Benefits of SSD drives?

[Bambi72]

I am planning on upgrading my PC at some point this year, and the upgrade is going to have to last for the next 5 years or so. I currently have a quad core AMD running at 2.2GHz, but I'm stuck with a 32bit version of windows, and my mobo wont take more than 4Gb of RAM, and Photoshop often complains about memory shortages.
I used to be quite savvy when it came to computers but have not been so nerdy for the last 3 or 4 years.

I am looking to build the PC myself as I have a very nice case and 750W PSU in my existing PC, I also have a relatively new gfx card (don't play games any more) and a few TB's of SATA HDD's for storage.
I was thinking an overclocked i5 processor with 16GB for RAM on a Z68 motherboard. I was going to get a SSD for my boot disk to run Windows 7 64 bit and Photoshop CS6 (when its out), is it worth getting a second SSD, all be it a very small one, just to use as a scratch disk for PS, or would the one and 16GB of RAM do the job?

 

[DarkGhost]

I've have not tested the difference this myself, but I will say that if you're getting a SATA 3 SSD to use on the Z68, I don't think you'll see improvement by having a 2nd SSD for the scratch disk. You will probably be better off putting the money towards a bigger primary SSD.

 

[arad85]

Going to depend on which SSD you buy TBH. Z68 gives you two opportunities to run SSDs - one as a straight SSD, the other as a cache drive for an HDD (but limited to 32G IIRC). Whether they will improve the CS5/6 experience is probably down to how many images you have open at any one time....

 

[Steep]

I'm using one 256gb ssd and 16gb ram and PS runs just fine for me, I can't see where a second ssd would improve performance enough to justify the cost.

 

[arad85]

I can't see where a second ssd would improve performance enough to justify the cost.

You run the second as the temp drive. Most people don't have a 256G SSD - most seem to get 60-100G which may leave you a bit short as a scratch disk.

 

[stevewestern]

Sorry if this is too far off topic but what is a scratch disc, and what does it do ?

 

[neil_g]

Sorry if this is too far off topic but what is a scratch disc, and what does it do ?

essentially a disk that PS (etc) uses as temporary storage when it runs out of memory.

see adobes reference:

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/photoshop/cs/using/WSfd1234e1c4b69f30ea53e41001031ab64-748aa.html

(ignore the bit about defragging if youre using SSD)

 

[Bambi72]

Thanks for the replies, two is probably being greedy
Now for the hard part, justifying it to the wife....

 

[Mikesphotaes]

Thanks for the replies, two is probably being greedy
Now for the hard part, justifying it to the wife....

Aye, that's the hard part

Make sure and have a good look at buying the fastest SSD speed.

eBuyer has the specs on their site.

http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Storage/cat/Hard-Drive---SSD

 

[plamen_gb]

btw I've changed from a 7200rmp HDD to SSD my windows loads so fast great for doing any tasks related to reading or writing from the HDD, it improves the overall performance of the PC.