http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/04 ... more-56018

Pretty interesting for us gamers here.

Yup, but we did discuss this even before i went to the army. And some games do get a few frames per second increase when switching to a SDD but the fps is not the main thing because when it comes to frame per buck then its not that good a deal. The load times are the deal here and the small fps increase is just the icing on the cake.

I wish I could show you guys how fast my pc loads things. Seriously. Any application installed on the SSD loads in no more than a few seconds. It's ridiculous. Some games I can't even read the tips that show up during load screens because it loads too fast.

Yeah, they installed one on my work laptop about 6 months ago and the load times all round were clearly much shorter. Most noticeable when doing file searches or trawling through emails in Outlook. Wish I could justify the 100-odd quid for one I'm poor.

Yeah, shit be expensive yo.

Satis, what is your setup again? Guessing smaller SSD drive for Windows and a few select games, then storage and less-often played games on a classic (huge) HD?

Yea, exactly. I have a 160GB Intel drive for Windows, Steam, and a few select apps. everything else is on a 1TB regular hard drive.

I am planning to get an SSD from OCZ, the Agility 2 120gb, when i get out of service along with win 7 and a new gfx card. My xp has become so sluggish that i can bake the bread for my sandwich while i wait for windows to actually become usable.

It's all that pr0n you've been downloading. Regular reinstalls of WinXP are pretty necessary anyway... I find that once a year or so was often enough to keep performs optimal. Who know how Win7 will be... hopefully better.

I'm sure we'll all be complaining about our slow 7 seconds windows loads in a year or 2-3 when SSD's become financially more viable. While I'd love to have one now, I'm not gonna pay 200+ € for a 120 gig SSD, especially considering games' and other programs' size ballooning to epic proportions (Shogun 2 and Witcher 2 at 16 gig installs, for example).

The thing about SSD's is: they already exist in massive sizes in ordinary PC parts retail (500-600 gig), be it at insane prices (1500-1800 €). This is pretty different from the old HD market which didn't have,s ay 1 TB hard drives in normal pc parts retail for a loooong time. What that tells me is that the high prices of SSD's are a typical artificial pricing marketing trick. Kinda like Bluray. In a year or 2, there will be no old HD's for sale and we'll be paying the same prices we are paying for traditional HD's for SSD's. So much for production costs.

On a more general cheap note, I told Derf yesterday that I'm getting a little bored/jaded with buying expensive PC parts, and that my shiny graphics card may be the last thing I buy that isn't relatively cheap. With me getting older and getting ripped off from all sides by anyone as a single person paying rent without rich parents, and being less obsessed with games than in the past, I'm starting to wonder about the point of it all. I may just as well buy budget PC's with decent graphics cards and just catch (most) games an upgrade cycle down the road or so.

Like, installing a delay of a year between game releases and my purchases. Not only will I have to spend less on hardware, I'll also have to pay less for the games themselves. I may still pick up some games on release if they are system-spec friendly (like most Valve games and indie stuff), but the AAA stuff I may leave for a while in the future.

alternately, you could get a job that doesn't pay peanuts and realize that $200 for a gfx card isn't really that much.

Yeah but realistically speaking, no one here is going to get a significantly higher paid job than what they had last time. Not to the point where we could spunk 1000 sheets for a new rig. I'm with Rinox on the whole "not really worth it anymore" argument. Back in the good old days of student-dom there was fuck all costs, so I could easily save up the money for a beast PC. Nowadays everything seems to straight out to the utilities and rent. I physically saved NO money in 1 year living on my own for this reason. This is a situation i'm trying to get out of ASAP.

Indeed. The only way I get a job paying more than my last one is to strike lucky, like getting employed at a European agency or get expat bonuses. You may not have figured it from the way I sit on my money, but I was actually paid really well at my last job. Hell, I even make more money being unemployed than many people make working full-time (which kind of kills the incentive to find work really fast, but that is a story for another time and place).

But with all that said, if you want to live half-decently - that is, not in a dump - you'll pay a lot of money here. My fixed monthly costs:

- 560 € rent
- 55 € internet (oh yes, we get bumraped over here)
- 95 € gas & electricity
- food bills. I try to keep it at a minimum, but let's say it's at least 200 € a month

So that's around 900 € without even buying anything non-essential. So bar visits, games, one-time costs (paying additional taxes, health insurance, doctor visits), going out for dinner: all that eats away what's left. Not to mention that as a single person you are fucked in so many other ways since a lot comes in 'duo' packages (like hotels).

So yeah...if you want to save money, you have to live like a monk. Which is what I try to do by and large. I completely understand Derf not having much left on his wage. I could barely save a few hundred € myself while working. All this BS is making me reconsider my priorities a little bit, as stated above. And 'thanks' to consoles and multiplatform games, upgrade cycles are basically only every 8 years anymore. So yeah, I don't see myself blow money on a monster PC anymore unless I get that crazy paying job.

(and you have to imagine that I don't even own a car and pay gas and taxes for it. I have no idea how those people manage with these gas prices)

Pretty much in the exact same situation as Ox, but paid ALOT less.

Rent = 550
Food = 150
Water, Gas, Elec. = 100
Council Tax = 100
Football = 60
Internet = 20
----
980

Ditto on "re-prioritisation"

*rolls eyes*

I get off very lucky on rent

rent $300
internet/tv $70
phone $80
water $50
power $80 - $200 (depends on the month)
food $250
gas $80
car insurance $50
---------
$960 - $1080 per month (665 - 748 euros)

If I were living in an apartment instead of with my girlfriend, my rent would go up to about $800/month. Easily over $1000/month for a house.

I don't eat out much, mainly for health reasons, but it also decreases costs. Other than that... I spend my money on things I enjoy. I'm still young, for now... I figure I might as well enjoy it. Besides, I make decent money. I put away a tidy sum every month so it's not like I'm hurting myself.

I try to put away something every month but as you can tell from my analysis that's not always as easy. One thing is apparent: being single is a bum deal, financially speaking. I'd almost get me a girl just to split the rent with.