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SSD on IDE bus?

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DocClock aka MadClocker

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2000
Location
Stockton Cal, USA, Earth
I wuz just browsing the ssd prices and saw an ssd with an IDE interface and I am wondering if the ssd's are fast enough to saturate the ide bus....would it improve say a PIII setup as far as thruput?
Should improve boot times right?
Thks,
Doc
 
Most modern SSDs already saturate the SATA 3Gbps bus which is more than twice as fast as IDE. On the other hand they are all SATA only. Most the IDE SSDs I've seen are small 1.8" drives for netbooks and ultraportables, mainly for power reasons, and they aren't usually any faster than a desktop hard drive.
 
Well, the price seems reasonable....something like $80-$120 US for 32gb...just enough for OS and swap file.
Thanks for the reply...going to do some more research and try to find a few reviews, I mean anything that can bring a PIII up to modern speeds would help a lot.
My PIII machines are hindered by the bandwidth of my hdds...that seems to be my bottleneck. I could stripe a few hdds but I want to see real a speed increase.
Thanks again,
Doc
 
Don't you think a more worthwhile upgrade for $120 would be to a newer processor?

While I agree it is a complete waste to make any further investment in a PIII, it is going to cost a whole lot more than $120 to replace the system (RAM, mobo w/ IG, cpu, hdd, psu, dvd. Building a bargain basement PC is going to run close to $300 assuming he has a case and probably won't have a monitor.

That said, don't buy an SSD for your PIII system. I'd be very curious to know what you are using a for that is bottlenecked by the hdd. If you are running any software remotely current then the processor and video are going to be limiting you. If you are running some legacy software then it is unlikely that the hdd will be limiting. Very few programs are hdd limited. An SSD will make a modern PC snappier by providing instant access times, but it is pointless in a computer that is going to be stalled by all the other components.
 
While I agree it is a complete waste to make any further investment in a PIII, it is going to cost a whole lot more than $120 to replace the system (RAM, mobo w/ IG, cpu, hdd, psu, dvd. Building a bargain basement PC is going to run close to $300 assuming he has a case and probably won't have a monitor.

Ah, but you're forgetting that second hand stuff on ebay would be a huge improvement over a PIII!

My PIII machines are hindered by the bandwidth of my hdds...that seems to be my bottleneck. I could stripe a few hdds but I want to see real a speed increase.

Can elaborate on your setup? Is it for sentimental reasons? It sounds peculiar.
 
Arent Sata II pci cards around $20? Why not just get one of them and a sata drive, that way at least you will have more choices on what to get.
 
The computer in question is an Abit BE62 v2 (refurbed by me) PIII 850E @1200mhz
512mb PC133 @141 2-2-2
Original Millennium Thermal Solutions all copper s370 CPU cooler (prototype)
DvD drive,Maxtor IDE 30g 7200rpm.
Video card is (currently) Geforce 4mx 4000 (crappy I know, but I have a few different models to play with up to the FX5200...all AGP)
I'm not going to try to play crisis or WOW with this old rig, but Max Payne should be playable,along with my flight sims like Crimson Skies,MS Combat flight sim, and MS combat flight sim3
The only real limiting factor is the hdd and I want to reduce load times.
After getting used to my quadcore rig, I'm a bit spoiled towards the older units and it annoys me to wait for the loading bar.
And yes it is a sentimental thing.... I like playing with old junk and seeing if I can push them farther than they would have in their day because nowadays just about every stick of PC133 purchased today will do around 150mhz @2-2-2 timings, and the last few AGP video cards produced are more tolerant of the high bus speeds, and that is important with the BX chipset because you cannot lock the mem at any speed..it is 1:1 in respect to the FSB and you can't change it.
They say that an SSD is the single most usable upgrade and the most gain performance wise...so I'm curious as to how much a diff it would make

And let's face it...nobody ever sees the advertised thruput on mechanical drives, and I would like to see how much a difference there would be over a mechanical drive in that situation.
I know that there are sata cards on the market and I could use a sata drive, but that is not the question I wanted to know.
I am not trying to re-invent the wheel, just want to grease the axle a bit, and mix old tech with new.

Edit: forgot to add that the PIII is Prime stable 14hrs+ Edit:
 
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