Do SSD's have a real world noticeable benefit?

Jumpem

Lifer
Sep 21, 2000
10,757
3
81
Aside from benchmarks, will an SSD provide a tangible benefit for basic desktop work and gaming?
 

Blain

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
23,643
3
81
We don't really like to deal with the "real world" around these parts. :roll:
 

Hacp

Lifer
Jun 8, 2005
13,923
2
81
Gaming, I don't notice it too much. For general desktop use, the difference is noticed.
 

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
13,576
6
76
Originally posted by: Jumpem
Aside from benchmarks, will an SSD provide a tangible benefit for basic desktop work and gaming?

SSD? Many SSD are crap and much worse than a regular drive. some are ok like samsungs, some are awesome like intel or indilinx (vertex, falcon, etc)

And since you are asking some random guys on the forum.... those that I have seen say "this is the biggest difference in performance I have ever noticed for a hardware upgrade" when mentioning their intel or vertex. Do you not believe them? or have you just not been reading the forums the last year or so?
 

Sylvanas

Diamond Member
Jan 20, 2004
3,752
0
0
SSD make a huge difference and is probably the most perceivable upgrade you can do for yourself- you'll definitely notice it. Boot times, Application loading, games etc.
 

GarfieldtheCat

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2005
3,708
1
0
Originally posted by: Jumpem
Aside from benchmarks, will an SSD provide a tangible benefit for basic desktop work and gaming?

With my Vertex and X-25, my answer is yes, it's noticeable. Boot/load times for apps and games are noticeably decreased.

Now is that worth the cost? That's for everyone to decide for him/herself.
 

WildW

Senior member
Oct 3, 2008
984
20
81
evilpicard.com
Things are noticably more zippy for me with a single OCZ Vertex than any machine I've ever had. Even little things like time taken to open up Control Panel and list all my installed programs. . . things that used to take ages are now less than a second.

I still have a low-end processor (Dual 2.3GHz Athlon64) which is, I think, why things aren't loading as instantly as some people seem to suggest. . . but even so it's still faster than any hard drive I've ever had.

Very nice for gaming. Level loads when changing map on Battlefield 2 are super fast. . . usually 1st on the server which is a nice advantage. . . such a broken game =)
 

ZanatosFox

Member
Jul 2, 2004
67
0
0
Absolutely made a huge difference for me. I just installed an X25-M in my 5 year old Athlon 64 machine and I can't believe the difference I saw. Everything just feels so snappy now, I love it! Aside from simply load times, I think I've seen an overall performance boost since I only have 1 GB of ram, and I probably make heavy use of the page file, and I'm thinking that being on the SSD now is making a nice difference.

Believe it or not, I can now play WoW at 1920 x 1080 res on this ancient thing. (Athlon 64 3500+, 1 Gig Ram, ATI X800 XT, all back to stock speeds at this point) Prior to this, I was getting unplayable framerates, adding the SSD boosted it from about 2-4 FPS in Dalaran up to 15+. Also load times are about 1/4 what they were. I was highly impressed.
 

smackababy

Lifer
Oct 30, 2008
27,024
79
86
I have a Vertex 60GB with my OS on it and a few applications. It is really noticable. I only paid $100 for mine, and it was worth every penny. I am hoping the new OCZ series are most cost effiective, as I'd like some more room for gaming.
 

Mango1970

Member
Aug 26, 2006
195
0
76
Apart that they are silent.. don't cause heat (little if any really), use little power... those alone are great reasons. However add to the fact as others have said, if used as a boot OS drive, your apps open instantly, you boot times are reduced, you shut down faster and loading games is much faster. For actually playing them, I notice little difference really but overall worth it for ME... for the reason above.
 

smackababy

Lifer
Oct 30, 2008
27,024
79
86
I don't notice any difference when playing, apart from the much faster load times. I actually just got a deal on another Vertex 60GB for $150 so I will be raid 0 on two in a few days.
 

dighn

Lifer
Aug 12, 2001
22,820
4
81
Definitely noticeable. I can honestly say the x-25m is one of the best computer upgrades I've ever made. any application, even heavier ones like visual studio, acrobat reader (it's just bloated) load almost instantaneously. installations, updates, startup/shutdown are also much faster. Rar extractions, par2 concatenations etc. fly compared to before. This is on a laptop, so the silence and the peace of mind knowing that I can bang this around without fear of the HD crapping out are also invaluable.

