If I did decide to upgrade to an SSD, what bits do I need to replace the original 3.5 SATA drive?
I've done it on a laptop, but different HD on those.
Luckily the Win7 HD is only about 1/2T. The other larger HD which has XP on it is partitioned, and the second partition is where I store videos, etc.
Disc C (Win7) is 465 Gb and despite the age of the computer only 3/4 full.
Apart from the SSD itself, quite likely just a sled to convert from 2.5" to 3.5" mounting, SATA cables should be the same
Use the same SSD as used in the laptop. If you buy the right version it will come with an adaptor frame to fit the 2.5" drive into the 3.5" "gap".
A 240GB SSD would likely be more than adequate for the OS and all your apps. Large data files you can keep on spinning rust if you want.
I was intending cloning the existing HD to save the hassle of having to load in everything fresh. So would need an SSD at least as large as the HD?
It will need to be at least as large as the amount of used space on the existing HDD. So if its a 500G drive with 100G used, then a 240G SSD will be fine with the appropriate software that can dynamically resize the partitions while copying.
If you get something like the HyperX Savage retail box, it will have the adaptor and a license for Acronis True image 2014 or 2015 included with it. Juat install that on the existing setup first, then have it clone and resize.
Yes - I've used that before. Very good too.
Something like a 512GB Samsung SSD 2.5" and a 3.5" adaptor (or DIY adaptor from made pieces of aluminium if you wish).
Might as well use a 6G capable SATA III cable if your PC supports it. Disk mirroring software might or might not help as it could easily transfer all the failings of the present system to the new SSD.
Installing the OS from scratch on the SSD will result in much more sensible config defaults (otherwise you will end up with hard disk drivers with some ancient settings optimised for spinning rust).
Seek time is almost zero on an SSD so defragging just wears it out.
What CPU have you got and how much ram? CPU-Z will tell you.
On an i7-3770 apart from real time video editing I don't have any problems running 2D graphics and video playback. It only struggles rendering textures in games where you really do need a graphics card.
Before you do anything radical it might be worth running a few other benchmarks to see which if any subsystems are under performing. GeekBench and 3DMark are as good as any stress tests. (I expect others have their favourites)
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