SSD worth it?

paradisiac

paradisiac

paradisiac

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Joined
22 Mar 2009
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Cornwall
hi, i have a samsung R530 notebook. all i use it for is web browsing and playing football manager. startup times have got progressivly worse the longer i have owned the laptop, but the main issue is FM2011 is sooo sloooooow. would fitting an SSD drive help this or is it down to the gfx/cpu being weak?
 
Have you tried doing a clean install first of all? A SSD will make a big difference to just about any system but before you go spending any $$ I would try doing a clean install first. If you have to do this from a recovery partition on your Notebook then ensure you remove any of the bloat that manufacturers tend to stick on.
 
philtorrens said:
Have you tried doing a clean install first of all? A SSD will make a big difference to just about any system but before you go spending any $$ I would try doing a clean install first. If you have to do this from a recovery partition on your Notebook then ensure you remove any of the bloat that manufacturers tend to stick on.
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yeh it has been slow at the game since i have had the notebook from new, obvs with windows updates and everything the computer has slowly been getting worse. i know the notebook scrapes the min specs for the game, but its slow all the time, not just on the graphical parts of the game.
 
littlepuppy said:
If its an atom then thats what they do.. They are slow.
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not an atom no.
Specifications


Colour: Red/Black Graduation (Gloss)
Processor: Intel Celeron Dual Core Processor T3300
Clock Speed: 2.0GHz
Display: 15.6" WXGA LED
Max Resolution: 1366 x 768
Memory: 2GB
Memory Type: 1066MHz DDR3
Hard Drive: 250GB SATA
Optical Drive: DVD Super Multi Dual Layer
Graphics: Intel GMA 4500M
Speakers: 3 W Stereo (1.5 W x 2)
Wireless: 802.11 b/g/N
Webcam: Livecam
Battery: 6 Cell 4000mAh

Football Manager 2011 System Requirements*
Intel Processor - Celeron E1200 Dual-Core 1.6GHz
AMD Processor - Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core QL-60
Nvidia Graphics Card - GeForce GT 230
ATI Graphics Card - Radeon X800 XT
RAM (Memory) - 1.5 GB
Hard Disk Space - 2 GB
Direct X - 9

* System requirements displayed are based on recommended system requirements and should be used as a guide only.
 
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just run systemrequirementslab and it passed :(
CPU Speed
Minimum: Windows XP: 1.4 GHz or faster, Windows Vista/7: 2.0 GHz or faster
You Have: 2.2 GHz Performance Rated at: 3.3 GHz
PASS

RAM
Minimum: Windows XP: 512 MB RAM, Windows Vista/7: 1.0 GB RAM
You Have: 3.0 GB
PASS

OS
Minimum: Windows XP/Vista/W7
You Have: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition (build 7600), 32-bit
PASS

Video Card
Minimum: 128 MB Supported Chipsets - Nvidia FX 5900 Ultra or greater; ATI Radeon 9800or greater; Intel 82915G/82910GL or greater. Earlier cards may only display 2D Match Viewer Mode and are not supported
You Have: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
PASS
Features: Minimum attributes of your Video Card
Required You Have
Video RAM 128 MB 1.3 GB
Pixel Shader version 2.0 4.0


VC Driver version
Minimum: DirectX® Version 9.0c (included)
You Have:
PASS

Sound Card
Minimum: Yes
You Have: Realtek High Definition Audio
PASS

Free Disk Space
Minimum: 2 GB
You Have: 146.9 GB
PASS
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just odd why its running sooo slow.
 
The key here is has it always run slow or only started recently? You have nothing to loose with doing a clean install but if it's always been slow then it may be down to your hardware spec. There's a distinct difference between 'minimum spec' and 'recommended spec' where PC games are concerned.
 
philtorrens said:
The key here is has it always run slow or only started recently? You have nothing to loose with doing a clean install but if it's always been slow then it may be down to your hardware spec. There's a distinct difference between 'minimum spec' and 'recommended spec' where PC games are concerned.
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it has always been slow on this laptop, but in the last few weeks, when i tab out of the game i get a black screen for up to 5mins before the desktop appears. this could be down to the amount of stuff that its gathered, but i dont want to have to keep doing clean installs every couple of months :(
 
I appreciate where your coming from here but keep in mind if you install a SSD you need to keep a very close eye on the stuff that's gathered as your not going to have the same amount of capacity to play with as a HDD. If I were you I would do a clean install, remove any bloat and then see how FM2011 runs. If you really want to go for a SSD then perhaps look at the OCZ Vertex range. If it doesn't give you the experience you thought then you could always just sell it in the Members market.
 
philtorrens said:
I appreciate where your coming from here but keep in mind if you install a SSD you need to keep a very close eye on the stuff that's gathered as your not going to have the same amount of capacity to play with as a HDD. If I were you I would do a clean install, remove any bloat and then see how FM2011 runs. If you really want to go for a SSD then perhaps look at the OCZ Vertex range. If it doesn't give you the experience you thought then you could always just sell it in the Members market.
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i have seen some of them on a well known auction site, which obvs being second hand is a gamble. like i said, its only used for browsing and FM2011. in the past i have used it to store my films and stuff on, but now i have my desktop i wont need to do that anymore.
 
daz said:
FM will be slow because of the CPU - it does a lot of number crunching.
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this isn't what i wanted to hear :( but what i suspected, either cpu or gfx :mad: nothing i can really do with either of them, was hoping the drive would be the issue, as thats eaily swapable.
 
If you don't need a massive amount of space, SSD is a no-brainer tbh. Pick up a 60GB Sandforce drive like the Vertex 2E, they always seem to be on offer somewhere for around £90.

If you could put more RAM in it'll help as well, but an SSD is a massive upgrade especially in ram starved systems - the page file loves them! It'll definitely speed up your alt-tabbing.
 
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Zarf said:
If you don't need a massive amount of space, SSD is a no-brainer tbh. Pick up a 60GB Sandforce drive like the Vertex 2E, they always seem to be on offer somewhere for around £90.
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but will there be any real gains to what i use it for? if 90% of my problems are cpu related then is there any point?
 
well since the fresh install (from a windows disc not samsungs restore) FM2011 seems to be running fine now and quickly tabs out of the game. is this the best i will get, or would an SSD help, bearing in mind it will always be transferable to any other laptop i buy in the future.
 
paradisiac said:
well since the fresh install (from a windows disc not samsungs restore) FM2011 seems to be running fine now and quickly tabs out of the game. is this the best i will get, or would an SSD help, bearing in mind it will always be transferable to any other laptop i buy in the future.
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The only way to answer this is to set up some performance monitors while you play, to graph the CPU/RAM/Page file usage

Since a reinstall helped, I'd hazard a guess that you were being RAM limited, due to background services and bloatware.
If you can upgrade your RAM, do so, then put an SSD in when you can afford it. Your PC will last a lot longer before it feels like it needs a reinstall again. Even if it doesn't make a lot of difference in FM2011, It's a great upgrade that makes a big difference to the general 'feel' of the machine on the desktop.
 
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