Question Upgrade to SSD-is it worth it?

[Guliath85]

Hello, I have an ancient PC, and buying a new one is not an option at this point. I've seen those Adata SU650 SSD's and I am thinking about buying one. My motherboard G31M-ES2C supports only SATA 2 and the other components are very old too Intel E5200, 4GB of RAM, gt 9400, windows 7. Do you think that I will have a noticeable difference if I switch to SSD?

One more stupid question. How does one migrate all the files from the old HDD to a new SSD? If I want to make a fresh windows 7 install on the SSD, but leave the HHD inside the PC - how will the HDD be shown? Like a normal partition? Is there any danger to my files? Or since my Windows is on the HDD now it will be somehow corrupted? I have important documents, pictures, which I don't want to lose. For example - if the HDD will appear like Lokal disk (E): will I be able to open it and navigate to Documents. Desktop and so on? The HDD is now in 2 parts C: and D:.

P.S. The HDD mirroring option (if this is the name of it) is not what I want - I will prefer fresh windows install on the new SSD.

 

[mindless1]

^ I even replaced the IDE HDD in an old laptop with a low end SSD, using an IDE to SATA adapter and it made a huge difference... used an SSD with a half height PCB, had to shuck the case to make it fit.

 

[Guliath85]

Thank you all for your help! I have bought the SSD and installed a new Windows 7 version on it. Then I have plugged the old HDD in.

The difference after the install was amazing - way snappier, whey faster, chrome and web pages were loading maybe 2-3 times faster.

Now, 2 days later, after installing a gazillion Windows updates and about 5 programs - everything is almost as slow as before... Both Windows and Chrome responsiveness are almost the same as before - slow.

Could you please help me understand what is happening with my old HDD? It is 500GB and seems it is now "broken" in two parts E and F. In the partition E - is as it looks like everything from the old windows. Can I safely delete all of those files? I have backed up everything before the procedure. Also, I can't find where are the files from the desktop, my documents too ( not that I need them, just from curiosity)

 

[Shmee]

The computer could be slowing down if there are a lot of programs running at once, now that you have more installed. Possibly CPU or RAM is being utilized a lot more. Also, which SSD did you buy?

As for the old HDD, it looks like it has a boot partition and a data partition? Was that from before? I can't think of a reason for any new partitions to be created. If everything from the old HDD is backed up to a different drive, then yes, you could wipe it clean. I don't know if it is worth using, but you could check the health at least in SMART, and if healthy you could use it for extra data storage.

Your documents are stored by default under Users\<your name>\Documents. There will be a new documents folder under C: but also likely one under D: and or E:

 

[igor_kavinski]

You can test the performance of both SSD and HDD with CrystalDiskMark and see how fast the SSD is performing.

 

[Snakexor]

Your problem with the internet browsers is the amount of RAM, not the SSD, however the SSD will help. Install at least 8gb, if not 16gb, of RAM. Also see if you can swap out your CPU - https://www.ebay.com/itm/203884036029?epid=74063681&hash=item2f786f7fbd:g:g-4AAOSwD9FiQUQv

If you upgraded to that you would have a fine system to browse the web with..

 

[Guliath85]

The computer could be slowing down if there are a lot of programs running at once, now that you have more installed...

I've bought the Adata Ultimate SU650. I've removed all the programs from windows startup, so I suppose there are no programs running in the background. Only Microsoft security essentials ( I have switched to Avira now to test if there is any difference - so far - no). Also, I am speaking about performance without any programs running at the moment.

Your problem with the internet browsers is the amount of RAM, not the SSD...

No doubt about this But I am really surprised by the speed difference between the clean install and 2 days later after 5-6 programs and windows updates added.

HDD:


SSD:

.

 

[igor_kavinski]

You know what? Download Windows 10 Update Assistant and upgrade your Win7 to Win10. I did that for a guy in my office and he's got nothing bad to report.

Download Windows 10

Choose "Update this PC now" when it gives you the option.

The slowdown may be related to Meltdown/Spectre mitigation patches. Windows 10 deals with it better performance-wise.

 

[Shmee]

I agree a CPU upgrade would be easy enough with a cheap Core 2 quad. Upgrading to a larger amount of DDR2 may be more difficult though. Also, as I mentioned before, maybe it is time to ditch Windows on this computer altogether, and use a light Linux.

EDIT: it appears the board only has 2 DIMM slots, so IDK if the board would even support 2x4GB. 2x2GB might be the most it could hold.

 

[Guliath85]

I will think about gettinga another processor. The motherboard supports only 4GB if I remember it correctly.

But if I want to repeat myself - I am wondering how it can be such a difference between 3 Days ago - when I had installed chrome only and no programs and today - with 5-6 programs, which are not running at the background... Can it be the tousend windows updates?

Also I saq some test in Internet, where the same SSD shows double the speed of myne.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Can it be the tousend windows updates?

Also I saq some test in Internet, where the same SSD shows double the speed of myne.

Yes, the updates might have something to do with affecting system responsiveness. Also, Win7 is long past its support date. Microsoft doesn't want you using it. So maybe they didn't care so much about making sure that the patches don't affect system performance adversely.

That benchmark of your SSD you saw on internet would be using SATA 3, which you would need to purchase the Ableconn card to use. But not sure if that card will work in your mobo's PCIe slot.

Consider getting this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/234485396988

And two 8GB sticks of DDR3-1600.