New SSD for old i7 dekstop

[Blazer7]

I got a deal to sell my old and trusty 830 pro to a friend for his old laptop and now I’m on the lookout for a new SSD. I’m looking at anything from 240 up to 512GBs. Storage is not a very big deal for me as the SSD mostly holds the OS and necessary apps. Speed however could be of use. I prefer Samsung and intel SSDs but won’t rule out any good drive from any other party.

The SSD is for the rig in my sig. I have done some scouting but so far I can’t decide whether the best choice would be to go with a SATA III or PCI-E SSD. If I go for a SATA SSD I will be using the ASUS U3S6 controller which unfortunately is not a very good one. If I go for a PCI-E SSD I will be using it in the 2nd or 3rd PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot.

Any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

*** SSDs under consideration - subject to change ***

SATA
--------
Samsung 850 PRO MZ-7KE256BW 256GB
intel 540S SSDSC2KW480H6X1 480GB
Sandisk Extreme Pro SDSSDXPS-480G 480GB
Samsung 850 EVO MZ-75E500B/EU 500GB
Samsung 850 PRO MZ-7KE512BW 512GB
Mushkin Reactor MKNSSDRE512GB 512GB

PCI-E
--------
Kingston HYPERX Predator SHPM2280P2H/240G 240GB
Kingston HYPERX Predator SHPM2280P2H/480G 480GB
intel 750 Series SSDPEDMW400G4X1 400GB *** PCI-E 3.0 card – not sure if it will work with my rig

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I got a deal to sell my old and trusty 830 pro to a friend for his old laptop and now I’m on the lookout for a new SSD. I’m looking at anything from 240 up to 512GBs. Storage is not a very big deal for me as the SSD mostly holds the OS and necessary apps. Speed however could be of use. I prefer Samsung and intel SSDs but won’t rule out any good drive from any other party.

The SSD is for the rig in my sig. I have done some scouting but so far I can’t decide whether the best choice would be to go with a SATA III or PCI-E SSD. If I go for a SATA SSD I will be using the ASUS U3S6 controller which unfortunately is not a very good one. If I go for a PCI-E SSD I will be using it in the 2nd or 3rd PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot.

Any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

How many PCI-E lanes are required for the controller? I've deferred buying $300+ controllers anymore. I'd rather have a drive-pool than RAID. Instead, the only add-in controllers I've used lately are the Startech PEXSAT34RH:

https://www.startech.com/Cards-Adap...ss-SATA-6Gbps-RAID-Controller-Card~PEXSAT34RH

They support RAID0, RAID1, and RAID10. Or, rather than use the card's own driver-set, the ports are configurable as AHCI using the Native Microsoft driver. These only need an PCI-E x2 slot. Often with a variety of motherboards supporting SLI/XFire, a third "x16" slot will provide a maximum of x4. What are the number of lanes needed by your SSD cards?

Does your motherboard support PCI-E 1.0, 2.0 -- or 3.0? Oh -- OK -- I missed that first time. PCI-E 2.0.

How many lanes for the SSD card required?

 

[tweakboy]

WHy not

 

[Blazer7]

Hi BonzaiDuck, thanks for taking the time to look at this.

The ASUS U3S6 is a PCI-E 2.0 x4 card. It provides 2xUSB 3.0 ports (Renesas) + 2xSATA III ports (Marvell controller). I have it installed in my board’s x4 slot. The controller is certified by ASUS to work with my board and supports boot and AHCI. Along with the dual USB/SATA functionality these were the primary reasons that made me choose it in the first place. The USBs work as should but the SATA port’s performance is sub-par. Having a USB/SATA controller in one card helps keeping clutter at a minimum which is also a plus. Despite the sub-par performance of the Marvell controller I was very content with the performance of the 830 pro but I think that an SSD upgrade after so many years wouldn’t hurt.

The ASUS P6TD Deluxe sports 2 PCI, 1 x4 PCI-E slot and 3 x16 PCI-E physical ports @ x16/x16/x1 or x16/x8/x8 electrical. Currently the PCI-E x4 and the 1st PCI-E x16 are the only slots occupied. The 1st PCI slot can’t be used because of the dual slot VGA card.

