Combination of mechanical HD and SSD

[Jskid]

Using Intel's Smart Response Technology a small SSD can be used as a caching system with a larger hard drive.

Would it be worth it to buy the

• Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 for $165
• Seagate Barracuda 1TB hard drive for $140
• Corsair Nova 2 Series 60GB SSD for $95

or would the money be better spent on upgrading the CPU?

 

[slh28]

What's your system specs? And what do you use the computer for?

 

[Buckshot420]

Here is another HDD option.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...11-Index-_-InternalHardDrives-_-22136793-L02B

 

[Jskid]

I would be using it for programing and watching HD videos (mainly wmv and avi). It would have a 3.3GHz i5 cpu and 4 or 8 GB of DDR 3 ram. It would run Windows 7 and I would usually have 1 or 2 programs open at a time.

 

[LNCPapa]

For your intended use I would say that you'd feel the biggest impact with what you're planning. You've got plenty of CPU for watching current media formats and plenty of RAM as well. If you're doing some big time programming then maybe the money would be better spent on a CPU+RAM, but if it's been working fine for you so far with what you've got then I'd move forward with your plan. You might also want to consider http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-1&isNodeId=1&Description=synapse+ssd&x=0&y=0 unless you're just looking for an excuse to upgrade your mobo etc. Just remember that you'll only see about half of the SSD capacity available for caching due to over provisioning.

 

[Jskid]

Out of curiosity how does RAID 0 or 5 (with average hd) compare against having a SSD for caching?