So, as you guys might know I'm lurking around trying to figure out exactly everything I'll be using for a build/setup I'm working on. So far I've got 12G of G.skill ram (Was going to get 4 then another 4, but 8 cost as much as 4 yesterday so I figured why not,) an ASUS Dvd Drive, a 750G Hitachi 5400RPM hard drive for spare storage it's actually a laptop hard drive I just have layin around but it has a copy of windows 7 on it I can use, but only supports 8G of ram so I'll figure something out there.
ANYWAYS, I'm planning on a 1TB WD Black HDD paired with an SSD. Should I do 60G for caching only, 120-128G for caching + a few games, or no WD Black and just use a 256G with the 5400 to keep the 256 clean?
Ive used a120gig as an executable drive only for a while. Just the OS, programs and a few games. I kept my steam library and tv/movies/music on a 1tb hard drive. Makes the computer very fast, just take s a bit longer to load games.
If I had the money, I would deff get a 120/128gig for OS and programs and then a 256gig for games..
if I had to save a little I would go with a 120/128 gig for OS and programs and then the WD black for games
from what I know you get more speed from a pure SSD for the OS than you get from an SSD cache. and without knowing much about it 120gig for a caching drive sounds crazy, especially when the OS will fit very well on that drive by itself..
I use a 120GB SSD and a 5 year-old 2TB 5400rpm HDD.
Windows and games are on the SSD and all the other crap is on the storage HDD.
The 120GB drive is 111GB after formating. Windows 7 Ultimate and a bunch of programs I use take 40GB (rounded up from 39.6GB). This leaves 70GB of space for games. I never have more than 3 games installed at any one time (around 50-55GB). I get a game, install it, play it, move on.
Windows and games load up and run extra fast.
I would get a 240GB or 256GB SSD if I had the money but a secondary HDD is absolutely necessary (even if it is an older 5400rpm drive).
From the options you have listed, I would hang on to the Hitachi drive for storage and get a 240GB or 256GB SSD. It doesn't matter that the HDD is a 5400rpm laptop drvie, movies won't run better on a faster drive, music won't sound better either.