Computers & Electronics

Old Desktop w SATA I interface, worth to upgrade to SSD?

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Oct 2, 2013
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Old Desktop w SATA I interface, worth to upgrade to SSD?

I have a pretty old desktop computer, and from what I can tell (specs here on HP site) it has a SATA I interface.

A SATA I interface has a throughput of only 150MB/s (SATA II and SATA III are faster). A new SSD today might have something like 500MB/s throughput. I may have answered my own question, but in this scenario, does it make sense to even try and upgrade to an SSD (since my SATA interface can only handle 150MB/s)?
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Mar 17, 2006
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No. Too old. Take it to the barn and shoot it.

You should possibly get the decent, used comp with i5, i7 2nd gen for $100-150, then add ssd.
Deal Fanatic
Jul 26, 2004
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Hmm looks like its an old AM3 AMD system circa 2009/2010?. It could possibly be sata2 . It really depends on what you intend to do with the computer. But with SSD prices so low give it a whirl with a cheap SSD and see if you like how it performs. Just don't expect it to be running AAA games well .. even with a good GPU, at max it'll be a office work machine.
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Mar 23, 2009
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Yes, that machine is worth an upgrade with an inexpensive SSD. You can even leave the HD in place for data and just install a 128-256 GB SSD as the boot drive. Prices are really low these days on those.

The main benefit of an SSD over HD is faster random access speeds, and those speeds are often under 150 MB/s anyway.

The main issue though is the Athlon X3 425 CPU is not fast. I upgraded my 8 GB Athlon X3 435 machine to SSD and it felt adequate after that. However, to really make it shine, I also eventually upgraded the CPU to a Phenom II X6 1055T, and that gave an extra kick it needed, to bring it from merely adequate to actually pretty decent for an office and surfing and Netflix HD machine.

I see that your machine can support Phenom II X4. A Phenom II X4 965 would give it a nice boost, but you'd have to get it from eBay and deliveries from Asia for these things takes eons these days unfortunately. Too bad too, since those chips go for less than CAD$50 on eBay from top rated sellers. You might also want to check to see if the latest firmware for your HP supports Phenom II X6, but I wouldn't count on it.
Deal Expert
Jan 27, 2006
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Yes it is - especially when drives can be had for about the same amount of money as it would cost to ship it across the country - ie $20 for 120 GB. Sometimes people miss one very important detail of SSDs over mechanical drives - the random access times - ie the wait time when the hard drive's head moves from one part of the disk to another. In mechanical drives, that measured in milliseconds while SSDs are almost instant (basically as fast as accessing the memory location). This massive reduction in access times will be there regardless if it's SATA or SATA1 or SATA2...
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Oct 13, 2002
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What are you planning to do with the machine after the upgrade ?
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Oct 2, 2013
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Obviously, no gaming is planned for this machine. It's mainly being used as a second PC for web surfing, emails, some light office work, and YouTube. It's actually not too bad for web surfing considering its age...(Having said that I just started hearing some squeaking sounds, but that's another issue altogether...hard drive dying?)
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Feb 29, 2008
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Just to clarify, even on SATA 1, SSD would offer a performance upgrade. HDDs don't come close to saturating SATA, and faster read and seek times of an SSD will definitely be noticeable.
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Oct 3, 2012
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bargainhunter514 wrote: I have a pretty old desktop computer, and from what I can tell (specs here on HP site) it has a SATA I interface.

A SATA I interface has a throughput of only 150MB/s (SATA II and SATA III are faster). A new SSD today might have something like 500MB/s throughput. I may have answered my own question, but in this scenario, does it make sense to even try and upgrade to an SSD (since my SATA interface can only handle 150MB/s)?
Yeah. But go for ultra cheap. Like that 120GB that was on sale yesterday for $20. You should see another special like that within a month. Just use it as your boot drive and your old drive for data storage. You will notice a performance improvement, and not have over paid for it.
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May 17, 2005
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bargainhunter514 wrote: I have a pretty old desktop computer, and from what I can tell (specs here on HP site) it has a SATA I interface.

A SATA I interface has a throughput of only 150MB/s (SATA II and SATA III are faster). A new SSD today might have something like 500MB/s throughput. I may have answered my own question, but in this scenario, does it make sense to even try and upgrade to an SSD (since my SATA interface can only handle 150MB/s)?
if its working and good for your "needs" then YES get a cheap ($20) ssd ... this "only" 150MB/s will be big a improvement ...
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Oct 2, 2013
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Thanks everyone! I'll be on the lookout for a cheap SSD. I was initially thinking maybe a 500GB SSD, but for something so old, investing in a 120GB (or maybe 240GB) should be enough.
Deal Expert
Aug 22, 2006
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bargainhunter514 wrote: I was initially thinking maybe a 500GB SSD, but for something so old, investing in a 120GB (or maybe 240GB) should be enough.
Age has no relation to size.
I have a bunch of C2D with 2TB drives in them.

