[SOLVED] SSD purchase for old ASUS P7P55D-E EVO motherboard

[will2power]

It has been a while since I posted, mainly because the PC I built myself with help from members here has been going, problem free, for over 10 years

I would like to add extra internal storage as I feel my HDD may be on its last legs, loud and slight clicking sound on start up. I have had 2 external drives that failed at bad times (clicking sound, unrecognisable by PC with various software and tests etc).

For internal storage, SSD appears to be the norm, I am looking at options but not sure what my PC is capable of, it is new territory for me. I will add the Motherboard specs in detail and hopefully someone will be able to help.

I am guessing from what I learnt so far that the Marvell PCIe SATA 6.0 Gb/s controller for 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports would be the right SATA ports to use? I have heard various things about speeds with other JMicron ports not being up to speed.

My second conclusion was that M.2 SSD drive is apparently compatible but would not offer any extra speed?

I use the PC for Photo editing and digital design and it is getting pushed these days with file sizes, saving etc.

I am considering these SSDs as they are "named" companies with good reputations, Crucial and Transcend I know will be compatible, the others should be too?

Around same price
Crucial SSD 1TB (1000GB) BX500 or MX500 (not sure the difference).
Sandisk SSD Ultra 3D 1TB or SSD PLUS 1 TB (again not sure the difference).
Samsung 870 QVO 1TB
PNY CS900 1TB SSD

Slightly Cheaper
Silicon Power A55 Series SSD
Transcend 1TB TS1TSSD220Q
Western Digital Green 1 TB
Team T-Force VULCAN 1 TB

Motherboard
Asus Motherboard P7P55D-E EVO

storage

expansion slot
2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (single at x16 or dual at x8 / x8 mode)
3 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots (2 at 5GT/s [blue]; 1 at 2.5GT/s [gray])
2 x PCI slots

Intel® P55 Express Chipset

• 6 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s ports
• Intel® Matrix Storage Technology supports RAID 0, 1, 5, and

10
JMicron® JMB363 SATA & PATA controller

• 1 x Ultra DMA 133/100/66 for up to 2 PATA devices
• 1 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s port
• 1 x External SATA port

Marvell® PCIe SATA 6.0 Gb/s controller
- 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports (gray)

external interface
NEC USB 3.0 controller
- 2 x USB 3.0 ports (blue, at back panel)
Intel® P55 Express Chipset
- 12 x USB 2.0 ports (6 ports at mid-board, 6 ports at back panel)

VIA® VT6308P controller supports 2 x IEEE 1394a ports
(one at midboard, one at back panel)

VGA
PCIe 2.0 x16 (single at x16 or dual at x8 / x8 mode) ×2


Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 750 @ 2.67GHz
AMD Radeon HD 5700
8GB memory (2x 4GB 1333)
HDD Seagate ST31000528AS 1TB 7200RPM

Thanks again for any advice and help

 

[Darkbreeze]

You can't use an M.2 SSD with that board. It doesn't have any M.2 slots, not for SATA or PCIe NVME drives, and while you MIGHT be able to buy a PCIe expansion card that would allow you to use one, you could not boot from it and the speeds you get would be pretty limited so it would honestly be a waste of money. A standard SATA SSD would work just fine for you.

Of the drives you have listed, the Crucial MX500, at 1TB or lower (Because I'm not sure your board supports drives larger than 2TB). I know those Marvell controllers had problems, so IF you add an SSD to this I think you will want to use the Intel SATA ports but you can try both of them to see which actually works or which give you better speeds. Technically we'd normally say the 6Gb/s headers would be preferred but if those are the Marvell 9123/9120 controller I think you'll want to avoid using those headers.

Quite honestly, and I'm sure you don't want to hear this but I'm going to say it anyway, it's time to retire that system even though it's still working because at ten years old you've greatly exceeded the amount of time most people get out of a motherboard which is usually more like five to seven years if they are lucky. Especially if it's a system that gets used very, very frequently. Gaming systems are lot harder on the hardware, but much is simply down to age as hardware simply doesn't last forever. Capacitors and other components WILL at some point simply give out. You are right at the point where that should not only be a possible consideration, but an expectation.

And, maybe more importantly, even the most basic of hardware these days far outperforms what your system is capable of. What is the exact model of your power supply and has it ever been changed since you built this system?

What Windows version are you running? Because in regard to SSD drivers and TRIM operations, that might be an issue as well.

Obviously I don't know anything about your financial situation, but something like this, should you choose to do so, would offer you a tremendous boost in both CPU (Like 3x better single core performance and 695% better multithreaded performance) and GPU performance (The integrated grahics in the 5600G are like triple the 2D performance and double the 3D performance of your HD 5700 series, even if you were running the HD 5770) and would eliminate any concerns with needing to worry about the compatibility of old hardware. And actually, your i5-750 is a 13 year old part, released in Q3 of 2009.

