SSD recommendation and advise

[jemm]

I am going to get a SSD for my system listed below:

ASUS P6X58D-E
CPU i7 920
CM Hyper 212+
HD 5870
Patriot Viper 12GB 1600MHz @ 1333MHz
HD WD 1TB Sata II
DVD Pionner Dual Layer
Corsair 850W
W7 64 Bits

I think a SDD with 120GB should be enough for my needs like SSD OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SATA III 2.5´ VTX3-25SAT3-120G

Any other suggestion or thought?

Thank you!

 

[manofchalk]

OCZ Vertex 4 is what I recommend. One of the fastest drives on the market and only get faster as OCZ updates it.
OCZ Vertex 4 128GB. $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227791

Make sure its plugged into a SATA III (also know as 6GB/s) port, otherwise you will be bottle-necking the drive.

 

[thbrett]

I agree with manofchalk the OCZ Vertex 4 is the best bang for the buck going atm imo.

 

[internetlad]

Vertex 4s are solid performers for the price, but don't discount the reliability of the crucial M4s and the Intel 330 Series. I have used many of them in builds for customers and had very good luck all around.

 

[RetiredChief]

My recommendation still stands: Cucial m4, samsung 830, added plextor M3. Which one, ofcourse, which ever is CEAPEST at time of purchase.

On performance. Benchmarks often show a defference between the upper end SSDs, However this diff rarely shows up in Day-to-Day real world usage and This is the reason for my recommendation.
In this Link - caution many of the drives tested are above 128 gigs. larger drives have better performance than their Little brothers, so make sure you look at 128 vs 128 gig drives.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6074/ocz-vertex-4-review-128gb/7

Will agree, Vertex III is NOT the better choice.

 

[cin19]

I will say get the cheapest 120GB/128Gb from M4, Samsung 830, intel 330, Kingston HyperX 3K, SanDisk Extreme, and Corsair Force Series GT in your area.

Because your X58 MB which use Marvell SATAIII port, it is slower SATA III that limit SSD has high performance.

I will recommend you use the intel SATAII instead the Marvell port.
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=413&Itemid=38

 

[jemm]

My mobo storage uses:

Intel® ICH10R controller :
6 x SATA 3Gb/s port(s), blue
Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10

and

Marvell® PCIe 9128 controller : *1
2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), gray

What you are saying is to connect the SSD to the 3GB port (blue), and not through the 6GB port (gray)?

 

[cin19]

yes.

 

[jemm]

Thank you the article you´ve posted. I went through it, but I found it to be a bit old, mean, it was written in 2009, eh?

Anyway I know X58 platform has its limitations, however I wonder if there is any improvement in the SSD scene since 2009.

 

[cin19]

Yes, the biggest improvements are lower price and more reliability.

 

[jemm]

It is a bit disappointing since I was keen to get a huge improvement for my system, but I was not expecting such limitation.

Anyway do you think it still worth to get a SSD for my rig?

 

[cin19]

When you add the SSD in the PC, the advantage is like bootup the PC faster and load the map for game faster. And if the price of SSD is not that high in your country, if performance and fast bootup is your top consideration, and money is secondary, then SSD is the way to go.

 

[manofchalk]

Connect it through the 6GB/s port, in this case you'r gray ports.

SSD's are the simplest way to increase the speed of a computer. You can add an SSD to a POS of a machine, and you will notice significant improvements.

 

[bliq00]

My mobo storage uses:

Intel® ICH10R controller :
6 x SATA 3Gb/s port(s), blue
Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10

and

Marvell® PCIe 9128 controller : *1
2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), gray

What you are saying is to connect the SSD to the 3GB port (blue), and not through the 6GB port (gray)?

No, still connect it to the 6GB ports. Even though it's going through PCI-E, it should still get above 3Gb/s on stuff like sequential read. It's just that native SATA III from the newer chipsets don't get bottlenecked by PCI-E so they have higher throughput.

http://techgage.com/article/battle_of_the_sata_30_controllers/

 

[jemm]

There is nothing cheap in my country, apart from the w*****

Is there a huge difference in performance when connecting a SSD through a 3G or 6G port?

