So I'm debating an SSD, but I don't have much money, or knowledge of them

[jamesman32]

I've been thinking lately, my rig is fast in gaming and applications, but my boot times suck, all things considered, and my programs don't load all that fast.

Obvious answer: Get an SSD

But, SATA III is coming out early next year, and I don't have much money at this point in time. Plus, it's only really impacting my boot times, right? It wont get me more FPS in games? I don't know much about SSDs, but I like the speed so far, and the smaller form factor they seem to have.

So what do you storage people recommend? Do I bite on something small and cheap now, or wait for SATA III motherboards and drives, and then splurge on something more expensive. Are HDDs slowing things down all that much for me?

 

[Evilsizer]

well besides loading windows faster, it also loads programs faster. simply no moving parts and a access time of .1ms-.2ms vs 4.7ms for the fastest desktop HD. for a cpu that is huge to have that kind of reduction in access time to the HD. it is that much faster it can access and process info.. the only thing that would be faster for the cpu is putting the NAND flash directly with the cpu...

the go now or go later, is up to you.. ssd's are still kinda pricey so is around $220 for 64gigs sit ok with you? how much space do you need for your primary drive. for the longest time i used a 80gig seagate till i went with my first SSD@30gigs to my raid-0 of two 60gig drives.

one thing you are right on it wont get your more FPS but gaming will be a bit smoother. depending on the game, i noticed crysis/warhead ran a bit smoother with my ssd's then off the 320gig seagate i have. slight pauses is what i kept noticing from the seagate drive..

also check out this thread..
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=623807

 

[jmdixon85]

I say wait till SATA3 is out and all the bugs ironed out, I can also see SSD's coming down in price faster and faster as demand grows.

 

[EarthDog]

SataIII isnt going to make a difference in single drive SSD performance so dont make that part of the decision making process. Looks like Evil has you covered.

 

[visbits]

SataIII isnt going to make a difference in single drive SSD performance so dont make that part of the decision making process. Looks like Evil has you covered.

Not true, the limiting read factor for intel ssd is current the bandwith of sata.

 

[Evilsizer]

Not true, the limiting read factor for intel ssd is current the bandwith of sata.

well i find that i bit hard to swallow... SATA II or SATA 3G is up to 300MB/s. highest i have seen a single intel or vertex is right around 240-245MB/s in some cases. hardly even close to 300MB/s.

 

[jmdixon85]

Not true, the limiting read factor for intel ssd is current the bandwith of sata.

Really? I will have to look into this! A 300MB's single SSD!

Where did you get your info from Visbits?

 

[jamesman32]

Thanks for the responses thus far. As it looks, I'm going to be buying a Thuban and an AM3 890FX board in June, if they stay on track for release around April, so I'll have the SATA III support ready to go. I've heard some things about Rectangular HDDs though, and how SSDs will be then pushed to laptops only, and RHDDs will replace desktop HDDs. Is that correct?

 

[jmdixon85]

^^Mmmm, I realy dont think so.

EDIT: 2nd Mmmmm??? RHDD's? Dont think I've even heard of them.

 

[Evilsizer]

k im gonna ask, wth is RHDD? first i have heard of it... though if im right RHDD=Removable Hard Disk Drive, if that is the case LOL...

ocz has planned for a 3.5in ssd, from some new articles i posted here in the past. samsung stated on current nm process for NAND flash in a 3.5in FF they could get up to 1TB of storage...

 

[jamesman32]

Rather than typing out Rectangular HDDs a second time, I abbreviated it to RHDDs. Probably not the "official" acronym just yet, but oh well. Anyone heard anything about them?

 

[EarthDog]

Perpendicular??

 

[jmdixon85]

Nope, not me. 3.5" HDD's are already retangular arn't they, lol. Really have no idea of what you are referring to?

 

[Evilsizer]

james is this what your talking about?
http://www.hdd.ji2.com/blog/2009/06/rectangular-hdd-with-64-heads-to-replace-traditional-style/

 

[jamesman32]

Yeah, I think so. My friend from OCN told me they'd be coming along for early 2011, but seeing as how nobody has heard of them, I guess they probably aren't.

 

[Evilsizer]

well IMO fusion IO has a better chance of that then the RHDD..
X25m vs Fusion IO

 

[jmdixon85]

I don't see that happening. No heads and no moving parts, Thats where my money is at.

 

[Mr Alpha]

well i find that i bit hard to swallow... SATA II or SATA 3G is up to 300MB/s. highest i have seen a single intel or vertex is right around 240-245MB/s in some cases. hardly even close to 300MB/s.

300MB/s is the theoretical speed of SATA 3G. If you look at read speed results for SSDs they all seem to hit a wall around 255-260MB/s. I'm guessing this is the real limit of current SATA 3G controllers.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

No one mentioned the 64GB drive from Kingston that's going to hit around the $100 price point. If you don't have money that may be a good option!

I heard about it in this subform, you may want to do a query for "kingston SSD*" and it should be one of the most recent results.

 

[visbits]

300MB/s is the theoretical speed of SATA 3G. If you look at read speed results for SSDs they all seem to hit a wall around 255-260MB/s. I'm guessing this is the real limit of current SATA 3G controllers.

You guys just assume there is 0 overhead... Don't forget you needs lots of channels for commands and all that good stuff.

Since when can ya buy something that's rated at X speed and make it perform at that? I've yet to see ram or any thing that matches up to the manufacture ratings for stock.