It's more about what you're using it for.
Do you not have anything else to do rather than argue with strangers on the internet
Nope. That's why I'm on the internet arguing with strangers. If I had anything better to do I'd probably be doing it.
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Mar 23, 2009
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bargainhunter514 wrote: Thanks everyone! I'll be on the lookout for a cheap SSD. I was initially thinking maybe a 500GB SSD, but for something so old, investing in a 120GB (or maybe 240GB) should be enough.
Do you need 500 GB? In my case I removed my 640 GB HD and replaced it with a 250 GB SSD, but I don't even need that. I have used less than 50 GB, as it's just an Office, VPN, surfing, and occasional Netflix machine.

If you do need 500 GB, how fast do you need that access to be? Cuz if it's for data storage like archived video clips, usually you don't really need SSD for that. You can install a 120 GB boot SSD, and keep your hard drive in place for extra data storage.

BTW, don't go too cheap. Some of the cheapest ones have comparatively slow random access times. Still noticeably faster than hard drives, but slow enough that it won't feel as fast as SSD "should" feel. A lower mid-range SSD should be fine though.

And once you have the SSD installed, do consider a CPU upgrade. For example, for most business use, my Athlon II X3 435 was fine, but on really complex websites and with activation of menus in Netflix, I could feel brief slowdowns. That all disappeared when I installed a Phenom II X6 1055T. Now it feels like a modern machine.

Passmark scores:

2316: Athlon II X3 425 (Your current machine)
2475: Athlon II X3 435 (My original machine)
3928: Phenom II X4 955 (One of several available upgrades for your machine)
4961: Phenom II X6 1055T (My upgraded machine)

Your machine can take CPUs up to 125 Watts apparently, although I think your current one is 95 Watts. I'd probably stick to a 95 Watt model so you can reuse your heatsink and fan, and keep fan noise down. The Phenom II X4 955 comes in a 95 Watt version for example. I did the same with my upgrade. There are both 95 W and 125 W versions of the X6 1055T, but I bought the 95 W version since my slim profile machine with tiny power supply doesn't support the 125 W version. Even if it did, I'd still take the 95 Watt version so that my heatsink and fan would be adequate, and fan noise would remain minimal. After the upgrade, the machine remains effectively silent with the 95 Watt X6 1055T for 99.9% of the stuff I do on that machine.

The Phenom II X4 955 is about $35-$40 on eBay, including shipping.
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Dec 6, 2010
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SSD is worth more then that pc
Deal Addict
Jul 3, 2017
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Honestly I would just replace a PC that old unless you have some special purpose for it, but the SSD upgrade would be worth it if you plan to keep it.

It's not the data transfer rate of the SSD that's the main advantage, it's the IOPS (I/O operations per second). Your HDD can do hundreds of I/O operations per second, but even the most basic SSD can do tens of thousands - that's 100x the difference. Complex operations like booting Windows access thousands of files scattered all over your drive, requiring millions of I/O operations. That's why an SSD cuts your boot time enormously. The effect is less with other things, but loading complex applications with many libraries and associated services stills shows a significant speedup.
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Oct 2, 2013
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Thanks, I'll start with upgrading to a small SSD and enjoy the benefits of that. Upgrading the CPU might happen one day if I'm feeling more adventurous. This is a secondary PC, web browsing and watching YouTube videos is still pretty decent, even if the hardware is not worth much anymore.
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Mar 23, 2004
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rabbit wrote: Specs say SATA 2.0, so buy buy buy! :D
LOL SATA 2.0 or 3Gbps is nothing to get excited about. SATA I or 1.0 or 1.5Gbps was really short lived TBH. For Intel, only the very first SATA-supporting southbridges were limited to 1.5Gbps SATA. ICH5 & ICH6. You basically have to go back to P4 S478 to find these (in 800-series chipsets and the early/low-end 900-series chipsets). Everything after that was already SATA 6Gbps--from ICH7 and up, so basically P4s since Prescott.

Anyway that said, IMO, having an SSD on any PC that's C2D level or faster is definitely a requirement if you even want to call it a "computer". Anything that's P4-level or older/slower it's not worth it, just get rid of the machine and move on with your life. However this machine (an A64) kind of falls in the borderline area. An SSD will speed things up and they are fairly cheap these days, so it's not a big deal to add one. BUT it's only just barely worth doing with a machine this old. Because there are lots of newer and much faster machines you can get for real cheap these days (used Sandy Bridge office boxes come to mind), I honestly wouldn't bother trying to keep an A64 X3 going.
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ES_Revenge wrote: Anyway that said, IMO, having an SSD on any PC that's C2D level or faster is definitely a requirement if you even want to call it a "computer". Anything that's P4-level or older/slower it's not worth it, just get rid of the machine and move on with your life. However this machine (an A64) kind of falls in the borderline area. An SSD will speed things up and they are fairly cheap these days, so it's not a big deal to add one. BUT it's only just barely worth doing with a machine this old. Because there are lots of newer and much faster machines you can get for real cheap these days (used Sandy Bridge office boxes come to mind), I honestly wouldn't bother trying to keep an A64 X3 going.
Well, to upgrade an Athlon II X3 machine with faster CPU and SSD only costs about $75-100 all-in. Granted, it isn't that much money to buy an off lease/refurb desktop with SSD since it is only about $300-350 after tax with a decent amount of RAM and Windows 10, but it's still more than $100.

FWIW, my primary Windows 10 machine at home is a Phenom II X6 with SSD. I have no desire to replace it since the performance is very decent for office applications.

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