How to setup SSD with new build win7 64?

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art2010

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Hi Everyone,

I'm building a new system. i7-970 on an ASUS Sabertooth X58 board and I'm going to buy an OCX Vertex 2 SSD (unsure of the capacity).

Is there a basic walk-through tutorial for setting this up correctly for a fresh build installed with Windows 7 64 bit?

Thanks
 
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geofelt
1) You need to enable trim command capability. Select AHCI as the sata mode in the bios(not ide or raid). When you install windows-7 it will select it's own ahci driver which will properly pass on the trim command.

2) Do not complicate your life by micromanaging what the SSD does. If your drive usage approaches 80% then it is time to do some cleanup.
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Sure, check out the OCZ forums. Windows 7 does all the important stuff for you. I would recommend at least 120GB if not larger if you want to keep all your programs and games on it. I am space conscious even with a 120GB model......I keep having to uninstall games to add new ones as I am running out of space. I just have Windows, Office, Programs and games on it. I use my hard drives for storage.
 
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art2010

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Thanks, will definitely do that. Space conservation is another issue I've been meaning to ask about. I don't play many games but would like to have photoshop, illustrator and dreamweaver on the SSD. Think I'd have any problems with Win 7 on a 120 gb?
 
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mark_k

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"http://www.overclock.net/ssd/664738-how-setup-ssd-boot-drive-secondary.html"

"http://www.overclock.net/ssd/761471-moving-your-documents-pictures-videos-folders.html"

You will need to remove the quotes on the links and copy and cut into your browser.
I hope these work for you.


 
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art2010

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Thanks both for being patient with the newbie. Anort3, in reading the information here on tomshardware, it seems as if the trim command is important but that I don't really have to be concerned that it's being implemented because I'm building a new system and running win7. When I first install win7, will it automatically select AHCI as the default controller interface?
 
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geofelt

geofelt

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1) You need to enable trim command capability. Select AHCI as the sata mode in the bios(not ide or raid). When you install windows-7 it will select it's own ahci driver which will properly pass on the trim command.

2) Do not complicate your life by micromanaging what the SSD does. If your drive usage approaches 80% then it is time to do some cleanup.
 
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Zenthar

Zenthar

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Depending on what you want to install, a 60GB SSD could even be enough. I currently have my OS, AV, Office, IM and a few other tools on my SSD and I barely use 20GB. However, I did move some of my profile folders ("My Document", "My Downloads", ...) to a regular disk. I checked Adobe's requirements for photoshop, illustrator and dreamweaver and I think all of them put together don't require 5GB of disk space so unless you have a lot more you want to install, 60GB could be enough; if you want some padding, I think there are also 80GB and 90GB models.

I know this isn't the subject of this thread, but seeing you don't plan on gaming, why did you go for the X58 chipset???
 
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art2010

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Thanks for the reply Zenthar. I'm definitely going to move the profile folders..I'll be honest though, I'm a slob..I think I could go through 80% of a 120gb drive. I'm running into issues now having

I wanted the i7-970 hexacore just because of its multitasking capabilities. I don't plan on overclocking and the asus board was recommended as being very good. Is there another motherboard you would have recommended?
 
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Zenthar

Zenthar

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What kind of multitasking are we talking here, audio/video encoding, 3D rendering, ...? If it's just running tons of apps without closing any and most of them don't do much unless actively used, then hex-core won't change a thing. At work I usually run 1-2 Windows XP VM (mostly idle) from within my Windows XP host, some development tools, Word, Excel, Visio, IE 6 (don't laugh!), WMP and FireFox with 10-15 tabs and my RAM became an issue way before my dual-core CPU.

I just want to make sure your needs are understood, you would be the first feel sour if you discovered you could have saved a few hundred dollars on your build. If you don't need that much CPU power, then going for a P55 board (100-130$) with any processor between an i5-760 and a i7-875K (210-320$) with 2x4GB or RAM (upgradeable later to 16GB if you need it)(110$) would probably save you a good 500$.

You can also check (ask around) if the applications you are using perform that much better on Intel CPU to rule-out AMD, the AMD hex-core CPUs are much cheaper (240-275$).
 
