SSD's are they worth the money?

This conversation come up today between me and a few blokes, and i have never used one but from what I can gather they are not worth the money. I have heard that apart from quicker start up's they offer very little, and for what they do offer they are not worth the price you pay for them.

I only ever shut my laptop down when I need to install updates, so I don't think I would benefit from the quicker start up times. I have also heard that your programs start up quicker but once they are up and running they don't perform any different, unless you are playing a game. I have also heard that they can only be re-written a certain amount of times before they pack up.

Like I said I have never used one, and my opinion is only based on snippets of information I have gathered from here and there, what's your opinion.

I think they can be worth it. They boot up and shut down faster, they virus scan faster, they remove the need for having to defrag your computer. Everything your OS does is faster, including the installation of all of those updates.

It does launch applications faster, but once they are open, they are in RAM and the speed of the hard drive doesn't make much difference. Games load quicker too, as they are often very large, but game performance while in game aren't any different. Most times you load up the game fast on the SSD, and then wait online for your non-SSD friends to get loaded so that you can play.

I've had an SSD on my main machine at home and I bought it when an 80GB was around $290. I haven't regretted that purchase.

We recently evaulated the 3 year old laptops we use at work and rather than get all new laptops, we simply bought an SSD drive, and transferred end users from Vista on their spinner, to Windows 7 on their SSD and it's like a brand new machine for them...because everything is faster. It's also quieter and gives off less heat. And it does consume less power, but I cannot say that I have really noticed any difference from a battery life perspective.

All of my performance oriented friends at work and using SSD's in their desktops. There are 5 of us, none of us regret going to SSD.

Is it worth it? To me nope, my computer is fast enough. I load up everything quickly and my system doesnt feel slow.
I have a friend however who is has a Duo Core/6GB RAM/2HDD avg speed. His PC feels slow, his startup takes about 3x or 4x times as other computers with weaker specs.

His motherboard is a bit outdated so upgrading him with a new processor comes out quite expensive. Which they dont even sell anymore. A new GPU would not help besides his gaming. We have already defrag and uninstalled many startup programs it help very little. The most efficient upgrade and cost effective would be a new SDD for him.

For me a new SDD would not do much.

SDD is probably the best upgrade best bang for your back. Especially on systems with older motherboards.

I think you will have to look hard to find people who have one that regret the purchase. And there are probably a few, but very few. One of the most common phrases we hear here from people who just installed their first SSD is, why did I wait so long. They are the most noticeable upgrade you can do to a computer.

Thanks guys for the opinions keep them coming.

From what I can gather, is they are good for an upgrade to you system providing your system isn't so old or slow that it wont make any difference to performance. If you already have a very fast system with say an i7, then the performance increase wont make as much of a difference than if you have a slower cpu, or it wont be as noticeable. The issues that I mentioned about reliability are not a problem as they are just as reliable as HDD's.

The only complaint I have read of a SSD user is; I wish I would have gotten a bigger one.

Yes, without a doubt. Honestly, I think anyone who says it doesn't really make a difference has never had one. I used to think the same until I got one myself.
Theres a big difference you will notice immediately.

And its more than just startup and shutdowns. larger programs, Such as Photoshop, Nero etc start up almost instantly, rather than a few seconds load time.

Although, I will admit that for many games theres not that big of a difference, other than the initial load time. But for the OS and apps, absolutely!

BomberAF said:

Thanks guys for the opinions keep them coming.

From what I can gather, is they are good for an upgrade to you system providing your system isn't so old or slow that it wont make any difference to performance. If you already have a very fast system with say an i7, then the performance increase wont make as much of a difference than if you have a slower cpu, or it wont be as noticeable. The issues that I mentioned about reliability are not a problem as they are just as reliable as HDD's.

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An SSD can improve load times for a slow machine. I stuck one in my old Presario CQ-105NR (1.90 GHz AMD Athlon X2 QL-60 Dual-Core Processor) and it made a quite noticeable difference. For some purposes the low latency of an SSD is significant, even if its continuous transfer rates aren't a lot higher than for a spinner.

An SSD can make a bigger impact on an older slower system, but I know plenty of people who have built brand new Core i7 boxes and used SSD's. In fact, friend at work did an Alienware laptop, with dual SSD's in RAID 0, and dual video cards in crossfire. He loves his little beast.

Definitely worth it if money is not an object to you.

There's an old saying when it comes to computers, "Your PC is only as fast as its slowest component".

The gulf of memory speeds between CPUs, RAM and HDDs haven't been greater as they have right now... CPUs have to wait for what is essentially an eternity for data to be fed to them to work on it, so they spend most of their lives idling, even more so now with the 4 - 6 multi core monstrosities that beg to be continuously fed with data and to be utilized.... CPUs engorge data at many many maginitudes greater than conventional HDDs can feed them...

So yes, grab a SSD, get the biggest one for your system and watch your CPU stretch its proverbial legs!

One caveat however. They have a life span, generally considered to be 2-3 years.

Some spinners never die! Between myself and my half dozen customers, we have about 5 still going after 14-15 years. And another 10 or 11 that are 12 years old.

pscowboy said:

One caveat however. They have a life span, generally considered to be 2-3 years.

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Tell us more.

I have heard of SDD having a "SET" known limit but last time i check it's not 2/3 years..in fact your most likely to buy a new system before it dies

I think most people see the performance boost in old systems. My friend for example is going to get one and it will help him. Me i am fine the way i am all of my programs are always open my computer is on almost always for certain reasons.

Layback Bear said:

The only complaint I have read of a SSD user is; I wish I would have gotten a bigger one.

