SSD Owners. Are you seeing any real performance increase? [Archive]

BF_TEXMASTER

03-16-10, 07:41 PM

I have to say no based on my personal experience.

I was running 2 10k WD drives and yes installs are faster but as far as running games and apps, it may be a little faster but certainly nothing special.

I'm also troubled with the skimpy warranties. 2 years? Aren't these things supposed to be superior to solid state drives? Hell, I got a 5 year warranty 3 years ago on my 10k drives.

Right now I can't recommend them to anyone considering their storage space and price tag but I'm curious what other SSD owners think.

Vengance_01

03-16-10, 07:53 PM

I am going to post my observations. I just got an 80GB Intel X18 G1 drive for 150$ As a boot drive I do see a decent boost over my short stroked WD 640 Blue drives in Raid 0.

-General Windows stuff feels a bit more responsive
-Boot up is faster period
-Computer is useable instantly
-Quieter as I don't have my HDs always seeking

Other then this, I don't see much else. Over all I am happy and when I move to a bigger and better SSD, I will move this drive into my laptop:)

BoT

03-16-10, 08:00 PM

i too see a definite increase in performance and responsiveness
coming from 2 74gb raptors to intel x25-m g2
i also have vraptor which is now my storage drive =|

which ssd's did you get?

Evilsizer

03-17-10, 07:33 PM

well going from a 80gig seagate 815AS to a 30gig solid i saw a boost in windows loading. i even saw a minor boost going from the single 30gig solid to my raid-0 agility's. being able to load things the agility raid setup is the fastest thing i have ever used.

cliffboss

03-18-10, 07:13 AM

I bought A OCZ Vertex 120gb last weekend. So far there has been a massive gain in responsiveness from the OS :) <10sec to shut down :drool:

As for games:
- EVE-Online loads about the same or a tad faster
- Now i did have TF2 and COH on the SSD for a bit and there was a speed improvement for loading and ALT-Tabbing. but due to the prospect of running into space issues in the future they are now on my 500gb drive :( I tried using the guides on the internet to Symbolic Link individual files to my SSD, but Win 7 won't let you do it between drives :'(

The real test will be can i run a virus scan and/or game + Visual Studio at the same time and have VS be responsive :)

Zanson

03-19-10, 01:30 AM

gear.h34d.2012

03-19-10, 02:36 AM

Using a 40GB Intel as a boot drive, I can attest to the general speed of boot/shut down and general Windows responsiveness. Worth it on that note alone IMO. As for launching apps, can't tell you much. Only things I have on my SSD other than Windows are Steam and Skype (No idea why Skype is there. Damn defaults :D). Steam starts fast as all get out though. :soda:

jazon1

03-19-10, 02:47 AM

i have OCZ vertex in both my desktop and laptop,i will never go back to a spinning drive for my OS tho i have a few 1.5tera ones for storage use.so yes i see a huge difference.

dyckah

03-19-10, 02:50 AM

definite increase with the X25-m G2... honestly it's amazing and i cant figure out what i would do without it now rofl.

watch this to see more:
WD Raptor vs Intel X25-M, programs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_Jz7IMwBt4

yeah, but who starts 52 programs all at one time? :P
i have one for my OS drive, and i def notice an increase in boot, and shutdown times.
only a 30 gig though, so not enough room on it to put steam there too, or much of anything else, so i dont really notice a benefit from anything else.

baris_

03-19-10, 03:25 AM

2 Corsair Reactor series SSD 120gb in Raid 0

Perhaps these are just bad?

jazon1

03-19-10, 06:24 AM

2 Corsair Reactor series SSD 120gb in Raid 0

Perhaps these are just bad?

maybe there not set up right?i pretty sure that TRIM is not supported in raid yet so you'll have to run a clean up tool,if your not that could be slowing you down some.you should be getting read speed of about 450-500MB/s somewhere in that ballpark

CompuTamer

03-20-10, 04:03 AM

coming from two WD blue 320 in RAID 0, i'd have to say my Vertex is a TON faster. Everything is instant for me just about. Installs are fast, takes less than 20seconds from the windows loading screen to the usable desktop (not counting password) and programs like IE and Zune Software and Chrome open instantly. Photoshop and Flash and Dreamweaver are also really fast, and MS Word/Powerpoint/Excel all open instantly.

