Hi all, i have a dell studio 1736 with a p8600 and 4gb ram
ima get a desktop after summer as this whole sandy bridge issue put a road block in my plans.
basically i just want to spend a little for something that would make the biggest difference to my laptop speed. everyone says ssd, but would that really be a big speed difference?
im currently rocking a WD3200BEVT laptop hdd, i think its 7200rpm
i have been looking at some ssds, and i like the look of this one:
Yes. You will get a speed boost when loading up programs or turning on your computer. File transfers are instant and game loads are top notch.
Is it worth the big price tag?
Maybe. I have 60 gb SSD and a 500 gb harddrive. I put my OS and a couple of games on the SSD and the rest are on the other hard drive. I don't think you really need to have movies/music/etc on your solid state.
My programs on SSD: Windows 7 Steam Starcraft Photoshop Antivirus
Bottom line?
If you want one, I would just go for the 60gb unless you have loads of programs that need SSD speeds.
As far as speed goes.. I've found that booting up/down goes extremely fast (along with installing updates and such), and things such as installations take a minute/two max. Suppose things like accessing files are sped up since I don't usually have those few seconds where the HDD kicks it's shit into gear. Maybe some other things have been quickened as well but since I've had it I've forgotten how long things took before and haven't really gotten around to comparing.
Personally I only have a 64GB just for my OS/few other main programs, but otherwise I put everything else on 500GB/1TB HDDs. I can't imagine getting one any bigger since what kind of things are you gonna' fill it up with? Videos? Games? It's not going to speed up either much (with the exception of things like map loading possibly).
Overall: It did speed up my computer as far as booting/loading/installations go, but obviously it comes at a huge price premium and I don't really see the need for using one for much more than your OS.
I might suggest if you are thinking about getting an SSD that you look into hybrid drives that are available right now. They are far cheaper then a regular SSD and have many of the advantages. They also have a far larger storage ability. Just a thought
If you're running anything other than Windows 7 or a recent Linux or equivalent then it's not worth the cash. My friend recently got one for his new comp and for shits and giggles we tried it in my old XP machine (still runs great!) but it was only just faster in boot up speed. The difference might be because of the 64/32 bit change but I'm not really sure. Made the boot about 10 seconds faster in my friends comp.
Does anyone here know what you need to get the most out of a SSD?
Yes. Yes it does. I have two of them and the overall speed and response versus a hard drive is ridiculous.
That being said, I got one from a contest and another during a great boxing day sale for which I had to wait a couple of months. I would only buy an SSD at a really good price, but never at regular prices.
On February 16 2011 10:10 Noev wrote: I might suggest if you are thinking about getting an SSD that you look into hybrid drives that are available right now. They are far cheaper then a regular SSD and have many of the advantages. They also have a far larger storage ability. Just a thought
I'd skip these hybrid drives. I've only read reviews that say they are pretty much the same speed as the 10,000 RPM regular hard drives and that the actual SSD portion is too small to be useful. I'd have to agree with most of the comments here;
You want a SSD for boot and frequently used applications/games and then a large regular HDD for storage. With what they cost these days, I think they are much more worth while than say 2-3 years ago. I enjoy my SSD and would never build a computer (for myself) without one again.
Ah, forgot to add:
If you buy a SSD, make sure you get one that has the Sandforce Controller. This is the newest technology with SSD's and increases the read/write time considerably.
Corsair Storage Solutions 60GB 2.5" Solid State Disk Drive Force Series (SSD) 285MB/s Read 275MB/s Write, includes 2.5" to 3.5" bracket (CSSD-F60GB2-BRKT)
loaded onto drive i have windows 7 starcraft 2 adobe cs5 collection
the biggest benefit i notice is with cs5. i can work with multiple large files with ease compared to constant loading b4 ssd install. starcraft 2 is moderate increase mainly in initial loading.(went from 30-40 seconds down to about 10 seconds) large battles are also a bit smoother. windows boots up to a fully loaded desktop in about 30 sec from completely off.
