Z68 and SSD cache

Desert Rain · 17 Aug 2011 at 20:58

Hi, haven't posted here for a long time, but am in the throws of deciding the spec for a new pc and need some advice.

I think that I have settled on an Asrock Z68 Pro3 mobo as I like all the possibilities the Z68 offers but dont need sli or crossfire.

However, I do like the sound of the SSD cache and I am considering getting a Intel 320 series 40gb sata II SSD for this purpose. Pre Z68 consideration, I had rejected a boot ssd, because I dont like the idea of the OS on a drive that may not be entirely reliable.

Does this sound sensible, or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Yamahahahahaha · 17 Aug 2011 at 21:11

The way I see the SSD cache (SRT as it's called), is to basically go infront of slower storage, to make the boost: 1) more intelligent than managing it yourself 2) to reduce the amount of management you have to do of your storage. By doing that you maximise the value of the SSD, which is small and expensive.

SSD drives are no more or less reliable than hard drives from what I've seen, so I wouldn't worry about it from that perspective.

cmndr_andi · 17 Aug 2011 at 21:18

Desert Rain said:
Pre Z68 consideration, I had rejected a boot ssd, because I dont like the idea of the OS on a drive that may not be entirely reliable.

As above, so long as you chose an SSD without any known issues then they will be no less reliable than a mechanical HDD. Also, their relatively small capacities makes it easier to regularly back them up.

As for SSD caching, IMHO if you can afford a 60GB+ SSD then you may as well just run it as the boot disk. SSD caching is nice if you can only afford a small SSD or really want a HDD that you can speed up - but in terms of sheer performance the pure SSD boot drive options always wins (and usually by quite some margin).

Desert Rain · 17 Aug 2011 at 21:33

So rather than cache I would be better of spending another £19 on the Crucial M4 64gb and using it as the boot drive?

cmndr_andi · 17 Aug 2011 at 21:35

Desert Rain said:
So rather than cache I would be better of spending another £19 on the Crucial M4 64gb and using it as the boot drive?

Yes, I would say so.

Here is a review of SSD caching done by anandtech.

With a 64GB SSD you should be able to fit your OS, your key applications, documents and even a couple of games if you wish. This is exactly what I did with the M4 64GB on our desktop at home and it performs excellently - so very responsive.

Desert Rain · 17 Aug 2011 at 22:35

Interesting review, but I see why booting from the SSD is better. I don't suppose that you have a link to somewhere that explains how to install an SSD as a boot disc do you?

cmndr_andi · 17 Aug 2011 at 22:39

Desert Rain said:
Interesting review, but I see why booting from the SSD is better. I don't suppose that you have a link to somewhere that explains how to install an SSD as a boot disc do you?

To install an SSD as a boot disk you want to ensure that AHCI or RAID mode is enabled in the BIOS - then just install windows on it like a standard HDD and get windows to format it for you in setup. Then when it is installed turn off defragmentation. I think there are also a few other optimisation things you can do, but defrag is the big one.

Here is a full guide (this is from OCZ, but applies to other manufacturers SSDs too).

Desert Rain · 17 Aug 2011 at 23:02

Cheers cmndr_andi. Much appreciated.