I have programs like Skype and Windows Messenger set to open at start up, and i often hear the Skype startup sound overlap the windows logon sound. I have 10 little odds and ins programs that would take my HDD over a minute or two to load, and the SSD pulls it off instantly. I'm really impressed. I've also noticed when i use all my RAM, and i have to dig into the page file, the computer doesn't slow down much at all. I will NEVER go back to a hard drive again.

Luie

03-20-10, 05:04 AM

Yes, very noticeable performance increases.

Zanson

03-20-10, 12:05 PM

yeah, but who starts 52 programs all at one time? :P

lol no one but hell it's a good "real world" test to show speed comparisons for load times in any case. not just some benchmark. :)

isvaljek

06-17-10, 01:05 PM

SpoonXps

06-17-10, 01:32 PM

Lets put it this way...in COD MW2....while getting into the game...I'm always waiting for other ppl to join.

I have two intel 160gb in raid 0.

prime81

06-17-10, 02:14 PM

I came from two raptorX's in raid 0... the vertex turbo I have is night and day above the raptors for gaming. Windows not only runs faster, but is instantly usable on bootup. The access time is superior, much quicker to pull info off a chip than have a head move over a rotating disc. As far as reliability for SSDs, my experience shows steer clear of the RAID setup in SSDs, use win 7 and a single drive setup for the most stable and consistent performance. Brand wise I'd go for OCZ nearly every time with Intel being my 2nd choice.

ChanceCoats123

06-17-10, 02:28 PM

:eek: I'm sorry, but I can't believe this had to be asked. There is only one valid specification to compare on SSD's vs. HDD's... Access time. The high read speeds/ write speeds help too, but when you think about it, not having to literally "seek" the data is what gives the SSD's a whole body up on the competition. From a 7.2k drive, Windows was at loading screen to log on screen in about 35 seconds and loading screen to usable desktop in almost a whole minute (loading startup crap). With the SSD, loading screen to logon is around 12 seconds and loading to usable desktop is around 20 seconds max. Including me typing my password in.

In games, the load times are incredible. I used to be the slow member of our LAN sessions and now I sit at the ready screen waiting for the others. XD

kayson

06-17-10, 02:31 PM

In any FPS, I'm always waiting for other people, and I'm running 2 74gb raptors in raid0... nothing special. That being said, I am getting an ssd anyways

FudgeNuggets

06-17-10, 02:44 PM

boot speed alone justifies the cost. Loading big fat apps like OpenOffice is a real help too. Boo-Hoo it doesn't help on games....

ChanceCoats123

06-17-10, 09:55 PM

^^^ +1. I don't see how people could expect a frame rate increase from a faster hard drive. Once the hard drive loads the level, textures and other goodies, it's job is basically over (other than running OS and background tasks). The other tasks (opening large files/ programs and booting/shutting down) are where SSD's shine.

Firey_chasm

06-18-10, 03:25 AM

I got myself a 160gb intel x-25m G2 to replace a 10k raptor drive. the difference is like night and day. from pressing the power button on my PC to being able to use it (no further loading at all) is <30seconds, shut down ~5seconds

and load times on games installed on the SSD are now silly speeds, no game annoys me with long load times anymore

ChinStrap

06-18-10, 12:20 PM

I have a 60g vertex 1 in my laptop and love it. A few days ago I helped a friend install a 30g vertex 1 in his Asus UL30 powered by a SU7300 (low voltage cpu) and it turned it into a completely different machine. it's almost unreal, how much better it runs now.

the 60g I have in my laptop is actually just a little small for my needs, i'm thinking about moving to a larger 120g. it's a great upgrade!

