{"id":3596,"date":"2013-09-27T10:00:02","date_gmt":"2013-09-27T14:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=3596"},"modified":"2013-09-27T10:00:02","modified_gmt":"2013-09-27T14:00:02","slug":"benchmarks-dont-lie-ssd-upgrades-deliver-huge-performance-gains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/09\/27\/benchmarks-dont-lie-ssd-upgrades-deliver-huge-performance-gains\/","title":{"rendered":"Benchmarks don't lie: SSD upgrades deliver huge performance gains"},"content":{"rendered":"
I\u2019ve upgraded dozens of systems with solid-state drives. In every case I\u2019ve gotten a \u201cW\u201d reaction, as in \u201cWow!\u201d \u201cWhoa!\u201d and \u201cNo way!\u201d (not to mention \u201cKewl!\u201d). Given a relatively modern CPU, an SSD delivers more satisfaction than any upgrade I know. Don\u2019t take my word for it, however: Believe the numbers.Most people who want to boost their desktop computer\u2019s performance will upgrade either its GPU (easy) or its CPU (only slightly more complicated). Typically it\u2019s impossible to upgrade either component on a laptop. Storage upgrades, meanwhile, usually happen only after you\u2019ve accumulated too much digital stuff (movies, music, and what have you), not when you\u2019re looking to make your PC faster.
\nMost SSDs don\u2019t offer a lot of storage capacity, so they\u2019re relatively expensive on a per-gigabyte basis compared with mechanical hard drives. Modern SSDs are many times faster than their mechanical cousins, though, so it stands to reason that installing one in an older PC will improve the system\u2019s performance.
\nBut just how much of an increase can you expect to realize? The typical SSD product review is designed to test the drive\u2019s maximum performance, so the testbed usually consists of a state-of-the art PC. What happens when you put an SSD into an aging computer? Do the PC\u2019s older components\u2014its CPU, motherboard, core-logic chipset, and the like\u2014squelch the SSD\u2019s potential?<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a>ROBERT CARDIN<\/small>
We replaced the hard drive in this late-model Toshiba notebook with an SSD and saw tremendous performance gains. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To answer those questions, PCWorld Labs ran our Notebook WorldBench 8.1 benchmark suite on a recent-vintage Toshiba Satellite P75-A7200 laptop powered by a fourth-generation mobile Core i7-4700MQ CPU (part of the processor family code-named Haswell), and our Desktop WorldBench 8.1 suite on an older Maingear tower PC equipped with a second-generation Core i7-2600K (Sandy Bridge). Our colleagues at Macworld helped us out by running SpeedMark on an Apple MacBook Pro with a third-generation Core i5-3210M (Ivy Bridge). All three test suites measure the performance of the entire system\u2014not just its storage subsystem.
\nThe Labs staff first benchmarked each computer with its original hard drive, and then replaced that drive with an SSD and reran the benchmarks. The performance differences in all three scenarios were stunning.<\/p>\n

The numbers<\/h2>\n

When we benchmarked the Toshiba Satellite\u00a0P75-A7200 with its stock 750GB, 5400-rpm hard drive (a Western Digital Travelstar HTS541075A9E680), the machine posted a Notebook WorldBench 8.1 score of 279. That\u2019s good performance. But when we replaced that drive with a 500GB Samsung EVO SSD, the laptop\u2019s score jumped to 435\u2014a 56 percent improvement.<\/p>\n

\"Notebook<\/a>
An SSD upgrade can boost the performance of a brand-new notebook, too.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When we tested the Maingear tower PC\u00a0with its original 1TB, 7200-rpm Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS hard drive, the computer earned a Desktop WorldBench 8.1 score of 162. With a 256GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD installed, the score doubled to 325.<\/p>\n

\"Desktop<\/a>
Replace an aging desktop system\u2019s hard drive with a fast SSD, and you\u2019ll feel as if you have a whole new machine. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The SSD upgrade dramatically improved the tower\u2019s boot time, too, reducing it to 23 seconds from 63. We didn\u2019t see as much of an improvement with the Satellite P75-A7200, because that machine benefits from a more recent CPU and core-logic chipset.
\nThe MacBook Pro, meanwhile, arrived with a 500GB, 5400-rpm Toshiba MK5065GSXF hard drive. Its SpeedMark score jumped 55 percent\u2014from 121 to 188\u2014when we replaced that drive with the 500GB Samsung 840 EVO.<\/p>\n

\"Desktop<\/a>
No one likes to wait for a computer to start up. An SSD upgrade reduced this PC\u2019s boot time by half. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When an SSD upgrade makes sense<\/h2>\n