This includes a standard SATA SSD, but since this is a platform that supports a PCIe NVME M.2 drive, you could opt to go with one of those instead but expect to pay a bit more for a 1TB NVME drive if you want a decent one. All things considered, if you are ok with the case and power supply you have now (Would like to know the model of that as well) then you could likely just slap this right in there and instantly be looking at easily four to five times or more the overall performance of what you have now. Likely, a lot more.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 3.9 GHz 6-Core Processor ($106.97 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B550 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($50.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX500 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $347.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-11-08 00:07 EST-0500

 

[will2power]

Thanks for the speedy reply Darkbreeze

Yes the system is very old, actually 13 years old, I waited for MB to come out before buying and got all the info from this forum, actually the reason for joining was to learn about PCs.

It has had 1 upgrade only, which was from 4GB memory to 8GB (Corsair Vengeance 4GTB x2).

I feel you are right about struggling with an obsolete system, I know it will go and when I upgrade planned to do in stages. I think the HDD will go soon but the MB is a matter of time. I cannot even find out much info on it, with regards to compatible builds as it is too old, people simply aren't using. The plan was to begin the upgrading starting with an SSD drive that will be fine for a new MB when needed. Of course waiting for the board to finally fail is kind of a bad idea as it can happen right in the middle of important business.

The motherboard you listed has built in graphics, would there be any alternative board with better graphics that the built in for a fraction more? The opportunity to upgrade graphics could be important in future as I have 3d modelling project that may be taking off soon, depending on external factors. Would require buying 3d printer and working with 3d software.

Regarding your questions, the casing is a CoolerMaster, not sure the number, but it is was bigger than needed with more fans than needed at the time. I live in Japan and it gets hot and humid in the summer, the PC actually cools the room, lol. The CPU cooler is also CoolerMaster, again not sure which make but will find out soon and get back to you with more details. Power is a corsair TX 650.

Again, thanks for reply, I will be in Akihabara area tomorrow, the PC mecca and will scout some of your recommendations.

Final questions regarding the SSD drive. With the set up you listed would the speeds of a M.2 SSD be significantly better than a standard SSD? I never even knew about M.2 until a week ago, the prices were similar for many models as standard SSDs but far higher speeds, I am not sure the downside. Plus the Crucial MX you would recommend over a BX or a cheaper Transcend, there would be a notable improvement with the MX? I am avoiding a lot of the really cheap makers here as I believe they prob cut corners and may pose instillation or durability issues.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Motherboards don't have integrated graphics anymore, the CPU is where the onboard graphics are these days and the motherboards just facilitate the outside connection to those graphics through the PCIe bus.

The 5600G has (currently) the second best integrated graphics on the market, with the 5700G having slightly better graphics, but generally not ENOUGH better to warranty paying the difference in price to get one as there is about a 60 dollar (US) difference in price between them.

https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/...raphics-vs-Ryzen-7-5700G-with-Radeon-Graphics

As you can see there, the difference in performance is not particularly significant and there are no other CPUs right now with better integrated graphics than those two that I am aware of.

But, if you are willing to spend a little extra, you can certainly add a budget graphics card that definitely has much better performance than either of those. PSU might be a concern though.

Is your TX650 as old as the rest of the system? Because if so, then I'd definitely recommend replacing it if you do any major upgrades including new platform or graphics card.

 

[will2power]

Thanks again for your info, everything is new to me at this point as I have not looked at PCs since I built this one 13 years ago. I feel I am starting from zero again but decided to build anew system!

I think it is best to start up a new thread about building a new PC?

Your help has been on point, would appreciate your contribution if I start a new thread.

Learning the basics and checking reviews on this site.

I am wondering the difference between the Asus ProArt and Gaming (or other ranges). Similarly AsRock have their Creator series. As an artist these would seem to be aimed at me but from what I have read, review wise, they fall short performance wise compared to similar priced alternatives. Is there something "special" about them? This is something I am trying to find out by looking at their specs but difficult, so much info!

 

[Darkbreeze]

It's all just "marketing". So long as any given board has what you require, in terms of features such as overclocking, number and type of USB ports, SATA headers, fan headers, RGB/ARGB controls and headers, DIMM slots, PCIe slots, etc., is the right form factor for whatever case you choose to use with it and is aesthetically acceptable if you're concerned about a color theme etc., then that board is fine. I am unaware of any specific features that would ACTUALLY make one board more "artist" or "creator" oriented than another aside from maybe higher end audio codec/chipset for somebody who does DJ work or professional sound editing. Same with "gaming". Any motherboard that can support the CPU and graphics card you want to use is a "gaming" board. LOL.