Just bought an SSD

[Dhalmel]

Intel and Samsung design and manufacture their own controllers, unlike most of the other brands that get them from a third party. This means they have more quality control over the whole product compared to those that don't make all the components themselves.

This is no longer true with Intel, they now use a modified Sand-force controller.

[Ayla]

I am using a Samsung 840 Pro 128GB, and I am quite happy with it.

[Soukyuu]

They seem to be doing alot better with their Octane and Vertex 4 model drives, but I would be VERY weary of their budget SSDs.

I had a budget SSD from them... the Onyx. Sent it back after a day because it was SLOWER than my HDD.

I'm not really complaining about the shorter life span, I was merely pointing it out as a con. I personally don't like the the SSD lifespan being based on writes, but Looking at HDDs, they both have a similar life cycle. I think for HDD after so many years, each following year has Double the chance of the drive failing. Overall if you're not constantly writing data to a SSD, it should last just as long as a HDD. Remember all technology has an expiry, even if it's not mentioned.

I actually like SSDs for having a relatively set expiration date. I'd rather know I'm getting closer to the edge and will have to replace it soon than having to fear that it can fail at any time (I'm looking at you, HDDs).

And from what I remember, you'd have to constantly write to the SSD for 5 years to wear it out. Nobody writes that much to an SSD. And with recent controllers, the amount of writes per sector is minimized, so even if you use your SSD for everything, it will last much longer than those 5 years. And looking at space requirements rising all the time, you will have to replace it sooner or later anyway.

A few small tips: Your SSD may come with software that can reconfigure key Windows settings for you, but if not-

Win7 and newer will automatically detect an SSD on install and disable defrag and prefetch. Cloning a HDD partition to SSD is not advisable, as special alignment of sectors are needed when partitioning to different types of drives.

Set your swap file (aka virtual memory) to a fixed size so that it isn't constantly being resized by Windows, again increasing strain on the drive.

That doesn't change anything actually. The only direction windows will resize the pagefile is up (not down), setting it to a fixed size will just waste space. With 4+GB of RAM, you will only need the pagefile for some weird programs who need the pagefile to work anyway.

Disable the indexing service (which speeds up file searches). With the speed of an SSD it's not really necessary and again increases strain on the drive.

Indexing doesn't increase the strain on the drive as it is read only (not counting the database creation). And if you have a HDD in addition to the SSD, you will need the indexing service. If you're really paranoid about drive wear, then you can move the indexing database to your HDD in Indexing options -> advanced.

Another thing you can do is move the tmp folders in advanced system properties -> advanced -> einvironment variables.

[Reika]

Acually my SSD was automatically detected when I was installing Windows 7, installed right to it. I guess i made the right choice.

[Molly_Millions]

...Avoid OCZ like the plague...

Why? They have decent reviews on Newegg.com. I have an OCZ SSD and it's been working great.

[Quesse]

I've had:

3 x OCZ Vertex 2 120GB
1 x OCZ Agility 3 120GB
1 x OCZ Vertex 4 240GB

They have all been extremely fast. I put an SSD in every system/laptop I own by default now. My latest upgrade, the Vertex 4, is amazing. I didn't think it could be faster but it is extremely quick.

[kazaran]

THe write times I SSD's have increased. THe chip reliability has increased. Some will still out last your regular spinning drives. Just don't go too cheap.

even having a 64gig as a cache drive for most used programs helps a lot. IF you will primarily play XIV, windows is going to store textures and game data on the SSD speeding loads. The only time it will over write is when patches change data completely.

One thing I will say is, the new engine, is vastly improved. Even without a solid state drive on a laptop, that old stutter is gone. Load times are not long at all, and they are pre timed anyway between zones to balance it between systems.

Trust in them. Most players will be just fine and very happy.

A SSD won't hurt even with a fast engine. Especially in a laptop. It is less strain on the laptop. IF you USe Windows 7 or 8, you don't have to move the os to it. The newer cache setup is going to utilize it well (be sure to set it if you are adding the drive after initial setup).

THe more people use SSD, the more popular it becomes, the sooner prices will plumet. Eventually they will replace regular drives. THey have new chip designs coming out that are much more efficient then older SSD's.

[Eekiki]

Using my Crucial M4 500GB drive, and haven't had any problems with it. Runs like a champ.

As for a speed boost in-game, it will probably be minimal. Possibly unnoticible, because your speed will be limited by your network connection in many cases.

I noticed no difference in 1.X or in FFXI between my mechanical HDD and SSD as far as in-game performance, but the programs load quicker when I launch them.

Even so, buy one. Fewer mechanical parts in your computer means less opportunities for things to break.

[Dhalmel]

shortened

someone knowing what they're talking about

[ispano]

Using my Crucial M4 500GB drive, and haven't had any problems with it. Runs like a champ.

As for a speed boost in-game, it will probably be minimal. Possibly unnoticible, because your speed will be limited by your network connection in many cases.

I noticed no difference in 1.X or in FFXI between my mechanical HDD and SSD as far as in-game performance, but the programs load quicker when I launch them.

Even so, buy one. Fewer mechanical parts in your computer means less opportunities for things to break.

The difference people noticed in 1.X on an SSD was due to the Client having almost 200,000 files vs a game over double the size having only ~6,000 files. The SSD handles the many many small files far better than a traditional drive. For many it removed micro stutters in game due to loading data.