SSD Caching help needed on Z68

Euge

Euge

Euge

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Joined
18 Oct 2002
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286
Location
Ireland
Hi all,
Need help with this. I have my new system built about 6 months. Z68 i5 at 3.3gig (mild) I'm thinking of putting an SSD in to the pc. I only want it for caching. But I need some advice
1 What do I have to change in the BIOS
2 Will it screw up my current install
3 Win7 64Bit already installed
Where do I connect it to? Is it one of the grey Sata headers?
I'm thinking of getting the OCZ Synapse 64 Gig
http://http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-090-OC&groupid=701&catid=2104&subcat=2264

Any help or recommendations appreciated
Euge
 
Last edited:
Hi,

I was in exactly the same position as you. I am now running a 256GB Samsung SSD to cache my OS drive and using the remaining space for other aplications.

I didn't have to reinstall Windows but I did have to change an item in the reistry to be able to boot in RAID mode which is required for the use of SSD caching. This small change was something to do with drivers and was fairly simple to do. (Check this thread for more info - fix is last post. Are we allowed to post links to other forums? http://forums.anandtech.com/archive/index.php/t-2199011.html)

The SSD will just plug in to the nearest Intel SATA port to your drive to be chached, open the BIOS to change SATA mode to RAID, set up caching in the Intel RST Software and you're good to go. Your job will probably be easier than mine as you will be using the entire SSD to cache.

Hope all goes well,
 
Invisable prawn, thanks for the input and the link. Looks like it will do exactly what I want. I use the pc manly for photediting, surfing and office. So I should see an improvement
 
You don't need the Synapse drive you link to, this has extra software to enable caching for people who don't have a Z68 chipset. You can save money and just use any SSD.
 
boosfuk said:
You don't need the Synapse drive you link to, this has extra software to enable caching for people who don't have a Z68 chipset. You can save money and just use any SSD.
Click to expand...

+1
you dont need synapse,ANY ssd will work for caching with z68

just follow that guide and install the raid drivers after the reg hack,reboot,set to raid in the bios and thats it

ive done the reg hack for caching and it works a treat
 
Thanks for all the advice. Final question, any recommendations on which brand to buy. 64 Gig and under
 
crucial m4
samsung 830
personally using corsair force gt (red one) without issue

all those drives use better performing synchronous nand,toggle nand on the samsung which is slightly better
 
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