31 replies to this topic

[matty0]

When you start a program, much of it is loaded into the RAM. So unless the HDD you're using for storage is extremely, extremely slow (worse than a 5400rpm laptop drive ) then I won't make much of a difference, except for the initial loading.

my friend speaks the truth. computes detect whichever has the fastest read/write speed between the HDD and the RAM. 99% of the time the RAM will win. the 1% is only for REALLY old pc's when they used to have 180mhz "SDRAM" which (somehow) was slower than a 3200rpm hard drive... that stuff was shocking... now with your DDR3 ram, you're looking at transfer speeds even an SSD couldnt compete with.

the SSD will help speed in 2 areas, initial boot up (before the computer will load any programs/data to the ram at all) and in initial loading of HUGE files. ie files larger than the capacity of your 4gb of ram. so if you have a 5+gb iso file, or a 1080p movie thats <5gb... other than that, your hard drive will read the file and transfer it into your ram for quick usage. once the program has been closed, it will unload from the ram, and the cycle continues with the next program you run.

for the price of an SSD, do note what differences it will make for you... shaving seconds off a boot time is all well and good but its quite a cost for it in a price/storage space ratio...

not saying don't buy one, im more saying lighten the boot load of your OS before presuming you need one

[Quinn]

my friend speaks the truth. computes detect whichever has the fastest read/write speed between the HDD and the RAM. 99% of the time the RAM will win. the 1% is only for REALLY old pc's when they used to have 180mhz "SDRAM" which (somehow) was slower than a 3200rpm hard drive... that stuff was shocking... now with your DDR3 ram, you're looking at transfer speeds even an SSD couldnt compete with.

the SSD will help speed in 2 areas, initial boot up (before the computer will load any programs/data to the ram at all) and in initial loading of HUGE files. ie files larger than the capacity of your 4gb of ram. so if you have a 5+gb iso file, or a 1080p movie thats <5gb... other than that, your hard drive will read the file and transfer it into your ram for quick usage. once the program has been closed, it will unload from the ram, and the cycle continues with the next program you run.

for the price of an SSD, do note what differences it will make for you... shaving seconds off a boot time is all well and good but its quite a cost for it in a price/storage space ratio...

not saying don't buy one, im more saying lighten the boot load of your OS before presuming you need one

^Exactly what I was too lazy to write out
I'm satisfied with the boot time of my desktop, and it's boot drive is a 7200 rpm WD Caviar Green. However, the boot time of my laptop was brutal, being well into 2 minutes (5400 rpm WD Blue laptop drive). I put the SSD in it for exactly this reason. Now, the laptop's cold boot is maybe 20 seconds, probably less. I also needed the extra speed, because I use it in school, and when I need to write something down, I don't have time to wait 4 minutes to be able too.

[matty0]

i know it was a right essay haha i just thought i'd better lay out all the facts so its easier to make an informed decision... i dont think anythings been left out between the 2 of us haha

[Quinn]

i know it was a right essay haha i just thought i'd better lay out all the facts so its easier to make an informed decision... i dont think anythings been left out between the 2 of us haha

Well, maybe one thing hasn't been said.
SSDs are far more shock-resistant than regular HDDs (because they have no moving parts), which makes them better for mobile usage in terms of reliability.

[Randomrocket]

hahahaa aight thanks a ton guys. I think I'll get that ssd and load my OS on it. But first I need to get an external hdd to back up my stuff before I risk losing EVERYTHING.

Thanks a ton guys. The only downside i can see to a ssd is the price now. Would it be theoretically possible to use part of a ssd as ram? Cuz that would be tight to have 40 GBs of RAM haha

[Quinn]

hahahaa aight thanks a ton guys. I think I'll get that ssd and load my OS on it. But first I need to get an external hdd to back up my stuff before I risk losing EVERYTHING.

Thanks a ton guys. The only downside i can see to a ssd is the price now. Would it be theoretically possible to use part of a ssd as ram? Cuz that would be tight to have 40 GBs of RAM haha

The closest you could get would be to put a really, really big page file on it. Other than that, no.

[Randomrocket]

lol aight. I just thought it would be funny to have a huge amount of RAM

Thanks a ton man.

[matty0]

btw, jokes aside... making that into ram (even something like 2gb of it) is a BAAAAAAAAD idea! hard drives can be used as ram, but were not meant to be. let things operate as god intended

[Randomrocket]

btw, jokes aside... making that into ram (even something like 2gb of it) is a BAAAAAAAAD idea! hard drives can be used as ram, but were not meant to be. let things operate as god intended

lol what could happen? infertile memory?

[Quinn]

btw, jokes aside... making that into ram (even something like 2gb of it) is a BAAAAAAAAD idea! hard drives can be used as ram, but were not meant to be. let things operate as god intended

lol what could happen? infertile memory?

Constant Read/Write isn't good for any Hard drive/SSD.

[matty0]

Constant Read/Write isn't good for any Hard drive/SSD.

see this is why me and quinn are mates haha. once again, he's bang on. hard drives are designed to retain data. to have it writen and then stay there for as long as you could possibly need it. whereas ram is designed to load then unload no data retention at all. in theory, you could make your hdd act as ram... but as quinn says, you'd get read/write errors leading to a drive that dosent store data propperly. usless. also, you could in theory make ram act as a hard drive (see the macbook air) this has HUGE advantages as ram is fast as hell. but, it comes at a price... a price that those of us mortals couldnt bear to pay. so i hope this answers that question

[Quinn]

but, it comes at a price... a price that those of us mortals couldnt bear to pay.

LMFAO!