Anyway I am going abroad next week, so I will see what the prices they practice there.

Can you post links for SSDs of your recommendations? I want to take note of its parts numbers so that I can get the correct SSD.

Thanks!

 

[internetlad]

http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-2-5-Inch-Solid-State-CT128M4SSD2/dp/B004W2JKZI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345760558&sr=8-1&keywords=crucial+m4+128

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Solid-State-Drive-SATA-2-5-Inch/dp/B007P71JJM/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1345760572&sr=1-1&keywords=Intel+330

Two I have used and could recommend.

 

[cin19]

Check the link from crucial site M4 on SATAII or SATAIII http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/M4-on-SATAII-Intel-or-SATAIII-Marvel/td-p/68895

Jemm, I add the link from newegg for examples some of them http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006519%2050001455%2040000636%20600038478&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=636|20-239-045^20-239-045-TS%2C20-147-163^20-147-163-TS%2C20-233-191^20-233-191-TS%2C20-167-121^20-167-121-TS%2C9SIA0SF0BD7251^20-148-442-12%23

 

[RetiredChief]

There is Not a big diff in using a sata III SSD on Sata II. May show a big diff in benchmarks, But in real lif day-to-day usage, not as much as you may think.
If fact the Agillity III (a Low end sata III SSD) performs almost Identical on sata II as it does on SATA III - Even in AS SSD Bench mark.

For the better SSds, I'll use My M4 as an example.
M4 laptop, Samsung i5-2410M laptop.

If you look at the stats Only two would be limited By Sata II.
Most manuf use ATTO as the benchmark of choice, and then quote the Fantastic Sequencial Read/write performannce. BA HUM BUG.
1) Sequencial peformance is the LEAST important parameter for a OS + Program Drive. IT IS the random 4 K that is Important. Do Not misread, Sequencial performance is Important for a storage drive that Has all thoes large Video Files (face it you are NOT going to put many 30 Gig Blue ray files on a SSD), Large cad/Cam drawings, large Spreadsheets, and the 100 Plus family (girly) 10 meg jpeg/bitmap photo files.
2) ATTO is a POOR benchmark for SSDs, it was developed for HDDs. It uses data that is Highly compressable (favors the SF22xx controller Based SSD). Again if you look at a OS + program drive the compression ratio is low. AS SSD is the other extreme, But closer to real life.

My experience, I have 3 M4's, 3 Samsung 830s, 2 Agility IIIs, and 6 older generation SSDs. These are currently installed in 3 desktops (one w/Sata III and two with SATA II) and 2 laptops, one sata III and one sata II.
And Yes one desktop has Intel SATA II and marvel SATA III - and yes I stuck the SSD on Intel's sata II. Stuck the WD SATA III 1TB HDD on the crappy marvel controller. PS WD sata III HDD is a waste of a good Sata III port.

 

[internetlad]

Those Schreiben scores are pretty impressive, but they still don't come close to the Lesen scores.
Seriously though, the long and short of it is that you really can't go wrong with ANY SSD so long as the price is fair, the brand is reliable and the place of purchase is reputable.

 

[RetiredChief]

Schreiben = Write, Lesen = Read.
For Boot time and opening program the read performance is far more important that the Write times.

 

[jemm]

Still on time should the HHD be connected through sata III or Sata II (considering it with or without a SSD)?

 

[internetlad]

Sata III Whenever possible. Excusable if it's an agility 3 or lesser specced drive, as they tend not to saturate the bus.

 

[cin19]

There is not different for the HD on SATA II or III.

 

[RetiredChief]

^ correct, with one INsignificant factor.
For Sata III HDDs it is a marketing tool. A HDD throughput does NOT saturate a Sata II interface therfor does NOT benifit from a sata III port. The ONLY exception to this is in burst speed. Burst speed is very short and limited in size of transfer.

Bottom Line here is that a Sata III HDD is a waste of a good SATA III port. However is OK to Put on sata III if it is open and until you stick a SSD on it.

 

[jemm]

Best answer selected by jemm.