Hey all, So my new build should be arriving today (3770K, 8gb, M5Gene) - But, and I never thought I would say this so soon! I will be getting a Samsung 830 256GB SSD off Hamza_tm on Monday. What is the best way of setting up the PC with an SSD? Is there anything special I should do to make it work to its best potential (other than plugging it into the SATA3 port)? I will be doing a full re-install of windows on the SSD (ohhh thats gonna be effort sorting out 4 big HDDs!). So - any advice so I don't make a tit of myself trying to get it working properly with an SSD? Cheers
enable AHCI on the sats ports if , its not allready done and thats about it for installing , and turn off S1/S3 power states
That all then, shouldn't do anything in Windows to make it speed up or use it properly? XD Thought they were complicated buggers to use. Don't do this, don't do that. Yadda, yadda. Anyhow, cheers - will do that xD
well if installing windows new after setting to ACHI on the SATA ports (under RAID options in BIOS) then no, otherwise google how to enable AHCI.
Also turn off defrag for the SSD and run Windows Exp. Enables something's in registry i don't know what. I was just told to do that lol
1- Enable AHCI mode on your SATA controller. Do this BEFORE installing Windows. For the best experience, I suggest installing your SATA controller drivers in Windows setup. Have the drivers extracted (you can find them at Intel or motherboard website), put them on a USB key or disk. 2- You can keep S1/S3 sleep, I don't know what Harlequin is talking about, unless the Samsung 830 has a critical flaw, and if that is the case, return it, and buy a different SSD. 3- No tweak or anything like that needed. Windows 7 knows that you have an SSD, and takes care of everything for you. All the tweak out there only applies for older versions of Windows, and old SSD, where they don't have TRIM, and limited number of writes. You have a sync based memory SSD, so writes are crazy high. You should not worry about a thing. Use it like you used your HDD (minus defrag), and it will last you for a very long time. It's hard to say for sure, but SSDLife will probably tell you something between 9 to 11 years. Even if it last 5-6 years in reality, by then you would have already changed your SSD to something faster, bigger and cheaper, by then (possibly to last even longer as technology improves). Oh something to do before you install Windows, plug the SSD on a current computer, and do a firmware update, if one is available. Some SSD firmware needs to format.. so better do it now.
Cheers peeps. Haven't received my parcel from Scan still, DPD are totally useless, went to wrong place. But I don't get SSD 'til Monday anyway. But still annoying! Was gonna set it all up ready. Grrrr!
You can take or leave as much of the advice as you feel necessary in here, I followed most of the advice in there and the machine feels snappy and responsive, no problems so far. A couple of people on these forums have criticised it saying that some of the steps are unnecessary, and I tend to agree, but if you follow common sense then you'll be able to work out which best apply to you.
1 - choice... ...i don't give drivers during boot... & it's worthwhile installing irst. 2 - i *think* Harlequin's referring to needing power going to the SSD if you use sleep so that GC (idle time Garbage Collection) has a chance to do its thing... ...personally i also disable the sleep settings in the bios, but S1 will keep power to it (whereas certainly some of the higher ones don't). 3. - i disagree here... - Well, i have had both Win7 & Win8 not detect SSDs as SSDs on certain setups - so it's worth double-checking at least the first time on a setup (& if you change the OS or the SSD). - Certainly with Win7 (though i ran it with Win8 as well on the basis that it won't hurt) WEi does alter some odd things in the registry that simply installing windows doesn't - i'd run it after installing the irst drivers. - it's also *very* worthwhile altering the power options so that the HDDs do not turn off for at least several hours - again, as with 2, it's about making sure that there's sufficient idle time for GC to run. - &, along with adding extra OP (over provisioning - achieved by making a smaller partition) being a choice (i recommend adding at least 7% - Samsung recommend nearer to 9% - & i personally use at least 28%), you do not use it quite as you would a HDD... ...well, firstly, whether or not you add extra OP, you really need to be leaving at least 15% of the formatted space unused (personally i use at least 20%)... [NB the above two are for an OS/apps/etc usage - for a games only SSD then don't bother.] ...secondly, 'if' you use something like p2p software, it can really thrash a SSD if you leave (esp) the temp directory on a SSD - so much better putting this on a HDD... ...thirdly, it's worth making a pagefile that's got a range of 800MB to whatever Windows suggests... ...fourthly, it's a very good idea to disable hibernation as it can use vast amounts of space on the boot drive - administrative command prompt - "powercfg -h off" (without the quotation marks)... ...fifthly, i would personally disable System Restore as it's b useless & uses space needlessly... ...& they're probably all of the key things.
