SSD Are Me! - Page 6 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

burn_this_city · 03-08-2011, 03:29 PM

I'm pretty sure mine doesnt have SATA III. Right now it has 2 500gb 7200 drives, do I have to do anything special in the bios when I change one out for a SSD?

MickMcGeough · 03-08-2011, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by photon

For all but the newest laptops if there's a good deal on a current generation Sandforce drive then I think that'd be sufficient, the new ones need SATA III to take advantage of the performance.

How much the current generation of drives' prices go down when the new ones come out is the question, but I'm not convinced they'll go a huge amount lower since it seems that they're wanting to keep the same level of pricing on the next gen drives rather than going with a price drop like the last time there was a die shrink for flash. So they don't want to devalue their products too much.

This is right - the new drives will outperform the current generation on your hardware but not by a huge margin. You need the 6Gbps SATA for that.

You don't think OCZ is going to rebate the Vertex 2s when they're selling the Vertex 3 for just a bit more? I'm not suggesting they'll give them away but I'd be surprised if 120GB SF-1222 drives aren't going for under $200 or so after rebates when 120GB SF-2200 drives are going for $275 or so.

photon · 03-08-2011, 06:23 PM

Yeah that's about the price range I'd think, they'll put the 120GB ones for under $200, but not a lot under $200.. they've had them at about $200 already in the past few months (in preparation for this I'm sure). Go too low and you risk changing what people think is acceptable for an SSD.

I finally got my rebate for the SSD I got in what, November or December? LONG time.

burn_this_city I don't think you need to change anything in the BIOS, but make sure and read up on the specific model of SSD and OS as there are usually tweaks for it to maximize performance and minimize wear.

And yeah install and start fresh, with an SSD making sure the partition alignment is correct is important for good performance (it can be done if you image something over apparently, but I have no idea how), if you install fresh with Windows 7 it'll do that and set a bunch of parameters in itself to account for the SSD.

burn_this_city · 03-11-2011, 09:28 AM

I bought one of those 120gb intel 510's last night. The hardware installation was easy, but getting it to work was not. My computer didnt come with a windows 7 cd, so I had to create a backup from my hd. When it came time to install it forced me to take my second 500gb drive out. Went through the whole restoration process. Try to boot the first time, no dice, asking for a boot drive. I think it died towards to end of the restoration. So i tried my brothers win 7 disk to see if I can format it, and it wouldnt even detect the ssd in my machine. I can see it in the bios but it doesnt seem to work otherwise.

MickMcGeough · 03-11-2011, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

I bought one of those 120gb intel 510's last night. The hardware installation was easy, but getting it to work was not. My computer didnt come with a windows 7 cd, so I had to create a backup from my hd. When it came time to install it forced me to take my second 500gb drive out. Went through the whole restoration process. Try to boot the first time, no dice, asking for a boot drive. I think it died towards to end of the restoration. So i tried my brothers win 7 disk to see if I can format it, and it wouldnt even detect the ssd in my machine. I can see it in the bios but it doesnt seem to work otherwise.

Did you release the magic smoke?

You don't need your computer's windows 7 CD. Just download an ISO (an untouched, non-cracked, non-activated ISO) and make sure to change your registration key to the one that came with your laptop before the 30 day activation period expires.

At the start of the Windows 7 installation process you're given the option to provide a driver for your drive. Check out the Intel support to see if this is required for the 510. I'd be really surprised if you needed one but that's what it sounds like based on the BIOS seeing your drive but Windows Setup not seeing it.

robocop · 03-11-2011, 10:16 AM

I built my own pc 4 years ago and since then have completely fallen out of the loop in regards to pc technology. I want a new pc with a ssd but I don't want to buy a brand name that locks the pc's hardware and loads the OS with a crapload of useless gargabe(dell). I don't have the time to figure out every component and setting again, any advice? Basically just wondering if I can find a place that sells barebones(but high performance) and upgradeable pc's. I can run crysis 2 still on my current pc purely because of how well I optimized the system and I find any big brand makes it very hard to do this.

