New system / SSD advice

[cushke]

First off, hi. Long time lurker.

Anyway, I am the proud owner of brand new i7 930 2.8, 6GB 1600 DDR3 Triple Channel RAM and Asus P6X58D Premium. Graphics card is an old GTX 8800 but I'm not an avid gamer so it's quite alright.

I'm fairly happy with my system, except for some minor things. My WEI is only 5.9, dragged down by my HD. (Others are - respectively 7.5/7.5/6.9/6.9).
My OS HD is a 1TB 64MB WD10EARS Caviar Green.
I have 3 Samsung HD103UJ 1TB drives sitting in RAID0, acting as my storage. (Planning to get 1 or 2 extra drives and go for RAID5)

Now my question to you guys... I am returning this WD HD because it's choking my system. I have the chance to upgrade to a Caviar Black for 15€... or should I shell out 150€ more and get an SSD?
I realize it's just a question of budget but I'd like to see your opinions on the subject.

 

[whs]

A good OCZ or Intel SSD will definitely speed up your system, But you should be prepared to reinstall Windows7 (because of all the automatic settings that the Win7 installer makes) - else you can clone but then you have to do a lot of finagling yourself.
For the OS, a 60GB disk is ample - even a 30GB SSD may do because Win7 will hardly ever be bigger than 20GBs (unbless you have a lot of games in the program library). The data should then go on your Raid. Expect the WEI for the disk to go to 7.3 or better - but that does not mean much in my book.

 

[pparks1]

While performance would increase with the black over the blue....your score will stay 5.9. The only way to really drive that up is with an SSD drive...which will make a big difference. Application starts are almost instant and there is no noise. I use an SSD for my OS and a Caviar black for storage in my box.

 

[steve-pressman]

Go for the SSD I use an OCZ Vertex 128 GB Drive the difference is like comparing driving a Formula 1 racing car to a Hearse. Well not quite that bad.

I use a dual boot system on the SSD I have Win 7 and on my Seagate 1TB I have XP, the is an amazing difference in speed. I have been using XP all day as my scanner will only work on a 32 bit system and while it is quite fast I was glad to get back to Win 7 and the SSD. In my opinion if you can afford it go for the SSD bigger the better


Steve

 

[karlsnooks]

I very recently installed a SSD on my laptop.

My hard drive score jumped 2 points.

The performance increase is noticeable.

Incidentally, I did that which supposedly you can not do and that is to replace my existing hard drive, 160 GB, with a 128 GB SSD using Windows 7 Backup and Restore.

If you decide to go with SSD, I'll be glad to assist in advice as to how to "clone" your existing drive.

 

[HMonk]

As I posted elsewhere, SSD cost per GB storage is roughly 10 times that of SATA HDDs ($0.24 v. $2.61). The question I ask myself, is the cost/benefit ratio pragmatic or otherwise demonstrable? For me, it is not.

WHS suggested, below, that you might expect a WEI of 7.3 or better but that did not mean that much to him. I could not agree more.

Pparks1 extolled the increase in launch time and quiet operation. I would not appreciate the difference in an app launching in 3 seconds v. a half a second. But that's just me. And quiet: I never hear my SATA HDD activity due to ambient room noise, the radio, case fans, or my stomach growling.

Steve-Pressman contrasts the difference in boot times between XP and Win7. Not really fair to do since, by design, Win7 is going to boot and shut down faster than XP regardless. (I, too, dual boot XP/Win7)

My suggestion would be to visit the various sites (Google points to many) that benchmark and compare SSDs and SATA HDDs and then decide if the cost/benefit ratio to you is worthwhile.

Monk

 

[cushke]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Just for the record: I am not aiming for the highest WEI score or anything. I found it interesting that the score was dragged down a lot by a HDD. I only recently got back into hardware. I was a hardware geek back when Voodoo cards were still the shit, so yeah...

Anyway, I'm still on the fence about the SSD. I've been reading some reviews about the Intel X-25 series... I want to get the 40Gb X-25 v SSD for budgetary reasons but the 80Gb X-25 M looks so god damn sexy in benchmarks. It's _just_ another 80€...

@karl: Appreciate the help but this Win7 is only 3 days old and all my data is backed up daily so I'm not really fussed about cloning. Thanks though!

