[raider]

I have just bought lightroom 4 and am wondering if a SSD will improve performance on my PC. I am currently running a E6500 dual-core system with 4GB ram and 7200rpm 1TB hard drive.

I googled and some people say the benefit is negligible....some say the difference is huge....so I am not sure.

Any comments please?

[jatrax]

I am no expert, and still using LR 3.6 but I would think memory is probably limiting at 4gb. I moved to 8gb and it made a noticeable difference on my older system. No experience with SSD's but I would think they might have a bigger impact on systems that are memory limited as swapping would be much faster. But you need 64bit to go beyond 4gb.

[outkast2k5]

An ssd will improve your system. Anything to do with reading/writing to your storage will be faster on a ssd. But if its worth it will be entirely depend on you.
It took me awhile to convince my brother to try an ssd. After purchasing a Intel 80gb there was no going back for him.
Now he is running an intel 80gb for his operating system/applications and a raid-0 array of ssd's for his games. He still uses regular hard drives for storage.

[cbope]

If are running a 64-bit OS, going to 8GB will give you a noticeable boost, especially with a traditional hard disk. RAM is used for caching disk reads/writes and more RAM means Windows can allocate more memory for caching operations, which will speed up your system. RAM is also much cheaper than an SSD of any reasonable size.

[mysticcowboy]

Working with large libraries will be sped up with a SSD. So will program opening. For faster image processing and export, more RAM will give you the best bang for your buck.

[raider]

Thanks guys. Upgrading more than 4GB of ram also means I have to upgrade the motherboard + CPU as the ram on this particular mobo is maxed out at 4GB

[cbope]

Thanks guys. Upgrading more than 4GB of ram also means I have to upgrade the motherboard + CPU as the ram on this particular mobo is maxed out at 4GB

Are you sure? Most Core 2 systems will have 2-4 memory slots and support 8 or 16 GB. Even if you have only 2 memory slots, it should handle 2 x 4 GB modules. That is unless it's a Dell or HP or some other "consumer" box, then you might really have a 4 GB limit. If the system is built with a decent motherboard then you should have an upper limit of 16 GB with 4 slots.

[raider]

Hi Cbope, yep. my box is an old compaq machine and the ram can only go max 4GB. It is a terrible machine by today's standards but has served me well for 4 years.....looks like it is time to change PC....

[cbope]

Hi Cbope, yep. my box is an old compaq machine and the ram can only go max 4GB. It is a terrible machine by today's standards but has served me well for 4 years.....looks like it is time to change PC....

Yep, sounds like time to upgrade. You should seriously look into building your own PC or getting a custom-built one rather than buying an off-the-shelf Dell/HP/Compaq/etc. By doing this, you will be able to upgrade and swap out components as your needs and budget grows. You will also have better quality components that are more upgrade-friendly. It may cost a little more initially, but it will pay off over time. I've had nothing but custom built PC's since the 80's, apart from a few work cast-offs. I've never bought a pre-built computer in my life, except my current laptop, which I bought last year. Everything else is custom built and gradually upgraded over its lifetime until it no longer meets my needs. I only build-out a new PC every few years, my last was in 2009 and recent upgrades mean it will last a few more years.

[slip]

I have 3 ssd's... one for the main OS including PS, lightroom, etc. I have another small one for a scratch disk for PS and another one for the OS virtual memory. I have 8 gig of ram and using a scratch disk on separate SSD drive really helped the speed. in your case if you don't run PS you can use the SSD for the temp files, etc for lightroom. not sure if lightroom 4 supports scratch disk or not.
BTW with PS and OS on my ssd drive PS boots in less then 5 seconds
I would get the high end ones (I have ocz vertex 3 and agility 3) as the older ones (even a year old) are only 1/2 as fast)
my system is just an out of the box HP that supports ddr2 8 gig. I upgraded the power supply and video card ((g-force 550 si) as I run dual monitors as well.
It is also around 4 years old.. intel dual core first or second version conroe core.. still does a good job but I did spend a few bucks to upgrade as you can tell

now that I read back to your post yours is faster then mine

good luck