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As each generation of computers (Laptop or Desktop) comes out we are noticing that the trend is for a solid state drive to be the main drive which hosts the operating system.  Though you still see the old style (moving parts) SATA hard drive offered for the entry model PC's and Mac's, premium and faster performing systems will contain a SSD drive.  A smart combination of storage would be to have your operating system only installed on a OCZ Solid II Series drive for example.

The OCZ Solid II Series is a entry level SSD which comes in various flavours - 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities.  PCWizKid will be reviewing the 60GB (64GB) model which is more than enough to install Windows 7 and use that as the main drive for the OS.  The idea here is to reduce the wait time and access vital operating system processes faster than conventional drives so that you can actually see the difference.  This OCZ Solid II drive has support for TRIM instructions of Windows 7 which directly deletes FLASH stored data to release free block, which in turn reduces SSD block processing time, enables immediate writing into the system and enhances writing speed. You can also have a conventional SATA HDD installed along with the SSD drive so you can install your applications and games on and launch those from another drive instead of a SSD.  Its a known fact that the only shortfall of owning a SSD drive is their limited capacity.  Even a 120GB drive these days can fill up pretty fast, for this reason we aren't looking at SSD's for storage, but for fast loading performance and little wait time.

OCZ Solid II 60GB (64GB) OCZSSD2-2SLD60G Specifications

• Read: Up to 200 MB/s
• Write: Up to 120 MB/s
• 64MB Onboard Cache
• TRIM Support
• Seek Time: < .1ms
• Slim 2.5" Design
• 99.8 x 69.63 x 9.3mm
• Lightweight: 77g
• Operating Temp: 0-70°C
• Storage Temp: -55°C ~ +140°C
• Low Power Consumption: 4.5V-5.5V
• Vibration: 20G. Peak, 10 ~ 20KHz
• Shock Resistant up to 1500G
• RAID Support
• MTBF: 1.5 million hours
• 3-Year Warranty

PCWizKid's Test System

• Intel Core i5 750 (at 4Ghz)
• MSI P55 GD80 motherboard
  
  
  
• Two Diamond ATI Radeon HD4890's in crossfire
• 4GB DDR3 OCZ XMP Memory
  
• Ultra X4 850 Watt Power supply
• Noctua DS CPU Cooler
  
• Cooler Master HAF932 Full Tower Case
• Western Digital 640GB SATA II HDD and Other brand SSD's for comparison testing.
  
• Windows 7 Ultimate 64Bit

Video Review

Conclusion

In PCWizKid's tests it was seen that the writing rate of new generation SSDs such as the OCZ Solid II has improved remarkably exceeding expectations on the advertised read speeds for sure with speeds at over 200MB/s.  For an entry value edition the new series OCZ Solid II lives up to the reputation of delivering best performance for the price.  However as mentioned in the review the access times are a few nanoseconds slower than higher performing SSD's which cost much more.  Nevertheless you cant go wrong in replacing your conventional SATA hard drive with this drive to get an instant boost of performance you can notice.