A Small SSD for Windows 7?

Anesthetize · 25 May 2011 at 20:56

So, having priced up my upcoming build, it seems like I have a bit of money spare. So I thought I'd put it to good use, and get a small SSD to install windows 7 on.

Just to be clear, I don't know much about SSDs, so does installing Windows 7 on one decrease the time it takes to cold boot a system? (I'm not one for leaving a computer on Sleep too long).

If so, can someone please recommend an adequately-sized good quality SSD for this task?

Thanks in advance!

RJC · 25 May 2011 at 21:01

I use the older Vertex and will never look back, Windows installs quick and boots very fast, one below would be a good investment.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-075-OC&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=910

I put other programs on a mechanical hdd.

Amraam · 25 May 2011 at 21:12

I just spent £90 on a vertex 2E 60GB and from hitting the power button to getting to the desktop is like 30s tops.

Darkman · 25 May 2011 at 21:23

An SSD boot drive will completely transform your experience. It's the single best upgrade you will make. Boot times will drastically come down (I boot in 16 seconds from 2 old Samsung SLC drives in RAID 0 for example) but it's when you're in Windows that you really notice how snappy everything has become.

Sub 0.1ms access times means anything you want to run opens almost instantly. You will never go back.

60GB would make an ideal boot drive. You could make do with less but you'll probably fill it up too quickly.

ianh · 25 May 2011 at 21:40

RE Quick boot up times: Just remember that your BIOS will still take 20-30secs to boot, THEN you get your <20sec windows boot up.

Win7 Space - If you have a lot of RAM (say 6GB+) then you can save lots of space on the SSD by moving the pagefile to a mechanical drive and switching off Hibernate. This will give your SSD roughly 2x the size of your RAM back (mine was 15GB of pagefile/Hybernate files combined, which is a lot to 'lose' on a 60GB disc)

Marvin · 25 May 2011 at 21:49

ianh said:
RE Quick boot up times: Just remember that your BIOS will still take 20-30secs to boot, THEN you get your <20sec windows boot up.

Win7 Space - If you have a lot of RAM (say 6GB+) then you can save lots of space on the SSD by moving the pagefile to a mechanical drive and switching off Hibernate. This will give your SSD roughly 2x the size of your RAM back (mine was 15GB of pagefile/Hybernate files combined, which is a lot to 'lose' on a 60GB disc)

Eh? What motherboard have you got? Mine's through the POST in 5-10 seconds at most, any more and I'm worried...

Darkman · 25 May 2011 at 22:04

Yep, my 16 seconds includes POST.

With the newer drives and mainboards it must be even quicker.

DragonQ · 25 May 2011 at 22:15

Depends on the motherboard. Mine takes ~25 seconds from pressing the button to seeing the Windows logo appear, which is rather a step back from my old (2006) laptop where it was 2 seconds.

Anesthetize · 25 May 2011 at 22:33

ianh said:
Win7 Space - If you have a lot of RAM (say 6GB+) then you can save lots of space on the SSD by moving the pagefile to a mechanical drive and switching off Hibernate. This will give your SSD roughly 2x the size of your RAM back (mine was 15GB of pagefile/Hybernate files combined, which is a lot to 'lose' on a 60GB disc)

I don't know much about all this, I can use a computer, but anything too technical goes straight over my head. Put simply, I just copy a file from the SSD to the HDD, then switch off this 'Hibernate' option? Aside from saving space, what does this do? and what is Hibernate usually used for?

---------

Thank you all for the replies. I plan to install games/software on the HDD, I literally only need the SSD for faster cold boots. With that in mind, does it have to be a 60GB still? Will a 40gb, or even a 32gb not suffice?

Again, thanks for the replies so far.

Anesthetize · 27 May 2011 at 14:36

Bump*

Can anyone answer the question in my last post? Does it need to be a 60GB, or will a 40GB/32GB be enough?

Thanks again.

TheEnosFam · 27 May 2011 at 14:44

Anesthetize said:
Bump*

Can anyone answer the question in my last post? Does it need to be a 60GB, or will a 40GB/32GB be enough?

Thanks again.

Really depends on if you just want a boot drive or if you want to put stuff on it. I think you need around 15GB for windows 7. So if that is all you are doing that is fine. Most of us however do like to put a few games and programs on them though.

Anesthetize · 27 May 2011 at 16:29

TheEnosFam said:
Really depends on if you just want a boot drive or if you want to put stuff on it. I think you need around 15GB for windows 7. So if that is all you are doing that is fine. Most of us however do like to put a few games and programs on them though.

Apart from the game starting up quicker, and load times between levels being faster, how does the SSD affect games? The system I'm going to build is purely for gaming, though I planned on installing all the games on the HDD. But if there's any significant performance boost, I'll consider a 60GB SSD to put some of the most played games on.

Thanks for the reply.

scruffeh · 27 May 2011 at 16:40

Anesthetize said:
Bump*

Can anyone answer the question in my last post? Does it need to be a 60GB, or will a 40GB/32GB be enough?

Thanks again.

I think 60GB is the minimum that you can work with comfortably (can't comment exactly, since I have 2x 60GBs in RAID). I had a 32GB and sold it on, after finding that I swapping data between drives too often. You can do it, but it reminded me too much of the bad old days, when I had to worry about storage space.

Kanpai · 27 May 2011 at 17:31

I think games will load quicker but you won't actually see a performance boost fps wise or anything.

Anesthetize · 28 May 2011 at 16:17

nayan89 said:
I think games will load quicker but you won't actually see a performance boost fps wise or anything.

Yeah, that's what I thought. Would be nice for one or two of the 'most played' games.

Thanks

beefybarn · 28 May 2011 at 17:08

I use a 32gb as my boot drive and its fine.