Show Us Your WEI (2)

W477ZY said:

Dave76 said:

ganjiry said:

its gotta b done enit. do u do away with standard hd totally n transfer all to ssd? or just add on. would b well pricey 4 1tb ssd

It's best to get a SSD big enough for your OS and programs, keep all your personal data on a HDD. Most people can use a 60GB SSD for this.
So yes, add it on to your system.

W477ZY said:

Thanks Dave, I have been considering it for a while. Unsure on what I exactly need to do to install the SSD. Can I just whack in the SSD, install my W7 on it and select it as the boot drive in BIOS? If I do that will I still be able to access all my files and whatnot on the other hard disk? Or do I need to format the existing drive, install the SSD with Win7 on it and then put in my blank HDD for file storage? If you could point me in the right direction and upgrade will definitely be in order

You have the basic plan correct.

Add the SSD and put your OS and apps on it, keep your HDD for personal data. You don't need to do anything to your HDD, you can still access all your data on the HDD.
You might want to move all your data to a different partition on the HDD so you can eventually remove the OS from the HDD as you likely won't use it anymore, will be too slow.

Win7 will optimize the SSD for you, just be sure set it to AHCI in BIOS and leave it un-formatted, then just install Win7 to it.
If you search for SSD installation you will find a lot of optimization threads, most of these are for Gen1 SSDs, Gen2 SSDs don't need any changes besides what Win7 will do for you.

Sorry to completely derail the thread but which SSD would you recommend for a $200 budget? I have 32gb of programs on my computer (leaving the 200+gb of media etc. on the HDD)

First, as with any computer component, everyone has their likes and dislikes due to experience, favorite brand, bad experience, etc.

This is just my opinion, others will have theirs, it's all good.

Your motherboard has 6Gb/s SATA support, so you can get a SATA 3Gb/s or SATA 6Gb/s SSD. The 6Gb/s are a little more expensive, the SATA 3Gb/s have very good performance. Depending on how you use your computer, the 6Gb/s may not be required.

Looks like you will need at least an 80GB SSD. You will have to shop around for pricing in your area.
There are new Gen3 SSDs coming out, a couple already and more in the next few months.

These are my personnal recommendations based on some research I have done.

Intel x-25M 80GB or 120GB, 3Gb/s, reliable solid performance, maybe not the fastest SSD anymore but a good value. Lowest return rate of any SSD.

Crucial RealSSD C300, 64GB or 128GB, 6Gb/s, good drives, have a good reputation.

Be careful, some of the other SSDs at the same price and lower have some controller, reliability or other issues.

Quote: Originally Posted by W477ZY

Thanks Dave, I have been considering it for a while. Unsure on what I exactly need to do to install the SSD. Can I just whack



Sorry to completely derail the thread but which SSD would you recommend for a $200 budget? I have 32gb of programs on my computer (leaving the 200+gb of media etc. on the HDD)
------------------

If this will help. I have a 90GB Vertex2 and an 80GB Intel X-25m. I decided to try a test, I did a secure erase on both and aligned both and formatted them exactly the same. I did a clean install on the OCZ. After installing programs and setting it up I cloned the OCZ to the Intel just to make sure both were identical. I ran tests on both and WEI on both. AS SSD scored both about the same. Wei scored the intel 1 point higher than the OCZ (if that really makes a difference). The intel reads were much faster but writes were much slower, access times were a little better on the intel. Benchmarks aside, in actual usage I cannot tell a difference in either one.
Here are the results

essenbe, nice comparison.

Have been wanting to see those two SSDs compared on the same system in the same state, with AS SSD.

I think the upper tier SSDs have close enough performance that the user couldn't tell the difference.
Now just need to define the upper tier SSDs

A lot depends on the setup, there are many different opinions on the proper way to do that.

Thanks Dave, I've been wondering the same thing. After looking at the individual numbers in AS SSD, I thought I would be able to tell a difference, but In actual usage I can't. The only place I noticed a difference was doing backups. I used free Macrium because it shows the transfer rate during the backup. The intel was transferring well over 100Mb/s faster than the Vertex. The intel got up to over 850 Mb/s the Vertex got up to 700 only once for a few seconds. That was the only time I saw any difference between them. My conclusion is that benchmarks have verry little berring on actual use.

I think it's about the same difference as going 65.01 MPH and 65.02 MPH.

What SSD is that?

The manufacturer specs are, well, not always accurate.
The controller is very important, and the controller firmware more so.

A transfer rate of 300MB/sec generally indicate a SATA 6 Gpbs range.

Access time is also an important factor.