Benefits of Z68 (SSD caching?)

lemon2

lemon2

lemon2

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I am selling my MSI P67A-GD65 because I want a mobo with more USB headers for front sockets.

I have been looking at Z68 mobos, and the main benefit that I have read about is SSD caching.
I have a 64GB OCZ Agility 3, some of whice I could use for this purpose.

Does SSD caching make a big difference?

I understand that the price difference between P67 and Z68 is not always that large, so would it be worth my while upgrading to a Z68 that is of similar price to my previous board?
 
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I just bought a Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 to try the smart response and the tech seems a bit flaky to me. Gigabyte have their own version called EZ Smart response and it seems everything but EE-ZZ. Reason why I liked the Gigabyte one is that they say you don't need to setup a new windows os install or wipe the existing drives unlike normal Intel Smart Response.

However when I run EZ SR it either says "your hard drive is not compatible" or the EZ SR logo appears and just sits there.

I've got a Crucial 64gb SSD for my Windows OS and I had a spare Toshiba 64gb SSD I was going to use alongside my games partition.

The gigabyte website lists a very small albeit expensive list of SSD's that are compatible with the Z68AP-D3 now unless its this causing it then that could be why.

Its supposed to work with any SSD but just be wary and don't throw too much money at it or you might be disappointed and wish you had just bought a normal SSD for the use.
 
Nightglow said:
Here a article about SSD caching benefits.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4329/i...ching-review/4

If your looking for a new board, have a look at the Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68, superb board & highly recommended, also has support for Ivybridge, & has pci-e 3.0 slots.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...atid=5&subcat=
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Well that article does show some big improvements with SSD caching. The thing is, if I were not using SRT then I would have more room on my SSD to put commonly used programs. 64GB isn't loads and loads of space.

What does 'support for Ivybridge' mean? Is my current board (The MSI one) incompatible with Ivybridge?
And what is socket 1156? That is a higher number than 1155, so what can run on there that can't run on 1155?

I just bought a Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 to try the smart response and the tech seems a bit flaky to me. Gigabyte have their own version called EZ Smart response and it seems everything but EE-ZZ. Reason why I liked the Gigabyte one is that they say you don't need to setup a new windows os install or wipe the existing drives unlike normal Intel Smart Response.

However when I run EZ SR it either says "your hard drive is not compatible" or the EZ SR logo appears and just sits there.

I've got a Crucial 64gb SSD for my Windows OS and I had a spare Toshiba 64gb SSD I was going to use alongside my games partition.

The gigabyte website lists a very small albeit expensive list of SSD's that are compatible with the Z68AP-D3 now unless its this causing it then that could be why.

Its supposed to work with any SSD but just be wary and don't throw too much money at it or you might be disappointed and wish you had just bought a normal SSD for the use.
Click to expand...
Not having to wipe the drives is a big big bonus.
However I could not find that list of compatible SSDs on the Gigabyte website. If my OCZ Agility 3 SSD is not compatible I am not going to buy a new one just for this, unless the benefits are very large.


So apart from SRT, which does have those flaky reviews, are there any other BIG benefits to Z68 over P67?

Is Z68 better for future-proofing in my case?
I am not planning on upgrading my CPU until Haswell, but I may get some GTX 600 series graphics cards. And I will not be upgrading my SSD until at least 500GB is affordable.
 
varkanoid said:
I just bought a Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 to try the smart response and the tech seems a bit flaky to me. Gigabyte have their own version called EZ Smart response and it seems everything but EE-ZZ. Reason why I liked the Gigabyte one is that they say you don't need to setup a new windows os install or wipe the existing drives unlike normal Intel Smart Response.

However when I run EZ SR it either says "your hard drive is not compatible" or the EZ SR logo appears and just sits there.

I've got a Crucial 64gb SSD for my Windows OS and I had a spare Toshiba 64gb SSD I was going to use alongside my games partition.