Any PC running a CPU introduced within the past six or seven years (that is, an AMD Phenom; an Intel Atom, Core 2, or Core i3\/i5\/i7; or any newer processor family) is a good candidate for an SSD upgrade. You\u2019ll still see a performance boost with an SSD even if your CPU is older than those mentioned. In such cases, however, it\u2019s probably time to put that computer out to pasture, because there are many other advancements\u2014chipset improvements, new bus technologies, faster I\/O ports\u2014that you can\u2019t get short of replacing your motherboard (at a minimum).
\nYou should also consider an SSD upgrade if you\u2019re buying a new computer. A PC with a midtier CPU and an SSD (or an SSD cache for a mechanical hard drive) will start up faster and feel significantly faster than a computer that\u2019s hobbled by a slow hard drive, even if it has a higher-end CPU.
\nIf you want it all and have the budget to indulge that strategy, buy a PC with both types of drives. It\u2019s hard to do so with a laptop, though, so in that situation you\u2019ll want to buy the largest SSD you can afford. An alternative mobile strategy is to supplement the internal storage with an inexpensive, high-capacity external hard drive (500GB mechanical drives cost about $60). You can buy an external SSD, too, but those devices are much more expensive.<\/p>\n

Shopping tips<\/h2>\n

SSD technology has changed rapidly, and performance has nearly tripled in just a few years. You can find a lot of SSDs on the market, and shopping strictly by price can be a big mistake\u2014that supercheap drive you just pulled out of the bargain bin might have slow memory and a dated controller that kills its price-to-performance ratio. You\u2019ll see big performance differences among newer drives, too: Samsung\u2019s 840 Pro,\u00a0for instance, is the fastest consumer SSD we\u2019ve tested, but Samsung\u2019s 840 EVO is among the slowest. Other top performers include Seagate\u2019s 600 series, Corsair\u2019s Neutron series, the OCZ Vertex and Vector series, and SanDisk\u2019s Extreme II series.<\/p>\n

\"\"
SSD upgrades are easy to perform on a desktop PC, and only slightly more difficult on a laptop. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Keep in mind that a higher-capacity drive will deliver better performance than a lower-capacity model from the same family. Such results are due to the fact that higher-capacity drives have more NAND chips and more channels for data to travel over, but the phenomenon typically begins to flatten at about 256GB.
\nWhen you\u2019re looking at capacities, be aware that some manufacturers overprovision memory (they reserve some cells to replace others that wear out). A 480GB SSD, for example, might have the same amount of physical memory as a 512GB drive but set aside 32GB. The same goes for 240GB drives versus 256GB drives, and 120GB models versus 128GB drives. Overprovisioned drives can handle more program\/erase cycles, so manufacturers usually give them longer warranties (five years versus three).
\nSpeaking of program\/erase cycles, you can safely ignore warnings about prematurely wearing out your SSD by writing to it too often. Modern SSD controllers use wear-leveling techniques to spread write operations evenly across all the memory cells. You should expect even a non-overprovisioned SSD to have a useful life span of ten years or more under normal circumstances.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Does your desktop PC lack a SATA 6Gb\/s interface? Apricorn\u2019s Velocity Solo x2 adds two of them, and you can mount one SSD right onto the card.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finally, an SSD will use one of two interface technologies: SATA 3Gb\/s (also marketed as SATA 2 or SATA II), or the newer and faster SATA 6Gb\/s (aka SATA 3 or SATA III). Drives with the newer interface are compatible with computers outfitted with the older technology, and vice versa. But a SATA 6Gb\/s drive will deliver its best performance only if it\u2019s connected to a SATA 6Gb\/s interface. It is possible to add that feature to an older desktop PC with an add-in card such as Apricorn\u2019s Velocity Solo x2<\/a>, provided that the computer has an available PCIe 2.0 x2 slot, PCIe 3.0 x1 slot, or better.<\/p>\n

SSD: The upgrade that satisfies<\/h2>\n

SSDs aren\u2019t cheap, but benchmarks don\u2019t lie: Our tests show that they can pay for themselves, and then some, if you install one in an older computer or choose one for your new computer. The benefits to overall performance and even boot time will make you happy that you took the plunge.
\nvia PCWorld<\/a>
\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve upgraded dozens of systems with solid-state drives. In every case I\u2019ve gotten a \u201cW\u201d reaction, as in \u201cWow!\u201d \u201cWhoa!\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[124,1019,1134],"class_list":["post-3596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hardware","category-technology","tag-benchmarks","tag-ssd","tag-upgrade"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-W0","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9812,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2024\/11\/08\/slow-and-steady-m4-macbook-pro-apple-q424-pixelmator\/","url_meta":{"origin":3596,"position":0},"title":"Slow and Steady – M4 MacBook Pro, Apple Q424, Pixelmator","author":"NCCT","date":"November 8, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/etW5-oInyGA As expected following the end of last week's MacBreak Weekly, Apple announced the new M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max MacBook Pros. 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