I recently purchased an SSD because I was having lag problems at beginning of games, loading Starcraft and exiting Starcraft 2 would cause a crash almost half the time. Now with the SSD I never lag and my PC is booted and ready for use in 26 seconds. It is the best upgrade for $120 in my opinion. If you get a new PC soon then you can still use the drive in it and whatever it comes with for your storage. I record TV to my old drive and run all games and OS off of the SSD.
On February 16 2011 10:51 jester- wrote: If you buy a SSD, make sure you get one that has the Sandforce Controller. This is the newest technology with SSD's and increases the read/write time considerably.
Or one of the Intel SSDs. I'm too lazy to find the research to back this up now, but when I was shopping for SSDs I found many tests which showed that the Intels perform favorably compared to the Sandforces, and Intel drives have been around much longer. IIRC I chose Intel because their drives had more reliable timings, whereas the Sandforce controllers had some nasty (albiet rare) worst-case scenarios.
starcraft 2 is moderate increase mainly in initial loading.(went from 30-40 seconds down to about 10 seconds)
That's a 20-30 seconds saved just when launching SC2 There's 30 seconds saved just when booting Windows More seconds saved when shutting down, restarting, installing, playing, working on software, COPYING FILES (OMG so fast)
Totals for at least 5 minutes of my time saved daily from my old computer on a heavy work day.
I have a 128 GB one, and I don't even need External HDDS, I have everything I need here.
Bottom line: 5 minutes every day for a couple more bucks, and no more frustration = priceless. 5 minutes a day X 20 days average using the PC/month = 100 minutes, rounding to 2 hours saved each month (AT LEAST! ).
I RAGE when the HDD is spinning. What, multitasking? Forget abuot that! Archiving files? A breeze on SSD.
starcraft 2 is moderate increase mainly in initial loading.(went from 30-40 seconds down to about 10 seconds)
That's a 20-30 seconds saved just when launching SC2 There's 30 seconds saved just when booting Windows More seconds saved when shutting down, restarting, installing, playing, working on software, COPYING FILES (OMG so fast)
Totals for at least 5 minutes of my time saved daily from my old computer on a heavy work day.
I have a 128 GB one, and I don't even need External HDDS, I have everything I need here.
Bottom line: 5 minutes every day for a couple more bucks, and no more frustration = priceless. 5 minutes a day X 20 days average using the PC/month = 100 minutes, rounding to 2 hours saved.
DEFINITELY GET SSD!
its the same loading replays and ladder games? what about Alt+tab? those is much more faster?
I've been using the OCZ Vertex 250gb SSD for around a year now and it really does make a huge difference in both reading and writing speeds. I have all of my games and heavy duty programs installed on the SSD and the loading times are insanely fast. If you have the extra cash, I'd definitely recommend getting one.
On February 16 2011 10:51 jester- wrote: If you buy a SSD, make sure you get one that has the Sandforce Controller. This is the newest technology with SSD's and increases the read/write time considerably.
Lol, surely you mean it increases the read/write life considerably? It would hardly be the newest technology otherwise.
On February 16 2011 10:51 jester- wrote: If you buy a SSD, make sure you get one that has the Sandforce Controller. This is the newest technology with SSD's and increases the read/write time considerably.
Lol, surely you mean it increases the read/write life considerably? It would hardly be the newest technology otherwise.
I'm not sure if you are trolling, or if I just don't understand what you are saying. The Sandforce controller increases the speed at which files read and write to the drive...
Don't understand why anyone would opt NOT to get an SSD as their system disk if they are building a new "high end" computer. It costs around $200 and gives you more performance ALL the time compared to the extra 4 FPS you'd get from 2x GPU's in SC2, or the extra mhz you could squeeze out of your CPU with non-stock cooling.
Actually, if was going to build a computer that was not for gaming - say a laptop for school or work i would get a SSD aswell. Only exception would be computers that are "multi purpose" with a very strict budget.