MickMcGeough · 03-11-2011, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robocop

I built my own pc 4 years ago and since then have completely fallen out of the loop in regards to pc technology. I want a new pc with a ssd but I don't want to buy a brand name that locks the pc's hardware and loads the OS with a crapload of useless gargabe(dell). I don't have the time to figure out every component and setting again, any advice? Basically just wondering if I can find a place that sells barebones(but high performance) and upgradeable pc's. I can run crysis 2 still on my current pc purely because of how well I optimized the system and I find any big brand makes it very hard to do this.

I don't know that things have changed all that drastically in the last 4 years from a building standpoint.

TigerDirect, NewEgg, NCIX all sell high-performance barebones systems that you build yourself.

burn_this_city · 03-11-2011, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

Did you release the magic smoke?

You don't need your computer's windows 7 CD. Just download an ISO (an untouched, non-cracked, non-activated ISO) and make sure to change your registration key to the one that came with your laptop before the 30 day activation period expires.

At the start of the Windows 7 installation process you're given the option to provide a driver for your drive. Check out the Intel support to see if this is required for the 510. I'd be really surprised if you needed one but that's what it sounds like based on the BIOS seeing your drive but Windows Setup not seeing it.

No magic smoke thankfully. I think the drive was dead, I had downloaded a firmware update for it. But from what I read it wasnt required. I took it back to memory express this morning and they swapped it out for me. I'm going to try the install now, I have the firmware on a flash drive in the event it doesnt detect it this time either. I dont think that was the issue though, since it managed to install windows before it went quietly into the gentle goodnight.

burn_this_city · 03-11-2011, 01:50 PM

Definitely a bad drive. I just installed the replacement and loaded windows in 20ish minutes. This thing is unbelievably fast now.

Hack&Lube · 03-14-2011, 11:53 AM

I've got a question. Most people seem to be saying to hold on and wait for the next gen SSDs to be released. My desktop is still on a SATA2 chipset.

The next gen drives will be SATA3. Wouldn't be a waste to run them on a SATA2 system?

Should I wait for the next gen or wait for the current SATA2 drives to go down in price? Are they going to go down in price soon?

FanIn80 · 03-14-2011, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I've got a question. Most people seem to be saying to hold on and wait for the next gen SSDs to be released. My desktop is still on a SATA2 chipset.

The next gen drives will be SATA3. Wouldn't be a waste to run them on a SATA2 system?

Should I wait for the next gen or wait for the current SATA2 drives to go down in price? Are they going to go down in price soon?

SATA3 drives will run on either SATA2 or 3. The cost increase looks pretty negligible, so it's just a matter of spending that money on something that is future-oriented vs something that is on the way out.

I'm also pretty sure that the SATA3 drives are faster even for SATA2 connections, just because of the updated controllers and firmware (though this I might be mistaken about).

MickMcGeough · 03-14-2011, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I've got a question. Most people seem to be saying to hold on and wait for the next gen SSDs to be released. My desktop is still on a SATA2 chipset.

The next gen drives will be SATA3. Wouldn't be a waste to run them on a SATA2 system?

Should I wait for the next gen or wait for the current SATA2 drives to go down in price? Are they going to go down in price soon?

All the next-gen drives are priced in the high $200s for 120GB. "Current" drives are low $200s for 120GB. I thought it would drive current drive prices down but there's enough of a gap there that I don't think they'll get all that much cheaper anymore. You might save $20 if you wait until there are a few different SF-2200 drives out but it won't be much.

You'll still get better performance out of a new SF-2200 based drive even though it'll be limited by the SATA2 on your system. Anandtech compares the Vertex 3 against the Agility 2 in these benchmarks which is a SF-1200 based drive. They match up in some areas and the Vertex 3 is much better in some areas.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4186/o...cused-sf2200/3

Not sure if that means it's worth the extra $70 or whatever though.

