Serebii Posted February 10, 2013 Posted February 10, 2013 (edited) Hey, Just figured I'd ask a few of you this as I haven't really been keeping up with computer component news the last few years. If you are friends with me on FB or follow me on Twitter, you'll know I recently had a catastrophic PC failure in the worst possible time. I managed to fix this with a new graphics card and a laptop for backup, but I've recently come into a bit of extra cash so am considering completely overhauling my PC. Looking at the usual quadcore, 10GB RAM specs, but my question comes with the drives. Considering what I do, I need the computer to run as quickly and quietly as possible; boot times for my PC at the moment is at about 2 minutes to get to log in and another 2 minutes after logging in before it's properly usable and this can be unacceptable in times when I'm woken up because news has come. Although I have a laptop and that boots up in 10-30 seconds, I haven't been able to get all my software on it yet (some is incompatible due to my laptop being Windows 8) so it's not logical to do something big on it. I have been told that having a SSD as my primary drive and having Windows boot off of that causes incredibly fast bootups and running of the system. Has anyone had any experience of this? Does it really make things faster? Incidentally, my laptop in Windows 8 has Fast Startup, which is what cuts the time down. Is this exclusive to laptops, or will desktops have it? Thanks in advance Edited February 10, 2013 by Serebii
Ike Posted February 10, 2013 Posted February 10, 2013 Yes, it's worth it. Once you've gone SSD you won't go back. Let's just say the Windows 7 boot animation doesn't have time to finish. Not sure the actual time but it's probably under 8 seconds. Windows 8 should boot even faster than 7. Programs will boot faster as well. Been using my old laptop today and I can't believe how slow programs load. Other advantages over HDD is that it will use less battery power and more protected against shock since there are no moving parts which is handy for a laptop. Disadvantage is size. 256GB drives are reasonably priced now, but if you need a lot of storage space you'll need an external HDD to store large files.
Oxigen_Waste Posted February 10, 2013 Posted February 10, 2013 What he said. They are lightning fast and incredible, but expensive and small.
Serebii Posted February 10, 2013 Author Posted February 10, 2013 Well I'm looking to get these upgrades for my PC, not my laptop but yeah, that eases things a little. Just need to make sure I get everything sorted before ordering, since I hate spending money
Ike Posted February 10, 2013 Posted February 10, 2013 Ah right, misread then. Still, solves the space issue since you can mount a traditional HDD as well. You might be able to get away with a 120GB drive then but 256GB would give you more breathing space for programs.
MoogleViper Posted February 10, 2013 Posted February 10, 2013 Depends if it's urgent or not. Personally I would until they come down in price. Running your OS on an SSD is fine, but you're not going to feel the full benefit unless you're running all of your programs on it as well.
Serebii Posted February 10, 2013 Author Posted February 10, 2013 Depends if it's urgent or not. Personally I would until they come down in price. Running your OS on an SSD is fine, but you're not going to feel the full benefit unless you're running all of your programs on it as well. Well, I need to do it sooner rather than later. My PC is getting louder and slower. A couple of weeks ago it told me my fan had failed. I need my PC to stay online overnight for a few days every month and it is starting to interrupt my sleep patterns so I'd rather do it soon. Been looking at all the specs...for a decent mobo, processor, 16GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD and a copy of Windows would set me back £500 which is a very good price, but I don't know how long that'll last Ah right, misread then. Still, solves the space issue since you can mount a traditional HDD as well. You might be able to get away with a 120GB drive then but 256GB would give you more breathing space for programs. Yeah, I was thinking of keeping my current primary as my secondary (maybe keeping the OS in case the SSD dies), having my site data on that but all the programmes I use on the new one (bar the one I can't get working)
bob Posted February 10, 2013 Posted February 10, 2013 I just upgraded to a SSD on my laptop and it is the greatest thing i have ever done. (Sorry, Other Life Achievements!) It's worth buying an SSD just to install Windows on it i think even if you'll be running software off a HDD (even though i doubt you have enough software to fill up your SSD). I got a 120gb one and it fits windows and all my programs on it fine with space to spare. I don't think they're going to come down in price that much really, just get faster and better etc for the same price, so you may as well do it now and reap the benfits now.
Serebii Posted February 10, 2013 Author Posted February 10, 2013 (edited) I just upgraded to a SSD on my laptop and it is the greatest thing i have ever done. (Sorry, Other Life Achievements!) It's worth buying an SSD just to install Windows on it i think even if you'll be running software off a HDD (even though i doubt you have enough software to fill up your SSD). I got a 120gb one and it fits windows and all my programs on it fine with space to spare. I don't think they're going to come down in price that much really, just get faster and better etc for the same price, so you may as well do it now and reap the benfits now. Thanks, just hesitating on the size. I don't know if I should get one to actually replace my HDD or not. My HDD is 250GB (it's an old PC) and I usually have over 100GB spare...I just don't know. Replacing the HDD entirely would be nice (albeit risky since I've read about SSDs failing quickly), but it's very costly as an equivilant SSD is like £200 Edit: Put in an order. Gone for a 128GB one and will have the HDD as secondary for the forseeable future. At a later point, I'll get another, bigger, SSD when they're cheaper...copy all the stuff over and so forth Thanks all for your help Edited February 10, 2013 by Serebii
bob Posted February 10, 2013 Posted February 10, 2013 When i was reading up on them, i found nothing to suggest that SSD's fail quickly. You may have to treat them differently to HDD's though. Google SSD maintenence or something like that to find out about turning off defragmentation etc which does shorten the life of an SSD apparently...
Serebii Posted February 10, 2013 Author Posted February 10, 2013 When i was reading up on them, i found nothing to suggest that SSD's fail quickly. You may have to treat them differently to HDD's though. Google SSD maintenence or something like that to find out about turning off defragmentation etc which does shorten the life of an SSD apparently... I'm essentially starting anew as I'm getting a new processor etc and so my current OS won't function as well and Windows 8 apparently detects it and automatically disables things like that so it's all good
Rummy Posted February 10, 2013 Posted February 10, 2013 Out of interest what does your pc do for the few days a month that it's on? I've no personal experience with SSDs, but they do seem to make quite a difference(why I don't have one, I'm trying not to spoil myself too soon) - as bob said it's just important to be aware of certain differences about them that need accounting for(defragging being one of the things, it's essentially a massive nono for SSDs)
Serebii Posted February 11, 2013 Author Posted February 11, 2013 Out of interest what does your pc do for the few days a month that it's on? I've no personal experience with SSDs, but they do seem to make quite a difference(why I don't have one, I'm trying not to spoil myself too soon) - as bob said it's just important to be aware of certain differences about them that need accounting for(defragging being one of the things, it's essentially a massive nono for SSDs) Usually it's just being idle while I wait for someone to wake me with news However, for the times when it's not and news comes, with someone waking me through my phone, I need it to boot up and be done asap, not in the four minutes it takes now. This does beg the question. I have IRC running a lot and it usually logs everything...would logging the channels I'm in be a bad idea? I'll happily change it to just log PMs if so
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