+ Reply to Thread
Results 1 to 6 of 6

Thread: Solid State or not?     submit to reddit submit to twitter

  1. #1

    Solid State or not?

    Currently upgrading my system from an Athalon x2 5000+ to a Phenom x4 955 Socket AM3. (IE building a new PC)

    Before I post my question I will list the specs.

    This is the processor I bought

    Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

    That is going in an ASUS M4N82 Deluxe AM3/AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 980a SLI AMD Motherboard.

    Using 4 2gb DDR2 800 (There isn't an AM3 only board that supports SLi yet so no DDR3 for me )

    Going with 2 EVGA GTX 275s in it.

    My question is, is solid state worth it?

    I know they smoke any HDDs out there and that even putting one in an ancient PC will make they thing sing like new again, however, are they stable enough to run windows? Run all my applications?

    Of course I have larger HDDs for storage, but I am wondering If I should take the plunge and spend about 100 dollars more for a 60gb solid state vs a raptor?

    And before anyone mentions it, I know all about the mounting limitations of SDDs. I work for a computer manufacturer and have had to fit those things in several PCs. Half the time I just use zip ties for it XD.

  2. #2

    Really depends on what you plan on using it for. I have the eeePC with SSDs, and I love the abilities it gives in that respect since the smaller size helps to make the computer smaller and eliminates all noise.


    I've never experienced, or heard, of people having issues with stability on SSDs. Lots of people debating back and forth over life of SSDs compared to HDDs, but really if you setup your options correctly for the SSD (because the normal setup of HDD read/write being used is taxing to the drive and depending on the technology employed by it will consequently lower its lifetime compared to an HDD), you won't run into any issues. Just thought that I'd point out, Windows 7 will be the first MS OS that offers real support for SSD technology; the most popular of the Linux distros already has several supporting features for it. I use the eeePC/SSD optimized linux setup for my eeePC.



    I'd say personal preference at the moment. Its not really necessary to have an SSD for anything you're using at home. But then again you could say the same thing for many of the technologies you're currently using, waiting for OS's and programs to catch up and start employing said tech. If you just want to be all and all, out and out top line, going for epeen/status/something, go for the SSD. I can't really see the need for it in a personal computer/desktop situation though, other than to say that you have it.

  3. #3
    E. Body
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Posts
    2,226
    BG Level
    7
    FFXI Server
    Caitsith

    I'm posting from my iPhone at the moment so I apologize for not having the links on me. IIRC Tom's Hardware posted a review about the VelociRaptor vs SSDs and I believe the Raptors beat the average priced SSD. If you purchase a high end SSD i believe it would be better but it's costly. At the moment I run 2x 500 GB in raid 0 and it's perfect for me. If you want some speed grab a few velociraptor from WD, they sell em in 150 and 300 GB. I would love an SSD as well, but the price is too high for the usefulness.

    tl;dr if you've got the money to invest, do whatever, but you can get great performance from other drives that matches the average ssd.

  4. #4
    Melee Summoner
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Posts
    33
    BG Level
    1
    FFXI Server
    Shiva

    you gotta go with mid range-top of the line to get the real performance benefits. I got the kingston SSDNow V-Series line, which is an entry level but its the second revision. my 60gb only costed 120ish from frys electronics and if you look at the reviews for it its not as fast as the top tier SSDs (intel/patriot/OCX) but still out performs the velociraptor in some category. Only thing id say that sucks with current ssds are the cost/gb =/ that shit will drain your wallet if you want anything bigger than a 60gb

    i say go for it, load times on games are so much faster and installs just zip by lol.

  5. #5
    Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain
    Join Date
    Dec 1969
    Posts
    3,559
    BG Level
    7
    FFXIV Character
    Ragns Meuhie
    FFXIV Server
    Gilgamesh
    FFXI Server
    Bahamut
    Blog Entries
    143

    Quote Originally Posted by Lightningcount View Post
    I know they smoke any HDDs out there and that even putting one in an ancient PC will make they thing sing like new again, however, are they stable enough to run windows? Run all my applications?

    Of course I have larger HDDs for storage, but I am wondering If I should take the plunge and spend about 100 dollars more for a 60gb solid state vs a raptor?

    And before anyone mentions it, I know all about the mounting limitations of SDDs. I work for a computer manufacturer and have had to fit those things in several PCs. Half the time I just use zip ties for it XD.
    If you really want to compete against raptors you gonna need SLC SSD drives, I've heard pretty bad things about MLC SSDs with horrible slowdows.

    I bought a Transcend 32GB SLC last year and the shit is totally batshit insane. I installed windows + programs + ffxi on it and the speed difference is crazy, windows boot in like 8 seconds. I've heard putting the swapfile on a SSD lowers it's lifetime so I put it on another raid0 drive.

    Benchmarks:
    Spoiler: show

    This is my ye olde single Seagate Hard Drive:
    http://ragnskitty.com/epeen/bench1-seagate.png


    This is my RAID-0 of 2x Seagate Hard Drives:
    http://ragnskitty.com/epeen/bench2-raid0.png


    This is my Transcend Solid State Hard Drive:
    http://ragnskitty.com/epeen/bench3-ssd.png

  6. #6

    Currently, the best rated for performance are the Intel X-25 E and X25 M SSDs. (Best rated consumer SSDs) The one I am looking at is a 200 dollar 60 gig one, vs a 100 dollar 80 gig raptor. The storage capacity is not even an issue for me, as Windows+ all my progs will take about 20. I have over a terrabyte of storage on other drives.

    When I was building this PC, just about everyone told me, forget Scsi, forget raptor, go with solid state. And from my own experience of running pc marks on identical systems of SSD Raptor and SCSI, the SSD usually beats it out depending on the system it is in. (Work for a PC biulder, we do these kinds of tests all the time so we can tell our customers which are better...even if its only like .001% better XD)