SSD worth it...?

Amp34

Amp34

Amp34

Caporegime
Joined
25 Jul 2005
Posts
28,857
Location
Canada
I've just taken a 250GB drive out of my computer to give to someone else and was going to get a 500GB drive to replace it but I'm tempted to get a 60GB SSD to run windows from.

Current setup:

Computer:
4400 x2 (S939)
2GB RAM
ASUS A8N-SLI
Win7

HDDs:
160GB Hitachi (2005)
250GB Hitachi (2006)
1TB Samsung (F2 I think, 2009)

Currently split into:
160GB:
C: (OS) - 40GB
Documents - 20GB
Music - 30GB
Programs (read random tat, nothing installed) - 65GB
250GB - whole
1TB: External drive connected by ESata - whole

The 250GB drive I took out was a backup of my documents and the other 250GB drive. I was planning on replacing the 250GB drive with a 500GB one and using it as a backup like it was before however...

Would there be significant improvements if I bought a 500GB drive and installed the OS onto it? Would there be even more improvement if I bought an SSD and installed the OS onto that and suffered with less space?

Is the SSD worth the extra money over the standard drive, especially on my computer (which I use mostly for browsing and photo editing)?

Trying to do all this on as little money as possible so cost savings are a massive bonus.

With that in mind what SSD if thats the way to go... on initial looks at specs the Agility3 seems so much faster than all the others?
What 500 or 1TB drive depending on cost to go for?

Thanks
 
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Single biggest improvement you can make to your PC is to replace the main drive with an SSD. More than doubling your processor cores, or buying a new graphics card, the general day to day snappiness and feel of the machine is extremely limited by spinny discs. That 10ms delay between file seeks really makes everything laggy, and I don't know anyone who has tried one having a bad word for them, and despite the cost, I'll never build without one again.

I just upgraded my Vertex1 30gb to a Vertex2 120gb. Vertex3 is faster still but you pay more and I find my Vertex2 to be fast enough not to find myself waiting for it, and got a little more capacity for my shillings. Agility3 is another cheaper option. Any SSD is going to seem quick coming from spinny discs.
 
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Got a Vertex 3 myself a few months ago with my new build. I would never go back to a standard disk as my main OS drive now.

Definitely worth it. One of the best upgrades available. IMO the price isn't that bad if you take the performance into consideration rather than the space.
 
Actually I think I meant the 60GB Agility3 rather than the Vertex3!

I understand the theory of it all but having read a thread in the forum a month ago with people suggesting there really isn't as much performance difference I'm still trying to work out if spending an extra £50 on a lot less storage is really worth it.:)
 
Echo the above. I used to run my OS off a couple of 250GB WD Velociraptors in RAID0 and I wasn't sure that an SSD would be worth it. It really was: my new 120GB OCZ Vertex 3 makes the 'Raptors look sluggish.

Worth every penny IMO.
 
SSD for OS & some apps = Yes its worth it.

SSD for gaming=No not really few games will see any benefits as SSD do not handle large file sizes used in modern PC games very well!
 
ssd have been the best upgrade i have done on my system loadsing times to windows is sub 30seconds nearer 20seconds from power on to ready to use
 
AWPC said:
SSD for gaming=No not really few games will see any benefits as SSD do not handle large file sizes used in modern PC games very well!
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I'd disagree with that. My PC is used mainly for gaming. I have the OS and whatever games I'm currently playing on the SSD with mechanical drives for everything else.

I've tried a direct comparison by installing (on the SSD) some of the same games that I had previously installed on the Velociraptors. Start up and in-game load times have been hugely reduced when the games are running off the SSD.
 
BillTheButcher said:
I'd disagree with that. My PC is used mainly for gaming. I have the OS and whatever games I'm currently playing on the SSD with mechanical drives for everything else.

I've tried a direct comparison by installing (on the SSD) some of the same games that I had previously installed on the Velociraptors. Start up and in-game load times have been hugely reduced when the games are running off the SSD.
Click to expand...

agreed.
ssd makes a huge difference, just installed my new crucial 128gb m4 disk.
little snappier than my previous setup.
 
Picked up an Agility 3 and installed last weekend.

It's the best upgrade I can remember since moving to a dual core CPU.
 
you'll love it.

if you load office/word it might take 5 or so seconds, on my system anyway.
Then close it, now open it again and it loads really fast.
Well thats what its like with an SSD
 
cbr said:
you'll love it.

if you load office/word it might take 5 or so seconds, on my system anyway.
Then close it, now open it again and it loads really fast.
Well thats what its like with an SSD
Click to expand...

It should load fast first time, especially with an SSD.

Back on my old RAID 0 standard HDs everything loaded slowly first time, then quicker second time. That's the way Windows works.

Word/Excel etc. should be pretty much instant first time with an SSD.
 
As loads ppl stated, ssd is one of the best things you can get for a pc, if u still considering, corsair s3 is the one to go for, or slightly faster one for a bit more corsair gt
 
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