Is 80GB enough?

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Drunkard #1

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PCInt has a special on Intel SSDs, and I was thinking of getting an 80 gig model. Is that enough?

I want to install Windows 7 and maybe a few applications, so it's big enough for that, but how much space would I need to unrar a 20 gig umm... 'distro'? Obviously 20 gigs for the rars, and 20 gigs for the [-]mkv[/-] iso, but what do I need for temp files?

Maybe I should get the 160 gig model. But R 3 700 is a lot, especially for a drive that's going to be R 1 000 in a year or two time. Decisions, decisions. Wait, or get an 80 gig, or get a 160 gig? What do you okes think?
 
Intel 160GB Solid State Drive -X25-M 2.5 R 3,499 excl. R 3,988 incl.

They do say they charge more for orders paid with a CC.
 
Drunkard #1 said:
PCInt has a special on Intel SSDs, and I was thinking of getting an 80 gig model. Is that enough?

I want to install Windows 7 and maybe a few applications, so it's big enough for that, but how much space would I need to unrar a 20 gig umm... 'distro'? Obviously 20 gigs for the rars, and 20 gigs for the [-]mkv[/-] iso, but what do I need for temp files?

Maybe I should get the 160 gig model. But R 3 700 is a lot, especially for a drive that's going to be R 1 000 in a year or two time. Decisions, decisions. Wait, or get an 80 gig, or get a 160 gig? What do you okes think?
Click to expand...

80GB is enough for XP but for 7 - who knows. 7 has extra bloat so you may want to buy a 160GB one. BTW I'm buying a 160GB Intel - this time for my laptop, first one went into my Mac Pro. My Panasonic shipped with an 80GB drive and that was more than enough for XP Pro.
 
You only really want the drive for windows, apps and games. Not for storage. 80gb should be enough provided you are not heavily into gaming as one new game can chow 11-14gb but windows and application should be fine.

I have a 128gb g.skill and got windows 7 plus bfbc2 and it is only 60gb with a few applications. So 80gb is fine as long as you do not have like 5 games installed :D. 80gb is plenty for windows 7 and apps though

Go with the 80gb if you find it is not enough buy another one and raid 0 them :eek: would be insane.

You could also buy 2 40gb and raid 0 them for extreme performance :D
 
R3 208 + VAT is pretty cheap. Intel was meant to release a 320GB version but still hasn't.
 
PeterCH said:
80GB is enough for XP but for 7 - who knows. 7 has extra bloat so you may want to buy a 160GB one. BTW I'm buying a 160GB Intel - this time for my laptop, first one went into my Mac Pro. My Panasonic shipped with an 80GB drive and that was more than enough for XP Pro.
Click to expand...

I'll archive my crap on some big spinning disks (and eventually a NAS), but 160 GB just for the OS and apps? I might just get the 160 GB and finish. I need to upgrade to Windows 7 anyway, and I'm not doing that on my current drive.
 
I have an 80gb partition for my C: Drive, win7 installed. 34.7gb total used on c:

Directories of note:
Program Files 0.85gb
Program Files (x86) 1.28gb
Users 11.27gb
Windows 14.33gb
Hibernation & Swopfile 7.3gb
 
killadoob said:
You only really want the drive for windows, apps and games. Not for storage. 80gb should be enough provided you are not heavily into gaming as one new game can chow 11-14gb but windows and application should be fine.

I have a 128gb g.skill and got windows 7 plus bfbc2 and it is only 60gb with a few applications. So 80gb is fine as long as you do not have like 5 games installed :D. 80gb is plenty for windows 7 and apps though

Go with the 80gb if you find it is not enough buy another one and raid 0 them :eek: would be insane.

You could also buy 2 40gb and raid 0 them for extreme performance :D
Click to expand...

What about temp files and unraring? No point getting the drive, and then not using it for disk intensive operations; that's where it'll same me time.
 
Drunkard #1 said:
I'll archive my crap on some big spinning disks (and eventually a NAS), but 160 GB just for the OS and apps? I might just get the 160 GB and finish. I need to upgrade to Windows 7 anyway, and I'm not doing that on my current drive.
Click to expand...

The bigger the better for SSD too. A drive with more free space is able to perform better wear leveling than a drive you fill up to 80% capacity. If you can, go with 160.
 
Dude it all comes down to your pocket, if you feel you will use more than 80gb and you can afford the 160gb go for it man.

Don't worry about wear too much by the time you wear it out we will have 2tb ssd's for cheap :D
 
killadoob said:
Would be more expensive than raiding 2 160's i would imagine that is more than likely why.
Click to expand...

Hmmm sure, but not every notebook has twin drive bays for HDD/SSDs. I know some SONY Vaios have and sell with twin SSDs in RAID-0.
 
PeterCH said:
The bigger the better for SSD too. A drive with more free space is able to perform better wear leveling than a drive you fill up to 80% capacity. If you can, go with 160.
Click to expand...

So 160 gigs, it is. But get it now for R 3 700 or in 3 months for R 2 000? How quickly are these things dropping in price?

Edit: How does Windows 7 treat these things. I know you can set it up so that the drive wears out more slowly, but does it work?
 
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no, 80 Gb is not enough these days for all the games and apps that an average person installs... esp. after six months.
 
I am amazed though that ssd's are not standard in notebooks, the performance increase on a notebook is just crazy. I am actually amazed that ssd's in general are so expensive.

The biggest performance jump i have ever seen from one component and they still so expensive after like what 4-5 years now?

Gary i am an average person and i only use 60gb, although if i had more games installed i would need all of the 119gb available to me :D.
 
Drunkard #1 said:
So 160 gigs, it is. But get it now for R 3 700 or in 3 months for R 2 000? How quickly are these things dropping in price?
Click to expand...

They've been static for a long time. Only recently have they started going down in price. I remember paying about R4K for my first one (Gen 2) which I imported from the USA (that was with the bracket to adapt to the Mac Pro drive bay though). Prices will inevitably drop but then I don't think as fast as regular HDDs - I don't think they'll go to R2K in 3 months - possibly R3500 later this year and R3000 by next year.
 
Waiting for ssd's to drop in price, hmmm another year maybe?

They have been pretty much static as pete says, it has taken an age for the pricing to down in this country though. I bought my g.skill like 6 months back and imported for 3.5k from the US and in this country there was not even a 60gb for 8k :D.
 
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