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art2010

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Thanks for the advice..yes, 3-D rendering and whatever I have open at the time. Sometimes I'm playing music via itunes and working on something..I'm not used to being able to do all that at the same time so it will be great if the processor can handle it...also, web browser, email, FTP, photoshop, illustrator..I usually create in illustrator and copy alot to the clipboard and paste into photoshop. I'm building it with 12gb mem.

I don't build these things very often (I'm currently using a P4 3.20 Ghz with 1 gb ram) so I wanted to build something that will last several years and be robust enough to handle whatever I could throw at it that I'm using now. I've alsways preferred Intel processors since 286 days. Brand loyalty I guess :)
 
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The only heavy task I see is 3D rendering, the other things are rather light (I think) but could take RAM so 8+GB would be a good idea. For the 3D rendering, check if the software you use could take advantage of NVidia's CUDA, if so, you might be able to cut on the CPU a bit, but complement it with a GPU.
 
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art2010

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Great suggestions thanks..one more thing regarding the SSD setup. I'm planning on having a SSD for my OS and either a Samsung F3 or Western Digital Caviar Black as a slave storage drive (No RAID) do I select AHCI for both the SSD and the storage drive or do I use plain old IDE for the storage drive?
 
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geofelt

geofelt

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AHCI gives you some advantages, like hot swap and S.M.A.R.T. Performance is determined by the hard drive characteristics, so that part is moot.
I suggest AHCI for everything.
 
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art2010

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Guys, I posted this over at the OCZ forum but haven't had a reply. Maybe I could run it by the pros for some advice? I'm purchasing my components now, and I will be buying the OCZ 120GB Vertex 2.

Since I have neither in front of me at the moment, I'm going through a mental "dry-run" of how these will all go together in the case and attach to the motherboard..

One of the features the sabertooth board has that I'm interested in are the two SATA Revision 3 (6Gb/sec) ports. I notice that the Vertex 2 utilizes SATA Revision 2 (3 GBit/sec) Correct me if I wrong, but I will have to run the SSD at SATA Revision 2?

I'm also planning on buying a Western Digital Black Caviar 1TB drive for storage, and it is SATA Revision 3.0 (6 GBit/sec). Soooo..assuming I have to run the OCZ @ 3 GBit, and the WD @ 6 GBit, do I attach these to the sabertooth as follows (sabertooth has two SATA 6GBit/sec on board ports, six SATA 3GBit/sec ports):

OCZ --> SATA1 (there is no SATA0 port)
WD --> SATA_6G_1
DVD Drive --> SATA5
CD Drive --> SATA6

Does this look OK?
 
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Zenthar

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You can probably plug the SSD in the SATA 3 port as well, it will work and won't slow down the other HDD, but either way shouldn't make much of a difference. You could also plug the WD in a regular SATA 2 port, I don't think it would make any performance difference either (run benchmark with it plugged in both to see if there is a controller better than the other).
 
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geofelt

geofelt

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Agreed^
Sata components are forward and backward compatible. Current ssd's do not saturate the sata2 bus so it does not matter. Some motherboards with two sata controllers will be picky about which you can boot from. I suggest you download and read the motherboard manual now. It will probably answer many questions.
 
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art2010

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I've been looking through the asus sabertooth manual all night..can't find anything that helps with this other than obscure technical data. I think I'm going to put these both on the SATA Revision 3 (6Gb/sec) ports, the SSD on SATA_6G_1 and the WD on SATA_6G_2.

I think I'll try to find more builders that have a similar setup and simply see how they did it too..
 
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art2010

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Thanks Mark,

Just to be clear:

OCZ --> SATA1 (this is the first SATA Revision 2 port)
WD --> SATA_6G_1 (this is the first SATA Revision 3 port)
DVD Drive --> SATA5 (this is the fifth SATA Revision 2 port)
CD Drive --> SATA6 (this is the sixth SATA Revision 2 port)

That will move the OCZ, DVD Drive, and CD Drive onto the intel drivers and the WD onto Marvell..


 
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