I haven't built a system in a long time. I see all the different versions of ssd drives. My question is..are they just for faster boot times? What else can I use them for? I know it may seem stupid to ask, but the last time I built a system they didn't exist.
What's so special about SSD's
- Thread starter jdakar
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Gam3r01
Titan
- Jan 12, 2013
- 25,417
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Faster load times is the main use. These load times are not just for faster boot times, but also load times in games (something like skyrim, that can have miserably slow load times on slower storage is a good example).
Other than that, some programs see a slight boost, and the overall system is just "snappier"
Other than that, some programs see a slight boost, and the overall system is just "snappier"
richiestang_78
Glorious
- Mar 3, 2015
- 5,967
- 690
- 46,890
Faster boot times and loading. Normal Sata SSDs have a significant boost to both compared to even a fast HDD. Also if you Mobo supports M.2 (small form factor SSDs that mount right to your bard) you can tuck away a drive right on the board eliminating the need to mount a drive in a bay if you want a small form factor or clutter free PC case.
Also keep in mind SSD come in two varieties, SATA and PCIe, SATA is still fast over traditional mechanical HDD and uses tradiional SATA connections but PCIe blow it out of the water, however for gamers its debatable if the additional cost is justifiable. However if you routinely handle huge files in a productivity environment its definitely beneficial.
One other factor is that SSDs have a limited life span in terms of write cycles which varies on brand and model, plenty of information out there on it however most people will never hit that.
Also keep in mind SSD come in two varieties, SATA and PCIe, SATA is still fast over traditional mechanical HDD and uses tradiional SATA connections but PCIe blow it out of the water, however for gamers its debatable if the additional cost is justifiable. However if you routinely handle huge files in a productivity environment its definitely beneficial.
One other factor is that SSDs have a limited life span in terms of write cycles which varies on brand and model, plenty of information out there on it however most people will never hit that.
Solandri
Illustrious
- Jan 4, 2012
- 4,919
- 98
- 39,240
Ignore the sequential speeds everyone focuses on.
The Achilles' heel of HDDs is their random small file access times. Because they need to reposition the read/write and wait for the proper sector of the platter to spin under the head for each small file, their small file random read/write access speeds are about 1.5 MB max. Most HDDs can't even hit 1 MB/s.
MB/s is actually the inverse of how you perceive speed. You perceive speed as wait time. Less wait time = faster. So if you need to read 10 MB of sequential files from a HDD, @ 150 MB/s it takes just 67 milliseconds - less time than it takes to blink. But if you need to read 10 MB of random small files from a HDD, @ 1 MB/s it takes 10 seconds. So the slower MB/s speeds have a disproportionately larger effect on wait times. In other words, if you want to reduce the time you spend waiting for the computer to do something, you want to improve the slowest thing it does, not the fastest.
So these slow random small file read/write speeds are what contribute the most to your sense that your computer is slow. (Likewise, a SATA 3 SSD gives you something like 85% of the reduction in wait time from a HDD that you'd get from a top of the line PCIe SSD. There's no point paying extra for a PCIe SSD unless you need that little bit of additional wait time reduction.)
SSDs typically hit about 50 MB/s at random small file read/writes (30 MB/s for reads, 70 MB/s for writes). On top of that, the bottleneck actually turns out to be the filesystem interface with the drive, so if you can send the SSD multiple small file requests at once (queuing), it can usually fulfill those requests at 200-500 MB/s.
In other words, a SSD can be hundreds of times faster than a HDD at the tasks which contribute most to your sense that your computer is slow. Boot time is the example which gets trotted out the most, but usually that's only about a 4:1 improvement (from 1 minute to about 15 seconds). Where SSDs really shine is when you're doing lots of random file read/writes.
e.g. If you're doing a virus scan on a HDD, the computer is basically useless. The read/write heads are swinging back and forth at full speed trying to read every file, meaning it can take several seconds to fulfill a new request to read a file. Try to start a game with the scan running, and it can take several minutes longer than without the scan. With a SSD, you can run a virus scan, a malware scan, a chkdsk, run a backup, and compress a folder of small files at the same time, and the computer will still be responsive and usable.
The Achilles' heel of HDDs is their random small file access times. Because they need to reposition the read/write and wait for the proper sector of the platter to spin under the head for each small file, their small file random read/write access speeds are about 1.5 MB max. Most HDDs can't even hit 1 MB/s.
MB/s is actually the inverse of how you perceive speed. You perceive speed as wait time. Less wait time = faster. So if you need to read 10 MB of sequential files from a HDD, @ 150 MB/s it takes just 67 milliseconds - less time than it takes to blink. But if you need to read 10 MB of random small files from a HDD, @ 1 MB/s it takes 10 seconds. So the slower MB/s speeds have a disproportionately larger effect on wait times. In other words, if you want to reduce the time you spend waiting for the computer to do something, you want to improve the slowest thing it does, not the fastest.
So these slow random small file read/write speeds are what contribute the most to your sense that your computer is slow. (Likewise, a SATA 3 SSD gives you something like 85% of the reduction in wait time from a HDD that you'd get from a top of the line PCIe SSD. There's no point paying extra for a PCIe SSD unless you need that little bit of additional wait time reduction.)
SSDs typically hit about 50 MB/s at random small file read/writes (30 MB/s for reads, 70 MB/s for writes). On top of that, the bottleneck actually turns out to be the filesystem interface with the drive, so if you can send the SSD multiple small file requests at once (queuing), it can usually fulfill those requests at 200-500 MB/s.
In other words, a SSD can be hundreds of times faster than a HDD at the tasks which contribute most to your sense that your computer is slow. Boot time is the example which gets trotted out the most, but usually that's only about a 4:1 improvement (from 1 minute to about 15 seconds). Where SSDs really shine is when you're doing lots of random file read/writes.
e.g. If you're doing a virus scan on a HDD, the computer is basically useless. The read/write heads are swinging back and forth at full speed trying to read every file, meaning it can take several seconds to fulfill a new request to read a file. Try to start a game with the scan running, and it can take several minutes longer than without the scan. With a SSD, you can run a virus scan, a malware scan, a chkdsk, run a backup, and compress a folder of small files at the same time, and the computer will still be responsive and usable.
- Mar 16, 2013
- 171,770
- 18,133
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It's far more than just "faster boot time".
The overall system performance is better.
Multiple operations at the same time.
Level load times in a game.
Less noise, less vibration, less heat.
Personally, I would not build a main use PC without one.
The 3 main PC's in my house are all SSD only. No spinning drives.
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