ssd or cpu

I have a laptop with a 2.4 duel core, 4 gigs of ram, and a 8700gts videocard.
I would like to up grade but not sure witch way to go. What would be the better up-grade a 120 gig intel ssd drive or 2.8 duel core cpu? I use my lap-top for gaming and burning music and pix editing.

 

I would do the SSD if the choice was between the two

 

You'll notice far more from the SSD upgrade.

 

Third for SSD.

 

Replace the internal HDD with a fast SSD drive and get a big external HDD (eSata prefered) to store whatever data you got.

 

Intel has a 120GB SSD? I thought they were 40,80 and 160GB.......

 

TANWare is correct with the sizes... totally missed that

 

Thx for the advice guys, I will go with the ssd drive btw yes I ment intel 160 drive. I have a 300hd in my lap-top now I guees I can just install the 160 ssd drive and "clone" my windows 7 to my new drive

 

Get a 2.5" external drive case and you can continue using your 300GB hdd.
Recommend paying a little more so you get USB and eSata connections.

 

go for 160GB Intel G2 SSD... it newer and has TRIM while the old one is not so spectacular.

 

from 2.4 to 2.8ghz, there are about 15% speed enhancement at max.

with an ssd, you can get up to 30000% speed enhancement depending on the task. (late correction thanks to tiller: 23000% from a 5400rpm drive, twice that from a 4200rpm drive and yes, it IS unrealistic. i'm talking about the theoretical max gain possible to reach in some way)

now the ssd numbers are obviously not all the time but both are computable max speed gains.

i went for ssd, and i'm happy.

 

davepermen,

I agree with you that the potential is greater for an SSD vs. those particular CPU choices, but please come down to reality for a moment.

Tell me one task (not a benchmark) that will see a 300 times improvement vs. a mechanical HD - even a notebook's 5400 RPM standard drive - vs. an SSD.

 

random access of a tinywiny file that is built out of tons of fragments ^^

standard 5400 rpm drive: 15ms or so per hop. standard intel g2: 0.065ms or so per hop. if it now has to hop around all the time, it's .. 230.7692307692308x as fast at doing so.

crap, that's > 200x, not > 300x. well then.. it still would work fine for my crappy 4200rpm drive i had with 30ms access time

i was just saying, the theoretical maximum gains of both devices should just HINT on what might be more interesting. a device that can get you at most 15%, or one that can get you at most 23000%..

no matter how exagerated, the point still stands .. the ssd will beat the 15% gain any day

 

Bravo for thinking up of an example, no matter how unrealistic. lol....

Like I said, I agreed with you, but I'm just glad my files are much bigger than 'tinywiny' size!

I am also thankful that that one aspect of a drives performance means so little (compared to how big the numbers might make it seem) to everyday computing.

 

Suggest:

- go for Intel X25M G2 SSD over CPU upgrade for better bang-per-buck
- put HDD in optical bay caddy, convert optical drive to external USB unit, or hotswap in as needed
- optional: overclock the CPU and do a DIY ViDock implementation for more gaming FPS.

See sig for details.

 

Probably no point in me posting since I would think the current amount of posts are sufficient for the OP to come to a consensus, but I'll contribute anyway.

I'll join the SSD camp, specifically for the Intel X25-M 160GB G2, with TRIM support. From what I hear of this board, it truly is an amazing drive. It will probably make your system feel like it can last another ten years, and I'm guessing that a CPU upgrade to a 2.8Ghz dual core will not make your system feel all that much different unless you are doing some intensive stuff.

You can overclock your current CPU as well, whether it be through SetFSB or whethere you have to do a pin mod, which will void your warranty, and is quite hard, if you don't know what you are doing.

Here is a bit of a guide on how to do it.

I'm also one for the DIY ViDock. If you can get hold of a 5870 you can seriously improve your framerates in games, but that will only help with GPU related things, whereas an SSD will help in just about all aspects of the machine, not just gaming and other things GPU related.

 

well, most system files are small and i have applications that install in some seconds on my intels that take hours on hdds, so sometimes one triggers cases which really do have massive differences.

not often, of course. but still.

+1

+1, except for the "will not make your system feel all that much different unless you are doing some intensive stuff.

i'd say it won't even IF you do intensive stuff.

lets take a 100% cpu only gaming test (arauna realtime raytracing).

if it has X frames on the 2.4ghz system, it will have 2.8/2.4 * X frames on the 2.8ghz system.

meaning you get from f.e. 30fps to 35fps. not really much of a gain. and this would be for a 100% cpu dependent app, which no normal game is, nor do most apps ever use 100% cpu for a longer time.

 

Unless you are playing GTA4 or doing some photoshop or something you won't notice difference between 2.4ghz and 2.8ghz. Get the SSD. That said find your PLL and overclock your existing processor to 2.8ghz

 

+1 for PLL overclock.

Also save the money for when your 8700m fails (g84 core has a known fault).
It will fail if you don't keep it uner 60C.