SSD for a Q6600

I know that the processor and the 5yr old mobo I have can't take advantage of the speed that new SSDs offer. What would you suggest to decrease my startup time at the best pricepoint?

I fail to see the relationship between the SSD and the cpu. Any CPU will benefit from SSD instead of mechanical spinners.

I would suggest to get a SSD at the best pricepoint.

the motherboard would make a difference. SATA II or SATA III.

You'd definitely see a nice upgrade even if your computer only supports SATA II speeds.

SATA III SSD's are often priced lower than whatever older SATA II drives you may still find on the market thanks to aggressive competition and sales.

Watch for a SSD with the capacity that you desire to go on sale.

Quote from ric0suave : I know that the processor and the 5yr old mobo I have can't take advantage of the speed that new SSDs offer. What would you suggest to decrease my startup time at the best pricepoint?

I put a crucial m4 64gb in my folks dell with a q6600 3gb ram and the machine screams. Very quick boots and is a pleasure to use. They rave about how fast their machine is. If you just to surfing and office work this will be all the upgrade you need. Just make sure to set you pc to sleep when not in use , the q6600 is power hungry. You cant go wrong with a crucial m4 or intel 330 ssd, both are very reliable and sata 3 which is backwards compatible with sata 2 so you can move them to a newer system later when you upgrade. The 64gb m4 is only 65 bux, thats a steal.
http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-64-...crucial+m4

Quote from ric0suave : I know that the processor and the 5yr old mobo I have can't take advantage of the speed that new SSDs offer. What would you suggest to decrease my startup time at the best pricepoint?

I would echo what others have said, there's little chance you'll notice a difference between SATA II and III. The real benefit of a SSD is the near instantaneous seek times, which won't change going from SATA II to III. The throughput, how much can data can pass over the controller in a given moment of time, which is often used as a performance benchmark, has little relevance as typical usage like Office and Internet don't put much of a load on the controller. The machine that I have that feels the fastest right now is my six year old ThinkPad R60e with SATA I controller. It has a very good Intel SSD, runs Linux, which offers overhead, and it boots in seven seconds.

Quote from zazon : I would echo what others have said, there's little chance you'll notice a difference between SATA II and III. The real benefit of a SSD is the near instantaneous seek times, which won't change going from SATA II to III. The throughput, how much can data can pass over the controller in a given moment of time, which is often used as a performance benchmark, has little relevance as typical usage like Office and Internet don't put much of a load on the controller. The machine that I have that feels the fastest right now is my six year old ThinkPad R60e with SATA I controller. It has a very good Intel SSD, runs Linux, which offers overhead, and it boots in seven seconds.

Yes, you will see a benifit. Any SSD will be way faster than a hard drive that you currently have. While you might not get SATA III speeds you will still be way faster than the HD you have now. If the computer works fine for what you do, the ssd will see a nice improvement in the responsiveness of the machine, programs will launch faster, etc. However if your looking for faster rendering, more frames in your games, and SSD won't help with this since these are CPU based.

Where did I say you wouldn't see a benefit over a mechanical drive?

Quote from zazon : Where did I say you wouldn't see a benefit over a mechanical drive?

I interpreted LiquidRetro's reply as supporting your post.