help me pick new hdd and ram for lappy please

[benandjerry]

kinda been out of the hardware loop for some time, my desktop still running a good old amd xp thoroughbred B 1800+ jiuhb pretty much says it all hehe, so would really appreciate some advice.

Anyway, its the laptop I'm considering upgrading. Its about 2 years old, a zepto 6324w for anyone who is familiar with them. Its specs is the following:
c2d t7200 2.0ghz (think was 7200, might be called 7400 cant quite remember)
2gb ddr2 (again cant remember whether its running 667mhz or 800mhz ram, not even sure if its 1 or 2 sticks, prolly 2, i'll be sure to check this before ordering obviously)
100gb 7200rpm hdd
nvidia 8600gt m 512mb
windows vista

All this talk about SSD drives tempts me, but I'm probably be sticking to a sata 7200rpm for now as I'd like some more storage and the SSD are quite pricey still.

I've been looking at the following 2 drives:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=482

http://www.samsung.com/global/...model_cd=371&ppmi=1168

Would the performance be the same? Reliability? I wouldnt mind the extra 70gb of the WD drive and its also cheaper per gb. The samsung at slightly lower access times at the spec sheet I do believe, 4.2s if I recall correctly, whereas the WD had 5.5s.



Onto the ram, forgive my beginner question, but I've never upgraded ram in a laptop before, its 200pin I should be looking at, right?

I've been looking mostly at the following:

Crucial DDR2 SO-DIMM PC5300 2GB CL5
Non-ECC, 1.8V, 256Mx64, 200pin

Kingston DDR2 HyperX SO-DIMM PC5300 4GB
KIT of 2x2GB, CL4-4-4-12, 200pin

I'm thinking the kingston might be a better bet as its running on lower latency by default, I'm not sure what overclock features I've got and I dont think I would even wanna hassle with it on this laptop. Now I would also be able to get the likes of:

Kingston DDR2 HyperX SO-DIMM PC6400 4GB
KIT of 2x2GB, CL5-5-5-18, 200pin

Crucial DDR2 SO-DIMM PC6400 2GB CL6
Non-ECC, 1.8V, 256Mx64, 200pin

Corsair Value DDR2 SO-DIMM PC6400 4GB,
Kit w/two matched Value Select 2GB CL5

for about the same price, so my question is, do I prefer going with higher speed or lower latency, which will give me better performance with my specs?

Then to the final question, I'm pretty set on getting a bigger hdd, but is the ram upgrade likely to make a significant difference or should I just stick with 2gb? I'm not really a hardcore gamer, but I game occasionally. I do work some with applications using sql databases, and I do often have a lot of windows open simultanously. I do know the hdd is probably the biggest bottleneck in my tasks in most cases.

If you managed to read all this through without falling asleep any advice is appreciated. 🙂

 

[DukeN]

I wouldn't worry about the RAM upgrade too much - just go upto 3GB as a 32 bit OS won't recognize past that anyways for the most part (assuming you're not running 64 bit vista).

Use the $$ you save to buy an SSD on sale - the performance increase you would get is the best thing you can do for your laptop. I'd say get an indilinx based SSD, any of them when you see a promo and you'll be happy.

 

[F1shF4t]

Ram wise just get some cheap 2 * 2gb value memory. (not complete OEM crap but some cheap value stuff from corsair, kingston etc) For laptops there is absolutely no difference with going for faster memory. I got cheap 667mhz cl5 sticks in my lappy.

Originally posted by: DukeN
I wouldn't worry about the RAM upgrade too much - just go upto 3GB as a 32 bit OS won't recognize past that anyways for the most part (assuming you're not running 64 bit vista).

Use the $$ you save to buy an SSD on sale - the performance increase you would get is the best thing you can do for your laptop. I'd say get an indilinx based SSD, any of them when you see a promo and you'll be happy.

This. I just got a gskill falcon 128gb SSD for my laptop and the difference is night and day. Absolutely the best upgrade you can get for a lappy (unless its RAM starved that is).

