SSD advice ...

For example, Firefox used to take about 1 minute 20 seconds on my old PC to load. On the new one its instant. Same with everything.

I'm not doubting the performance increase offered by SSDs, but that sounds very much like it's just the effect of having a clean install. Firefox shouldn't take a minute to load on any HDD.
 
I'm not doubting the performance increase offered by SSDs, but that sounds very much like it's just the effect of having a clean install. Firefox shouldn't take a minute to load on any HDD.

was thinking the same thing

over a minute for firefox to load? doesnt sound right at all
sounds more like a problem with your pc (defrag needed maybe)
 
Really, all one needs is x2 30gb Vertex's in Raid 0. It has full fw support from OCZ, TRIM support from windows 7, and both raided are fast as hell. 60gb is more than enough for any OS and a couple of games and a few apps. Keep an ex drive for all your movies, music, pics etc.
 
Personally I'm still waiting. I'd like a ~250Gb drive which is at least the speed of the intel x25-M series. These are available now, but I don't really want to pay more than £200. I'm expecting that I should be able to grab one around the end of the year.

I think that if I'd just dropped £2k on a new rig though... well it would be much harder to justify waiting!
 
I'm not doubting the performance increase offered by SSDs, but that sounds very much like it's just the effect of having a clean install. Firefox shouldn't take a minute to load on any HDD.

Clean install? Okay whatever. I hope you never get an ssd. You don't deserve one :p.

A clean install does not give your drive <1 ms access times, nor increase the throughput of your hdd's. Benchmarks clearly explain why ssd's are "instant" feeling. How about this, my micro office07, and media center all open instanly on an os that is far from clean. I can also run a complete virus scan on my ssd in less than 5 mins.

A fresh install only helps an hdd, because of where the data is being stored on the actual platters, and not to mention defrag does not yet need to be done. If you know what defrag is you should know that ssd's do not ever need to be defraged because they don't use platters like a typical hdd (long story short). Your hdd's will degrade much worse in performance the more full they get. That does not happen with ssd's.
 
Last edited:
TheVoice does have a point about Firefox though - it shouldn't take a minute to load!

ah the poster is probably exaggerating that much. Or it may seem that way compared to current times.

For those non believers, go find some youtube vids of GOOD ssd's (not generation 1's) and see for yourself how fast load and boot times are.

I'm starting to feel like a broken record due to skeptics not doing one lick of research first. READ PEOPLE! There is plenty of information out there.
 
Last edited:
Wait all you want. I wouldn't think price would be an issue with your specs though.

BTW- I lol at all who want to wait for prices to come down as if that will ever happen with no one buying them. The enthusiasts buying these atm are not going to be able to buy enough to drive down prices. In fact the vertex I bought went up in price after I bought it.
 
I'm not doubting the performance increase offered by SSDs, but that sounds very much like it's just the effect of having a clean install. Firefox shouldn't take a minute to load on any HDD.

I used to have x2 velociraptors in raid 0, they opened up Photoshop in about 20 seconds or so. I have only 1 samsung slc ssd, its one of the first with very basic read and write speeds, and I open photoshop up in less than 4 seconds or there abouts. This is the same all over the board.
 
I used to have x2 velociraptors in raid 0, they opened up Photoshop in about 20 seconds or so. I have only 1 samsung slc ssd, its one of the first with very basic read and write speeds, and I open photoshop up in less than 4 seconds or there abouts. This is the same all over the board.

Photoshop in 20 sec? Why so slow? I just opened CS2 on my system (3.2GHz C2D, 500GB 7200 SATAII) and it was ready to roll in 13 sec. :confused:
 
With the firefox load time I was actually referring to the very first firefox load when the system had just started. 1 minute 20 seconds was accurate.

It would load much faster on subsequent loads. 15 seconds would be my guess.

Compare either of those to the SSD though and it is still night and day. The SSD loads instantly regardless of whether it is the first load or the 10th.

I think 64gb is a little small.

I have loaded most of the programs I need and 1 game, and I have used 62gb.

I would say that if you got a 128gb you would be fine; and not constantly worrying about filling it up. 256gb was probably overkill on my part space wise. But had I have been a big game player (I'm not) and been using the 50gb that an earlier person spoke about, then that would have been more clearly required.

As it is, I don't really need to give the matter any thought. And that is good.

I think the best compromise between cost and use would be the 128GB Samsung.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-078-SA&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1427

I have benchmarked the Corsair P256 (which is a rebadged Samsung 256GB ie the same basic components, firmware etc). And it produces exactly the performance claimed, with no driver issues, or having to phaff about updating firmware etc.
 
what about a- G.Skill Falcon 128GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (FM-25S2S-128GBF1)
how does that compare to the sammy one ??
 
Basics

Gskill falcon: 128GB, read - 230MB/s write - 190MB/s, TRIM
Samsung PB: 128GB, read - 220MB/s write - 200MB/s - No TRIM

Advantages

Gskill Falcon: 10MB/s more read, TRIM Support, no slowdown.
Samsung PB: 10MB/s more write, no need for tweeks or firmware updates.

Disadvantages

Gskill Falcon: 10MB/s less write
Samsung PB: 10MB/s less read, no TRIM, suffers slowdown

Prices

Gskill Falcon: £268.99
Samsung PB: £264.99
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom