Well I've pulled the trigger on all the other parts for my FSX machine, but am still agonising over the hard drives.

 

I'm thinking of using a 500GB velociraptor for the OS and programs and a 240-256GB SSD as an fsx-only drive.

 

I hear Samsung and Crucial have excellent 128gb drives and am leaning in that direction, but are there any other recommendations in the 256GB capacity range?

 

cheers

Go for synchronus NAND flash SSDs. Something like OCZ Vertex, ADATA, Crucial, Samsung etc

 

They are pretty much all the same in terms of reliability and performance. It is pretty much up to your preference as to which one you want.

If you use extra scenery, etc then go for 256Gb SSD else you wont have the space to add an awful lot. As an aside loading FSX from a hard drive it seems to stick at around 6% for a while before moving on, with an SSD this wait is almost non existent. Happy Flying.

256 for FSX only is a pretty good size, you can get a lot of add-ons in that space. It's really only an issue if you want to use the drive for other apps or if you have a lot of photo scenery.

Look a thread down.

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/383881-how-different-hdds-and-ssds-performs-with-fsx/

Look a thread down.

 

http://forum.avsim.n...forms-with-fsx/

 

What is the relevance to the OP's question?

Thanks guys, I might go for either Samsung or Crucial M4 256gb. My current FSX only occupies 40GB and I have dozens of add on planes and sceneries so there's definately room to spare. The OS, programs, file storage and other games can sit on the velociraptor.

Thanks guys, I might go for either Samsung or Crucial M4 256gb. My current FSX only occupies 40GB and I have dozens of add on planes and sceneries so there's definately room to spare. The OS, programs, file storage and other games can sit on the velociraptor.

 

Not at all sure about setting up your computer on one disk. I run a 60gb ssd for Windows 7 with a few utilities and 128gb ssd for FSX. My FSX has photo scenery for the entire UK plus all airports/fields, trees and landmarks. Both disks are about half full. Costs were (at july prices in the UK) about £130 including stupid amounts of sales tax, I guess in USA the price would have been 20 or more percent less.

 

I also use an "old" hard disk for P3D which uses the addon scenery on the FSX ssd.

 

Very happy with the setup and have no immediate intention of changing it (until RealityXP change their marketing strategy and P3D can have aircraft with a useable gps. At which point FSX/P3D swap drives). The advantage to me is that I can re-install P3D or FSX and still have the operating system intact. Plus of course much faster initial and in flight scenery loading.

 

Just my own thoughts.

Gordon

I run Windows and FSX on a single 512GB Vertex 4. Very fast, and it makes image backups and restores a breeze.

Thanks guys, I might go for either Samsung or Crucial M4 256gb. My current FSX only occupies 40GB and I have dozens of add on planes and sceneries so there's definately room to spare. The OS, programs, file storage and other games can sit on the velociraptor.

I wouldn't do that if I were you.

 

I would put FSX + OS + any other game you want (if you have spare room) on the SSD; that way, you'll notice much more difference vs having OS and FSX on separate drives. IMO Velociraptor is overpriced, a waste of money if you have FSX and OS on the SSD, you won't notice that much difference vs a 7200RPM HDD, so do yourself a favour and put FSX and OS on the SSD and buy a 7200RPM drive such as WD Caviar Blue.

I run Windows and FSX on a single 512GB Vertex 4. Very fast, and it makes image backups and restores a breeze.

 

Do you actually get the speeds that they advertise? 120k IOPS seems a bit steep....

Do you actually get the speeds that they advertise? 120k IOPS seems a bit steep....

 

It's so fast I don't even care to benchmark it, and I love to benchmark. My computer starts up/restarts in mere seconds and FSX loads just about any scenario in under a minute.

It's so fast I don't even care to benchmark it, and I love to benchmark. My computer starts up/restarts in mere seconds and FSX loads just about any scenario in under a minute.

 

You usually are very tedious with benchmarks and hardware tests so I'll take your word on it! I can't wait to get my hands on a Vertex 4 256GB later this year!! :Big Grin:

 

Thanks Max!

So it's actually better off having FSX and OS on one SSD and using a standard HDD for various programs and storage.

 

In that case, I'll be getting a 512GB SSD and maybe a 2TB HDD,Caviar black or Seagate. For this SSD, I'm looking at the OCZ Vertex 4 as it's over $100 cheaper than Samsungs, Intel and Crucial and Techguy's post here is encouraging!

So it's actually better off having FSX and OS on one SSD and using a standard HDD for various programs and storage.

 

In that case, I'll be getting a 512GB SSD and maybe a 2TB HDD,Caviar black or Seagate. For this SSD, I'm looking at the OCZ Vertex 4 as it's over $100 cheaper than Samsungs, Intel and Crucial and Techguy's post here is encouraging!

It is better yes, and saves you money.

 

Do you really need 512GB SSD? Are you sure you can even fill up the 256GB one just with important games (eg FSX) and OS?.