I use a Corsair 120 gig SSD drive and it made a world of difference on boot times and load times of application. I also use 2 regular hard drives to store less used programs, music, pictures etc.. The only thing on the SSD drive currently is the operating system (Windows 7 64 bit), EQ and Starcraft2. Mine is a SATA2 drive, but they have SATAA3's out now. In fact got a flier from Newegg today for:
Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F120GBGT-BK 2.5
$PROD_MANUFACTURERNAME$
Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F120GBGT-BK 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
$154.99After $30 MIR
That sale is from 10am to 12:59 PST today only (Oct 20), which is a good price if you have SATA 3 available to you. Even at SATA2 speeds I would say if you want one, get one. They are fast, and you will see the improvement immediately. There are a few things you can do to be sure it is working properly. SSD drives work best in AHCI mode and with TRIM enabled:
The TRIM command allows an operating system to inform a solid-state drive (SSD) which blocks of data are no longer considered in use and can be wiped internally.
How to check if TRIM is active
To check if the TRIM command is active on your PC, start a Command Prompt window (type “CMD” in the Search bar from the Windows Start Menu) and enter the following command:
fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify
If the result is “0” then the TRIM command is enabled, and if the result is “1” then the TRIM command is disabled.
Use the following command to enable TRIM:
fsutil behavior query|set DisableDeleteNotify = 0
How to enable AHCI in Windows 7 after Instalation:
There is one way to fix this, although you need to have knowledge of registry editing. The detailed steps from Microsoft are as follows:
1.Exit all Windows-based programs.
2.Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
3.If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.
4.Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetServicesMsahci
5.In the right pane, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify.
6.In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.
7.On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.
After this you’ll have to restart your computer, go to BIOS and enable AHCI. When you log in to Windows again, you’ll notice the installation of drivers for AHCI. Another restart will be required to finish the driver installation.
These steps are provided at your own risk and not suggested unless you know and understand the risks. You will want to make sure the controller driver and MB BIOS support this option before you enable it
Hope that helps. As for size I would say a 120 gig so you can store your most used programs on it to get the best possible load times on them.
Calebe