Convert me, PC gamers!

[Nappi]

Intel SSD of a friend of mine self-destruct in less than a year, so you are probably fucked no matter what.

[Patters]

Intel SSD of a friend of mine self-destruct in less than a year, so you are probably fucked no matter what.

Yeah they can fail, but the failure rate is dreadful OCZ, Mushkin and Corsair are among the worst.

[elmuerte]

The instakill-permadeath mode of SSD is reason enough for me not to use it. I'd rather go for an SSD Caching solution where writes are backed by a harddrive.

[TychoCelchuuu]

If you just keep your OS, your productivity programs (Photoshop etc.) and the games you're currently playing on your SSD, and keep your data on your actual hard drive, SSD failure is no big deal.

[toblix]

Just do what I do: never produce anything of worth, and you'll never have anything to lose. Or do backups, maybe. What was that good backup service again? Backflash ...? Backdraft? Flash... flow... anyway, there was this one that backed up all your stuff automatically. Just get that, and you can run on the worst, most unreliable piece of shit SSD you want.

[Twig]

If you just keep your OS, your productivity programs (Photoshop etc.) and the games you're currently playing on your SSD, and keep your data on your actual hard drive, SSD failure is no big deal.

Well, except for money.

The guide I read at the time recommended the OCZ one I got and didn't mention anything about failure rates. Iunno. Better safe than sorry, though, if people here are saying otherwise.

But, anyway, I don't keep stuff on my SSD. It's purely for Windows and programs, not data. So it's all good.

[toblix]

If the SSD breaks, can't you just send it back and get a new one?

[brkl]

It's a feature.

[mkenyon]

Most comprehensive build guide on the net.

Updated monthly, buy the 'Excellent' or 'Enhanced' on there.

Also, truth about SSDs. But Intel's newest stuff is pretty bad. 320 is the most reliable, but slower than current gen SSD's. There's no reason to buy anything other than the Samsung 830 or Crucial M4.

The instakill-permadeath mode of SSD is reason enough for me not to use it. I'd rather go for an SSD Caching solution where writes are backed by a harddrive.

SSD + RAID/Fileserver/NAS. Have the backup solution in place to protect the SSD. Get smart about usage and then you'll even find it easy as pie to reformat when you need to update video drivers.

Anecdotal, but I've not had a single SSD fail, even out of the ones I put in the office workstations. That's a total of ~21 SSDs between home and work, not a single failure. I've stuck to Samsung 830s for work, Crucial M4s and Corsair Force GT's on my home workstations. My media center and custom router are running off of Vertex 2's that have been going strong for almost 2.5 years now.

[Twig]

If the SSD breaks, can't you just send it back and get a new one?

Depends on how long it takes to break, I guess.

[toblix]

Depends on how long it takes to break, I guess.

Sure, but even the most consumer-hostile of laws/shops/manufacturers give you at least a couple of years, no?

[mkenyon]

Yeah, but dealing with customer service and RMA's can be a headache. Generally you're going to be fine, but there are a *lot* of horror stories about OCZ in particular. Just because they're legally held to it doesn't mean that they will do anything in a timely manner.

[makingmatter]

Intel SSD of a friend of mine self-destruct in less than a year, so you are probably fucked no matter what.

Well, that's reassuring. You guys are trying to convert me, not terrify me!

No, but seriously, what brand for SDD's do you recommend, in terms of longevity and performance? What I'm reading here seems to contradict some of the other material I've looked at. I was going to go with a HDD + a smaller SSD for practicality, as per Tycho's suggestions and reasoning. One monitor is enough; two might become a ADD nightmare for a newbie. Also, I'm thinking of setting up a file network between this PC and my Macintosh with an external drive, in the aim that I will set up a permanent media hub in the future.

Most comprehensive build guide on the net.

Updated monthly, buy the 'Excellent' or 'Enhanced' on there.

Also, truth about SSDs. But Intel's newest stuff is pretty bad. 320 is the most reliable, but slower than current gen SSD's. There's no reason to buy anything other than the Samsung 830 or Crucial M4.

SSD + RAID/Fileserver/NAS. Have the backup solution in place to protect the SSD. Get smart about usage and then you'll even find it easy as pie to reformat when you need to update video drivers.

Anecdotal, but I've not had a single SSD fail, even out of the ones I put in the office workstations. That's a total of ~21 SSDs between home and work, not a single failure. I've stuck to Samsung 830s for work, Crucial M4s and Corsair Force GT's on my home workstations. My media center and custom router are running off of Vertex 2's that have been going strong for almost 2.5 years now.