However, depending on what you mean by "basic desktop work", whether or not it would be worth the price premium would be debatable.
 

ochadd

Senior member
May 27, 2004
408
0
76
Most noticable difference since the dual core processor. It's even more noticable than that. App load times, boot times, installs, they all work much faster.
 

azilaga

Senior member
Mar 24, 2003
756
0
0
Noticeable, yes, at least with the Intel x25. $300+ dollar difference? I'm not sure...
 

alcoholbob

Diamond Member
May 24, 2005
6,338
402
126
Games - a few frames per second with streaming game worlds, a few seconds shorter load time
OS boot - a few seconds shaved off
App startup - very quick

Originally posted by: azilaga
Noticeable, yes, at least with the Intel x25. $300+ dollar difference? I'm not sure...

Just a couple years ago people said the same about a 36GB Velociraptor at $300.
 

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
13,576
6
76
well... here is a better question. what is better... 300$ SSD upgrade, or 300$ towards CPU upgrade?
 

shabby

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,782
45
91
Originally posted by: taltamir
well... here is a better question. what is better... 300$ SSD upgrade, or 300$ towards CPU upgrade?

I think the $300 gpu is better, no wait, the $300 ddr3 memory for sure, no wait... it never ends really.
 

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
13,576
6
76
Originally posted by: shabby
Originally posted by: taltamir
well... here is a better question. what is better... 300$ SSD upgrade, or 300$ towards CPU upgrade?

I think the $300 gpu is better, no wait, the $300 ddr3 memory for sure, no wait... it never ends really.

uh, what?

you honestly think 300$ on DDR3 is worth more? when every review pegs it at under 1% total speed increase?

You are being too "politically correct" about something that isn't even gonna hurt anyones feeling.
 

ochadd

Senior member
May 27, 2004
408
0
76
Originally posted by: taltamir
well... here is a better question. what is better... 300$ SSD upgrade, or 300$ towards CPU upgrade?

$300 SSD upgrade if you already have a 3ghz dual core. $200-$300 GPU upgrade probably better than both. GPU > Storage > CPU is my order of importance. Usually a CPU becomes the bottleneck for me every three years or so. A GPU and storage upgrade is felt immediately even upgrading every 6 months it seems.
 

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
13,576
6
76
Originally posted by: ochadd
Originally posted by: taltamir
well... here is a better question. what is better... 300$ SSD upgrade, or 300$ towards CPU upgrade?

$300 SSD upgrade if you already have a 3ghz dual core. $200-$300 GPU upgrade probably better than both. GPU > Storage > CPU is my order of importance. Usually a CPU becomes the bottleneck for me every three years or so. A GPU and storage upgrade is felt immediately even upgrading every 6 months it seems.

I would agree for someone who is a serious gamer and yet for some reason doesn't already have a top end GPU :).

But if you don't intend to game, or already have a powerful GPU, than the SSD is your next best upgrade.
 

shabby

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,782
45
91
Originally posted by: taltamir
Originally posted by: shabby
Originally posted by: taltamir
well... here is a better question. what is better... 300$ SSD upgrade, or 300$ towards CPU upgrade?

I think the $300 gpu is better, no wait, the $300 ddr3 memory for sure, no wait... it never ends really.

you honestly think 300$ on DDR3 is worth more? when every review pegs it at under 1% total speed increase?

I was being sarcastic... but people still buy those overpriced kits so you gotta wonder.
 

Gooberlx2

Lifer
May 4, 2001
15,381
6
91
From posts and reviews I've read about the quality SSDs, many state it's one of the most noticeable day-to-day use performance upgrades one can make, along side adding RAM.
 

wkabel23

Platinum Member
Dec 7, 2003
2,505
0
0
I'm looking at buying a lenovo thinkpad, the t400, and I'm sold on the idea of SSD. However, it seems that lenovo's storage options are lacking.

They offer a "128 GB Solid State Drive, Serial ATA / Samsung High Performance 128GB SSD Drive." Now, I'm wondering...is that a good SSD? If that SSD will underperform compared lenovo's best HD choice, 7200rpm 320gb, then I don't want any part of it. I wish they offered more specs on the drives they offer (320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm for example...what brand?? same with the SSD).

Any thoughts?