ETA: This is a full $100 cheaper than I expect you'll find the Vertex 3 for: http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...(ME).aspx?cc=1. At that price you can't really go wrong, unless you expect your SSD to long outlive your current system. Then you should future-proof.

robocop · 03-14-2011, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

I don't know that things have changed all that drastically in the last 4 years from a building standpoint.

TigerDirect, NewEgg, NCIX all sell high-performance barebones systems that you build yourself.

Is it worth just waiting for the next gen of ssd's? I have 2 hdd's right now, one with windows and the other for programs, I stripped windows down to the complete bare essentials and it still runs really well. It took so long to figure out all the crap for the 2 hdd's, the bios settings and windows that I'm not sure if this will be exponentially harder with an ssd (or two). Took me a few days to figure out that there's a setting for 64-bit voltage in 64-bit windows and the default is 32, with this being stated absolutely nowhere in the windows manual or the bios manual.

MickMcGeough · 03-14-2011, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robocop

Is it worth just waiting for the next gen of ssd's? I have 2 hdd's right now, one with windows and the other for programs, I stripped windows down to the complete bare essentials and it still runs really well. It took so long to figure out all the crap for the 2 hdd's, the bios settings and windows that I'm not sure if this will be exponentially harder with an ssd (or two). Took me a few days to figure out that there's a setting for 64-bit voltage in 64-bit windows and the default is 32, with this being stated absolutely nowhere in the windows manual or the bios manual.

Uh, you had to change the voltage to your HDD to account for a 64-bit OS? I have never heard of such a thing and don't understand how that's possible.

I've now owned three different SSD drives and none of them required any fiddling in the BIOS, each was exactly the same installation procedure as any mechanical hard disk.

If you don't have a SATA3 motherboard you aren't going to see all the gains of the next-gen SSDs. Wait if you want to futureproof. Otherwise, you can still get some silly fast SSDs for under $200 (see my previous post)>

Hack&Lube · 03-14-2011, 04:27 PM

I would also really like to know what Robocop is talking about changing to a 64-bit voltage for a harddrive. I have no idea what he actually means.

I'm thinking that I'll probably be buying a Sandy Bridge laptop based on the Intel HM65 chipset now that the recalls due to the SB bridge are almost over. I'll save the expensive next gen SSD for that. For my trusty desktop though, it's going to be sitting pretty on SATA2 for quite awhile and maybe a cheaper discounted old gen SSD is in order for it.

photon · 03-14-2011, 04:32 PM

Maybe he meant 64-bit driver? For a while Windows didn't have the latest drivers for hard drive chipsets on it so you had to load the driver from floppy or USB stick when doing an install, and if you had a 32 bit driver and were installing 64 bit windows that could be an issue.

Plus you had master/slave issues to deal with.

Nowadays with SATA and with new Windows having all the appropriate drivers for most PCs to get it running on the CD it's a lot simpler.

MickMcGeough · 03-28-2011, 01:12 PM

Intel (finally) releases it's 3rd-gen mainstream drives.

And they are inexplicably 3gbps only.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4244/i...d-320-review/1

Apparently they'll be cheaper though? Very weird move from Intel. Are they going for the OEM market? They're going to have to be priced well below the SF-2200s to sell many at retail.

Crazy Bacon Legs · 03-28-2011, 02:52 PM

By the way, you people keep costing me money.

I ended up buying a SSD because of you. Sure, my Windows is blazing fast, boot times are a fraction of before, and it makes me happy to have such a spanky system, but you people COST ME MONEY.

Thank you.

photon · 03-28-2011, 05:30 PM

Just be glad you post here and not RedFlagDeals

sclitheroe · 03-28-2011, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

Intel (finally) releases it's 3rd-gen mainstream drives.

And they are inexplicably 3gbps only.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4244/i...d-320-review/1

Apparently they'll be cheaper though? Very weird move from Intel. Are they going for the OEM market? They're going to have to be priced well below the SF-2200s to sell many at retail.

I dunno, I like the focus on reliability that they are apparently putting on this generation. That's more appealing, in fact, to me, than the raw performance which is already good enough for this generation of desktop/laptops.