I.M.O.G.

06-18-10, 12:39 PM

I just installed a new os and have been using it on my desktop, which is using an old 36GB raptor as the OS drive. I've grown accustomed to installing and using things on my laptop, which is using an OCZ 60GB Vertex SSD.

Installs, and program loads are NOTICEABLY slower on my desktop. The hard drive is also loud and I can hear it churning when applications load, I wait, and it makes me want to put an SSD in there also.

Actually using applications, I don't notice much difference. But, when I launch openoffice on my laptop it opens in a second. On my desktop, it opens in a couple/few seconds. When I turn my laptop on it takes about 20 seconds to the desktop. When I turn my desktop on it takes about 60 seconds to the desktop. Installing stuff is faster on my laptop by a long shot.

CompuTamer

06-27-10, 12:51 PM

installing is faster for me, booting is faster, loading most apps (Flash, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Word, Outlook, etc) is faster, and best of all: It's SILENT.

My Zune software opens in like 2 seconds now. Before the SSD it took it sometimes upwards of a minute if i opened it as soon as i got to the desktop. Now i can start the computer, log on, open Zune, and by syncing music in the time it used to take to get to the log on screen.

Reliability wise, i'm not impressed, but all my critical files are on my 1TB drive, the REALLY critical ones are on both drives, and then my external drive, and then my server in the other room, so unless the house burns down i should be good. ( should be good even if that happens. HDD enclosure is supposedly fire proof )

Randyman...

06-27-10, 05:59 PM

Ditto. I'm going SSD Crazy over here! I have 2x G1 X25M's in RAID-0 - and I NEVER want to go back to my Raptor RAID-0 array!

I also splurged and bought my Mom an x18M and my Pops an X25V for their respective PC's - they can't stop thanking me :p

I'll be upgrading my G1 X25M's as soon as the G3's are out, and I'll hand the G1 X25M's down to my other PC's.

SSD FTW. No looking back :)

:cool:

BenF

06-27-10, 06:54 PM

I have a intel x25 g2 80g and the performance increase is huge. It was the best couple hundred dollars I've spent on my computer in a long time. I'm just hoping prices drop down so I can have all my programs installed on SSDs. Right now I have my entire steam folder is installed on a short-stroked raid0 partition and I hate how slow they start up and load.

darkknight187

06-27-10, 07:22 PM

boot speed alone justifies the cost. Loading big fat apps like OpenOffice is a real help too. Boo-Hoo it doesn't help on games....

Between the boot speed and the lightning quick virus/malware scans and not to mention the speed at which things install.

The only game I have even contemplated giving a spot on my SSD is the upcoming ffxiv. However if it loads fine from my 1tb WD black I probably won't even worry about it. That is of course until the next gen SSDs release with better prices and more storage.

I remember when it used to be if somebody wanted to pep up their pc Ram was the answer a good 80% of the time but it's looking like going SSD could be the latest best way to pep up one's pc.

CompuTamer

06-28-10, 12:35 PM

Between the boot speed and the lightning quick virus/malware scans and not to mention the speed at which things install.

The only game I have even contemplated giving a spot on my SSD is the upcoming ffxiv. However if it loads fine from my 1tb WD black I probably won't even worry about it. That is of course until the next gen SSDs release with better prices and more storage.

I remember when it used to be if somebody wanted to pep up their pc Ram was the answer a good 80% of the time but it's looking like going SSD could be the latest best way to pep up one's pc.

For me it was a debate between RAM and SSD. Crysis was stalling on one map cause the RAM flooded out, but when i got the SSD the page file was fast enough to eliminate it... i really do think that SSDs are going to be more and more common just because of the speed they offer.

First it was CPU, then RAM, now SSD. What's next? Lol