SATA II Mobo and SATA III SSD

blackice8r

blackice8r

blackice8r

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Joined
28 Apr 2011
Posts
272
Location
London
Hi Guys,

This is more of a motherboard question but I started investigating after I've been reading stuff about SSDs here and it's related to the SSDs so here it goes.

I have a P5P43TD PRO motherboard : http://uk.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_775/P5P43TD_PRO/#specifications
and a Crucial 64GB Real SSD C300 2.5inch 64 GB - SATA-600 ; P/N : CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1

after reading threads on the Storage Drives section I thought to check if my mobo supports SATA III , I was always under the impression that it does...but... surprise surprise...

I'm happy with my system , it's fast and reliable, but I'd like a bigger SSD and I think I'll by a 128GB one soon, it would be nice to be able to use it it's full potential.

I started looking for a SATA 3 PCI controller and found a few but I'm not sure about something, some of them say:
Interface
- PCI Express 2.0 x1
*We recommend using this SATA3 card in PCI-E 2.0 slot.

I know my mobo has:
1 x PCIe x16
2 x PCIe x1
3 x PCI

But I can't figure out if the PCIe x16 and PCIe x1 are 2.0 or not...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#PCI_Express_2.0
It could be that it's actually v1 so buying a controller would not bring me any benefit.


I can't find the answer to that on the manufacturer's site...



Any idea?
 
Yep... I've been down this route and found that my board is pci-e v1.1 and so is limited to 2.5gbps so not enough bandwidth for the add on card :mad:

I'm sure either cpu-z or gpu-z / everest will tell you ?
 
I'll install cpu-z, gpu-z once I get home and I hope they might answer this...

If it proves that it's a V1 then maybe I'll get another mobo...
I have a GTX570 and it would mean the mobo would be a bottleneck for that too I assume...

Now, another question related more to the SSDs; would it make more sense to get a second Crucial 64GB Real SSD C300 2.5inch 64 GB - SATA-600 , and do a RAID 0 than buying a new 128MB SSD?
I would probably have no TRIM support, would it be that bad? (considering that I would have only the OS and a few games on it)

I could give the smaller SSD to my netbook, but being a single core...I'm not sure if it would be a huge jump in performance...
 
BTW, I've heard the SATA3 addon cards aren't great. So I'd stick with SATAII. The main reason SSDs "feel" fast is the fast access, not just the massive read/write speeds, and they can still access fast over SATAII.

Really depends, a 128GB would make more sense (bare in mind the larger versions have higher write speeds), RAID is more problematic than no RAID, and I'd doubt you'd notice a difference if its only an OS and games.
 
CPU-Z

PCI capability
Caps class PCI Express
Caps offset 0xA0
Device type Root Port of PCI-E Root Complex
Port 2
Version 2.0
Physical slot #0
Presence detect yes
Link width 16x (max 16x)

PCI capability
Caps class PCI Express
Caps offset 0x70
Device type Root Complex Integrated Endpoint Device
Port 0
Version 1.0
Link width 0x (max 0x)

PCI capability
Caps class PCI Express
Caps offset 0x40
Device type Root Port of PCI-E Root Complex
Port 1
Version 1.0
Physical slot #0
Presence detect no

PCI capability
Caps class PCI Express
Caps offset 0x40
Device type Root Port of PCI-E Root Complex
Port 2
Version 1.0
Physical slot #0
Presence detect yes
Link width 1x (max 1x)

PCI capability
Caps class PCI Express
Caps offset 0x40
Device type Root Port of PCI-E Root Complex
Port 5
Version 1.0
Physical slot #0
Presence detect yes
Link width 1x (max 1x)

So my GTX570 is sitting on the PCIe x16 v2.0 and the rest are all V1.0
I'm glad I checked...would have been a waste of money to buy a controller...

I'll check my bank account and see if I can get another mobo...
My system is fast and Skyrim, BF3 run without problems...so I guess it's not urgent...but I'll always have this in my head now...

Damm you Overclockers!! :p
Too much knoledge is not good sometimes :D

I'll probably be on the Motherboards soon asking for help again :)


Thank you for the info guys!
 
no no no!!!

why did you have to plant that seed into my head??


I've already started considering it...
I bought the CPU for about 150£ I think...e-bay auctions on this go at 100£+ , I see one now at 96£ and there is 1 day and 21h left so it will go well over 100£

The mobo will be hard to sell but not impossible...hmmm

I would have to buy a CPU and mobo before I actually sell....

Risky but tempting....
 
Last edited:
blackice8r said:
why did you have to plant that seed into my head??
Click to expand...

No need to thank me .... Mission accomplished :D

Anyway I've done the same myself recently and am happy with the boost...

Memory bandwidth = 2.5x as quick
SSDs run at 500mb/s instead of lousy 180 speeds or less
SLI AND Xfire support on the same board

Mind you the q9550 overclocked is still a beast but when the rest of the platform lets it down it's a pointless effort trying to save it.
 
blackice8r said:
is it worth upgrading to a i5-2500k?
What have you upgraded to?
Click to expand...

I've got several builds going on at the moment. My main rig I can't upgrade until I've got them stable but I've sold the q9550 and memory and downgraded the machine to a dual core just to keep it ticking over.

It will finally be z68/2500k but I've got z68/g530 builds too which are great stepping stones
 
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