Sata 3 SSD question

[lations]

Hi, I am thinking of getting a crucial M4 256GB SSD. I don't really understand the SATA III thing. Does my MB have to specifically support SATA III for this to work (I have ASUS X58 P6T deluxe)?

I am also wondering if anyone has a SSD for main drive and then a large drive at 7200 rpm for a data drive. How well does a combo like this work? Do the apps and windows go insanely fast, but then get bottlenecked whenever I want to load something off the slower data drive?

 

[rolli59]

SATA 3 drives will work on a SATA 2 controller! Most people have it set up with SSD as boot drive and HDD drive as storage, it works fine. Load times are reduced but if you are loading large fil.es from storage HDD it will not get the speed benefit of the SSD.
Useful Info http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/270102-32-useful-articles-part

 

[Dereck47]

I don't really understand the SATA III thing. Does my MB have to specifically support SATA III for this to work (I have ASUS X58 P6T deluxe)?

No. SATA III SSDs are backwards compatible and will work with motherboards that do not have SATA III ports.
BUT, in order for a SATA III SSD to Read & Write at SATA III speeds it must be connected to a SATA III port.

I am also wondering if anyone has a SSD for main drive and then a large drive at 7200 rpm for a data drive. How well does a combo like this work?

That will work fine.

Do the apps and windows go insanely fast, but then get bottlenecked whenever I want to load something off the slower data drive?

Yes, the HDD will be the bottleneck but it's not that big of a deal real-world-performance-wise unless you're transferring large amounts of data. For example, if you're copying/moving a whole DVD file from your SSD to your HDD the bottleneck is noticable.
If you're copying/moving 10 mp3s you ripped from a cd from your SSD to your HDD the bottleneck is not that noticable.

 

[lations]

No. SATA III SSDs are backwards compatible and will work with motherboards that do not have SATA III ports.
BUT, in order for a SATA III SSD to Read & Write at SATA III speeds it must be connected to a SATA III port.

So my ASUS P6T Deluxe specs say for storage "southbridge: 6x SATA 3 GB/s ports". This means I will get full use out of SSD? Sorry very new to this and want to make sure before I buy this SSD.

Thanks guys!

 

[Dereck47]

3Gb/s ports are SATA II. 6Gb/s ports are SATA III.

Your motherboard does not support SATA III.

 

[lations]

Oh, that's too bad. So will any SSD out there give me faster speeds than say 2 velociraptors in raid 0, or does that SATA II cap on my MB pretty much make SSD not worth it?

 

[rolli59]

The SSD can max out your SATA II controller, that is well worth it.

 

[Dereck47]

So will any SSD out there give me faster speeds than say 2 velociraptors in raid 0,

Correct.

or does that SATA II cap on my MB pretty much make SSD not worth it?

Not correct. Get the M4, you won't be disappointed; and in the future when you upgrade your motherboard you will get even better performance.

 

[lations]

Awesome, thanks! Would you say upgrading the MB just to get that extra speed would be worth it (I'm kind of fantasizing about instant app loading)? If so, is there one you would recommend that wouldn't be terribly expensive? Is that something a computer idiot could swap out himself with just the manual (I'm assuming I have to hook just about everything in PC to that and it seems potentially complex).

 

[Dereck47]

It probably won't be worth it. To upgrade your motherboard you would probably have to upgrade your cpu as well.

 

[lations]

Sorry I've got this on such a tangent. So I would need to wait till I upgrade from my i7 920 to make MB upgrade worth it? I don't see myself ever needing more power than my cpu at this point. Meaning I probably just shouldn't go for the SATA III?
Also, I had 2 velociraptors in raid 0 (till one just died). But you say I would see noticeable difference between those and the SSD even on SATA II?
If it makes sense to stick with SATA II, should I just get a cheaper SSD that was designed for SATA II in first place?

Thanks again, you're really helping me understand all this!

 

[rolli59]

SATA III is not enough reason to upgrade motherboard! You will be fine with your current board and a SATA III SSD, it can be moved later when upgrading!

 

[crisan_tiberiu]

well, its strange, sata 3 drives work on sata 2 ports, BUT i have detroyed a sata 2 HDD when i connected it to a sata 3 port. The HDD started to "throw" the heads from side to side and it made it full of "bad sectors" ...or i was unlucky?

 

[Dereck47]

Sorry I've got this on such a tangent. So I would need to wait till I upgrade from my i7 920 to make MB upgrade worth it? I don't see myself ever needing more power than my cpu at this point.

It's not that you need more power. Your motherboard and cpu are based upon the Intel X58 chipset.
You need to be on a chipset that supports native SATA III ports. Such chipsets are Z77, Z68, P67. Your cpu is not compatible with these chipsets.

Meaning I probably just shouldn't go for the SATA III?

No, I think it's still worth it to get a 256GB SATA III SSD.

Also, I had 2 velociraptors in raid 0 (till one just died). But you say I would see noticeable difference between those and the SSD even on SATA II?

Correct.

If it makes sense to stick with SATA II, should I just get a cheaper SSD that was designed for SATA II in first place?

No, SATA III SSDs overall have better technology in them than SATA II SSDs; so they will last longer, maintain performance longer, less prone to compatibility issues.

 

[rolli59]

well, its strange, sata 3 drives work on sata 2 ports, BUT i have detroyed a sata 2 HDD when i connected it to a sata 3 port. The HDD started to "throw" the heads from side to side and it made it full of "bad sectors" ...or i was unlucky?

That had absolutely nothing to do with the controller, I have more than one older SATA 150 and SATA 3GB connected to 6GB controllers!

 

[RetiredChief]

While there is a performance gain when moving a SATA III SSD from sata II -> Sata III, it is NOT a biggy and def not worth running out and getting a SATA III MB/CPU until you are ready to upgrade.

The Biggest boost (Sata III SSD going from SATA II -> Sata III port) is in the Sequencial read writes. SATA III SSD Seq's will saturate a SATA II port: HOWEVER this matrix is the LEAST important matrix for a normal OS + Program drive. Random 4 K read/writes are more important and do not saturate SATA II

That said, you are getting a 256 Gig SSD so some of the large files will benifit from the SATA III interface (ie Loading a Large DVD VOB file for editing - No gain in playing the file).

 

[lations]

Hey, thanks so much guys! Really appreciate all the input/explanations. I'm mainly concerned with the Random read/write, so this sounds perfect for me.