The gigabyte website lists a very small albeit expensive list of SSD's that are compatible with the Z68AP-D3 now unless its this causing it then that could be why.

Its supposed to work with any SSD but just be wary and don't throw too much money at it or you might be disappointed and wish you had just bought a normal SSD for the use.
Click to expand...

Hi Varkanoid,

Have you tried setting the PCH Sata control mode to Raid in the bios or via the touch bios?

Let me know how this works out for you.
 
Apologies Lemon, I should have been clearer in my reply:o.

I assume you were aware of the Ivybridge benefits, which you get with a Z68 board.
 
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I'm confused, would my current P67 chip not support Ivy Bridge?
Even if they do then, as I said, I am planning on skipping Ivy Bridge and only upgrading my CPU when Haswell comes out.

However I will be getting the 22nm graphics cards, would these benefit from PCI-e 3.0?

Since I already store my OS and most common applications on my SSD, I don't think the gains from SRT will be that great for me.

Are there any other benefits or reasons to get Z68 that I should consider?
Because right now P67 is looking just as good for me.
 
lemon2 said:
I'm confused, would my current P67 chip not support Ivy Bridge?
Even if they do then, as I said, I am planning on skipping Ivy Bridge and only upgrading my CPU when Haswell comes out.

However I will be getting the 22nm graphics cards, would these benefit from PCI-e 3.0?

Since I already store my OS and most common applications on my SSD, I don't think the gains from SRT will be that great for me.

Are there any other benefits or reasons to get Z68 that I should consider?
Because right now P67 is looking just as good for me.
Click to expand...

I have a Gigabyte P67A-UD4-B3 which ive just updated the Bios on,with one of the updates bieng Intel Support for 22nm CPU,s.
 
geeman1979 said:
I have a Gigabyte P67A-UD4-B3 which ive just updated the Bios on,with one of the updates bieng Intel Support for 22nm CPU,s.
Click to expand...
Yes that is what I thought, that P67 mobos would be given support for Ivybridge.

I don't know why people in this thread are saying that Ivybridge support is a benefit of Z68 over P67.

So other than SRT, which I have already pretty much dismissed, are there any other reasons to get Z68?
 
P67 will support Ivy bridge.

Z68 with graphics support offers:

SSD Caching (Intel Smart Response)
Lucid Virtu
Intel Quick Sync
Onboard Graphics

A quick description of each is:

SSD caching allows you to use a small SSD and basically use it as a cache for your larger mechanical drive, the cache learns what you use the most and uses the SSD for most of it. This reduces access time and load times.

Virtu allows you to plug your monitor into the onboard graphics port but still utilizes the power of your discrete card when needed, however when its not needed for example when just using 2D apps it powers the discrete card down. So basically a power saving function

Intel Quick Sync is a great technology if you encode video's. It basically uses the cpu's intergrated GPU to encode videos. So for example you want to change a movie from a standard MKV or AVI file into a Mpeg4 for you iphone or ipad. Intel quick sync is faster than using a top end graphics card with cuda or ATI stream and not by a small amount. The difference is quite a big gap. Here is more info on that with benchmarks:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...0k,2833-5.html

And last of all it has onboard graphics ports to utilize the intel SB iGPU, although you may look and say but i already have a graphics card thats much higher performance. But what happens if your gfx card dies? Your computerless unless you buy another gfx card.

Just some things to think about and now its the same cost as P67 its a no brainer....well for me and most i would guess.
 
Hi GIGA-Man.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I understand it Quick Sync only works with certain software:

Intel Quick Sync

I find it slightly amusing that you're extolling the the extra features of the Z68 chipset when Gigabyte produced a whole raft of Z68 motherboards which didn't support most of those features.
 
Some Z68 boards get PCIE 3.0 via a BIOS update. I don't think P67 do ?

GIGA-Man said:
Hi Varkanoid,

Have you tried setting the PCH Sata control mode to Raid in the bios or via the touch bios?

