Ssd, os boot, or not?

[tdx_kid]

Hello,
I dont know much about ssds, although i just recently bought a ocz agility 3 120 gb and i dont know if i should install windows 7 on it or to use it as a non os boot drive. a computer dude once told me that you dont get the same speed out of the ssd if you run your os off it or not. its only 120 gb and if i could avoid having 15 gb of windows 7 on there and still have the speed in games that i install on it i would be happy!

 

[tdx_kid]

i meant to use it as a regular drive as opposed to an os drive. if that makes any sence

 

[tecmo34]

I'm not sure what your "computer dude" was talking about with speed . You will be better served running your OS, Apps and few games off of a SSD vs just games on a SSD. SSD will only decrease load times & it won't increase FPS, which is more important in gaming (IMO).

Your overall system will feel more responsive using the SSD as your primary over a mechanical drive. Some of the older (1st Gen) SSD lost performance over time, as a OS drive but they didn't support TRIM. With TRIM / SSD's Garbage Collection, this keeps the SSD running "like new" without decreasing performance, as OS drive.

 

[tdx_kid]

Alright! 'Cause i recently (yesterday haha) bought an ocz agility 3 ssd. im currently running it off of sata 2 ( my evga mb w/ sata 3 should be coming real soon) and it is already much faster than my raid 0 set up. i dont know if there is any maintenance i should do now with ssd, or programs i need to get, but i appreciate your help

 

[tecmo34]

You can read through this article for optimization ideas: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-performance-tweak,2911.html

Here is a good article on how to move your User folder: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/87555-user-profile-change-default-location.html

As for maintenance, I would make sure you installed the SSD under AHCI in your BIOS and periodically allow your system to have idle time (this is when TRIM / Garbage Collection works best).

 

[tdx_kid]

ok, i just checked my bios and i did not install windows on the ssd in ahci mode, ( which would probably explain why it freezes up on idle sometimes) but i alos have to keep it set at raid because i do have a running safe storage raid. my MB does have onboard raid controllers and im not sure how i can have it set to raid and ahci at the same time

 

[tecmo34]

It is okay to have set in RAID mode, as RAID acts just like AHCI with support for NCQ support.

 

[tecmo34]

Also with Sandforce drives like with the OCZ Agility 3, you need to disable hibernation on the drive & set the drive to never turn off. This should help with your freezing issues... (Steps 4 & 9 of the optimization article I linked to above)

 

[tdx_kid]

well i did most of that stuff for now.. its getting late, but i will have to do it aaallll over again soon, when i get my new motherboard haha! thanks again tecmo!! ill be seein ya! At least i have this page to come back n visit for the optimizations list!