Difference between SSD and Fusion Drive for OSX and Windows.

Discussion in 'iMac' started by wilds94, May 13, 2013.

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  1. wilds94, May 13, 2013
    Last edited: May 13, 2013

    wilds94 macrumors member

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2012
    #1
    As the title states, i want to get a 27" iMac for all of my computer needs, mainly Gaming as well as Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro and Aperture. I am in no way a professional, and i more so toy around with these programs and mess around on the internet and such. But i also want to game on my iMac on the Windows partition.

    Hypothetically, if i had already saved up the cash for the maxed iMac with the 768gb SSD (and not the ram). Should i save the money and just buy the Fusion drive? I've played a lot with another iMac with the fusion drive and i don't think it's nearly as fast or fluid as my old Laptop with the SSD? Would you guys buy the 768 SSD if you could? Or put the extra cash towards something else. I have a 1tb 7200rpm external HDD where i keep all my extra data. Currently i only have about 160gb on both my paritions on my current iMac. I intend to install and delete games as i play them, and have about 320gb partition for Windows and 440gb for OSX.

    Buying a gaming comp is also an option, but i would love to have both my Mac needs and Gaming needs in one machine. And from what I've seen, the iMac with the GTX680MX stacks up perfectly, running crysis 3 without a stutter at high graphics.

    Thanks guys.
     
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  2. FotoDirk, May 13, 2013

    FotoDirk macrumors member

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    Apr 5, 2010
    #2
    There are now options for 256 and 512 Gb SSD as well.
     
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  3. karpich1, May 13, 2013

    karpich1 macrumors regular

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    Dec 18, 2007
    #3
    As was stated, they now offer the 256GB and 512GB for a more sane price.

    Personally, I go SSD for my apps and an external HDD for my movies/music/etc.

    With apps (and apps alone) it's hard to go more than 100GB unless you're doing some advanced stuff (databases, video editing, etc.) Or unless you install a LOT of games and never uninstall the less-played ones.

    So if dual-booting OSX and Windows I'd say 256GB. Maybe 512GB if you really want.
     
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  4. hfg, May 13, 2013

    hfg macrumors 68040

    hfg

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2006
    Location:
    Cedar Rapids, IA. USA
    #4
    I have the 768GB SSD in my iMac and am very happy with it (6 months now). :)

    The SSD partitions nicely for 500GB OS X and 250GB Windows, much as I would do if I was to use standard SSD modules.

    I keep my Aperture library on the SSD along with everything other than movies, archive documents, and iTunes libraries, which are on an external Thunderbolt hard drive (I use a Pegasus J4 with 4-1TB 7200rpm drives in dual RAID-0 configuration).

    The Windows partition has enough room for any current games I am playing, and additional Windows NTFS storage could also be on external Thunderbolt hard disks.


    -howard
     
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  5. wilds94, May 15, 2013

    wilds94 thread starter macrumors member

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    Jul 26, 2012
    #5
    Thanks Howard.

    Would you be able to do some quick time tests for me? I'm very interested in how quickly you turn the mac on to osx, and windows. And how quickly it takes to restart into one another. I'm also interested how games run on an ssd. ? Can you or anyone give me any information on these aspects.

    Thank you :)
     
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  6. Arfdog, May 16, 2013

    Arfdog macrumors 6502

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    Jan 25, 2013
    #6
    Considering your limited funds, the economics points to the Fusion. Myself, I can't tell the difference between it and the SSD, and I use my iMac moderately. What beachball?

    With the 1TB, you also don't have to constantly delete games.

    SSD's are just too expensive at the moment to be as practical as the HDD.
     
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