Let me know how this works out for you.
Click to expand...

Yep tried that the EZ logo just sits there looking at you, longingly, and nothing else happens. Latest F4 Bios too. Would love to get this up and running with EZ Smart Response but the software is just not there yet.


lemon2 said:
Not having to wipe the drives is a big big bonus.
However I could not find that list of compatible SSDs on the Gigabyte website. If my OCZ Agility 3 SSD is not compatible I am not going to buy a new one just for this, unless the benefits are very large.
Click to expand...

Its under the smart response section. See below. Your Agility 3 is not listed.

isrt-ssd-support.pdf
 
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Surveyor said:
Hi GIGA-Man.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I understand it Quick Sync only works with certain software:

Intel Quick Sync

I find it slightly amusing that you're extolling the the extra features of the Z68 chipset when Gigabyte produced a whole raft of Z68 motherboards which didn't support most of those features.
Click to expand...

Hi Surveyor,

Your correct, the software must be able to utilise the technology, just like cuda or stream, but if its a feature you would use then its one of the most effective out there for encoding.

As for the Z68 features I did state "Z68 with Graphics offers:"

Admittedly we have boards without graphics capabilities but this was a decision we took because it still offered a benefit over P67.
It seems a few people didn't actually like this.

As your probably aware we have full graphics support on a majority of our boards now.
 
Varkanoid can you give me a list of components your using, bios versions and OS and I will raise a support ticket for you and get you in direct contact with our techies.
 
Hi there,

So is your main reason for upgrading just the lack of USB headers for connection to the front of your case, or are there other reasons for your upgrade?

If it is just USB headers, then one option would be to buy a PCI or PCIE controller card with internal usb ports and make use of a "USB A to INTERNAL 5 PIN HEADER ADAPTOR CABLE" cable.

As for the benefits of Z68 - if you already have a SSD and are happy to run it as the primary drive, then SSD caching will be of no benefit to you.

As for virtu and quick sync - they are nice technologies - but only of use if you are really into video transcoding.

Z68 also allows you to use the integrated graphics, however, if you are already running a P67 system then presumably you have a graphics cards that is up to the job.
 
cmndr_andi said:
Hi there,

So is your main reason for upgrading just the lack of USB headers for connection to the front of your case, or are there other reasons for your upgrade?

If it is just USB headers, then one option would be to buy a PCI or PCIE controller card with internal usb ports and make use of a "USB A to INTERNAL 5 PIN HEADER ADAPTOR CABLE" cable.

As for the benefits of Z68 - if you already have a SSD and are happy to run it as the primary drive, then SSD caching will be of no benefit to you.

As for virtu and quick sync - they are nice technologies - but only of use if you are really into video transcoding.

Z68 also allows you to use the integrated graphics, however, if you are already running a P67 system then presumably you have a graphics cards that is up to the job.
Click to expand...
Yes my main reason for upgrading is USB headers.
The thing is, I need to power 4 extra USB ports, and I think this may need 2 USB cards.
Having 2 cards seems like a worse solution to changing the motherboard.

The only other option I can see is getting an internal USB hub like the IU01 USB Expansion, but this essentially powers several ports off one socket, which must surely have disadvantages.
 
GIGA-Man said:
Varkanoid can you give me a list of components your using, bios versions and OS and I will raise a support ticket for you and get you in direct contact with our techies.
Click to expand...

details in my sig.

Windows 7 64 bit

F4 BIOS.

The EZ logo just sits there and nothing else happens. I would have thought at least the application would have launched and then perhaps told me there were no compatible SSD's. Left it with the logo on the screen and came back to the PC after 40 minutes just to see if anything happens and the logo was still there. Nothing else.
 
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I've been looking at internal USB hubs, and buying 2 USB cards, but both these options will near £20.

Therefore if I can sell my motherboard at £20 less than I bought it, I would not be losing out. This is looking like the better option.
 
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