new to SSDs and everything else

What type of SSDs are compatible with my G51VX-RX05 and whats a good price range for them?

 

any 2.5" ssd will fit, but it'll be limited to sata2 speed.

Don't worry about that, as you probably won't notice a big difference.

Price range is something you have to determine, and the size of ssd you want.

Some suggestions that might suit your system - search for additional discounts, i searched for prices on newegg as I don't know other reputable US stores:
128gb crucial m4 - $125
180gb intel 330 - $187 ($220 -15%)
256gb crucial m4 - $250

 

And of course the Samsung 830
At this moment I would go for the Crucial M4 or the Samsung 830.
Do not look at the manufacturer of the SSD, but at the controller (in the details tab of a product on Newegg).
Choose something with a Marvell or Samsung controller.

 

problem with samsung is that it's too expensive, and would be significantly limited by sata2, therefore pure waste of money.

 

Why would the Samsung be significantly limited by sata2?
There are some who believe that the Samsung is the better drive of the 2:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...e/659259-most-reliable-ssd-2.html#post8472915

 

because it can sequentially write 320 whatever type of data you throw at it, reads are similar to m4 at about 500 where sata2 can realistically provide some 270MBps throughput in desktop configurations without power saving features, while mobile chipsets are even more limited.

My hm55 can't push more than 175MBps of writes no matter how I configure power options and limits both m4 and 830 I have. 4 series controller is a bit better though.

Where samsung controller looses compared to marvell is 4k work that's most important in ssd world, and m4 is significantly cheaper than 830.

That's why 830 is my home disk and m4 serves for work purposes where that matters more.

 

Anyone have some 4K bench numbers of the M4 vs. 830 (on either SATA II or SATA III controller)? I thought I saw numbers contrary to what ivan_cro is saying.

 

A 128GB Samsung 830 on my SATA II notebook:

 

Gandalf, what chipset do you have in that notebook? this is great, I envy you

here's my test of the two on a desktop, h55 sata2

Crystal Disk Mark

Crucial

Samsung

AS-SSD

Crucial

Samsung

Original post here (it's in croatian)

 

I'm not at home, so I can't check, but I believe it is the Intel PM55 chipset on a Sony Vaio F11.

 

[ ] Ivan,

In this quote, "Where samsung controller looses compared to marvell is 4k work" would mean an M4 (using the marvell controller) will outperform the Samsung 830 in the 4K tests, or said another way, the M4 will have better numbers than the 830 in a 4K bench mark.

Maybe, I'm misinterpreting what you are saying, but your numbers suggest what I thought to be the case - that it is actually the 830 which beats the M4 in 4K tests.

Can you clarify? [/ ]

 

I don't know much abuot SSDs, hwta size will be good for me and what price is reasonable. I was told to come to the forum to ask about it. I was redirected from my original thread here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...0517-noobie-g51-owner-wanting-go-all-out.html

So my new question is would it be worth it to get an SSD, mainly to see a performance in gaming? And what size would I need to get to see that improvement?

 

Yes I can ,

from my cdm tests results would be:

qd1
m4: 30.13 R, 104.6 W - faster both
830: 24.58 R, 93.83 W

qd32
m4: 199.2 R, 160.0 W - controller limited read, much faster write saturated at qd2!
830: 194.6 R, 115.5 W

So m4 is always faster, but this is only half story as this is OCd desktop with power savings set to minimum so ssd could perform as fast as possible. Both R and W do high qd of m4 are severely limited by sata controller here, and 830 is only limited in R, and only by some 20% (however, that would require qd of at least 10 to saturate)

In my work computer I have sucky hm55 chipset that severely limits performance, and real life test for those two, deploy java application from scratch on local server and start server lasts about 3M15s with m4 onboard and almost 4M with 830 doing the same job with completly same settings.

Reason for that is m4 can reach 20MBps 4k reads where 830 strugles with barely 13. That is such a dramatic improvement over 7200rpm hdd I had before this no matter the sucky controller

 

Can someone explain what those benchmark numbers mean? Also when it come to gaming which of those numbers are the most important to look at?

 

That explains my confusion. For some reason, I took the "top" image of both groupings as the Samsung and bottom as M4.

Thanks for typing out the numbers.

 

No.

SSDs allow your computer to boot up faster, open programs faster, etc. It would allow games to load levels a few seconds faster but nothing significant.

Gaming is on your GPU.

 

Thank you very much. I am mostly looking for gaming improvements but I was getting advice to get an SSD. Now I don't suppose I will.

 

As said here, SSDs do NOT boost your FPS in games (not noticeably at least)...which if you are looking for gaming performance is what you care about.

SSDs however are well worth it imo for their much faster response to everything. Who cares about a faster boot time honestly (it's only going to be done once or twice on a normal day), but quicker response to everything you ask it to do is terrific. I can't stand waiting on a mechanical HDD-based OS anymore. But it boils down to the individual's usage scenarios, SSDs aren't worth it for everyone.