 

[F1FAN]

i also am thinking about this, when i start a program like photoshop it takes about 5 seconds, don't seem alot but seeing i have quad core and 4 gig ram, i want it to be instant because my cpu can do this, open it up again and it's instant, because it's been cached. the hdd is trying to find the data by spinning it on the drive. I also notice that peoples welcome screens just a blur.

So the reason why i will be upgrading, it's because i think my HDD is bottlenecking my pc, it could be so much faster, i know what it can do with a SSD.

But it's fast comapred to some HDD users out there, so i can't imagine what it would be like with an SSD.

 

[pparks1]

Pparks1 extolled the increase in launch time and quiet operation. I would not appreciate the difference in an app launching in 3 seconds v. a half a second. But that's just me. And quiet: I never hear my SATA HDD activity due to ambient room noise, the radio, case fans, or my stomach growling.

Where I really feel the difference is when launching a game. Games that used to take 15-20 seconds to get into the main menu are now there in about 3-5.

No doubt, they are expensive...but at least it's a noticeable improvement across the board. While I wouldn't say that I couldn't use a computer without an SSD...I also don't regret my purchase in any way.

 

[HMonk]

Pparks1 extolled the increase in launch time and quiet operation. I would not appreciate the difference in an app launching in 3 seconds v. a half a second. But that's just me. And quiet: I never hear my SATA HDD activity due to ambient room noise, the radio, case fans, or my stomach growling.

Where I really feel the difference is when launching a game. Games that used to take 15-20 seconds to get into the main menu are now there in about 3-5.

No doubt, they are expensive...but at least it's a noticeable improvement across the board. While I wouldn't say that I couldn't use a computer without an SSD...I also don't regret my purchase in any way.

Although I have never run an SSD, based on your experiences, I can see where some games might benefit. For me, the launch time for most games is not an issue. However, waiting for DA Origins to launch and load sometimes challenges the limits of my patience.

Monk

 

[steve-pressman]

Most of my program open in under 2 seconds Phtoshop, Dreamweaver, Fireworks Outlook 2010, Word 2010, Excel 2010, Google Chrome is so fast I can't even time it

Here are my SSD Bench Marks


Steve

 

[karlsnooks]

Here is my benchmark
SSD is a Corsair Nova 128GB (125.03GB Corsair CSSD-V128GB2)

 

[cushke]

So I finally decided to get rid of my Caviar Green and use it as my backup disk.

I got an Intel X25-V SSD 40Gb. I'm fairly happy with my SSD performance so far but I can't boot in AHCI mode. I installed Intel Matrix Storage Manager, the correct chipset driver for my mobo (P6X58D Premium). Even installed Marvell driver V1.0.0.1027 but now my disk somehow shows up as SCSI (see attach).
I don't have any performance issues (benchmarks look good, see SSD perf thread) but I'd rather not have it listed as SCSI and boot in AHCI.

I currently boot in RAID, but the SSD is not in any array, only my storage (3x1TB RAID0)...

Any ideas? I've been through the technet article (Error message when you start a Windows 7 or Windows Vista-based computer after you change the SATA mode of the boot drive: "STOP 0x0000007B INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE") and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\IastorV start is on 0 (however msahci isn't...)
I tried picking drivers manually but it won't let me pick msahci or anything like that, just generic disk driver. Annoying.

 

[karlsnooks]

First off, hi. Long time lurker.

Anyway, I am the proud owner of brand new i7 930 2.8, 6GB 1600 DDR3 Triple Channel RAM and Asus P6X58D Premium. Graphics card is an old GTX 8800 but I'm not an avid gamer so it's quite alright.

I'm fairly happy with my system, except for some minor things. My WEI is only 5.9, dragged down by my HD. (Others are - respectively 7.5/7.5/6.9/6.9).
My OS HD is a 1TB 64MB WD10EARS Caviar Green.
I have 3 Samsung HD103UJ 1TB drives sitting in RAID0, acting as my storage. (Planning to get 1 or 2 extra drives and go for RAID5)

Now my question to you guys... I am returning this WD HD because it's choking my system. I have the chance to upgrade to a Caviar Black for 15€... or should I shell out 150€ more and get an SSD?
I realize it's just a question of budget but I'd like to see your opinions on the subject.

