ssd noob help

noobftw

noobftw

noobftw

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31 Jul 2011
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hi guys, just wanted to find out if i can run this at its full potential -

OCZ 90GB Agility 3 SSD
- SATA-III 6Gb/s - (IS MY BOARD COMPATIBLE)
- Read 525MB/s Write 500MB/s
- Maximum 4K Random Write 85,000 IOPS

with my current specs -
p5q deluxe mobo
q9550 overclocked to 4gb
4gb 1066 corsair dominator
Corsair HX520

thanks in advance, i plan on moving my current windows partition from my mechanical drive straight over to the ssd, or would it be better to re-install windows :(
also is there any bios settings that need enabling or changing if it is compatible at full speed
 
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Hi there,

First, the system can't make full use of the SSD, since it doesn't use SATA 6Gbps. However, it does have SATA 3Gbps - which still has a lot of bandwidth and will provide the vast majority of the performance the drive has to offer (plus for the small reads and writes there should be any drop-off due to the interfacte). It will certainly be a heck of a lot faster than a mechanical storage drive.

As for transferring over your install, I would personally suggest doing a new install of windows on the SSD. You can keep the existing drive hooked up to the board (but in secondary boot priority to the SSD) and transfer the files you need over to the SSD.
 
thanks for the info pal so basically its gna be half as fast as it could potentially be if it was being run in a 6gbps sata connector, hmmm im unsure now, u say the performance will still be noticeably faster inopening programs and booting up windows compared to a mechanical drive :)
 
No, I wouldn't say it will be half as fast. Only in relatively large transfers will the SATA 3Gbps bottleneck be an issue - as most of the stuff an SSD does is very small reads and writes, all of which are under the ~285MB/s limit and thus unaffected. Therefore, for the vast majority of tasks the SSD will be just as fast as if it was connected up to a SATA 6Gbps motherboard. Also, please bear in mind many popular SSDs like the OCZ Vertex 2 and Intel 320 are only SATA 3Gbps drives, but they are known to be extremely fast.

Yes, the performance will still be considerably better than any mechanical drive - mainly when booting up windows, opening programs, loading games and pretty much any time the system uses the primary storage drive. For these reasons you PC will tend to "feel" quicker and more responsive, which is very nice.
 
thanks for taking the time to help me pal , i just wanted to ask you 1 more question, would you go with 1 of the 3Gbps drives you mentioned or would you get the 6Gbps OCZ 90GB Agility 3 SSD for £87.99 on offer ? thnakyou :)
 
I had my M4 plugged into a 3GBps SATA for a bit (by mistake) and have barely noticed any change since I moved it to a 6GBps, especially compared to my HDD. It benchmarks quite a bit faster but there's little difference in the real world.

There's no reason to go for a 3GBps drive over a 6GBps one unless you find one more suited to your preferences/budget. Get whichever you prefer. :)
 
noobftw said:
can some1 quickly tell me if a 6month old Crucial Technology M4 64 GB ssd is a good purchase at 55 pound ?
Click to expand...

It really depends where you are buying it from. An M4 bought new will come with a 3 year warranty with crucial. However, if you buy it second hand then the only way you can RMA it would be with the help of the original purchaser. Is the seller willing to help you with this if the drive develops a fault?.
 
the drive will be purchased of ..... of a reliable person yes, what information would i need to rma it if need be, is it a good deal though otherwise :eek:
the guy said he would help me out if it did come to that and he has great customer feedback, hmmmmm i just dnt know
 
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Yea, if he will help you out if it fails and he has a good reputation - then it sounds like a good deal, it is quite a saving compared to retail prices.

Just make sure that you update the firmware to the 0309 version as soon as you get it (as there is a bug with 0009 and earlier firmwares where the drives shuts down every hour after it has been used for more than 5200 hours).
 
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