My take on SSD Performance.

[jimhsu]

Personal gaming experiences (qualitative, and I have a somewhat ... diverse range of gaming interests):

WoW (MMORPG) - giant difference in load times, but I don't really like the game and play private servers.
Fallout 3/Oblivion (RPG) - noticeable difference, little change in load time, somewhat reduced stuttering
Hellgate London (a shut down mmorpg) - very large (and unexpected) difference in load times - 50%
Sacred 2 (RPG) - noticeable, not huge.
Dragon age (RPG) - noticeable decrease in load times, not much else.
Supreme Commander (RTS) - no noticeable difference.
Crysis (FPS) - no noticeable difference, load times decreased a little.
The Sims 3 (simulation?) - very substantial. Lag on zoom transitions is greatly reduced.
X3 Terran Conflict (simulation) - I really don't know. The game is so buggy in general that I can't tell, but the difference is not large.
Games before 2004 (i.e. Freelancer, Sacred 1, etc) - not likely to matter either way.

Hard drive is a 640GB WD (7200 rpm). SSD is an Intel X25-M G2.

 

[Seven]

Just dumped my 74GB Raptor for a SSD. I actually always wanted to dump my raptor because of the ridiculous noise when seeking. The raptor was a terrible investment, and only little performance over a regular 7200rpm drive.

The SSD is awesome on its own. It's snappy as it gets, but the most important no noise or clicking. Finally I will be able to get some sleep ;-)