The Notebook “makeover” – Kingston SSD/RAM upgrade and clean OS install

Application/Gaming Load times and Windows Startup & Shutdown

Solid-state drives won’t increase game framerates but they can certainly reduce game startup times and save/load times. This means less time waiting for the game to load and more time playing the game. This is an issue of “immersion”. If it takes a long time to load a level or an autosave, it may cause irritation, and getting back quickly into the game after your character dies is important for staying immersed in any game.

We were surprised that H.A.W.X. runs at all on our notebook’s GeForce 8200M.  Running at our display’s native resolution of 1366×768 with all details set to “Low”, we experienced framerates in the low-20s on the DX9 pathway; using DX10 dropped framerates into the teens.  Resident Evil 5 proved even more demanding and we had to drop our resolution to get framerates approaching playable.

In the following chart we test both of our games at 1366×768 or at 800×600 with lowest details and with AA/AF disabled . H.A.W.X. measures the time it takes to load the in-game benchmark as it is very repeatable and consistent. Similarly, Resident Evil 5 is tested by measuring the time it takes to launch its benchmarks.  We also compare loading times for Microsoft Office 2007 Word and Excel to load blank documents.  Photoshop Elements 7 loading time is measured from launching ‘edit’ to its setup.

If you are into saving time – look at Photoshop Elements – choose either 26 seconds on the HDD or 7 seconds with the SSD!  And the SSD is potentially faster in loading PC levels and autosaves. The SSD will not improve your framerates – your aim, nor your presentations – but it may improve your immersion by getting you back into a game a bit more quickly and leave you less frustrated, waiting. Interesting, DX10 games in these two cases, load more quickly than the same game on the DX9 pathway.

Windows Startup and Shutdown

Now we come to what is arguably one of the most frustrating part of Windows – waiting for it to start-up or shutdown. For some of us, it is not important as we rarely start-up or shutdown our PCs. For others, it is a painful process to watch – while others of us do something else while our programs start-up or shut down.  With the OEM installation of Vista on the stock Compaq notebook, waiting over two minutes is an especially painful wait if one watches the programs slowly load up one-by-one.

Let’s first look at the average shutdown and startup times for Windows on the HDD versus the SSD. Clearly you are saving more than a few seconds, on average with an SSD over a HDD.

How do you value your time? The charts speak for themselves.  Let’s head for our conclusion.