Installing Intel 40GB SSD to existing system
- Thread starter Daaaveee
- Start date
Added check for auto defrag 
Going to go and fetch the drive now.
Did a check for my boot to see desktop and also the time to see Google homepage after clicking Firefox shortcut as soon as desktop was visible:
Boot time to desktop = 60 seconds
Boot time to Google homepage = 91 seconds
We'll see how those improve later hopefully!
Going to go and fetch the drive now.
Did a check for my boot to see desktop and also the time to see Google homepage after clicking Firefox shortcut as soon as desktop was visible:
Boot time to desktop = 60 seconds
Boot time to Google homepage = 91 seconds
We'll see how those improve later hopefully!
Daaaveee all eyes are on you - im thinking of getting the same drive myself so we all need your feedback... Do's and dont's so to speak. I have a rough idea but these things are a million miles apart from our old trusty HDD's. 40GB is enough for Win 7 but that's it. Im buying it for a boot drive and for nothing else so any feedback would be much appreciated 
Right, stuck already 
Dutch777 said he updated the firmware so can skip that step.
Now I should... 4) Set drive to ACHI. 5) Set SATA ports to IDE?
Plugged it in and went into the BIOS:
In pressing enter on the SSD gives:
And Storage Configuration > Configure SATA as shows:
So do I leave that as IDE? How do I see if the SSD is set to AHCI?
Am OK to now just format and install a fresh OS?
Dutch777 said he updated the firmware so can skip that step.
Now I should... 4) Set drive to ACHI. 5) Set SATA ports to IDE?
Plugged it in and went into the BIOS:
In pressing enter on the SSD gives:
And Storage Configuration > Configure SATA as shows:
So do I leave that as IDE? How do I see if the SSD is set to AHCI?
Am OK to now just format and install a fresh OS?
Steps I made are as follows for people interested in doing this themselves.
1) Back up everything I wanted to keep on external media.
2) Reboot, enter BIOS and Set storage configuration to AHCI.
3) Reboot from Windows installation disk, format existing drives and install OS to SSD.
4) Install Intel SSD toolbox.
5) Remap folders in users to existing drive.
Performance benchmark:
Looks pretty much in line with the drives specs
1) Back up everything I wanted to keep on external media.
2) Reboot, enter BIOS and Set storage configuration to AHCI.
3) Reboot from Windows installation disk, format existing drives and install OS to SSD.
4) Install Intel SSD toolbox.
5) Remap folders in users to existing drive.
Performance benchmark:
Looks pretty much in line with the drives specs
I'm sorry Dave, the line about setting SATA to IDEa after setting it to ACHI was very vague.
So how does the system feel? Are your programs loading ultra fast, like you clcik on firefox and *snap* its loaded. Are websites loading in milliseconds? The 292 bench is pretty good. Are you happy with the boost in speed or were you expecting more?
Did you check if TRIM was enabled? I think with Intel it enables automatically, but definitely worth checking.
In all fairness your boot times really aren't that much of an improvement, 10 seconds faster. You seem to have setup everything exactly how I've read others recommend.
If that's the true performance I should expect then I think I'll save the 100 quid and wait the extra 10 seconds.
Out of curiosity what motherboard do you own? I'm wondering if you have 6Gb/s SATA ports, I'll look up if the X25-V is a 6Gb/s drive.
Thank you for posting your setup procedure. Let us also know if you find anything that speeds it up even more.
So how does the system feel? Are your programs loading ultra fast, like you clcik on firefox and *snap* its loaded. Are websites loading in milliseconds? The 292 bench is pretty good. Are you happy with the boost in speed or were you expecting more?
Did you check if TRIM was enabled? I think with Intel it enables automatically, but definitely worth checking.
In all fairness your boot times really aren't that much of an improvement, 10 seconds faster. You seem to have setup everything exactly how I've read others recommend.
If that's the true performance I should expect then I think I'll save the 100 quid and wait the extra 10 seconds.
Out of curiosity what motherboard do you own? I'm wondering if you have 6Gb/s SATA ports, I'll look up if the X25-V is a 6Gb/s drive.
Thank you for posting your setup procedure. Let us also know if you find anything that speeds it up even more.
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Performance benchmark:
Looks pretty much in line with the drives specs
If you want to improve your 4K read write speeds - Disable / C1E / Speedstep / Cool n Quiet etc in the Bios
Dutch
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No problems Trentlad all sorted
Everything is instant now, you can see from my boot times before the time to a workable desktop was more like 90 seconds, now it is 45, so although the time to see the desktop is not that much faster, the time for it to be fully responsive is quite a lot faster. To be honest, before with the Samsung F3 1TB on its own, things were pretty close any way. I am happy with the speed boost but it is nothing spectacular as like I say I think it was pretty fast before. I think other people upgrading to SSDs might not have had such good speeds before and therefore are more impressed. Also you have to remember that a fresh Windows install always speeds things up compared to older installs so maybe that has an effect?
I'm happy with it for the price I paid, £55, but I don't think I would have been so impressed if I had spent £100 as they are retailing here for at the moment.
Yep TRIM is enabled, automatically, just checked.
My motherboard is an Asus P6T SE, so no 6Gb/s SATA, I think the sticker on the back of the SSD said 3Gb/s SATA anyway so I doubt 6Gb/s would be fuly utilised.
Overall summary, I'm happy with it for the price I paid but not massively impressed.
Everything is instant now, you can see from my boot times before the time to a workable desktop was more like 90 seconds, now it is 45, so although the time to see the desktop is not that much faster, the time for it to be fully responsive is quite a lot faster. To be honest, before with the Samsung F3 1TB on its own, things were pretty close any way. I am happy with the speed boost but it is nothing spectacular as like I say I think it was pretty fast before. I think other people upgrading to SSDs might not have had such good speeds before and therefore are more impressed. Also you have to remember that a fresh Windows install always speeds things up compared to older installs so maybe that has an effect?
I'm happy with it for the price I paid, £55, but I don't think I would have been so impressed if I had spent £100 as they are retailing here for at the moment.
Yep TRIM is enabled, automatically, just checked.
My motherboard is an Asus P6T SE, so no 6Gb/s SATA, I think the sticker on the back of the SSD said 3Gb/s SATA anyway so I doubt 6Gb/s would be fuly utilised.
Overall summary, I'm happy with it for the price I paid but not massively impressed.
Dave and Dutch, you lads are stars... and with that team name you'll be robbing banks 'Lock Stock' style.
Thanks for the advice Dutch and thanks Dave for being honest and taking us through your SSD setup. It's a shame they aren't plugNplay, I can't help but think there are other things you can do to improve performance.
FOR THE LOVE OF COMMUNITY ISN'T THERE ANYONE ELSE OUT THERE WHO CAN OFFER SSD OPTIMIZATION ADVICE?!?!!!!!
Thanks for the advice Dutch and thanks Dave for being honest and taking us through your SSD setup. It's a shame they aren't plugNplay, I can't help but think there are other things you can do to improve performance.
FOR THE LOVE OF COMMUNITY ISN'T THERE ANYONE ELSE OUT THERE WHO CAN OFFER SSD OPTIMIZATION ADVICE?!?!!!!!
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These seem to be the fastest benchmarks I can find for the Intel X25-V, from one of the OcUK lads:
Heres my Intel X25 - V 40Gb, Latest Firmware and using MS's AHCI drivers, recently bought from the members market for £80, 20gb used for win7 64bit and all my Apps, 17gb free space.
