SSD Worth it?

StarSolitude

StarSolitude

StarSolitude

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10 Sep 2009
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Thinking about getting a SSD for my new Windows 7 Core i5 computer.

I saw this post by someone in 2008;
I love embracing newer, faster tech but can't see the point in SSD at the moment. The tech is just too new at the moment, it seems that there are advances every other week and what's being sold at a premium price today, will be old hat and obsolete tomorrow.

Unless you really must have it, I would wait a bit and see how the field plays-out over the next 6-12 months.
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Now, thats a message from 2008. Does it still hold true for today?

I'm considering this Corsair Extreme X32 32GB SSD

Think I should go for it? Would it be much faster than a 1TB Samsung SpinPoint F3?
 
I'd like to know this too :) Been considering putting an SSD in my laptop for a while now. I currently have a WD Black in there.
 
My Corsair P128 is still very good for me. I'd recommend getting at least a 64GB one if I were you though so it has space for swap file and a few more applications that you are going to use more often.
 
They're quite a bit faster, but they're still what I'd call a luxury item, only worth popping in once the rest of your system is fully up to spec. They're still very highly priced for the small gain in speed. If its a choice of a new/better gfx card/CPU or SSD for example then go with the former, if the rest of your system is where you want it and you have some spare cash then go for it, thats my view. I have one myself btw
 
95thrifles said:
They're quite a bit faster, but they're still what I'd call a luxury item, only worth popping in once the rest of your system is fully up to spec. They're still very highly priced for the small gain in speed. If its a choice of a new/better gfx card/CPU or SSD for example then go with the former, if the rest of your system is where you want it and you have some spare cash then go for it, thats my view. I have one myself btw
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Well this is the build I'd add it to...

MOBO: MSI-P55-GD65
CPU: Core i5 750 (@ 4GHz)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H50-1
PSU: Corsair HX650W
GPU: Asus ATI Radeon HD 5850 1024MB
HDD: Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB
RAM: Geil Ultra Series 4GB PC3-17000 2133MHz
+Cooler: Antec SpotCool (I'll OC the Geil RAM to 2000MHz+, it gets very hot apparently so I'll cool the area with this fan.)
Soundcard: Asus Xonar D1 7.1 PCI
Case: Antec 902

And there's no way I'm spending over £120 on a SSD. I'll just install my OS on it to begin with, and perhaps Aion or World of Warcraft.
 
See i read all these people saying, like above, "If its a choice of a new/better gfx card/CPU or SSD for example then go with the former", but I was always taught that a computer is only as fast as it's slowest component and, due to the mechanical nature of normal HDD's, this has ALWAYS been the HDD. (Unless you were playing a game running of a CD or something)

So surely the opportunity to upgrade the SLOWEST part of any PC, to remove its mechanical nature, should have a massive real-world performance benefit.

It wont be processors, graphics cards or RAM advances that will speed up computers massively over the next 5 years. It'll be these HDD advances and soon enough we'll see HDD's running at a similar speed as the RAM their communicating with and then, and only then, will upgrading the RAM and CPU's etc have the same effect as upgrading the HDD.

Of course if we're talking strictly game performance then yes a GFX card upgrade will rank among the top choice. But for general PC use, it has to be a SSD at this time.
 
TruffleShuffle said:
See i read all these people saying, like above, "If its a choice of a new/better gfx card/CPU or SSD for example then go with the former", but I was always taught that a computer is only as fast as it's slowest component and, due to the mechanical nature of normal HDD's, this has ALWAYS been the HDD. (Unless you were playing a game running of a CD or something)

So surely the opportunity to upgrade the SLOWEST part of any PC, to remove its mechanical nature, should have a massive real-world performance benefit.

It wont be processors, graphics cards or RAM advances that will speed up computers massively over the next 5 years. It'll be these HDD advances and soon enough we'll see HDD's running at a similar speed as the RAM their communicating with and then, and only then, will upgrading the RAM and CPU's etc have the same effect as upgrading the HDD.

Of course if we're talking strictly game performance then yes a GFX card upgrade will rank among the top choice. But for general PC use, it has to be a SSD at this time.
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So you think I should get one? :O
 
Well, you'll note that my post is quite theoretical :)

I dont have one yet myself but i have 2 ready to be Raid 0'd in my planned post xmas build. Sadly, i suppose i have to spend money on the girlfriend pre-xmas (on pressies and what not) , so a January build it will have to be!

