To SSD or not to SSD - Page 2

mmp

United States2130 Posts

May 16 2010 03:53 GMT

#21

It's certainly not going to make an impact on your gaming...

The big pro (in addition to speed) is that it's safer to wear and tear. I don't think most HDDs have too many serious issues until they get old, but it's always something you worry about.

The big con is that its life expectancy probably won't match that of a well-maintained HDD - it's almost guaranteed to completely die in several years.

Either way your important data should be backed up on another location, and either way you'll probably be buying a new machine in a few years anyway.

Konfustikator

New Zealand17 Posts

May 16 2010 04:45 GMT

#22

There should be SSD price drops at the end of the year when the new process 22?nm stuff comes out. Im thinking of getting an ssd then.

Xstatic

United States765 Posts

May 16 2010 15:43 GMT

#23

On May 16 2010 11:52 Wr3k wrote:
Imo, unless everything else in your machine is already top of the line, no point in getting SSD (at least for gaming purposes).

This. Afaik gaming performance isn't really affected by hard drive speeds, except in loading levels.

But I'd personally get a shiny SSD in my new laptop, just to get that "cutting edge" feeling where your new computer outperforms your old one by a significant margin.

FragKrag

United States11552 Posts

May 16 2010 16:40 GMT

#24

Intel 25nm NAND flash is actually coming out in the end of this year. Don't expect huge price drops since I think the 25nm X25-M line will be limited to 160GB + models. Sandforce and the new Indilinx controller which is slated for last half of the year should help as well.

The SSD market is becoming as competitive as the CPU and GPU market, and I would expect prices to drop.

I would definitely buy a SSD.

Scorch

Austria3371 Posts

May 16 2010 16:44 GMT

#25

I run a RAID0 in my desktop and there is a noticeable difference. A fast system drive is great and worth some additional costs in my opinion, but I advise against your solution. 300$ and no internal optical drive isn't worth it at all. Don't forget that a SSD doesn't improve your 3D performance at all, it only affects loading times, booting, application starting times etc.

AyeH

United States534 Posts

May 16 2010 18:11 GMT

#26

I used to be skeptical of the SSDs. I own a velociraptor (300GB) that runs at 10k rpm so I didn't think there would be that big of a difference. And honestly, the boot time is SO MUCH FASTER on a SSD. Loading games is not much faster but the boot up on a SSD is incredible. I got the intel 80gb one. Programs like iTunes and word load up WAY faster. Like in a split second. However... I still don't know if the price was justified. I don't really care though since I got it for cheap at microcenter and had money laying around.