Thanks for the link!

What do you mean about usage? Pardon my ignorance, but I'm trying to invest in the best build configuration possible.

[mkenyon]

As in, don't store anything that isn't immediately disposable on the SSD, or if you do, make sure it's being automatically backed up. Keep around exe's of downloaded games, and backup your Steamapps folder. That allows you to just drag and drop it.

When you start to store things everywhere, the task of reformatting becomes not only a dreadful act, but incredibly time intensive.

I think my time from reformating to having my computer all perfectly the way I want it is like an hour at this point.

[Twig]

Sure, but even the most consumer-hostile of laws/shops/manufacturers give you at least a couple of years, no?

Yeah, usually! I'm not disagreeing with you in any way. To sum: even though I apparently bought a bad one, I'm not worried about my SSD dying, because I take the proper precautions. If it costs me a few years down the road, I'll be annoyed, but not enraged.

Fun fact: I've literally never had a hard drive of any sort die on me. I always replace them before they do so. I think one of them in my computer right now is almost eight years old?

[mkenyon]

Knock some freaking wood now, before it's too late!

[Twig]

NOPE. I BEEN BRAGGIN' 'BOUT THIS FOR YEARS. AIN'T STOPPIN' NOW!

[Jayel]

I believe all intel SSDs have 5 year warranty - they're pretty confident about their longevity. I've only bought 3 SSDs over the past 2 years (2 intel drives and 1 Crucial), but they're all running without any problems and according to SMART attributes still have over 99% write cycles left. Even if I was worried about them dying, I could never go back to platter drives because it feels like I'm just wasting my life waiting for stuff to open.

Also, truth about SSDs. But Intel's newest stuff is pretty bad. 320 is the most reliable, but slower than current gen SSD's. There's no reason to buy anything other than the Samsung 830 or Crucial M4.

Really? 320 series is the only intel SSD to get a bad rep for poor reliability and people losing data in the event of power failures. As for their flagship sandforce drives (520) they outperform other sandforce counterparts and reportedly don't suffer from the infamous BSOD problems that other sandforce drives do. They are no means "bad" and still probably the safest (and the fastest) choice. The only problem is the much bigger price tag.

[brkl]

My mobo only supports DDR2, which means I can't upgrade my RAM. Purely costs reasons, DDR2 seems to be ridiculously expensive here.

[toblix]

Drawback ... ? Flash ... Backflash? I can't remember the name of this thing, but it'll back up all your files all the time. Check it out!

[Badfinger]

You absolutely, absolutely need to read this: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3458091

You should be able to see all of it even if you're not a member. It has links, as above, to Tom's Hardware, anandtech, pc parts picker, newegg links abound. It is a constantly updated database that is diligently kept up by the maker of the thread (The first 4 posts were all updated this month). The second post, in particular, is a godsend to picking parts.

I love my SSD. A small-capacity SSD and a larger platter drive work great. Steam Tool allows you to ferry games back and forth from them easily for what you're playing this month. The only specific advice I can offer is do not get an OCZ-brand SSD.

[JonCole]

Yeah, throw me into the pro-Samsung SSD camp. The fact that they produce both the microcontroller and the NAND is a pretty comforting concept as far as quality control goes.

[makingmatter]

Thanks, guys, I'm taking all these recommendations into account.

The intent is that this computer will act solely as a gaming/media platform- with the occasional Windows-only app or program being used- my Mac will act as my workbook (for Scrivener, Final Cut, coding, etc), and both will be linked together by a fileserver using an external hard drive. In that case, what is a cheap but accessible external HD? This would be in addition to my build and external monitor; luckily, I already quite a nice keyboard and rainbow mouse.

Yes, rainbows. I need some hippie stuff in that shit.

Again, your suggestions are appreciated! I'll post a build here before I buy so I can get some feedback.

[makingmatter]

Also, Sandy Bridge versus Ivy Bridge: what makes them different from each other, in terms of Intel's CPU's?

[JonCole]

Ivy Bridge - associated chipset (Panther Point) natively supports USB 3.0, better power efficiency, significantly better integrated video performance (HD 3000 -> HD 4000)

So, if you can get Sandy Bridge significantly cheaper, don't worry about it considering you're sure to have discrete graphics. But I haven't seen big gulfs in price between them, except at the lower end. Panther Point boards have the same socket so newer boards = better with no real disadvantages.