First impressions of my new SDD

[Shooty*]

Well, my Kingston 40gb ssd arrived today. It has replaced a 500gb maxtor in my htpc, which is nice as my server has now benefitted from that 500gb drive.

There are, obviously, lots of articles out there on SDDs and what they can and can't do for a system. Lots of them involve number crunching, and don't get to what, for me, was really the nitty gritty: does it actually speed it up in ways you can appreciate, or what?

Answer: Yes.

And no.

First off: Boot. the HTPC is running a fairly naked Vista 32 Home Premium. Boot programs include ESET security, home server connector and... that's about it. Search, indexing, prefetch, quicktime, all disabled. I timed the boot from HDD and from SDD (having cloned the HDD onto the SDD). The boot time sped up from bios screen to "welcome to vista screen" by about 8 - 10 seconds (45 seconds total). The REAL increase came from going from the welcome screen to actual fully loaded vista. THis happened in a split second with the SDD. Very impressive.

Next: applications: INternet explorer opens the instant you click the icon. Wow. Itunes also v fast. Mame near instant. All very, very good.

The only app I've been disappointed with, which is a shame as this was really the reason I bought the drive, was Media Centre. It's still quicker than from an HDD, appreciably so, but not as "snappy" as the other apps.

I'm also a little gutted about Mediabrowser: I had hoped that, with the quick random read speeds, MediaCentre would be able to process all the images and DVD information quicker than an HDD. And I think it's a little quicker, but there is still an appreciable lag between opening your movie page and all the DVD covers displaying. If I use a RAM disc, this is instant, there's not lag (in the form of holding graphics) at all. However, I don't like using a ram disc as it slows the boot, having to populate it afresh each time.

I did wonder if this was a network thing, or dependant upon the read speed of my HDD server: does Media Browser have to "ask" the server that all the media files for which it has found cached image and information are still present on the server? That would account for the delay, but not explain why a RAM drive is able to show all the images and info immediately. From that, I'm concluding that a ram drive is quicker.

That aside, though, I am seriously impressed with how quick windows open, things respond, etc. There is a lot said about how "snappy" the system becomes, and, yes, I can verify that.

Anyone wants me to try anything (within reason), let me know.

[Englander]

Having now owned a Kingston 40GB for a week or so now, I can certainly agree with the points you've made. Things are certainly more responsive and Welcome screen -> usable desktop is nigh on instant

[Meaker]

Clock up that quad

I went from a 2.0ghz P7350 to a 2.53ghz P8700 and that helped the SSD show the difference in my laptop.

[Shooty*]

Oh, really? More info on THAT, please. The SSD is in my HTPC, which is a dual core of some description. Shockingly, I can't quote the spec off the top of my head. Hadn't thought about OCing it... could I, I suppose... onboard graphics, so it's the only "hot" thing in the case...

Interesting. Thanks for the idea...

[UseItNow]

A good read mate, thank you, as I too am considering a SSD for my media centre, currently using an E8400 and a G41 M/B with a HD4870 but considering taking a sideways step? to the new Clarkdales - Core i3 530 and a H55/H57 motherboard but possibly keeping the HD4870, or another sidestep? getting a HD5770.

[Shooty*]

I think I might have an E8400...

Wife's watching Dancing On Ice, so can't boot up to check.

[Pob255]

Interesting views on an ssd, I would of almost said theat the longer load times on media player was down to bad software, waiting for network connection to double check info over then web, however if it doesn't do it with RAM drive I'm not so sure.
If you figure out what's causing that delay let us know.

PS which SSD is that exactly? is it the Kingston V series 40gb? how much was it?

[Shooty*]

Interesting views on an ssd, I would of almost said theat the longer load times on media player was down to bad software, waiting for network connection to double check info over then web, however if it doesn't do it with RAM drive I'm not so sure.
If you figure out what's causing that delay let us know.

PS which SSD is that exactly? is it the Kingston V series 40gb? how much was it?

about 85 quid from CCL online, and yes, that one.

And I think it was software> I was running an early version of MediaBrowser. The newer ones appear quicker.

Sidebar takes a while to load, still, actually. Hmm.....

[Pob255]

Again, depending what you have running in the sidebar, probably delayed while it establishes network connection and receives packet answers.

[spac3d]

My internet explorer and firefox start the instant i click them