I installed Dragon this morning and I did a little training and to let it read a few documents which I had me in the past.  The signal-to-noise ratio is 31 DB which is exceptionally high.  I really think I should have included more documents for Dragon to read, I would say I usually have better accuracy after a new install.  Probably the easiest solution would be to just let it read about 10 more documents.  I could also try adjusting the microphone input level.
  I really don't see any increase in speed, I have just restarted Dragon and I would say the load time is approximately the same as it had been in the past.  Also I have noticed that during the installation of Ultra Hal and Dragon that no icon had been put on the desktop.  I guess I'll just be thankful that both installations were successful and the software works.
Carl 2

Was looking for some light bulbs on Amazon and noticed the OCZ Agility 3 120GB SSD is close to £100, having dropped by £25 since I got mine last December.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/OCZ-AGT3-25SAT3-120G-Agility-120GB-SATA/dp/B004Z0S6SO/

That's certainly a better price, but more than I'm willing to spend for a drive that's only half the size I'd like to have. When they start offering 250GB drives for, say, £150.00GBP, then I'll be sorely tempted. Till then, I'll save my pennies.

I agree Dave.

I want a 240/250 GB drive but want to pay 50p per GB, or approaching that price.

Still waiting.

Don't know if anyone else is tempted, but I tucked in and got one :

http://www.ebuyer.com/268244-ocz-120gb-agility-3-ssd-agt3-25sat3-120g-agt3-25sat3-120g

£95.00

About 80p/GB

I was looking on ebuyer at them two days ago, they were £99 then, they sure are coming down in price.

Did you order the bracket too?

Yeah I ordered a bracket

I've been saving since January for one and was just waiting for them to go under £100 - and for that I got the bracket too, so not bad.

Sounds good  , about £35 less than I paid

You shouldn't need to flash the firmware on that drive either, it will have the stable version already installed. 

Think you will be extremely happy with it 

I hope so, read so many good things about it and of course your own comments.  Will be printing off that topic you made when it arrives.

Looking forward to tying it out 

Nice choice there Freddy, your computer is going to love you 

A tip I read recently, if you ever have to reformat the drive, use windows 7.
I don't know exactly how to explain the reason why, but it has to do with lining up the data blocks, and I read somewhere that xp does not line up the blocks. Sorry can't remember if vista does line them up or not.

Agreed Syber I've read the same thing about data lining up, some people have reformatted the drive in Windows 7 and got better speeds out of it, there is a nack to getting the most out of them.

Yes Freddy print that page out but like I said I don't think you need to do the firmware update bit, I would make a partition on the drive in your Windows 7 that you are running now though, but first turn on AHCI in the bios and do the driver installation bit. (That is for the data line up reason that Syber mentioned it also gives you a chance to see if AHCI works ok on your system before you commit to installing windows) 

I made a 40 Gig partition for windows and I'm doing ok for space but you might want to make it a bit bigger, I guess a good way to know how much space you need on C drive is to see how much space you are using now, then add a few GIG more just in case or something like that.   

OK I get the idea, but am a little confused.

So first I install the SSD in my system and format it using W7 ?  And also to see if AHCI works.

(Then I could check the firmware too presumably ?)

Then if all is good  I remove it and follow the instructions in Data's other post (except for firmware) for my new install ?

Why do I need to make a partition on my current W7 Disk too ?  I don't get that bit sorry.

My W7 drive is full of junk but I thought I might go for a 50G for windows.  Everything like documents and pictures will go on my old HD.  Only things I need to be fast will go on the SSD.

In a nutshell Freddy


Connect the SSD to your PC as it is now, then boot into windows.

Do the "turning on AHCI" bit, first in windows then in the BIOS, then boot back in to windows and let the AHCI drivers install, then reboot.

Now check for firmware updates and install if needed.

Now partition the SSD in the Windows 7 disk manager but I wouldn't format it yet.

Then shut down the PC and disconnect the old HDD (for now)

Connect the SSD to the first SATA connector on the mobo ( Normally SATA 0 but it might be SATA 1 ).

Install Windows onto the SSD to your new 50 GIG partition and let windows format the partition during installation.

Connect the old HDD to a higher number SATA port once windows is installed and up-dated.

Thats about it.     

Cool thanks, that I understand 

Yeah that's a bit easier to understand 

One question:

Do you have any IDE drives on the ribbon cable connected to your rig?