Upgrade Suggestion

Hello,

I am looking to upgrade something (for around 300-400 bucks) on my laptop but I'm not sure what will give me the most bag for my buck or really what my comp can benefit most from (raw performance wise).

Right now I have an M17x R3 with 580M and everything else baseline(2630qm, 8gb ram, 700/750HDD). I use this computer for photo-editing/gaming and kind of want to make the whole system faster.

I'm coming from years and years of mac and all I did with that was get more ram as everything else seemed like such a hassle. Here is seems like I can get whatever I want - be it second hard-drive, ram, processor, so now I have no idea.

Sorry if there is a similar thread I tried the search and did not find it,

Thank You,

timurStas

 

Three letters mate. SSD. That is all.

 

^ What he said

 

I think the biggest performance boost I have ever seen in my life was SSD, it is just a game changer...

 

Haha obvious answer, agreed with all the above. SSD ftw!

 

Thanks Everyone!

Which SSD is good for this? Also to get most from it I should reinstall everything to it correct (like windows and applications/games) or can I keep my current for windows and just move apps to it?

Thanks again,

EDIT: Widezu69, for performance over everything is the SSD you have the best or at least close to it?

timurStas

 

I'd go w/ Crucial M4. This one seems to fit your budget.

http://www.ebay.com/ctg/Crucial-Tec...3A2%7C39%3A1%7C72%3A5848&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

 

Well, everybody is saying samsung is a reliable one, and I didn't have any problems yet either knock the wood

 

although generally SSDs are getting cheaper, getting a sata iii SSD now is great since you can use that for your next machine.

IF you think the HDD is fast enough, perhaps i7 xm. i guess you can get a decent amount selling your current cpu. and i7 xm will be a good future proof

 

A SSD or if you need it you can change your cpu.
No you wan't move your windows and apps on it, got to do a proper and clean install.

I got an OCZ Vertex 2, less than 10s to be on internet
The M4 is good too. Intel are great but expensive IMO.

 

I got a Patriot Wildfire as it is basically a cheaper version of the Max IOPs. I'd suggest going with a Crucial M4 as your first SSD, can't go wrong with them. Plus you get better random performance than other drives. Intels and Samsunhs are all great first time drives. I do a lot of sequential compression work so a SandForce drive suited me better.

 

I'll just add a general "+1" to all of this. An SSD is probably the best way to get a general speed boost - and a big on at that - from a laptop. You won't be disappointed.

 

Thanks Everyone!!!

So now I'm set on getting an SDD probably the m4.

To set it up do I just pug it into the secondary drive or do I need to get some kind of mount as well? Does it matter which drive is in which slot?

And once its there do I install windows to it, then just reformat the old windows drive (after back-up and such)?

Thanks again everyone,

timurStas

 

Put the SSD in drive bay 1 (the one in the middle). Bay 0 seems to cause problems (not always at SATA 3 speeds).

 

And i suggest not to format HDD. You can get all drivers from its oS drive and also it is a backup system just in case something goes wrond or virus etc.

 

Again on the SSD. I have a 256gb M4. Great drive. Also the eBay link listed earlier is a good price. I got mine for $350, and have seen em as cheap as $330. I live in the same city as that seller. I wish I needed another one.

 

Hello Again,

The store near my house does not have the M4 in stock but has these models:
OCZ Vertex 3
Corsair Force GT/3
Kingston HyperX

I dont really like to order online so are these drives good alternatives or is it better to just get it online?

Thanks again,

timurStas

 

Of those 3, the Hyperx because its more stable (has better nand memory). The only OCZ Vertex 3 I would get is the MAX IOPS version

 

No, the Kingston HyperX also uses 25nm nand, the same as the Force GT and the Vertex 3. The only SandForce drives I'd get are the Patriot Wildfire (I have 1), OCZ Max Iops and Mushkin Chronos Deluxe as they use more reliable 34nm Toshiba nand.

 

hmmmm could have sworn hyperx used 34nm...


In that case, all three drives are a no go.

25nm nand + sandforce 2281 controller = bsod city

 

So basically, any of the 3 drives I listed plus M4, Intel 510 are all decent choices. Maybe look at the OCZ Octane but to get top performance you need to get the biggest ones and they cost 2 arms and foot. If on a serious budget, the good old Crucial C300 was a screamer of it's time. Still competes well with current drives.

 

I would scratch the 470 because its sata2. I don't know much about the Samsung 830's yet because they are still quite new

 

Oh oops ok edited

 

They only cost like $750+ for the 1/2 terabyte ones. Shouldn't be too bad.

Or as I saw, $1,200 for a 1tb ssd. No idea what brand it was, although someone mentioned it might be an OCZ brand. I can't imagine too many people needing 1tb of ssd storage

 

I have 2 SSD's. One 120GB and other other 256. They are both almost full. I did make the wrong choice though. My data drive is a Marvel drive which is good for random access and should be the boot drive. My boot drive is SandForce which is best for sequential data write which is best for data. I can't be bothered to move things around! Probably gonna get some more SSD's so my old ones will be for sale. Anyone know a way of imaging/cloning a drive perfectly?

 

I SOOOO want to get an intel 510 250GB going crazy about that drive (no idea why )

 

Think I'm gonna go 1x 256 M4 for boot and 1x 256 Max IOPs for data. Or 2x Max IOPs Raid with Intel's new driver when it comes out to enable trim.

 

by new driver do you mean intel 710?? or they are coming up with EVEN more expensive SSDs?? 710s already worth a fortune

 

Best program for cloning SSD's that I have found is HDClone4 by Miray Software. It can do it perfect, standard drive to SSD or SSD to SSD it can re-size the partitions for the different size drives it dose it for you. You do not run into the problems with other apps. The free version is pertty slow of course, the standard edition is very fast will clone a regular drive to a SSD in 40 minutes. SSD to SSD 15 minutes. I have used it over a dozen times with no probles.
Miray Software - HDClone - Hard disk copy, hard disk backup, hard disk rescue!

 

Thanks alienwolf!

@graz No I don't mean the 710. I was talking about a driver, not drive. The new version of Intel Rapid Storage should enable Trim support for Raid SSD's.

 

I second widezu69, look at this article: AnandTech - Intel to Add TRIM Support for RAID 0

 

oh I see, but wait, to use Intel Rapid Storage, don't you need intel SSD??

 

No the RST is not a Intel SSD driver. It is a a Sata controller driver for Intel Mobos. We've got one and it is essential really. It's the first thing I install after I restore my systems.

 

oh crap!! I should install it then right? widezu, why should we install RST? can you give some quick tips about it

 

It stabilizes the Sata port, minimizes BSOD in SandForce drives and just generally good for ensuring the drive is running to notch. Helps with Server users and got something to do with Trim. Peace of mind really.

 

Hello everyone,

I finally got my SSD. I ended up getting the 120gb Intel 510. I installed it and now all thats left is to set it all up.

Thank you everyone for your help!

EDIT:

I just found an install guide on this forum ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...install-ssd-instructions-recommendations.html) and noticed I did some things differently. First I did not switch hard-drive slots (HDD in its old spot, SDD in bay 1). Second I did not rename any of my other drives (they have seemed to rename themselves when I booted off SSD). Third I intalled my drivers not in order mentioned.

Are these mistakes serious or minor?

Also I want to use my HDD for media and items that don't require that high or performance so do I just reformat the drive (after back up ofcourse) or is there something else that needs to be dont inorder to maximize performance?

Thanks again,

timurStas

 

timurStas, i didn't follow that guide, i winged it, but my system works very well. So don't worry about

you should reformat your HDD to get rid of windows and other unecessary files. Your system should smoke now!