RAM/SSDD Questions

[Mr. Fed]

Thinking it's time to upgrade the laptop. In addition to gaming, it's the only computer I use away from work.

So.

1. Tempted to go with a SSDD this time. Even though it's a lot less room (256 GB rather than 1TB), I gather that the speed and reduced heat are worth it, and I figure I can dump lots of stuff on an external drive. Any reason not to go SSDD?

2. Is it worth it to bump up from 8 GB RAM to 12 GB RAM? Am I really going to see any improvement in performance?

[Rip]

None that I know of.

SSD FTW!

RAM not as big a deal. Probably see 10X more performance increase from the drive than a RAM increase.

[coopasonic]

Any reason not to go SSDD?

You like noise, heat and power consumption? You want to help Meal and his coworkers keep their jobs?

[Exodor]

The only reasons not to go SSD are cost and storage space. You can get a 256GB SSD for ~$200 these days which is plenty for an OS and a reasonable amount of data.

The speed increase far outweighs any other consideration. I wouldn't consider building a PC without one.

[Carpet_pissr]

The only reasons not to go SSD are cost and storage space. You can get a 256GB SSD for ~$200 these days which is plenty for an OS and a reasonable amount of data.

The speed increase far outweighs any other consideration. I wouldn't consider building a PC without one.

+1

[Pyperkub]

SSD also uses less battery - fewer (no?) moving parts...

[Rip]

It's like

WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN.

[TheMix]

One more thing to consider (though I will confess to not actually doing any research on the matter) is hybrid. Depending on your needs.

As I understand, you basically slave a small SSD to a standard hard drive. Data then gets written/cached to the SSD before being passed to the bigger drive. It sounds like you get a significant performance boost depending on your usage.

[Carpet_pissr]

One more thing to consider (though I will confess to not actually doing any research on the matter) is hybrid. Depending on your needs.

noooooooooooooooo

With prices of SSD's failing like frogs from heaven, no reason to even entertain a hybrid anymore IMO. Hell, even when SSD costs were well above $1/GB (currently around .80$-.90$), it was hard to justify a hybrid.

Basically just opens programs and boots up faster than a traditional hard drive, but still much, much slower (2-4x slower) than a pure SSD at that task. Not to mention reading and writing (since it uses a traditional HD for that).

[Pyperkub]

Yeah, the research I did on the hybrids indicated that they just weren't worth it.

[Vorret]

If you build a computer and put your OS on anything but an SSD you're doing it wrong.

[ChrisGrenard]

One word of warning on SSD's. Sometimes their firmware is a bit faulty. I had months of BSOD's (about 1 a week) until OSZ finally patched their firmware to fix it.

This might not be an issue with Intel or Crucial drives. I don't know.

[Exodor]

One word of warning on SSD's. Sometimes their firmware is a bit faulty. I had months of BSOD's (about 1 a week) until OSZ finally patched their firmware to fix it.

This might not be an issue with Intel or Crucial drives. I don't know.

I've read that some SSDs have a problem with hibernating and will blue screen when coming out of it.

I've got an Intel and never had a problem with it.

[Isgrimnur]

One word of warning on SSD's. Sometimes their firmware is a bit faulty. I had months of BSOD's (about 1 a week) until OSZ finally patched their firmware to fix it.

This might not be an issue with Intel or Crucial drives. I don't know.

I've read that some SSDs have a problem with hibernating and will blue screen when coming out of it.

I've got an Intel and never had a problem with it.

I've had this exact problem twice with my rig after putting in the new (HDD) boot drive. Windows is running them without specific drivers, so it looks like I need to do some research and digging around.

[Carpet_pissr]

Some of those OCZ Vertex (3 I think?) drives were notorious for BSOD's, but at the time they came out, they were the fastest by far, so they were also popular. Result: Lots of nerd rage bad newegg reviews. I think they mostly fixed that problem with a firmware update though?

[ChrisGrenard]

Some of those OCZ Vertex (3 I think?) drives were notorious for BSOD's, but at the time they came out, they were the fastest by far, so they were also popular. Result: Lots of nerd rage and ratings on newegg reviews. I think they mostly fixed that problem with a firmware update though?

That's exactly what I have. OCZ Vertex 3.

I must admit though, my nerd rage is not what it once was. I merely sighed and rebooted.

[Arcanis]

One word of warning on SSD's. Sometimes their firmware is a bit faulty. I had months of BSOD's (about 1 a week) until OSZ finally patched their firmware to fix it.

This might not be an issue with Intel or Crucial drives. I don't know.

I've read that some SSDs have a problem with hibernating and will blue screen when coming out of it.

I've got an Intel and never had a problem with it.

My work laptop has this exact problem, sleep = BSOD on wake. I just turned off sleep mode and all is right with the world. Seriously it takes 45 seconds from the time I touch the power until it is waiting for me to log in, yes I timed it. That is less time than it takes my tablet to power on from a complete power down.

[TheMix]

To clear the air, I would like to add that I, at no time, even remotely considered the hybrid drive setup. I was just putting it out there because it is an option.

And I probably would not think less of someone who went that route. Probably...

Looking at the Tom's Hardware write up that was provided to me in the other thread (and in case Fed has not seen it, here is the link to the last page and their hierachy: link), and in conjunction with the SSD Tracker site, it looks like the top tier drives are running $1.25-$1.50/GB. Dropping to tier 2 or 3 will correspondingly get you to <$1/GB. As I understand the hierarchy, there is about a 10% difference between the tiers. Though it sounds like that is only noticeable over extended use. Not something that will be observable to most users. As much as I'd like to go with tier 1, I suspect I'll be shooting for tier 3. Both the Crucial m4 and the Samsung 830 seem to be highly recommended (with the 830 being noted for high stability).

[Mr. Fed]

Went with the 12 GB Ram, 256GB SSDD.

Just arrived.

Impressed with how quiet and fast it is so far.