I'd just put your older drive in an external enclosure and use it for data storage for stuff you don't use regularly to save SSD space.

 

[benandjerry]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm not sure I can handle downgrading in terms of size of hdd, but I'll be sure to ponder this as I keep hearing how great of an upgrade it is performance wise.

So I was looking a bit at the prices (according to todays exchange rates) at those SSD drives and came up with the following alternatives:

Crucial M225 64GB - $192

Kingston SSDNow V Series 128GB - $316

Intel X25-M G2 80GB - $316

I havent done any closer read up on them yet but from what I can tell they all have their advantages. The intel is supposedly the best drive in terms of performance. The Kingston is by far the slowest of the drives, but still offers a significant step up from a 7200rpm, it offers more storage space, and it comes bundled with an exclosure for my current drive I would replace. The Crucial might be the most interesting offer though due it its price, I read a very small review from someone saying its basically a OCZ vertex with different software? Correct me if I'm wrong but isnt the vertex considered the second best performing SSD drive behind the X25? I read on another forum that this Crucial drive even performs better than the OCZ... The only downside is that its so damn small. 🙁

Any input is appreciated. I'm leaning towards the M225 atm (should I decide to go SSD drive) but I'm going to do a bit more research and right now gonna head over to ebay to see if I can find any better deals.

 

[F1shF4t]

Kingston drive you listed uses a Jmicron controller. While apparently they fixed some stutter issues, I would still not touch it.

That Crucial drive uses the indilinx controller. They use the same controller as OCZ agility & vertex, GSkill Falcon and a few others. All these drives should perform almost identically so go for whatever is cheapest.

 

[benandjerry]

Did you include the Intel X25-M in that comparison? I just checked ebay, the M225 is priced about the same as through a local retailer, but the X25-M is around $260 for a 80gb. Would the extra $50 be worth it for the Intel drive performance wise (and its extra 16gb)? Or would it be overkill considering my laptop runs a few years old technology already? I guess I could always stick it in my new desktop whenever I get around to building one.

 

[taltamir]

find another retailer for the x25-m

 

[benandjerry]

Easier said than done, I dont live in USA, I reckon $316US is as cheap as I will get one here. Going through ebay will allow me to get it for $260 from a US seller, as it was a buy it now/best offer kind of auction I was hoping to push it down even a little further. If you are aware of any place that will ship internationally, where the shipping costs wont kill the deal, please inform me about it.

 

[DukeN]

I would say get an OCZ vertex series drive. With the kind of CPU you have you likely won't get the kind of performance that X25 is capable.

Where abouts are you?

 

[benandjerry]

I'm located in Sweden. Locally the vertex 60gb is about the same price as the 80gb X25-M, and on ebay the vertex is slightly above $240, so its not really an option unless I can find a better deal on it. I'm going to message a few ebay sellers and see if I can bargain a little.

 

[taltamir]

wow... just wait a bit... i was seeing some indlinx drives going for 130$ for the 64GB version (on super sale to get rid of stock), and intel is now being gouged due to lack of stock.... i think in month intel stock will arrive and indilinx prices will tumble, then you would be able to find someone to ship internationally for you...

Also, get an american friend 🙂

 

[benandjerry]

wow, every time I see US prices I feel jealous! I wish I knew someone in the US that wouldnt mind shipping me stuff occasionally, only that too, is easier said than done hehe. 🙁
I just checked newegg for the crucial m225 64gb and its priced at $155, that would have been an instant purschase.

Anyway one can keep dreaming, but I guess I'll just wait on replies from the sellers at ebay to see what they have to say before pulling the trigger on any new hardware.

Thanks for your input. 🙂

 

[benandjerry]

so, I was just having a quick look at newegg the other day and some user reviews wrote about some fragmentation issues on those intel drives (I would assume its for ssd drives in general). I couldnt be bothered looking through too many of them, but that stuff referring to ones running without TRIM/garbage collection? Actually just read review below, said fragmentation issues were solved with new firmware update so maybe they were referring to an intel specific problem, that no longer is no more.