1st Gen SSD to 2nd Gen SSD Upgrade worth it?

Hi all, I am currently using a Dell Latitude E6410 with an Intel X-25 128GB SSD. I have owned a couple Crucial M4's before and although the X-25 is no slouch and is definitely quick, my M4 seemed much quicker. However, the M4's were in an Alienware M17X-R3 with a high-end 3rd gen i7 and 8GB RAM.

The Latitude has a 1st gen i7 and 4GB RAM.

Would upgrading from an X-25 to something like an M4 or 830 be worth it?

 

1st gen i7 is plenty strong enough, although you probably need more ram of really have the system flow.
However, for most operations the X-25 should be plenty fast enough, although you WOULD feel the difference against the 3-times-as-fast M4.
In what apps do you feel the slowdown on the X-25?

 

^^^ Good points, I believe your Dell has SATA II interface so I would stay with the Intel. How much of the 128 GIG is in use? Personally I use about 30% of my X-25 and performance is equal to what is what when I bought it 2 years ago (SATA II Asus G73) according to Crystal Mark. AFA real world I see no discernable difference either.
I would not upgrade, just out of curiosity does intel Toolbox show any issues with the drive?

the AW is SATA III capable I believe so with the M4 it should be much "snapier"

 

Most of the time the X-25 is fairly quick. However, sometimes when I am scrolling through web pages, it will just lag a bit. Maybe this has more to do with the RAM? I just ordered a 2x4GB kit and if that doesn't speed things up, I will purchase another SSD.

 

In my experience the X25-M (256GB) SSD's is where SSD's became a 'real' alternative to HDD's. Still not good enough performance (vs. $$$) to put in one of my workstations though, but miles ahead of anything else I had tried up until that point.

With the M4 - the X25-M really started showing it's age (it is after all a 2008 'era' SSD design...) and I finally gave up on being able to afford multiple $800 drives for my workstations (mobile and desktops).

Whether it is worth to get a new SSD for your old platform depends on whether you want to match the current hardware to the current O/S and other software now available.

First; max out your RAM - upgrading to 8GB is just the start... 16GB is where things are happening at the dawn of 2013 (incidentally; get the best quality SoDIMMs you can for the lowest price - even if your system does not 'officially' support it).

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...m-full-speed-help-screenshots-appreciate.html


Second; consider upgrading to Win8x64 - everything works faster with Win8 and is well worth the 10 minutes 'learning' it will take to make the O/S work for you.

Third; if you do buy a new/current SSD - consider leaving ~30% 'unallocated' from first use to help the SSD keep the speeds you paid for 'indefinitely' (and not just for a few weeks/months at the beginning of ownership like you see with your current setup).


Personally; it would be worth it for me to do all of the above (the RAM can be sold later on and a current SSD will be able to be sold and/or re-used in another system down the road) - it will make that much of a difference and give new life to your older platform.


What would I be willing to pay for the above considering that it will essentially be a new system and ready to go for another 4-5 years? Up to $500 (if I could do it with a 512GB M4).


Hope this helped?

Good luck.

 

As there was never a 256GB X25-M, how could you have experienced one?

 

FWIW I didn't really notice much of a difference going from my Samsung RBX SLC to the Intel G1, even though the specs of the latter are much faster on paper. I didn't notice much of a difference converting my dad's machine from an Intel G1 to a Samsung 830 either. Hence I would say that unless you need more space, the upgrade isn't worthwhile, but I also have a relatively light I/O workload so as these things go, YMMV.

 

For those specs, I doubt upgrading the ssd would yield ground breaking results, I'd probably add more ram first then do a clean install of the o.s.

Maybe check the health of the ssd as well.


Oh and moving to a 64 bit version of Windows.


Sent from my EndeavorU using Tapatalk 2

 

You're right there wasn't a 256GB X25-M - but a 300GB partitioned to 256GB was 'almost' good enough (still too slow vs. my vRaptors though).

 

Ok, I understand, but there wasn't a 300GB X25-M either.

 

See:
HP 300GB SATA X25-M Solid State Drive LZ069AA - SSD - Solid state drives - HP: LZ069AA

 

You have one of these HP 300Gb X25-M's? Care to take a picture of the actual, physical drive that you own?

It's not listed anywhere on the Intel site:

Intel® SSD X25-M Family

I'll send you $5 via Paypal if you take a pic of one of these 300Gb X25-M's that show YOU own one. No questions asked.

 

On a mission huh?

Never said I owned one - I don't buy until I test/try anyway and like I said: the vRaptors were already faster in my workflows. Nothing (here) is bought on the hope/promise of it being faster than what I already have running.


Also Intel has never been one for the most up-to-date information:

(Bold mine).




And; they have the disclaimer to back it up (see quote above).


The Intel 510 Series 250GB is what I eventually found to be competitive/superior to my vRaptors - and then only when partitioned to around half their capacity... and as already mentioned the M4's is what made SSD's mainstream for me: cheap like donuts with just enough performance for the $$$ invested.