pulling fans.
Also you have to keep in mind that there's a risk of bottlenecking the 2 780Tis with an i7 4790k. I know it sounds crazy but some games like Arma require a lot of CPU power and that i7 could bottleneck the 2 GPUs if you'll run them at 4k/triple monitor (which I hope you'll do with 2 780Tis). If you can, my advice is to wait until september when the new Enthusiast level CPUs will come out. The i7 5930k will be a 6 core/12 threads that has HUGE overclocking capability and will be sold for around 500$. The i7 5960x will be a 8 core/16 threads CPU that will ship for 1000$. Not only you'd get a better CPU that has better overclocking capatibility (the i7 Extreme series doesn't feature an integrated GPU), but you'll have a platform that will support the next 3-4 generations of CPUs, support for DDR4 RAM and Quad SLI. If you're building a future proof machine wait until september and get an enthusiast level MoBo + CPU and DDR4 RAM.
I would go with the Samsung drives. I have never had a trouble with them.
120GB: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE120BW/dp/B00E3W15P0/
250GB: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/
SSDs are also good for games that you play often. Their excellent random read/write speeds can make games load over twice as fast compared to a conventional HDD. Here is a nice 250GB one for $189.
Invest in an SSD if you haven't already. It's night and day in an MMO.
Downloaded the entire game in under 20 minutes.
Well I wasn't born yesterday so it took me all of 2 minutes to find an item at each of these retailers that was either marked up way above MSRP or had a list price of well above MSRP.
Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394507018&sr=8-1&keywords=250+gb+Evo
Best Buy
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/840-evo-250gb-internal-serial-ata-iii-solid-state-drive/2007375.p?id=1219068245336&skuId=2007375&st=250%20Evo&cp=1&lp=2
NCIX
http://www.ncixus.com/products/?sku=94160&vpn=11226-03-40G&manufacture=SAPPHIRE&promoid=1285
Tiger Direct
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8466637&CatId=5300