Computer memory question - now windows 7 tech thread

[ducatiz]

Did you just rick roll this thread?   

i think i just got slap-happy with the prospect of a 100gb desktop system   

in the old days, with early versions of windows, some people thought it was cool to set up a RAM disk and put a page file on it.  cause it was faster access than a hard drive.

and then someone (me) pointed out that you are reducing system RAM, necessitating CPU time to swap ----to a RAM disk...

do those solid-state hard drives have faster access than a Winchester hdd?

[mitt]

well, 4GB of 800 speed is one the way from newegg    I matched the brand, tested timings and voltage with what I have, so hopefully it will all be happy for 6GB total.

My computer wasn't slow yet with XP and Autocad 2006, it was actually fast IMO.  I was just worried about 7 plus xp mode, and then autocad 2006 on top of that.

Next week I will have an update 


mitt

[Mad Duc]

do those solid-state hard drives have faster access than a Winchester hdd?

Yeah, not worth the price yet. If you're doing something really disk intensive I could the the argument for it. A 64 gig SSD is at least $150. Enough for the OS and not much else.

Mitt - tell us how it works out. I bet you'll be very happy with the Autocad boost.

[ducatiz]

Yeah, not worth the price yet. If you're doing something really disk intensive I could the the argument for it. A 64 gig SSD is at least $150. Enough for the OS and not much else.

ouch that's a lot, but i was thinking using it just for the pagefile.  64 gig might be perfect.

[ZLTFUL]

I have to say that the single most impressive improvement I have made to my computer is to RAID0 a pair of 120GB OCZ Vertex Series SSDs...INSANELY fast with some minor tweaks. getting reads in the neighborhood of 500 to 700 mb/s

One thing I did early on was take a 32GB thumb drive, pop it into one of my rear USBs and use it as my swap file drive. That's all it does plus it's faster than either a SATA or IDE HDD.


Going back a little bit, while yes, most DDR2 runs at same rated voltages, there are slight variations in actual voltage demand by the ram...mixing and matching puts more strain on the controller than is necessary. And multiple ram controllers are few and far between...in the case of his skt 775 mobo, it's possible but not likely as it is not likely a higher end workstation board which is more commonly going to have such a feature.

When you get into AMDs and the new core i7s, the controller is on the cpu die itself...

As for SSDs...a single 30gb SSD will easily hold your OS and several apps and will be a great increase in speed over a conventional mechanical drive. Then have a large storage and light weight apps drive that you dump your files on and you have a nice big speed increase for a reasonable ammount of money.

[mitt]

Are the ssd's faster than the standard hd's?

If I am going to be doing a clean install, and adding some ram, maybe I should add a 2nd hd for my page file?

How big should the page file be set at?  Right now, it is set a 2GB min and 4GB max.

mitt

[Mad Duc]

SSD's are faster but they are a new tech, pricey and some people are having issues with long term performance. Get a standard HD for your second drive if you want. It will help things. A good 1TB drive is $90 or less. Make your newest/fastest drive your OS drive, the other one the swap file.

Swap file should be RAM X 1.5 or 2.  In your case 2x should be good. Format the HD and put the swap file on it BEFORE you put anything else on it. It will put in on the fastest part of the HD. Make it a static size, not system managed. This will keep the swap file from fragmenting and slowing things down. 

Th best analogy I can think of is adding a new HD and moving the swap file over will be like having crisper throttle response - it won't add much horsepower but will make it react more quickly.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=2895328&linkID=9240617

[derby]

man, all you guys talking about drive performance and nobody has mentioned creating partitions with diskpart (with a 128 offset) instead of disk manager. 

[ducatiz]

nerd

[mitt]

SSD's are faster but they are a new tech, pricey and some people are having issues with long term performance. Get a standard HD for your second drive if you want. It will help things. A good 1TB drive is $90 or less. Make your newest/fastest drive your OS drive, the other one the swap file.

Isn't having a 250GB HD (my current HDD) as swap only a waste of space?  And when you say OS drive, you mean windows + program files + my documents, or just windows?

mitt

[Mad Duc]

my typical desktop setup:

C: OS and programs, Proj backup area
D: Swap file, photos, Proj

I will make a directory on both drives called proj.  Proj ("project") will become in effect "My Documents".  I copy d:proj to c:proj every once in a while to have a backup of it. Don't mix up the two or you'll overwrite the wrong files & lose data. IF you do this and lose a drive you won't lose much if any data.

This setup is also great if you have a huge problem and have to redo the OS. You can format C: and not lose any data. I started using this setup a long time ago when there were no bootloaders so I could change my OS anytime I wanted. Also I tended to mess with a lot of stuff and blew up the OS a lot so it made it quicker to recover.

[ducatiz]

my typical desktop setup:

C: OS and programs, Proj backup area
D: Swap file, photos, Proj

where do you keep the pr0n?

[Mad Duc]

the xxx: drive... 

[mitt]

Haven't thrown the extra 4gb in yet, but overall I am impressed with win7 64bit.  It is as fast as my xp was.  The graphics are much better, and I am not having any difficulty finding my way in the gui.

I really like the fact that you can easily get admin rights while in user accounts to make changes or install software.

mitt

[NAKID]

Can you switch from Vista to 7 without wiping your drive? The switch from XP to Vista would require wiping everything in the process...