SSD drives

[eastyy]

just wondered if people have had much experience with these was thinking of getting a small one say 30-40gb just for windows install heard there not as bad as in slowing down the more stuff is added

wanted to see if windows xp would work with it ok to

cheers

[Lyris]

I have a 120gb SSD (OCZ Vertex 2) to run Windows 7 from. Pricey, but definitely a worthwhile upgrade.

I don't know about XP. That's maybe pushing it? I'm sure it would work, but not sure if you'd get the full benefit...

[briareos_kerensky]

I have two, both OCZ drives: a 180GB Vertex2 for OS and programs and a 40GBAgility2 for swap files only.
Personally I find 120GB drives the minimum if you want to use one as boot disk, small HDDs will force you to move programs and Windows' swap file elsewhere, thus losing part of the benefits SSDs provide.

However, WinXP doesn't support the TRIM function, resulting is a shorter lifespan for the drive (keeping things extremely simple here, it's a bit more complicated than that, but it's the bottom line); the motherboard must be set in AHCI mode for the TRIM command to work; using the SATA controller in legacy mode not only won't support TRIM but would result in degraded performances too.
I'm not even sure that modern chipsets have WinXP drivers...

SSDs are great drives for computers with recent motherboards and Win7; if you are unwilling to upgrade you can go for a Western Digital Velociraptor, but again you need recent components to fully utilize the drive's capabilities.

[eastyy]

yeah i heard something about the lifespan of the drive was more limited then a normal drive though i think on wikipedia said something about dram drives dont have that problem

[smouty]

Win7 does make best use of SSDs but I have have a couple of Intel X25s in RAID0 at work and it is ridiculously quick with XP. I think with Win7 though it would be even better but from what I've read it will be mainly boot times that improve. I can't see how normal desktop performance could improve much more
We are upgrading to Win7 64bit at work soon so I'll be able to test.

[briareos_kerensky]

Boot times and program loading times improve dramatically, even without a RAID setup (an other thing precluding TRIM support, whatever OS or hardware config you're using): even heavy programs like 3ds Max are up and running after clicking on its icon. Even with the swap file on the same disk the access times are considerably lower and programs that like to access swap memory (like Photoshop) see a drastic improvement over certain functions.

[eastyy]

cheers for the replys think though will wait a bit seems like the prices are getting lower and lower and perhaps them to solve the lifespan issue

[speedlolita]

I have a Corsair X32 in my Thinkpad R51. Made my 2005 laptop as good as if not better than any new laptop with a HDD. Cept for the poo GPU and not being able to play 1080p video properly.

[EvilBoris]

Take a look at the hybrid drives such as the seagate momentus XT.
Much cheaper than a full on SSD and quite a lot faster than a regular HDD

[speedlolita]

SSDs are great drives for computers with recent motherboards and Win7; if you are unwilling to upgrade you can go for a Western Digital Velociraptor, but again you need recent components to fully utilize the drive's capabilities.

Velociraptor aren't even that fast, they just have a high RPM figure. Certainly not worth the money.

A Samsung F3 is faster I believe I read..

[NemesiS]

I'll echo some of the replies here. Don't bother with one for XP as it really isn't a worthwhile purchase for the older OS. It's Win7 that really makes the most of them.

Boot times and general software load and access times are dramatically increased tho, i have a Samsung 128GB SSD and have my OS and main apps running off it

[capcom_suicide]

I'm running a 2 year old SSD in my HTPC (Arsock Ion 330) and the bootimes for Win7 are fantastic, at around 30 seconds (10 seconds is Bios)

Recently the new Corsair Force series of SSD's was available with blinding read/write at a good price.

I got this 60GB disk for my PS3 as it halfs the loading times on GT5:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/60gb-corsair-force-f60-mlc-flash-25-sandforce-ssd-read-285mb-s-write-275mb-s-w-bracket

?90 may seem like a lot of money to some, but I hate loading times with a passion!

Anyway, SSD as a boot disk on Windows 7 is really an essential purchase these days, so cheap yet such great Iops.

[speedlolita]

My thinkpad running XP boots XP in like 15 seconds..

All the stuff about XP being rubbish with SSDs is complete nonsense if you ask me.

[NemesiS]

My thinkpad running XP boots XP in like 15 seconds..

All the stuff about XP being rubbish with SSDs is complete nonsense if you ask me.

I wasn't saying it was useless with XP as an SSD will always be quicker. I meant that considering XP boots in under 20 seconds anyway from a HDD on most reasonable systems, your not going to notice a marked increase as opposed to using it with a bells and whistles W7 system where everything tends to be a lot more intensive.

I simply wouldn't waste my money purchasing one for an old XP system.

[speedlolita]

It's actually a part that remained from my desktop when I sold it, kept all my drives. lol

For an ageing system such as my own, being able to open photoshop or office in a matter of seconds is great.

But I do see what you're saying, just in my case an SSD is a godsend.

Looking at a 50 or 80GB PCI-e SSD for my coming desktop.