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How good is a SSD cache drive?

C

cw64

n00b
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
42
Basicly, is it worth getting one if the main storage is SSD anyways? For £37 extra is it worth it?
 
Intel RST works pretty well . I've used it on laptops and it's definitely better than not having it. Dual booting off of a partitioned mechanical drive that has a windows partition caching on the ssd was a recipe for headaches though. If you are just running windows go for it.
 
RST boosts regularly used programs, if this is mostly what you do is good.. Pricewise in USA, generally a 120GB is a better deal and function.
37 lb should be half way to 120 GB SSD.
 
I recently installed a 32GB SSD on a friends old laptop and put his swapfile on it.
Hardly made any difference.

If your method of using an SSD can only implement a swapfile drive, only do it if the SSD is free or very cheap and the SSD must have good garbage colllection features.
If its Intel RST as described above then it can be very effective.
 
I recently installed a spare 32GB SSD on a friends old laptop and put his swapfile on it.
Hardly made any difference.

If your method of using an SSD can only implement a swapfile drive, only do it if the SSD is free or very cheap and the SSD must have good garbage colllection features.
If its Intel RST as described above then it can be very effective (ie your motherboard supports a cache SSD).

edit missed the bit where you are already using an SSD.
It wont make much difference in this case.
 
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Well if you use a real HW RAID card that supports SSD cache, you'll definitely notice the difference. :D

I plan on putting an 800GB Intel DCS3700 provisioned 500GB for caching (the rest unused) on my 9260-8i after I get a CV module. That'll make my 6TB-usable RAID6 seem like it's all SSD. 500GB of SSD is enough to fit a few wedding photography shoots. :)
 
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Cache drive for what? Do you mean for the system paging file location, or a cache location for a specific application (like photoshop, video-editing, etc.)?

If for the system paging file; no, it will make no difference if your current paging file is already on the SSD. If for a specific location, the only advantage I could see getting is more space (if your current SSD is lower on space than 32GB).
 
Just get a native SSD. Far less trouble and things to go wrong
 
cw64 said:
Basicly, is it worth getting one if the main storage is SSD anyways? For £37 extra is it worth it?
Click to expand...

I use SSD cache(Hyperduo) on my games drive. There is an improvement on load times for the games that are cached on the SSD. If its worth the money is subjective, if you're ok with a little boost in performance then its probably worth it. If you're expecting a massive improvement like going from a hard drive to an SSD you may be a little disappointed.
 
drescherjm said:
And make sure it is from a reliable manufacturer and is at minimum 128GB in size.
Click to expand...

Yup.

I used a Corsair caching 45GB Accelerator drive...was a decent half fix. But hard poweroffs and restarts could mess things up a bit...combined with the software being an inconvenient PITA. Finally the drive seemed to stop caching for no reason after 9 months (all boot time speed up overnight vanished along with app startup gains)....software said everything was hunky dory, and reinstalling the damn thing a couple times did jack shit.

Said hell with it and got a cheap 128GB Kingston SSD


Native runs faster, and just works better with less to worry about breaking. Maybe Intel RST works more reliably, but I wouldn't bother with how cheap decent SSDs are.
 
Pagefile will be disabled anyways, so looks like it's gonna be a waste of money for a little improvement. Thanks.
 
Skripka said:
Just get a native SSD. Far less trouble and things to go wrong
Click to expand...

Sometimes you can't. I'm dealing with an HP laptop where booting off the SSD isn't enabled in the EFI. Unless I go SSD only or modify the boot loader of the hard drive to refer to the SSD it won't boot from it.

SSD caching helps. not as quick as just an SSD but enough that it's noticeable. I have it maxed out at 64gb though, the rest of the drive is partitioned as storage.
 
Ryokurin said:
I'm dealing with an HP laptop where booting off the SSD isn't enabled in the EFI.
Click to expand...

Is the SSD formatted as GPT instead of MBR? I remember reading that unless the bios has some compatibility mode the boot drive must be GPT to work with EFI.
 
Someone told me to give intel a try because I had always been hesitant about making the switch to SSD. Bought one from a second hand seller I found on craigslist - didn't know if the hard drive would last 6 months. But it's been a year. Definitely got my money's worth. Some things that used to take 1 second to load now load instantly. It might not be a big deal but it's kind of shocking.
-Sn1PeR- said:
Intel RST works pretty well . I've used it on laptops and it's definitely better than not having it.
Click to expand...
vouche for intel
 
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