SSD in an old computer?

[Zooman580]

Hello all,
After seeing the prices of SSDs fall so much, I'm thinking about breathing some life into my old DELL computer. I recently sold my powreful i7 gaming computer that had a SSD in it. I know that that computer definitely could have used the SSD, but will the dell computer benefit from it? Not sure that there would be a bottleneck from a new, faster HDD, instead of a SSD. It has an old 80GB POS in it right now, and that will go. Should I replace that with a small ~50GB ssd or a HDD of the same price. Will the old computer benefit from the speed of a SSD or will it be overkill? It has a Pentium 4 processor, 4 gb of ram and a small upgraded GPU for *light* gaming. I really don't care too much about the price, mostly just don't want to waste my money. Please advise. Thanks

 

[LordConrad]

You WILL get a big speed boost. I put an SSD in my grandparents old laoptop that has a single-core AMD Turion CPU. Even in standard IDE mode (laptop does not support AHCI) the laptop was very much faster. SSDs can definitely breathe new life into older computers.

 

[inzone]

The problem with going with just an SSD is the capacity and once you load the OS on a smaller SSD then you have a linited amount of space to work with. While it is true that you will see a performance boost by useing the SSD as the boot drive it is also a good idea to have a regular hdd with some storage space for games and apps. A good alternative to a SSD would be this hdd from Western Digital;

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLHX 150GB 10000 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$179.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136928

This is the sata3 version ^ and this is the sata2 version;

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$169.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136296

To get the same size in a SSD you will have to spend $250 or more and the Veloceraptor is a 10,000 rpm drive that won't cause you a bottleneck and won't saturate the sata2 port but it will be a better option then a regular 7200 rpm hdd. They also have a 450gb and 600gb model.

 

[Zooman580]

The problem with going with just an SSD is the capacity and once you load the OS on a smaller SSD then you have a linited amount of space to work with. While it is true that you will see a performance boost by useing the SSD as the boot drive it is also a good idea to have a regular hdd with some storage space for games and apps. A good alternative to a SSD would be this hdd from Western Digital;

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLHX 150GB 10000 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$179.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136928

This is the sata3 version ^ and this is the sata2 version;

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$169.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136296

To get the same size in a SSD you will have to spend $250 or more and the Veloceraptor is a 10,000 rpm drive that won't cause you a bottleneck and won't saturate the sata2 port but it will be a better option then a regular 7200 rpm hdd. They also have a 450gb and 600gb model.

Yeah I know what you mean. I had the same problem with my other computer. The thing is though, this older computer only has a 80GB drive now. If I replaced it with a 60GB or higher SSD then put all my pictures, movies music etc on the old harddrive, things should turn out ok right?

 

[inzone]

If that is all you want to have for a SSD then yes you can have what you have now as long as you realize that it's not very much space and it can fill up fast if you are not careful with what you put on the C drive. I was going by what you said earlier and that the old hdd had to go. But yes by using your old hdd for your picture , music , etc then you should be fine with a 90gb SSD. I have used a 64gb SSD for the boot drive and found it rather tight for space after a short time so if you can get a 90gb you will be better off.

 

[LordConrad]

I usually recommend 120GB SSDs as they have the best price per GB. They are also faster than the lower capacity drives. Once you start using your new SSD, you'll easily use the extra room.

 

[Zooman580]

Best answer selected by zooman580.