Well beside disabling hibernation, which is really based on you if you want to use it or not, or use Deep Sleep (sleep, and after a while the system hibernates, it's a Win7 feature), and Startup programs. And if you want, if it makes you sleep better at night disable services that your don't use. All the rest in the Windows tweaks will impact your experience of Windows, and not a good way at all. -> PageFile is more than just extending your RAM, it allows Context Switch which is a critical action that your OS does for your RAM. -> SuperFetch and Prefetch makes Windows start application faster, and itself. Your RAM is faster than your SSD, so you want that. Disabling Prefetch will make Windows boot faster, but make getting to your desktop and be ready to interact with it, slower... The time difference isn't the same though. It's faster to have Prefetch enabled. -> Indexing is also very important. Else search will be XP speeds, and will take forever to switch text inside files. -> Reducing shutdown time, means that some software/services that needs to do something at closing, will be prevented, as Windows will kill these processes and not wait enough time for them to finish and close themselves. And if they write stuff on your registry or a file, and quits during it's doing something. Oh boy. -> Power Options: If you want your computer to sound like a jet reactor, and waste electricity and produce high amount of heat. Then Set Windows power options to High Performance. If you want a cool and quiet computer, and energy efficient, use Balance. High Performance will set all your system at max speed all the time. If you are on your desktop not doing anything or browsing folders, you don't need a 50GHz CPU running like crazy. It waste power. This feature was added in Vista. Companies noticed a nice drop in power consumption. -> TRIM is already enabled as soon as you put an SSD. -> Disable UAC is like putting a sign in front of your door "All stuff in house are free!", and you remove all locks, doors and windows. -> Menu Delay will cause interface issues. I tried it.. Windows 7 task bar was unusable. and so on.
Yup, as I said, not obligatory. It finds time to do it. You don't use the SSD constantly. Sorry it's B.S With the appropriate drivers, AHCI mode set before Windows is installed, and latest firmware on a modern SSD, it should not be an issue. But if want to check it, go ahead. But should be fine. True. Beside that doesn't hurt. You worry too much. Your SSD will be fine. I think you worry to much, unless you plan to fill the SSD to the max. But i trust SSD manufacturers in they reserved space. Like HDD, it's best to not fill the drive at 100%, yes. Yes and No. While your downloads wont' benefit anything from your SSD as your internet connection is much slower, so that doesn't mater where you save your downloads. might as well put it on your HDD as it has the most space. I agree. As for Temp directory trashing, I don't agree. I recommend leaving the Temp directory on the SSD, else it makes your software go slower, and it completely defeats the purposes of having an SSD. I left everything as is on both my laptop and desktop, and all I do with my system are SSD destroyer in term of number of writes, and using programs like SSDLife lets me I have over 9 years left with my current usage. So I don't see being it a problem. If an SSD can't handle a Temp directory, than this technology should not be used by anyone, as this is extreme basic stuff. Already they are plenty of netbooks, ultrabooks, and also Mac's have SSD in them for years.. and only an SSD, and they have no noticibe performance drop or problems. Plus the SSD has a 5 year warranty, as a sync one. So the manufacture knows that even on near extreme cases the SSD will hold, assuming no manufacture error. Context Switch. Read it up. I already explained it on this forum like 4-5 times, you can pull my posts out. It's critical to match AT LEAST your RAM quantity. Else you'll complain why your system has stability issues. Mentioned that. Not useless at all. It allows you to go back in time (or just to view) on a file, folder, and drive, also system. In Windows 8 it's better implemented, where you use an external computer, so a malware and virus can't play with that, and I THINK you also don't lose it all at a re-install.