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Hi there
second that ABSOLUTELY.

Even people who "Think" their computer is fast enough will be in for a nice surprise with a decent SSD. They probably won't believe it.

I have a small humble ACER aspire one netbook with 4GB RAM and a samsung 120 GB M3 SSD and it just FLIES. Sometimes I forget it's a small netbook with only a uniprocessor but for the typical stuff I'm doing on the netbook (excel / presentations, movie watching and even photoshop) the performance is BETTER than a much more powerful desktop with standard spinners in it.

Most people don't realize it -- but the major bottleneck in small non commercial environment computers is NOT processing power --probably even the older PENTIUM IV processors would be adequate enough for typical users applications-- but I/O throughput -- Slow Disks will KILL ANY SYSTEM STONE DEAD --guaranteed 100% fact --End of.

(The Pentium IV used too much power and got very hot which was why it was originally phased out BTW).

Of course you also must have adequate memory in your machine too -- 4GB is probably fine for most users -- you'll need more if you want to run things like Virtual machines etc decently of course --but if you've never tried using an SSD it's difficult to convey the improvement you get -- it really is THAT GOOD.

Cheers
jimbo

essenbe said:

I think you will have to look hard to find people who have one that regret the purchase. And there are probably a few, but very few.

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The only time I have ever heard of regret is from the unfortunates who get a dud unit.

And as mentioned, the other regret is wishing they went bigger.

One of the most common phrases we hear here from people who just installed their first SSD is, why did I wait so long. They are the most noticeable upgrade you can do to a computer.

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lol, yeah - Overnight SSD convert-ism is very common

I was

I was never a naysayer, but I did regret not doing it sooner.

ignatzatsonic said:

pscowboy said:

One caveat however. They have a life span, generally considered to be 2-3 years.

Click to expand...

Tell us more.

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Yes, I like a good myth too

All components have a 'life span'. 2-3 years can be considered the same sort of expected lifespan for mechanical HDD's these days. There's plenty of people who've experience HDD failures in that time frame.

Realistically, SSD's simply haven't been around in mainstream usage long enough to widely prove/disprove exactly what sort of lifespan they have.

Plus they are improving/refining SSD tech/controllers etc with each new release.

It's a known fact that SSD's do 'slow down' over time/usgae, especially older generation models - but even in a slow state, they still wipe the floor with HDD's. Newer controllers are improving and further mitigating the extent of SSD 'slow down'.

BomberAF said:

Thanks guys for the opinions keep them coming.

From what I can gather, is they are good for an upgrade to you system providing your system isn't so old or slow that it wont make any difference to performance.

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Even running one on in old SATA I clunker would see an overall improvement to the machine. You'd still be hampered by the rest of the components, but the difference would still be noticeable.

If you already have a very fast system with say an i7, then the performance increase wont make as much of a difference than if you have a slower cpu, or it wont be as noticeable.

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There's an element of truth there - the overall performance perception isn't as 'night and day' with some tasks - however, there is still a very favourable and perceptible performance difference regardless.

"I recently upgraded some drives and put my slowest SDD (Crucial C300) into my slowest machine, a 775 socket Q9550+4GB running at stock speeds. This machine was running off a 7,200 rpm HDD. Not the latest tech, but still quite a quick machine.

In that machine, the difference was astounding. It almost feels as snappy as my Sig rig now.



***

Overall SSD's are still a 'luxury' purchase and are not an absolutely imperative purchase - However they are becoming an increasingly affordable luxury and are getting harder and harder to justify not buying one.

The bottom line is; add a SSD - enjoy improvement

pscowboy said:

One caveat however. They have a life span, generally considered to be 2-3 years.

Some spinners never die! Between myself and my half dozen customers, we have about 5 still going after 14-15 years. And another 10 or 11 that are 12 years old.

Click to expand...

I don't know where "2-3 years" comes from.

The flash memory in SSD supports a limited number of write cycles. The newer controllers support "wear leveling", which is supposed to even out the writes to maximize the lifetime of the drive. The claimed MTBF (mean time before failure) of one drive I'm using:

Newegg.com - Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F120GBGT-BK 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

is spec'ed at 2 million hours, or more than 200 years. I can't comment on the truthfulness of that. (Some drives have failed in days, or hours.)

Spinners can last, although few users plan on 15 years. I killed a 750GB drive in an external enclosure a couple of years ago by dropping it about 2 feet (60 cm) while it was powered up. The first hard drive I used (external 45 MB SCSI drive, on a Mac, back in the 1980s) was good for about 3 years before it began making cricket noises.

I think the Op's buddy's under sold exactly how much faster EVERYTHING is when using an SSD, not just start up times but everything else as well.

The theory that because an expensive i7 system is already fast so you don't need an SSD really doesn't pan out.

Using a regular hard drive on a fast new machine is like building a race engine that has a governor on it restricting the amount of power that you can have. Using a regular harddrive bogs the entire system down which is like throwing your money out the window. Why pay for the fastest 8 core CPU, Ultimate motherboard and 16GB of fast memory if your going to bog it all down using a regular HDD?

In my opinion building a fast modern system should always include using a SSD and yes I consider it to be an "absolutely imperative purchase". Spinners are for storage these days.

Installing Windows 8 RP in 7 minutes flat,...priceless.

Watch how easily I answer this question guys.


Yes.

Was that so hard?

Maguscreed said:

Watch how easily I answer this question guys.


Yes.

Was that so hard?

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Good answer -- I agree not 100% but 1000%.

(However some people do like a few explanations).

Cheers
jimbo

yeah sorry, I'm in a bit of a bad mood because it looks like a ton of work just came my way for the weekend...