Upgrading to SSD

[greedy123]

Hi, I'm an architect/photographer using windows and I'm considering upgrading to an ssd drive to increase productivity. I'm about to upgrade to Adobe CS5 design premium and to help improve scratch disk responsiveness and application loading times I'm looking into getting an ssd and windows 7 64 bit ultimate.

I'm currently looking at getting the OCZ 240GB Vertex which appears to have good reviews. Currently I have a 320gb hd for my vista 64 bit boot drive with usage at around 180-200gb about hence the larger ssd.

I use a lot of CAD applications which take time to boot and a fair bit of hd space. I store all documents/photos on other drives so storage isn't the driving force.

My current setup:
Vista Premium 64
ASUS P5K-premium
Intel Q6600 (2.4 x 4 ghz)
CoolIT Eco A.L.C. CPU Watercooler
OCZ 8GB (4x2GB) 1066MHz Reaper HPC Edition
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3870 XT 'Toxic Edition' 512MB GDDR4 with Akasa AK-VC03-BLUV Vortexx NEO VGA Cooler
Creative SB X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty 7.1 Champion Series
Coolermaster Real Power 850w
Antec P180 Case
Samsung SM-2493HM and SM-226BW Monitors


I'm looking for opinions as to if it would be a worthy upgrade considering the relative cost and my usage. In total with CS5, ssd and windows 7, I'm looking at a total of over £850.

 

[Broken Hope]

You can save a fair bit by getting the Corsair drive, it's pretty much identical.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-013-CS&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1427

 

[greedy123]

Thanks for that, I had a look and the reviews don't seem to be as good. Apparently the speed of the drive deteriorates after a few months where as the OCZ is more constant. If that is true I'd rather spend the extra £25.

 

[Broken Hope]

Thanks for that, I had a look and the reviews don't seem to be as good. Apparently the speed of the drive deteriorates after a few months where as the OCZ is more constant. If that is true I'd rather spend the extra £25.

They use the same controller and very likely the same or similar firmware. If the Corsair drive will deteriorate after a few months, so will the OCZ drive.

Though to be fair if you're throwing a lot of hard to compress data at a Sandforce based drive you're going to get performance issues regardless. With you doing photo work that may end up being the case.

 

[reygjabla]

Hi, I'm an architect/photographer using windows and I'm considering upgrading to an ssd drive to increase productivity. I'm about to upgrade to Adobe CS5 design premium and to help improve scratch disk responsiveness and application loading times I'm looking into getting an ssd and windows 7 64 bit ultimate.

I'm currently looking at getting the OCZ 240GB Vertex which appears to have good reviews. Currently I have a 320gb hd for my vista 64 bit boot drive with usage at around 180-200gb about hence the larger ssd.

I use a lot of CAD applications which take time to boot and a fair bit of hd space. I store all documents/photos on other drives so storage isn't the driving force.

My current setup:
Vista Premium 64
ASUS P5K-premium
Intel Q6600 (2.4 x 4 ghz)
CoolIT Eco A.L.C. CPU Watercooler
OCZ 8GB (4x2GB) 1066MHz Reaper HPC Edition
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3870 XT 'Toxic Edition' 512MB GDDR4 with Akasa AK-VC03-BLUV Vortexx NEO VGA Cooler
Creative SB X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty 7.1 Champion Series
Coolermaster Real Power 850w
Antec P180 Case
Samsung SM-2493HM and SM-226BW Monitors


I'm looking for opinions as to if it would be a worthy upgrade considering the relative cost and my usage. In total with CS5, ssd and windows 7, I'm looking at a total of over £850.

An Intel X25M 160GB is okay for your line of usage except that it might be a bit too small for your storage needs. The good thing about it is, it has a toolbox that can be scheduled to maintain and refresh your drive almost to factory stated speed after every run. In my lappy, I scheduled it to run every week (Saturday noon) and so far I have'nt experienced any slowdowns yet although I only use it to store some photos, videos, music and documents. I do some photo editing sometimes as well with photoshop but not that much.