SSDs on older PCs. Worth doing?

Jimbodriver · 29 Nov 2011 at 11:18

Hi All,
I would appreciate some advice if anyone has had experience of attempting this...
Just before windows 7 was released I built a fairly decent spec PC. I wont bore you with too many details but its based around a core2 duo E8400 and an asus P5Q Pro mobo with 8gb ddr2. My main beef with it is it has the disappointing Vista 64 bit installed.
I would like to update it a little by using windows 7 64 bit and having an SSD as the drive for the OS and some popular programs.
Is it worth doing on this older mobo with no SATA 6gb/s? Would a complete rebuild be better using an i5 2500k and a SATA 6gb/s mobo?

Thanks in advance for any replies

Jim

roadie · 29 Nov 2011 at 11:20

Yes, a SSD is the best upgrade you can make for any system. I had a SSD on my P35 and E7300 rig and it was the same for day to day tasks as my present system.

SeeKified · 29 Nov 2011 at 11:24

As long as you get an older SSD (as getting a new one with 300MB+ speeds won't help without SATA 6Gbps), it's a good plan. It'll make for a nice speedup.

linktoinsanity · 29 Nov 2011 at 11:28

SeeKified said:
As long as you get an older SSD (as getting a new one with 300MB+ speeds won't help without SATA 6Gbps), it's a good plan. It'll make for a nice speedup.

Just to clarify this post, the newer SSDs will work perfectly fine on your older system, just won't reach the maximum potential speed. So basicly if you find a good deal on a newer SSD don't feel that you have to go for an older one for it to work.

SeeKified · 29 Nov 2011 at 11:34

linktoinsanity said:
Just to clarify this post, the newer SSDs will work perfectly fine on your older system, just won't reach the maximum potential speed. So basicly if you find a good deal on a newer SSD don't feel that you have to go for an older one for it to work.

Yes, should've mentioned that.

Thanks, that's quite correct.

nathanc · 29 Nov 2011 at 12:09

I am thinking of doing exactly the same thing - adding an SSD to my otherwise excellent, SATA 3Gbps PC.
Yes, I could save £30 - 50 on a last generation SSD but then when I do upgrade my MB and CPU, it would be a wasted opportunity.

My issue is that 240-256Gb drives just aren't getting cheap enough fast enough

Phil2008 · 29 Nov 2011 at 12:33

Yeah Im thinking of putting a ssd in my 4-5yr old laptop to give it a boost. One question tho, is winxp ok with using a ssd?

nathanc · 29 Nov 2011 at 12:52

I installed a 40GB Intel SSD in my Father in law's old 2gb DDR AMD system.
It flies, but then he only browses the web and writes the odd letter.

I think the main problem is that WinXP doesn't know about TRIM, so the drive will slow down after use (how long depends on how much you use it). At which point you need to secure erase or wipe the drive and start again.

Keep that old IDE or SATA disk and get a USB 2 enclosure and use Acronis True image or something similar and you won't loose anything.

Essexraptor · 29 Nov 2011 at 13:44

nathanc said:
I installed a 40GB Intel SSD in my Father in law's old 2gb DDR AMD system.
It flies, but then he only browses the web and writes the odd letter.

I think the main problem is that WinXP doesn't know about TRIM, so the drive will slow down after use (how long depends on how much you use it). At which point you need to secure erase or wipe the drive and start again.

Keep that old IDE or SATA disk and get a USB 2 enclosure and use Acronis True image or something similar and you won't loose anything.

This basically

can only add :-

Win7 for TRIM support.

60 - 64Gb for a bare install

120 - 128Gb for install plus favourite apps (photo editing, word processing etc)

Keep a mechanical HDD to store all your data generated by your day to day apps to and keep it off the SSD. Normal working you won't detect any difference between this and keeping the data on the SSD itself.