SSD drives versus Sata drives

[almartin]

With all the problems people are having with SSD drives why not stick to Sata drives until all the bugs or problems are fixed with SSD drives. Are SSD drives really worth the effort over sata drives. Just what is the speed difference any way and is it worth it? I thought about getting a SSD drive but now I am not so sure when sata drives work so good.

Any thoughts on this would be welcomed.

Thank you,

 

[hang-the-9]

SATA is a connection standard not a drive standard. SSD drives are also "SATA" drives. Read the reviews on the SSD drives to find out the speed differences, they are pretty big when compared to regular platter using drives.

There is no "is it worth it" question that is easily answerable, if you have the extra money and want something faster, it's worth it. If you don't like waiting an extra 20 seconds for Windows to boot, SSD is worth it. They are faster, but for me an SSD would be the last upgrade I'd do once I had top of the line stuff in every other component.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

SSD's are great benchmarkers. But other than that, I have been shall we say "unimpressed". If I was an frequent flier, the quick boot might hold dome value but when I arrive at the office, I push the ON switch and then head for some coffee .... when I come back, the machine is at the desktop regardless of whether it boots off the HD or SSD ...... both HD's and SSD's are SATA btw.

Here's my test results (Asus WS Revolution, i7-2600k @ 4.6 Ghz, 8 GB Mushkin CAS 7 DDR3-1600, Twin 560 Ti's @ 1000MHz):

Boot off Seagate Barracuda XT (143 MBps bench) 2 TB - 21.2 seconds
Boot off Vertex 3 SSD (550 MBps bench) 120 GB - 15.6 seconds.

You wanna spend $300 for 5.6 seconds ?

This is consistent with this youtube video which has Starcraft loading in about 2/3 the time off an SSD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1lFXGpMDf4

Loading the MMO I play (Saga of Ryzom) was a tossup. Game startup averaged about 45 seconds with the HD winning 3 outta 5 times and the SSD winning 2 outta 5 times. Methinks it had more to do with connection speed than lifting data off the storage device.

If I was doing PhotoShop, 3D Rendering, Video Editing, etc.I might be more impressed but even AutoCAD I don't see a significant difference. In all my programs, user input speed is the bottleneck, not the machine.

 

[nitrium]

I went SSD a few months ago and am very pleased. No problems whatsoever with my Corsair Force Series F120. In "real world" day to day performance (Windows boot times, app/game launching etc) there is preciously little separating any SSD manufactured over the last few years. For that reason I'd go with a tried and tested last generation model, as opposed to current gen and avoid being a glorified beta tester - last gen drives are significantly cheaper too. SSDs are a lot faster than ANY HDD that's for sure! I doubt you'll ever want to go back.

 

[sminlal]

With all the problems people are having with SSD drives...

As the others have said, SSD drives are SATA drives - I think you mean HDDs (Hard Disk Drives).

And what problems with SSD drives? I've been using one for a year and a half and it's performed flawlessly.

 

[almartin]

SSD's are great benchmarkers. But other than that, I have been shall we say "unimpressed". If I was an frequent flier, the quick boot might hold dome value but when I arrive at the office, I push the ON switch and then head for some coffee .... when I come back, the machine is at the desktop regardless of whether it boots off the HD or SSD ...... both HD's and SSD's are SATA btw.

Here's my test results (Asus WS Revolution, i7-2600k @ 4.6 Ghz, 8 GB Mushkin CAS 7 DDR3-1600, Twin 560 Ti's @ 1000MHz):

Boot off Seagate Barracuda XT (143 MBps bench) 2 TB - 21.2 seconds
Boot off Vertex 3 SSD (550 MBps bench) 120 GB - 15.6 seconds.

You wanna spend $300 for 5.6 seconds ?

This is consistent with this youtube video which has Starcraft loading in about 2/3 the time off an SSD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1lFXGpMDf4

Loading the MMO I play (Saga of Ryzom) was a tossup. Game startup averaged about 45 seconds with the HD winning 3 outta 5 times and the SSD winning 2 outta 5 times. Methinks it had more to do with connection speed than lifting data off the storage device.

If I was doing PhotoShop, 3D Rendering, Video Editing, etc.I might be more impressed but even AutoCAD I don't see a significant difference. In all my programs, user input speed is the bottleneck, not the machine.

Thank you for your input which was very helpful

 

[almartin]

Best answer selected by almartin.