I HOPE the performance lives upto my expectations but all user reports from OCUK i've read say that they will.
 
If you spend all your time in-game it won't make a great deal of difference, though you'll find things like texture loads and save games don't produce the "stuttering" effect you sometimes get with mechanical drives. Level load times are usually halved at least too in my experience thanks to >200MB/s sequential read speeds)

Where it really shines is in general usage, You can have multiple windows open, be copying files around and have a virus scan running in the background and everything will still feel ultra responsive. It makes your computer much less frustrating to use, things like your start menus popping up instantly instead of having that little delay, and folders full of hundreds of thumbnails loading instantly. Things like realising you can have multiple RAR extractions going on, or install multiple apps simultaniously without incurring massive slowdowns - you don't have to think ordering jobs serially any more, you can work in parallel.

I wouldn't go back now, and can't wait until i can afford to upgrade my laptop too.
 
Zarf said:
If you spend all your time in-game it won't make a great deal of difference, though you'll find things like texture loads and save games don't produce the "stuttering" effect you sometimes get with mechanical drives. Level load times are usually halved at least too in my experience thanks to >200MB/s sequential read speeds)

Where it really shines is in general usage, You can have multiple windows open, be copying files around and have a virus scan running in the background and everything will still feel ultra responsive. It makes your computer much less frustrating to use, things like your start menus popping up instantly instead of having that little delay, and folders full of hundreds of thumbnails loading instantly. Things like realising you can have multiple RAR extractions going on, or install multiple apps simultaniously without incurring massive slowdowns - you don't have to think ordering jobs serially any more, you can work in parallel.

I wouldn't go back now, and can't wait until i can afford to upgrade my laptop too.
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Yes but is there much point in getting an SSD if I'll only install Windows 7 on? I don't plan on buying a huge capacity SSD, if I get one, it will get 32gb. So I'll only really have Windows 7 installed, maybe a few games...

Is it still worth buying?
 
StarSolitude said:
Yes but is there much point in getting an SSD if I'll only install Windows 7 on? I don't plan on buying a huge capacity SSD, if I get one, it will get 32gb. So I'll only really have Windows 7 installed, maybe a few games...

Is it still worth buying?
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I have done this. Installed on Friday along with W7. My plan is to use the SSD for op system, a few apps and a couple of games I play reg. For me the difference in load times and boot up was worth buying the Intel 80GB.
 
Actually, I think it might be better to wait until next year, that way I can buy 2 SSD's and set up a RAID-0. I'll just have to reinstall my OS and backup data...

If I buy one now, it will only be ONE. And by next year, SSD's will be faster and better, more capacity etc.

So I'll wait and put up with a few more seconds load times for now. :)
 
put it this way i'm in the process of installing vista on my sons pc using an 500gb wd green and the day befor i installed w7 on my setup using a crucial 128gb ssd and this is so slow even with the dodgy firmware crucial as put out the ssd is so much faster than a common drive ,i installed red faction on the ssd and load times are super fast can't see myself going back to normal drives
 
for me finally the Hd is dead too me like they are some black sheep of the family its now hid.

SSD effect every part of your computer your no longer held back with mechanical parts its truely digital now. So said goodbye to IDE, FDD and HD's are now just old backup storage. Another 2 years and can say bye bye to them for good.

just wonder how long SSDs lives are Hd's had 56 years don't think SSDs will have that not that i'm that worried

Cant wait to say bye bye to CD/DVD :)
 
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smee said:
for me finally the Hd is dead too me like they are some black sheep of the family its now hid.

SSD effect every part of your computer your no longer held back with mechanical parts its truely digital now. So said goodbye to IDE, FDD and HD's are now just old backup storage. Another 2 years and can say bye bye to them for good.
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Until SSDs can compete with hard disks in price and size they're not dead.

MW
 
Hard Drive will never go away, thats just a simple fact.
The price per GB is just too good, as a storage medium there perfect.
Now the 80Gb Intel I received yesterday, all I can say is...
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ;)
 
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