Firebrid 802 - Upgrade Hard Drives - Solid State/Hybrid Anyone?

[EnzoMatrix]

I am upgrading the hard drives on my Firebird 802 (the WEAKEST part of my Firebird, and the LOWEST score on Windows Index). I have replaced the secondary drive with a Seagate 500GB 7200 RPM SATA drive (ST950042 4AS) and that REALLY improved performance (I have my page file on the secondary drive).

Now it is time to upgrade the PRIMARY drive. I am looking at a 'Hybrid' Drive. A Seagate ST95005620AS Momentus XT 500GB Solid State Hybrid Drive - 500GB, 7200 RPM, SATA 3Gb/s.

Has ANYONE tried upgrading the Primary Drive to a hybrid? To a Solid Sate Drive?

Thanks,

Enzo

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

I don't have a Firebird but I would think that a standard 2.5 form factor SSD or hybrid drive would work.  I am fairly adventurous so I would personally give it a try.

You mentioned that installing a faster HD improved your performance.  If the performance was mainly as a result of moving the page file then your Firebird may be short on memory or you perhaps have another issue.

Your PC is spec'd with VISTA 64 bit and 4GB of memory.  Are you still using VISTA 64 bit?  Do you still have 4GB?

[EnzoMatrix]

Vista 64 still. Upgraded to 8GB OCZ RAM a year ago, swap file was moved to secondary disc the day I brought my Firebird home. Found it interesting that graphics REALLY improved in SWTOR with the new 7200 RPM Momentus drive, and Red Faction Armageddon is GREATLY improved. 

[EnzoMatrix]

WHERE are my manners? "Thank you, Dave!" For answering my post. I figured this wasn't much of a gamble, and even if it downturn work I have my FB9500t CTO I can try the drive in and use it there. I am p

DV9500t CTO, rather.

lol posting from my HTC EVO 4G.... Hence the problems..   

laying SWTOR and WOW on the notebook, nothing short of an.amazing feat.    

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

You might try starting task manager and make sure that all of the physical memory is being recognized and is available.  With 8GM of memory, there really shouldn't be much activity to the swap file. Task Manager has a resource monitor that can also be viewed for memory hard faults (paging I/O).  Start Task Manager and leave it running on the Resource Monitor on the Memory Tab. Now play a game for 5-10 minutes and then quickly switch back to Task Manager.  What kind of activity is indicated for hard faults?

[EnzoMatrix]

All 8GBs are recognized by Windows, both in task manager and in System properties and all the rest. I was just here wondering if anyone had tried a Hybrid drive in their Firebird not looking for a problem or solving a problem I am unaware of... I am not an expert on Windows, but the video textures in SWTOR show up better and more consistent, Red Faction time smoother, and my whole system runs better JUST by upgrading the secondary drive to a 7200 RPM from the stock 5400. I NEVER could understand WHY HP put 5400 laptop drives in this 'gaming' system but I am happy that I am FINALLY fixing the low point in my Firebird. 
In the Windows Index Score hard drives were always lowest @ 5.3. 

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

Perhaps the 5400 RPM drive had issues.  A 5400 RPM drive could actually have a  faster data transfer compared to a 7200 PRM drive depending on the linear track density.

I am sure that if a SSD or Hybrid drive works in your Firebird that you'll be very happy with the results.

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

So your question is targeted at a DV9500t? Do you see the DV9700t in my signature?

[EnzoMatrix]

Sorry for the misunderstanding, this thread was about using a Hybrid drive in my HP Firebird 802. Like in the 'Subject' of the thread...

Yeah, I LOVE HP computers, so I have a DV9500t CTO and my Firebird 802.

I am back on my Firebird, so I can write the posts much better.

[EnzoMatrix]

No, I haven't installed the NEW Seagate ST95005620AS Momentus XT 500GB Solid State Hybrid Drive - 7200 RPM 32MB Cache... I am waiting to get the Manual for the CMS Bounceback Data Transfer Software program... Drive is sitting right here!