Gemini000 wrote:BTW: Anyone remember how I decided not to go with an SSD in my new rig? Well, it's been several months now and I'm STILL not seeing any point to having an SSD. Loading times under Windows 8 are continuing to cruise along really fast despite having a third of my 1 TB WD Black HDD full. It takes 1 to 3 seconds to go between different areas in Skyrim, including outdoor environments, I can load my video editing software in about 4 seconds, and it still only takes 45 seconds to go from POST to fully able to run programs. (Excepting anything that needs to connect to the internet. For some reason, it takes a couple moments longer to establish a network connection, possibly because I had to replace my WiFi card with a USB WiFi device.)
But yeah, at least with Windows 8 and a good HD/CPU combo, I'm not seeing any real delays in anything OS related that would make me want things that take only 1 or 2 seconds to go even faster. 😜
It's not just about saving a few seconds when booting Windows (btw it's about 12 seconds from hitting the power button to the win7 desktop here).
With an SSD the whole system just feels so much smoother and faster. You'll encounter situations where you didn't even really realize the HDD was holding you back.
There is no way an HDD can match the actual perceived performance gain of an SSD. You can go raid-0 with two WD Raptors and they won't even come close.
But the thing is, as other users have already mentioned: If you haven't experienced it, you just don't know what you're missig. I have yet to encounter someone who has worked on a system equipped with an SSD to tell me that it's really worth it/noticeable. An SSD gives your system the biggest boost in performance. Not benchmark wise or in terms of game fps, but the system just feels SO much faster. No CPU/RAM upgrade in the world can supply this boost in desktop performance and loading times.
I just can't work without an SSD in any system anymore. I even install them in much older single core systems and see a very significant increase in desktop performance. Before I went all SSD, I did a little experiment and compared my old Athlon 2400+ with a DIY CompactFlash SSD to my x2 5000 gaming system with a WD Raptor (which used to be the fastest thing you could possibly get) and when it came to starting programs and just working on the desktop, the much slower system felt much faster. And believe me, those few seconds saved on each program start etc. do add up over time.
Maybe you'll upgrade to an SSD, use it for a couple of months and say "Hm, it's better, but it's not THAT much of a difference..." but you'll really notice the difference when going back to an HDD based system. With an SSD you just don't care anymore about starting multiple programs at the same time, while copying some files in the background and loading a game on the other monitor...it's still faster than an HDD doing only ONE of these things.
And if that doesn't convince you, here are some more upsides to using an SSD:
-they're completely silent, thus reducing your overall system noise
-they consume a lot less power, which is always good and is even more of a benefit in laptops
-time is money and if you save a couple of minutes in loading times each day, you'll get SOOO much more done 😉
I can only agree with Kahenraz: SSD for life.
