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Would a SSD change my life?
DiscoZombie
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I've heard some hype about SSDs. They seem to be slowly but surely coming down in price, but I don't know if it's worth getting one yet. Would the performance boost be so earth-shattering that it's worth it? I do feel like load times are one of my biggest bottlenecks. I've got a WD2500KS hard drive, which I think is 7200 RPM, and I swear it still takes 3 to 5 minutes for my win xp computer to fully boot up. load times in some games can be heinous too.
If I had a SSD, it would probably be a small one, and I'd probably only be able to keep like 1 or 2 games installed on it at a time, along with the OS (which would probably be Win 7)... might be more trouble than it's worth... thoughts from anyone who's upgraded lately?
If I had a SSD, it would probably be a small one, and I'd probably only be able to keep like 1 or 2 games installed on it at a time, along with the OS (which would probably be Win 7)... might be more trouble than it's worth... thoughts from anyone who's upgraded lately?
DiscoZombie on
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you're probably right - I should start there =p it's been a loong time...
as for my specs, let's see... core 2 duo 6600 @ 2.4GHz, 4 gigs of Corsair XMS2, Radeon HD 4800, 500W Enermax PSU, Asus P5B deluxe mobo... I think that's all the important stuff.
You would be better off upgrading to Win7 before getting an SSD. A big part is that Win7 & Vista SP2 have built in modes for running off an SSD where XP doesn't. This can really mess you up if the SSD doesn't have trim support. Not to mention Win7 could make proper use of all of your memory & multi-core CPU.
My desktop has pretty much the same specs (except using a Gigabyte mobo and a Radeon 5850) as yours but I'm using a Supertalent Ultradrive SSD as my main boot disk. I can load into Windows 7 and have Chrome open and surfing the web in about 40-45 seconds after pushing the power button. This is even with my SSD at 90% capacity without TRIM support enabled.
I have a secondary PC with similar specs (2.8ghz Pentium e6300 on an ASUS P5PQL mobo, 9800gt 1gb using a WD Caviar Blue WD3200) which takes over 2 minutes to boot into Windows 7 and have a web browser up and running.
I've also run Modern Warfare 2 on both systems and the difference in loading times are pretty drastic. Loading the first level where you ride atop the HUMVEE my primary system will complete the level load before General Shepard starts talking in the loading video while the secondary system will complete loading as the bridgelayer is shown unfolding in the loading video. I think it's almost double the loading time per level.
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my pc is almost exactly the same specs as your secondary. asus p5b-e mobo instead. and it only takes 1:15 to have opera open and running.
food for thought.
my I have a t5550 core2duo laptop with 2gb ram and a wd hd and a fresh w7 install, and it takes about 40-50 seconds from pressing the power button to the desktop
Win7 x64
4 gigs ddr2 800
Core 2 Duo E7400 @ 2.8
7200 RPM Sata 16 megs cache
Total time from pushing power button to Windows Login Screen:
36 seconds
time to loaded windows desktop (including my typing in password):
42 seconds
time to get to this webforum on this webpage in Firefox (chrome or opera would be faster of course but i use firefox still):
55 seconds
It took my mobo a shocking 19 seconds to get to the Loading windows screen. it took less time to load windows from the drive than to pass the mobo stuff. I should disable some unnecessary tests its runs (like checking for raid and checking for bootable CD and what have you). I guess the point is, it takes about 1 minute to go from OFF to fully functional system with a standard 7200 RPM sata drive and Win7 x64.
This breaks down to this:
it took my mobo 19 seconds to POST
it took my HDD exactly 17 seconds to load windows to the login screen after mobo posting was done
Now, the system is still loading shit even though the login screen is still there. So:
it took my hard drive and system 36 seconds to fully load windows and get to a fully functional computer with Firefox opened and this webforum up, after 19 seconds was mobo/posting time.
And this isn't even a fresh install. I've been using Win7 x64 since March.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
E6600 at 3.0ghz + 4GB 800 DDR2
Huh. I wonder why the discrepancy? I have an E7400 but it's not overclocked at all - it's running at 2.8 ghz, which is stock settings. I'm running 4 gigs DDR2 but it's 800mhz and running dual channel. My Win7 x64 Home Premium is not a fresh install (been running this since march). I don't have any junk loading at startup besides the ATI control panel and whatever else Win7 loads by itself by default.
What could help shave significant time off my loading would be if my mobo POSTed faster. It takes 6 seconds from the power button push to showing the first on-screen post info, and it takes the full 19 seconds total go check drives and devices and verify PMI pool data, which is the last thing it does before displaying the "loading windows" screen.
From the instant the Windows Loading screen shows up to the moment the login icon and password field shows up is 17 seconds. That's better than I expected. Makes me happy!
I checked these times of mine with a stop watch and timed it three times in a row and the times were the same all three times.
edit: I loaded FireFox. My time-to-this-webpage would be faster if I loaded Chrome instead. But only by maybe 1 second at most would be my guess.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
I do know that my initial POST is much longer than reset.