Need new desktop PC advice

[glatt]

Originally Posted by mbpark

The SSD is the best value, however. Stick with a good brand like Samsung or Intel, and you'll love it. I used one to rejuvenate an old Core 2 laptop, and it is like having a whole new machine.

This intrigued me. I have a Dell Dimension 8400. 9 years ago, CNet said it was among the fastest PCs they had ever seen back when they tested it in *cough* 2004. Would a SSD make it a new machine? Or would that be stupid? I'd still want a new OS, and the DVD burner is acting up.

Back to a new machine, how big does a SSD need to be to get the speed performance? I'd still store all my jpegs and stuff on another drive.

[Perry Winkle]

Originally Posted by glatt

Back to a new machine, how big does a SSD need to be to get the speed performance? I'd still store all my jpegs and stuff on another drive.

The size doesn't matter. It's the physical properties of the device. They are fast because, simplistically, they don't have to wait for platters to move under a read head.

ETA: As long as your OS and other IO intensive tasks can fit.

I'm not sure if XP has gotten updates to optimize read/writes on SSDs. I'd bet you'd see some improvement regardless.

[Perry Winkle]

Relevant: http://forums.steampowered.com/forum....php?t=2857150

[tw]

Originally Posted by glatt

Back to a new machine, how big does a SSD need to be to get the speed performance?

How much time is spent waiting for a disk drive? Verses how much time is spent processing data already read/loaded? Your answer is clearer by watching how programs run using Task Manager (or Process Explorer) to see where the bottlenecks are. To understand the answer can be unique to what programs are doing. Even the flashing disk drive light provides a better idea.

SSD means reading the program/data from the disk is faster. And then the system takes the same time to still process and display that information.

How much faster is a machine when the DRAM memory is doubled? Another indication of what (of so many) bottleneck exists. Waiting for the disk drive to load a program is often only a tiny part of the waiting time. Those other bottlenecks are not solved by an SSD.