2 reasons - 1 as mentioned below is for GC and the other is a throw back from the aweful sandfarce drives and sleep mode failures
Use Intel Controller. Also under Windows 8, the Windows Defrag.. named Storage Optimizer (cause it only defrags HDD, and not SSDs), will execute TRIM process on the SSD installed on the system. So really no worries. Microsoft response: Source: http://social.technet.microsoft.com...l/thread/f97425f8-3857-4aa4-9cf5-437d5e212c9c
Fine... Ummmm... no... if GC ran instantly, it would create such a high write amplification as to be foolish... ...as such, there's a delay before it starts doing its thing & so you need to have power going to it for an extended idle time period. Yeah, i'm just saying to double check the first time - not every time you reinstall (unless it failed the first time). That in mind, this is why it's also worth double checking that trim's setup - again not every time you reinstall (unless it failed the first time). Fine. Again - if GC ran instantly, it would create such a high write amplification as to be foolish... ...as such, there's a delay before it starts doing its thing & the standard half an hour(?) simply is not long enough. The *only* reason why there is so little OP as standard is to make SSDs more competitive... See, for example - (i) how OCZ were forced to alter the V2/A2 to have less OP d.t. other manufacturers doing the same... This wasn't how the 1st gen SFs were supposed to be set up, but... (ii) why then do Samsung (who made the drive that was bought by the OP) recommend adding more??? As i've always said, it's choice - though the higher the (esp) random r-e-w cycle load, the more you'll gain from it both speed & longevity wise. This was about making it clear with a %age. You have misunderstood what i was on about here - what i meant was the p2p software's temp directory NOT the general temp directories. This is d.t. the way that p2p software downloads parts of files in non-sequential orders &, potentially from numerous sources at the same time - it works very differently to standard downloading. Ummmm... Well, the difference here is that i'm saying that it gains nothing whatsoever by assigning xxGB of space to the pagefile on start-up (with a HDD, you'd want a fixed sized one naturally). instead, you need 800MB for error reporting in Win7 (hence the min) - but then a max of whatever windows recommends (which is at least the ram quantity). That way the pagefile only uses space & gets assigned LBAs & whatnot as it's needed. Well you hadn't at the time... Well, it's never sorted any issues out for me in the past on any OS so... ...& the reinstall thing i think you're referring to in Win8 is the "refresh" option (ie reverting everything to original settings but keeping your user data) - which, ttbomk, has nothing at all to do with system restore. Anyway, i did say "i would personally" so maybe leave that to choice as well. Again, this all depends whether it detects the SSD as being a SSD.
such a stunning reply the day when AMD start using Intel controllers on their motherboards will be the day i can follow your `advice`....
Guys, I know feelings run strong about SSDs (for some reason), and you all now a lot about hardware in general, but it's be nice to see an SSD thread on this forum that didn't descend into flaming and wall o' text replies, why not just help the OP and move on with your lives? Don't mean to sound like an old moaner and I have a huge amount of respect for all of you, but it gets a bit tired when it seems to happen in every other thread about the things. If I'm out of place then apologies to you all, I shall quietly leave now.
It doesn't run instantly, for sure. But YOU don't use your SSD 100% of the time. You do go to the bathroom time to time, you do leave your computer idle for a while, you do use a software where it doesn't access the SSD/HDD (until you save), and so on. GC isn't perfect as it doesn't know what you are doing with your system. Windows does, and that is why you have TRIM. TRIM tells the SSD to perform these clean ups too, you know. And you don't need to execute GC several times a day. Once a week is plenty (unless your SSD is at max capacity or something). I get you. Fine. Ok, but you don't want to fill the SSD at 100% in any case, so you have free space. Why break your head with formatted space and such. Plus, that extra formatted space can come in handy if you need extra space for a short moment. Ah yes I get you. I agree. Sorry miss understood you. I am talking about "Previous Version". It's a feature that uses System Restore system of Windows Vista Business and up, or Windows 7 or 8 (renamed to File History). Which allows you to see a previous version of your files if you need to. Like Apple Time Machine.. but for Windows.
[Assuming we're in a trim environment here.] Not really - well, if you filled a SSD up with random data & deleted all of it then trim can tell the SSD do its thing over the whole of the SSD relatively instantly... ...but, irl, people don't normally do this. instead, only x amount of stuff will be deleted & will leave a whole load of blocks with redundant data in them - aka dirty pages - & these will either need GC to act upon them or, if it doesn't have time to, write speeds on most SSDs (reads on the SFs) will slow down when block combining has to happen in real time. Data is, by preference, always written to clean pages/blocks. [in a non-trim environments (other than R0 on S7 boards with the 11.2/11.5 drivers) then there's only GC - & so this becomes even more important.] Separately, trim does nothing at all with wear levelling. Now, as to your 'you go off to the bathroom' premise - the issue here is that, since GC does not kick in instantly, having a few 5 minute interludes does effectively very little, if anything... ...what you need are continuous periods of time. Then, you don't 'run GC' as such (&, obviously, i know you didn't actually mean this), but unless you're going to be altering your power options once a week (& back again) to give idle time with power going to the SSD then... ...well, for most people it's simpler just to set a machine up so that something will always happen & then forget about it. Because free space & OP act differently... i've linked to numerous things from intel & the like in the past over this - showing that both nand longevity & the maintenance of speeds is improved by extra OP with the same usage... ...ie less total space (giving more to OP) but the same r-e-w cycle usage. Don't have time atm to re-find them all. No problem - i think i may have phrased it slightly ambiguously. Ah, i misunderstood there. Well, i can't say i've ever wanted a feature like that so didn't think about that usage of it - well i've got enough storage needs already without having a thousand different versions of things backed up with system restore. Okay, i've only set Acronis to run once a day (& to keep stuff for a fortnight), but that's good enough for anything that i'm working on. Yeah, for me, it's always been the b useless thing that doesn't resolve any issues when something in the OS breaks... ...& it's always been easier to wipe the drive & start again from scratch.
