SSD

Connrang

Hi,

I am currently considering upgrading my hard disk and would like some feedback from anyone who is using or has used an SSD for his primary boot.

From reading articles in various magazines they seem to give good results and at present the 64 Gig version seems reasonable value. I've already upgraded the cpu, mainboard, graphic and memory this year and its seems like a good way to stretch the machine to get more.

kaimera

Connrang wrote: »

Hi,

I am currently considering upgrading my hard disk and would like some feedback from anyone who is using or has used an SSD for his primary boot.

From reading articles in various magazines they seem to give good results and at present the 64 Gig version seems reasonable value. I've already upgraded the cpu, mainboard, graphic and memory this year and its seems like a good way to stretch the machine to get more.

What brand are you thinking of buying?

A few guys here have ssds - haven't had a chance to try mine yet.

Effluo

Do you have any specific use for it? (what do you do on your pc)

It only really is a benefit to certain users.

Rezident

I got the Intel 160Gb SSD and I think it was the single best upgrade to my system so far. Boot time has gone from over a minute to about 35 seconds. Loading games, apps etc. is visibly faster in everything.

I still have Vista on dual boot on a raptor but going back to it now is horrible. It just feels so slow coming from the ssd.

The ssd made a bigger improvement for me than cpu, gpu or memory upgrades. If you can afford it and you're aware of all the differences from normal hdds I cannot recommend it enough, it really does make such a noticeable difference.

youcancallmeal

There seems to be a lot of deals around for SSD's at the moment but I presume they are the 1st generation version which are slightly slower than the 2nd gen models. In fact it can actually be quite hard to establish when an online retailer is selling a 1st or 2nd gen model!?

Leman_Russ

I have been wanting to upgrade to a SSD, but I keep hearing so many horror stories about them wearing down and becoming useless in weeks.

swirlser

Leman_Russ wrote: »

I have been wanting to upgrade to a SSD, but I keep hearing so many horror stories about them wearing down and becoming useless in weeks.

Dont say that, you are scaring meh ^_^; New rig due next week with an SSD for the OS drive ><

Actually Ive read a bunch of articles relating to this and tbh its not unlike when a dodgy batch of HD's go out (*cough* seagate), back-up's and warranties ft(hopefully not needed)w.

Blazer

Use SSDs in both my desktop and laptop and they're well worth it
Especially in video editing/ photo manipulation with photoshop etc..

seraphimvc

i am still abit skeptical about SSD - it is basically flash memory/DRAMs(depends) built into 'harddisk' mode.

In general we know that flash memory/ram have a shorter lifetime (compare to common spinning disk storage),the hardware itself has a limited lifetime - it is still a mystery tho.

imo is like taking a risk when using SSD especially you are doing alot of torrent upload/download like me - i'd rather pay for a nice good quality fast HD for OS/common use and link to a cheaper HD for crazy writing/read activities,that way work out cheaper and more realiable than having a SSD.

cherryghost

i have a 60gb SSD in my PC, and its used only for the OS and the applications. Anything else such as movies, music, games etc, go onto the HD's. I never regret buying it. The loading times of applications is so much faster and theres never any pausing when browsing through the OS' features and such (Im on windows 7)

jonny72

A lot of superstitious responses here.

Anandtech have a great writeup on SSDs. There are new SSD's that address the short-life issues.

Connrang

Hi all,

Well many thanks for all the replies. So will try to answer as many as I can,

No idea yet of a brand, but usually try good old MemoryC as I've had good service from them.

What do I do with the pc, well usual browsing etc, gaming and spreadsheets so nothing as heavy duty as rendering or such work.

I'm reading some articles at present and the 1st and 2nd generation does make for some interesting debates but will hopefully go for 2nd generation. I have a couple of laptops so may yet convert one to SSD as it has two bays and currently only one occupied.

Thanks for the feedback from those who are currently using one, seems the best way to go forward, my other hardware is more than capable for my needs for another year or so.

Would welcome any good value SSD's that maybe about at present,

Rezident

youcancallme>al wrote: »

There seems to be a lot of deals around for SSD's at the moment but I presume they are the 1st generation version which are slightly slower than the 2nd gen models. In fact it can actually be quite hard to establish when an online retailer is selling a 1st or 2nd gen model!?

This is true, if you're buying an Intel ssd make sure you get the G2 - do not get the G1. As well as being older the G1 will not get support for TRIM.

AlmightyCushion

seraphimvc wrote: »

i am still abit skeptical about SSD - it is basically flash memory/DRAMs(depends) built into 'harddisk' mode.

In general we know that flash memory/ram have a shorter lifetime (compare to common spinning disk storage),the hardware itself has a limited lifetime - it is still a mystery tho.

imo is like taking a risk when using SSD especially you are doing alot of torrent upload/download like me - i'd rather pay for a nice good quality fast HD for OS/common use and link to a cheaper HD for crazy writing/read activities,that way work out cheaper and more realiable than having a SSD.