Absolutely! SSDs will be standard for gaming systems. It's one of the biggest improvements you can make to a PC. Better than more RAM or a slightly stronger CPU or GPU. The load times for everything is just noticeably faster unlike say a CPU upgrade that will net you no improvements at all except for the most intense applications and even then you won't be able to tell unless you record the minimal impact with a benchmarking program.
I'm talking about noticeable in human terms. Things loading in half the time. Improvements measured in actual seconds not nanoseconds.
Sorry that I'm gushing all over the thread. But I <3 my SSD. Invest in at least a 80GB because Win7 will take up about 40 of that. T^T
A good SSD will make an enormous difference to boot/shutdown speed, speed of installation and launching software and games and it will also increase your minimum fps by virtue of reducing loading things faster into memory. All in all, it will be a smoother experience. It will do nothing for your maximum fps in games though.
If you don't multitask a lot or have programs that oterhwise start very slowly because they need to load a lot of stuff (adobe cs, levels in games) you won't notice too much of a difference in comparison to a new hdd. The system will feel very smooth anyway, because it is new. I think the difference is much more noticable when the system gets older. A SSD will still react instantly after you copied/deleted a lot of stuff. A HDD on the other hand will get more and more fagmented and react slower. Defragmentation helps but after some time it just gets more and more messed up. My PC with ssd always reacts instantly. The laptop i am using right now often freezes for a second when i want to save a file, which can drive me mad sometimes.
Well the difference is small but has a huge impact on me. I have the Intel X25 80GB and it's the best buy I ever did.
To explain why I don't have any numbers or so, it's just that when windows is booted up there's nothing going on, no loading of programs to wait for etc I can just instantly click firefox and begin browsing. Small difference in time and wait here and there..
It's kinda like having good internet connection that instantly loads pages at all times and having internet that sometimes need to buffer vids, needs to load some etc, even if it's very slight it's nice to get rid of
Loading and exiting the game. Loading a custom game(not online which waits for the other person too), loading a few replays some larger maps etc. alt tabbing in full screen windowed also. But, i can say alt tabbing in just full screen works very well too. You will never have a 10-30 second delay of black screen.
thanks for the vid, but this alt+tab windowed doesnt show anything, i thought it was full screen test not windowed but anyway thanks for the video very helpfull
On February 16 2011 21:10 2GRe-Play- wrote: thanks for the vid, but this alt+tab windowed doesnt show anything, i thought it was full screen test not windowed but anyway thanks for the video very helpfull
Yeah, Sorry. I forgot that i had "windowed fullscreen" not regular fullscreen.
But trust me, alt tab, alt esc work very well, and there will never be hanging moments.
I have the new crucial SSD that works on SATA 3 instead of SATA 2 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148362) where I can read at ~350MB/s. It is friggin' AMAZING.
Alt-tabs into and out of starcraft went from 40-60 seconds to 1-2 seconds. Starting Starcraft went from a 30 second load time to a 3 second load time. From a cold start, I can be into windows and doing things in about 8-10 seconds. It's improved my experience on my computer about 10-fold. And with a 128GB drive like I have, you can use it as your main disk if you want.
Honestly, you'll probably find more bang for your buck here than by upgrading your processor even if you have just a super old processor. I found a larger performance increase by upgrading my SSD than I did from going from an old AMD 2400+ (an OLD processor) to the new i5-2500k Sandy Bridge. And that's saying something, considering that I thought the processor upgrade was pretty damn awesome as well.
You would notice a difference, but for the average person, it's might not be worth the price. If you're making a budget-mid build, you can probably do without it. If you're loading with higher-end parts, there's no reason to skip over it if you want performance.
I personally went for a 150GB Raptor when they came out quite awhile ago, and you definitely notice a difference. I love it.
On February 17 2011 01:44 Sixotanaka wrote: It increases load times, not really that much else.
