Noticeable difference in speed between SATA2 (285MB/s) & SATA3 (550 MB/


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I currently have an OCZ Vertex 2 SSD (read around 285MB/s; write 275MB/s)

Is an Intel 520 SSD (r: 550 MB/s; w: 500 MB/s) noticeable faster or doesn't it matter in day-to-day activities?

The SSD will be primary used for Windows booting, and starting of programs like Kaspersky IS, IE, OL2010, Photoshop Elements and a bit of Word and Excel etc.

Copying files would be faster, its the access speeds (seek time) you would notice the most between drives for normal opening of programs I would imagine, although I doubt it would be massively noticable between SSDs really

Keep tabs on the deals that occur and you can probably get a good deal on a recent SSD.

I bought a 120GB Vertex 3 for $100 after rebates a few months back.

I believe you can get a 128GB M4 for $120 currently. The OCZ drives seemed to have spiked in price lately.

Intel tends to be the most expensive of the bunch for whatever reason.

Depends what you do. If you spend a large amount of time copying files or if you play a lot of big games, you might notice the load and copy times increase from ssd to ssd.

General windows use? We're probably talking a fraction of a second increase.

Tray SATA6. You will notice a difference, PhotoShop will open off an SSD as fast a Painbrush.

@kiddingguy, for games, USB 3.0 has made life an inexpensive joy for me. I actually have some games that just don't like running off an SSD.

I have 2 OCZ Agility 3 SSD's in RAID 0, going at nearly 1.1GB/s read and write. I can boot into windows with a fully usable desktop after the bios screen in 12 seconds! I can open heavy programs such as Photoshop in 3 seconds! If you can afford it and the motherboard supports it, this is definitely the future!

Hmm..If it were me, I would say no.

I don't really care about boot times - my habit always was, and still is, turn on PC and make a drink. Boot time could be 3 minutes and I wouldn't notice.

Opening programs wise - office programs open instantly now, but they were only taking a second to open before.

I'm not going RAID and am not planning to use it as game-SSD.

Still worth it for booting into Windows and day-to-day usage like IE, Chrome, Outlook and other Office products?

Don't worry about SATA 2/3, just stick to your current SSD.

Or get a Vertex 4 if you have to satisfy your urge for an upgrade :)

@djdanster - eh, that's slow for an SSD.

i5-2400 and a Corsair Force 3 SSD here and Win 7 starts in 5 seconds (from BIOS to usable desktop) and Photoshop launches in 1 second or less.

Haha, yea alright then 5 seconds.... I can't believe that :huh:. Video?

Don't have a smartphone but otherwise I would. Timed it again to double check and it came in at 7 seconds.

Does your BIOS have instant on or something similar?

Do you have an UEFI BIOS? Or are you starting the clock after the POST has finished?

it should prolly only take about 12 seconds on an SSD cus windows wont be shifting 250MB' sec or 1GB a sec, its the seek time on SSD's that do it. windows loads lots of small files so the faster it finds em the faster you boot thats why its so much faster than mechanical drives. Dunno about photoshop but i think you could wait an extra few seconds, its not that big of a deal. The SSD will always be limited by the slowest drive you wont copy/write stuff to.

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