I replaced the drive on my Toshiba laptop with an SSD (128 GB Corsair Nova). The Toshiba drive was 160 GB.

I definitely noticed the performance difference (5.4 to 7.4 disk score on the Windows Performance Index). Am well-pleased with my decision.

I cloned the drive using only Disk Management and Windows Backup and Restore. According to many you can't go from bigger to smaller bur I did and I did not need to reinstalll Win 7 and zero problems.

Be sure to buy a SSD with Trim implemented.

 

[Dave76]

Congrats on the SSD, saw your benchmark on the SSD Performance site, that is an amazing score. I did some research before buying my X25 V, and never saw a score anywhere near that high.

Did you update the SSD firmware?
Should be - Intel® X25-V Value SATA SSD on 34nm (silver case) - updates to FW version 02HD

Did you try the Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology 9.6 driver?

I currently boot in RAID, but the SSD is not in any array, only my storage (3x1TB RAID0)...

Was your BIOS setting in SATA or RAID when you installed the SSD?

I remember, vaguely, finding a site that said you will need to disconnect the RAID array, have the SSD the only drive connected when you install it and load the OS. Don't remember if you need to set it to SATA AHCI or not for the installation but, it can be ran in RAID.
Did a quick search but haven't found it. If I come across it, will post it here.

It will work with Trim after you re-connect the RAID array, as long as the SSD in not in RAID. Maybe search the Intel SSD support forum.

There is good info on the OCZ SSD site, Intel SSD support site and a few others.

Let us know if you find anything.

 

[cushke]

Karl , I think you missed the last post. Proud owner of an SSD since yesterday!

Dave, I suppose it was in RAID from my old 7 install. I might disconnect my RAID after I backed up all my stuff on it and see what it does then.

Thanks for the info, I know what to do today!

 

[Dave76]

There are a lot of people running 2 or more HDDs in RAID and a SSD not in RAID.

So it should be just disconnecting them for the SSD and OS installation then setting the RAID up, seem to remember that you don't have to re-install the RAID setup, just change the relevant BIOS settings and plug them back in.

Will post the info if I come across it.

Edit:

Found one small mention that with the new Intel Driver a SSD non-Raid will have Trim when HDD are in RAID.

From what I have heard, is that Intel will release a new driver that includes TRIM. However, this does NOT mean a SSD RAID will support TRIM. It just means you can have a single SSD and a HDD RAID... and TRIM will still work for the one SSD.

From Intel.

Intel® Rapid Storage Technology 9.6 supports TRIM in AHCI mode and in RAID mode for drives that are not part of a RAID volume.

The SSD showing up as a SCSI drive may be caused by the SATA port the SSD is connected to.
You need to have the SSD connected to SATA port 0, when installing the SSD and OS.
Be sure it's not connected to a Marvell controller port.

This isn't exactly the same issue, but the info confirms a couple of the steps mentioned. Further searching should find a closer situation to yours, but this is on the right track.

Re: X25-M G2 - Raid Problem

The configuration should be the following:
1. The SSD should be connected with the first of the available SATA ports (port0 or port1).
2. Before you are going to install Windows 7, you should unplug all other hdd's.
3. Once Win7 is up, you can reconnect the RAID'ed hdd's to the next SATA ports.
It is possible, that Windows 7 will not see your RAID partitions and data at once. You can repair this by opening the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" section of the Win7 Device Manager and replacing the listed "Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controllers", where the RAID'ed hdd's are connected,... Just do a right click onto them, use the "Update driver software" option and let the Device Manager show the compatible devices.

You should read this thread, not completely relevant to your issue but, good background info.

For any AHCI to RAID BIOS settings you might need to do there is a Good guide,

General Windows 7 Performance Tweaks - Enable RAID Mode after Installation

Most of the SSD tweaks in the above thread are for older Gen1 SSDs and are not needed with your Gen2 SSD.
The only changes needed are disable Disk Defrag and disk indexing. Some say to disable Superfetch, some say you don't need to, I have turned it back on to check if there are any issues.
Win7 will detect your SSD during installation and set everything that is needed, still double check them.