It's funny hearing people phrase increases in speeds as "increasing time". Especially responses accusing others of trolling when someone suggests it's a typo.
On February 16 2011 10:51 jester- wrote: If you buy a SSD, make sure you get one that has the Sandforce Controller. This is the newest technology with SSD's and increases the read/write time considerably.
Lol, surely you mean it increases the read/write life considerably? It would hardly be the newest technology otherwise.
I'm not sure if you are trolling, or if I just don't understand what you are saying. The Sandforce controller increases the speed at which files read and write to the drive...
On February 17 2011 01:44 Sixotanaka wrote: It increases load times, not really that much else.
It's funny hearing people phrase increases in speeds as "increasing time". Especially responses accusing others of trolling when someone suggests it's a typo.
On February 16 2011 10:51 jester- wrote: If you buy a SSD, make sure you get one that has the Sandforce Controller. This is the newest technology with SSD's and increases the read/write time considerably.
Lol, surely you mean it increases the read/write life considerably? It would hardly be the newest technology otherwise.
I'm not sure if you are trolling, or if I just don't understand what you are saying. The Sandforce controller increases the speed at which files read and write to the drive...
Good catch, literally just made me notice what I originally typed. You can see in my response the clarified answer and in the first line my admittance to not understanding. Why not try adding something to the thread instead of this type of poor post? I type out a giant post with one error, am quoted with an obscure and general response, then we have you saying I'm accusing people when I'm clearly not.
On February 18 2011 02:36 monx wrote: i have an Intel X-25 M G2 but i havent installed it yet. I am looking for a easy to read tutorial to set it up correctly. Thanks
Read your manual, but honestly, it's probably just plug it in, install OS, and go.
On February 18 2011 02:36 monx wrote: i have an Intel X-25 M G2 but i havent installed it yet. I am looking for a easy to read tutorial to set it up correctly. Thanks
It's a hard drive. You use it like...a hard drive. For everything else it has a controller.
On February 18 2011 03:33 monx wrote: Ok i heard there was stuff with TRIM and other tweaks...i tought it was more complex.
If it's a relatively old X-25 M G2, you will need to update the firmware to enable TRIM. You can download that here http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18363. Windows 7 automatically runs the TRIM commands, you'll have to manually run it for XP and Vista. Unless things have changed recently, OSX still has no TRIM support. SSD performance get worse over time unless you have TRIM enabled, or some other form of garbage collection.
There are other little things you might want to do, like getting rid of the page.sys and hiberfil.sys files, making it so that all internet files get downloaded to your backup drive (to save wear and tear), write registry values to your secondary drive, etc.
Hey all, well i finally decided to take the plunge and got myself an OCZ Vertex 2 80gb...
All i can say is...
O_O
I can restart windows to fully usable in under 30 seconds (timed from clicking restart button, time includes post)
Installing anything is a matter of seconds, opening any program is lightning... i feel spoilt!
For those of you who arnt sure of getting an ssd, get one, they are so worth it. Make sure you do your research first tho such as seting SATA mode and which SSD controllers are the best. I for one am a happy ssd user :D my laptop has been given a new lease of life :D now to install sc2...
Anything you put on your SSD will load up faster and that's about it. Get a relatively small one, put your OS and main programs on it if anything. That is all. As far as general storage goes, I'd say not worth it until the pricetag drops or disk drives become obsolete
On February 22 2011 00:08 Stropheum wrote: Anything you put on your SSD will load up faster and that's about it. Get a relatively small one, put your OS and main programs on it if anything. That is all. As far as general storage goes, I'd say not worth it until the pricetag drops or disk drives become obsolete
A 120gig one is all I need for my OS and ALL of my games/programs. I use an external for storage (Wife's photography). Other than that, I don't store anything at all. And the 120gig ones are at a fair price. I got the OCZ Vertex 2 120g. It loaded a ONE GIG photoshop file in less than 10 seconds.