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Buy an SSD or wait a bit?
Should I get an SSD Driver?

Today I came upon a descent deal for a OCZ Vertex 120 GB SSD. I'm considering moving to an SSD. Do you think it is an optimal time for the move? I know OCZ vertex is considered to be one of the better SSDs currently out (I don't want to spend the extra premium for an Intel right now). The OCZ supports TRIM. Here are my concerns:

1) Even with TRIM will I experience major performance degradation over time?

2) I run x64 Windows 7. Does TRIM work with x64?

3) Are the recent price drop for SSDs because of Intel's recent announcement of 32 nm SSDs that will drop in price and maybe offer far greater performance?

Even if I do decide to get the drive I have to decide whether to put the drive into my labtop (which currently runs a 160 GB 7200 RPM drive) or my desktop (which runs a 300 GB VelociRaptor). If I put it in my desktop I will set up everything so most of the common writes like PageFile/Temp FIles /Ect don't go to the SSD, but will go to the velociraptor. If I use it in my labtop then it will be my only drive since my labtop can only accept one 2.5 inch drive which might increase the performance degradation of the SSD.

Also I've never seen an SSD in action, so I have no idea what type of performance improvement to expect. I've heard people say that SSD was the once change they made in their system even over CPU/RAM that made a DRAMATIC improvement in performance and since both my labtop/desktop are pretty much maxed out on both RAM and both have relatively high performance mechanical drives.

OK, what do I do most? I seem to run a lot of virtual machines, and do a lot of work with Visual Studio (which I've always complained about the speeds). Visual Studio's performance has always seemed to be hard drive bound.

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Please review the duplicates questions carefully before posting. This question has been asked and answered numerous times. – Diago Feb 18 '10 at 1:22
@Diago - although the topic is similar to the first link, there are certain aspects in this question that are neither asked nor answered in the other threads. – Molly7244 Feb 18 '10 at 2:13
@Molly. Running through the links on the side bar they are. There is even a topic on SSD and Trim. – Diago Feb 18 '10 at 3:05
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closed as exact duplicate by Diago Feb 18 '10 at 1:20

This question covers exactly the same ground as earlier questions on this topic; its answers may be merged with another identical question. See the FAQ.

2 Answers

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Even with TRIM will I experience major performance degradation over time?

Who says you will experience major performance degradation over time?

I run x64 Windows 7. Does TRIM work with x64?

Yes, if the SSD supports the trim command.

Are the recent drop in SSD because of Intel's recent announcement of 32 nm SSD that will drop in price and maybe offer far greater performance?

More likely because of the growing popularity. of course, older models become cheaper if they're going to be replaced by their next-generation successors.

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thanks for the reply molly. Would you agree that SSD is one of the biggest performance improvements someone can make to their system? – user9611 Feb 18 '10 at 0:10
@user9611 - bar from using a RAM disk, it doesn't get much faster these days. so, yes, SSD is the way to go. you may also consider 2x 30 GB SSDs in a RAID-0 array, cheaper and almost twice as fast, as far as OCZ Vertex are concerned :P – Molly7244 Feb 18 '10 at 0:14
Well reluctant to go the RAID-o route but i just ordered my OCZ Vertex 120GB off of amazon. Now i just have to decide which machine to try it out on :P. If i love it i will eventually probably have one in each machine. – user9611 Feb 18 '10 at 0:26
@user9611 - see what RAID-0 does to a OCZ Vertex :) i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo94/eeemolly/… – Molly7244 Feb 18 '10 at 0:43
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up vote -1 down vote

An SSD will not really improve overall system performance by all that much. Although there are specific uses where they can make a big difference. What they will do is make your system seem a lot more responsive and that will make it a lot more pleasant to use.

I have an Intel SSD in my main system and a slower Samsung in my notebook. But it was the notebook that subjectively gained the most even though it previously had a relatively fast drive (250GB 7200rpm Seagate). Another nice benefit of the SSD in notebook was a substantial reduction in noise and vibration.

But in choosing where to place your new SSD I would suggest either the system you use the most or if they are about the same then the notebook as it will likely show the greatest improvement. Especially as you already have a Velociraptor in your desktop.

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if you consider 5 times faster read and write speeds (Vertex in RAID-0 over Velociraptor) not a real improvement, then i don't know what is, never mind the insanely fast access time of 0.1 ms ... check this benchmark, the RAIDed Vertex is trashing any competition in all aspects: benchmarkreviews.com/… – Molly7244 Feb 18 '10 at 0:53
Not the best review in the world, it largely consisted of synthetic tests and comparing Vertex in RAID-0 to a Velociraptor is hardly fair. Although important HDD performance is only one aspect of overall system performance. I have several SSDs and would never go back to a mechanical drive but the real world difference is in system responsiveness (a bit like the introduction of dual core CPUs) rather than any dramatic improvement in overall performance. But your mileage might vary as there are certainly scenarios where they can make a big difference. – user10762 Feb 18 '10 at 3:20
You're doing something wrong, and I mean something extremely wrong. An SSD is one of the most significant upgrades to any modern PC. You should not be giving people advice if you don't know what you're talking about. – JL. Mar 5 '11 at 18:38
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