Upgrade to SSD or SB?

IvanDobskey · 22 Sep 2011 at 11:41

I've got a bit of an upgrade itch that needs scratching

bearing in mind the system in my sig, should I get an SSD for now or go the whole hog with CPU, board, ram?

IvanDobskey · 22 Sep 2011 at 12:42

Cheers for the input guys

I'm leaning towards the crucial M4 at the moment. I already have nice speakers / mouse

IvanDobskey · 22 Sep 2011 at 13:06

Currently got a WD green 500gb as my system drive. Will I really see a massive difference with the M4?

IvanDobskey · 22 Sep 2011 at 13:17

I'm guessing my old P5Q socket 775 board will hold it back a bit though? Is it still worth the outlay for us socket 775 users?

IvanDobskey · 22 Sep 2011 at 13:40

Haha, it seems I'm one of the few people round here still stuck on socket 775

It's not really a cash issue, more of a justification issue. If something is a big enough upgrade to justify the outlay I'll go for it

I just feel that currently, unless you do a lot of encoding or specialist tasks, the Q9550 is still a fine CPU.

IvanDobskey · 22 Sep 2011 at 14:09

This is my thinking, it's an upgrade I can take with me when I do head over to sandy/ivy bridge. If it will give me a noticeable improvement over my bog standard WD green then I'll pick one up.

IvanDobskey · 22 Sep 2011 at 14:10

Although another part of me is thinking I may as well do the whole lot and be done with it, lol. I can afford £400+ for a 2500k, board, ram and SSD no trouble

IvanDobskey · 22 Sep 2011 at 14:34

Well, I've just ordered the M4 128gb from ocuk with free postage

anything I need to know when installing/setting up compared to a normal drive? Never even used one of these ssd's before!

IvanDobskey · 22 Sep 2011 at 15:06

Thanks for all the advice guys! Much appreciated. Will the drive not come with the latest firmware? Are there issues with older revs? I'll disconnect all other drives, enable AHCI mode, then install windows before reattaching. Sounds good

IvanDobskey · 22 Sep 2011 at 15:27

Ok, will check the firmware level then. Anyone know if it comes with a bracket for fitting? Or can I put it in an old floppy bay or something?

IvanDobskey · 22 Sep 2011 at 17:13

Just been doing a bit of reading. It seems you need to buy an adapter bracket. Hmmm, you'd have thought for the price these things go for they would include one in the box! Bit tight from crucial that!

IvanDobskey · 22 Sep 2011 at 21:48

I think my Q9550 at 3.4GHz still cuts it for games. I never feel like the CPU is holding back my GTX480 anyway. Lets face it, most games are console ports these days anyway. And I know for fact my Q9550 absolutely slaughters the PS3 / Xbox processors!

IvanDobskey · 22 Sep 2011 at 23:02

Not going to bother upgrading my DDR2 now. But certainly will be going for 8Gb when I build my next system. Will probably buy an i5 2500K, board and ram at Xmas time

IvanDobskey · 23 Sep 2011 at 11:50

Well, i've got my SSD all installed after a bit of initial faff. It wouldn't work on the first two SATA ports I tried for some reason. Put it on SATA port 1 and it was happy. Flashed it to fw 0009 no problem, then back into AHCI mode. Is there any windows settings that are a must?

IvanDobskey · 23 Sep 2011 at 15:27

Well, the plan is to upgrade to an i5 2500K around Xmas time. I'm happy with my system as it is until then

IvanDobskey · 23 Sep 2011 at 18:39

Marine-RX179 said:
In that case just stick the M4 onto SATA2.0 connection on your current platform, and then when you upgrade to 2500K with a SATA3.0 board, you will get extra 200MB/s ish read speed on your M4 as x'mas present

Sounds good to me

It seems pretty damn fast on SATA II anyway.

IvanDobskey · 23 Sep 2011 at 21:40

Really pleased with it so far anyway! Everything is much snappier and more responsive. Boot times are quicker and games load faster. Only downside is i've lost a few hundred GB's swapping it out for the 500GB WD green. Will be swapping out one of my other drives for a 2TB soon I think