Use an ssd for your os and use a standard hard drive for all your torrenting, documents etc. This is what I do. This will drastically reduce the amount of writes.

Connrang wrote: »

Hi all,

Well many thanks for all the replies. So will try to answer as many as I can,

No idea yet of a brand, but usually try good old MemoryC as I've had good service from them.

What do I do with the pc, well usual browsing etc, gaming and spreadsheets so nothing as heavy duty as rendering or such work.

I'm reading some articles at present and the 1st and 2nd generation does make for some interesting debates but will hopefully go for 2nd generation. I have a couple of laptops so may yet convert one to SSD as it has two bays and currently only one occupied.

Thanks for the feedback from those who are currently using one, seems the best way to go forward, my other hardware is more than capable for my needs for another year or so.

Would welcome any good value SSD's that maybe about at present,

OCZ vertex series are good. Kingston will be releasing a semi-crippled (40GB and half the write speed) but pretty damn cheap intel g2 drive soonish (american price is rumoured to be $115 before rebate).

Leman_Russ

Wow a 40GB SSD. That's not that bad actually, it's what I use to run W7 Ultimate and my Core Programs anyway (I have my games and other programs on a seperate HDD) but the crippled speed is a shame.

In any case, they are about 20-30 times more expensive €/GB than HDD atm, so I'll be sticking with them, even if they are a bit slower

kaimera

Rezident wrote: »

This is true, if you're buying an Intel ssd make sure you get the G2 - do not get the G1. As well as being older the G1 will not get support for TRIM.

and the intel g2 had a trim fw update released then pulled again not a day later!

youcancallmeal

kaimera wrote: »

and the intel g2 had a trim fw update released then pulled again not a day later!

Has the problem not been fixed since then? Also does anyone know if the OCZ trim support is reliable? Getting tempted to invest in a 60gb OCZ drive soon

kaimera

youcancallme>al wrote: »

Has the problem not been fixed since then? Also does anyone know if the OCZ trim support is reliable? Getting tempted to invest in a 60gb OCZ drive soon

Haven't read anything about it being fixed as of yet. (open to correction tho)

Glad all these will be ironed out before I get home to update mine!

AlmightyCushion

youcancallme>al wrote: »

Has the problem not been fixed since then? Also does anyone know if the OCZ trim support is reliable? Getting tempted to invest in a 60gb OCZ drive soon

Still not fixed last I heard. OCZ, super talent and crucial all have trim for their indilinx based drives and were all reliable last I checked.

Leman_Russ

The problem is of course that a OCZ 32GB SSD costs the same as a Kingston 64GB SSD ;(

youcancallmeal

I had a 4gb Kingston USB stick which went bad on me, put me off them ever since

Rezident

kaimera wrote: »

and the intel g2 had a trim fw update released then pulled again not a day later!

Yep but I updated the firmware and it works perfectly. I suspect the people with problems did not switch to legacy mode as per the instructions, and didn't disable RAID and AHCI.

kaimera

Rezident wrote: »

Yep but I updated the firmware and it works perfectly. I suspect the people with problems did not switch to legacy mode as per the instructions, and didn't disable RAID and AHCI.

Interesting.

thanks for that tidbit.

jonny72

New kingston SSDs appearing on hardwareversand today

very nice prices

AlmightyCushion

jonny72 wrote: »

New kingston SSDs appearing on hardwareversand today

very nice prices

If they're the intel inspired ones they currently don't have raid.

Leman_Russ

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

If they're the intel inspired ones they currently don't have raid.

Yes, because we all know Raid0 is so needed with SSD :P

kaimera

Leman_Russ wrote: »

Yes, because we all know Raid0 is so needed with SSD :P

yes, it is

Leman_Russ

kaimera wrote: »

yes, it is

Because 1ms seek times are just too slow ya know!

And Raid1 is a waste because it just wears down 2 SSD just as fast. A better option would be to make a disk image onto a regular HDD that is only used for the backup. That way there is no chance of the HDD failing (bar extenuating circumstances) and you don't kill off 2 SSD

AlmightyCushion

Leman_Russ wrote: »

Yes, because we all know Raid0 is so needed with SSD :P

Sleepy head on me last night. I meant to say trim instead of raid.

kaimera

http://min.ie/2lL

^^ Intel to have firmware fix out by end of Nov.

\o/

Blazer

Leman_Russ wrote: »

Because 1ms seek times are just too slow ya know!

And Raid1 is a waste because it just wears down 2 SSD just as fast. A better option would be to make a disk image onto a regular HDD that is only used for the backup. That way there is no chance of the HDD failing (bar extenuating circumstances) and you don't kill off 2 SSD

Just for the info...running raid on SSDs doubles the seek time for some weird reason