All PCI-E SSDs I'm considering so far are x4 cards.

PS.
I will be editing my first post soon adding a section with SSDs under consideration.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Hi BonzaiDuck, thanks for taking the time to look at this.

The ASUS U3S6 is a PCI-E 2.0 x4 card. It provides 2xUSB 3.0 ports (Renesas) + 2xSATA III ports (Marvell controller). I have it installed in my board’s x4 slot. The controller is certified by ASUS to work with my board and supports boot and AHCI. Along with the dual USB/SATA functionality these were the primary reasons that made me choose it in the first place. The USBs work as should but the SATA port’s performance is sub-par. Having a USB/SATA controller in one card helps keeping clutter at a minimum which is also a plus. Despite the sub-par performance of the Marvell controller I was very content with the performance of the 830 pro but I think that an SSD upgrade after so many years wouldn’t hurt.

The ASUS P6TD Deluxe sports 2 PCI, 1 x4 PCI-E slot and 3 x16 PCI-E physical ports @ x16/x16/x1 or x16/x8/x8 electrical. Currently the PCI-E x4 and the 1st PCI-E x16 are the only slots occupied. The 1st PCI slot can’t be used because of the dual slot VGA card.

All PCI-E SSDs I'm considering so far are x4 cards.

PS.
I will be editing my first post soon adding a section with SSDs under consideration.

Um . . . um . . . Nehal-um. You can always purchase parts for an existing configuration and anticipate using them for a newer one: I do it.

But my own inclination -- and that's all it is -- leans me toward sticking with SATA devices from the onboard controller in my workstations (Gen2/Gen3 post-Nehalem). I run these small controllers in a server. If I were to invest in a $400 Areca, Adaptec, LSI and specifically SATA-III, the benefits are a bit of a stretch to match the cost. I'd eventually have to resell the controller, or use it for a long, long time. Also, and again this is only for myself -- I wouldn't buy a dual-purpose PCI_E card, but if you have a limited number of slots, it makes sense.

In the case you have an onboard SATA-II controller and you have to have SATA_III (Particularly for SSDs), then that fully explains your situation. But I thought a Nehalem board would have some SATA-III ports, if only two of them.

For HDDs, I don't think it makes a hilla-beans difference between -III and -II. It's possible to further cache those HDDs on SATA-II controller ports to RAM -- which I do.

So given my candidly stated inclination, I'd still suggest you might avoid investing in more expensive devices to use on older hardware, let the money pile up for a while, and buy them carefully for a newer system like a Haswell or Skylake. By that time, they may cost less.

I guess the crucial factor would be a matter of why you need that kind of speed for your SSDs on an older motherboard and dated CPU. Maybe you want to "try out" one of those Intel 750's. But your own reservation about it would also inform my choices.

 

[Bubbleawsome]

In a first gen i7 system I'm not sure how well a PCI-E SSD would act as a boot drive. If the SATA controller is also subpar though the PCI-E might be better.

If you do choose SATA I fully reccomend the SanDisk Ultra III series. Incredible SSDs for the price. I love my 480GB one.

 

[Blastman]

I would put the Mushkin Reactor on your list. It has a good controller and MLC. See … TR review.

The Reactor 1TB frequently goes on sale for about $200. Bigger is better when it comes to SSD's as you have more flash to spread the writes to, and more empty space means less housekeeping for the SSD.

I'm not convinced there is really much benefit in going to a format outside a SATA3 drive. On sequential read/writes you can see 3-4x as fast, but as soon as you load some program, you're usually dealing with hundreds of small files and the benefits become almost nonexistent (see TR load tests), there is virtually no benefit vs SATA3. The jump from SATA2 - 3 doesn't even really show too much because of this in many cases.

Some people just want that extra speed in some situations, and that's ok, but my thinking is that SATA3 is decently fast and if you upgrade your CPU and system, it's a easy swap to a more compatible and universal interface.

 

[Blazer7]

Thanks for chiming in guys,

I’m already leaning towards SATA.

---------------------

In the case you have an onboard SATA-II controller and you have to have SATA_III (Particularly for SSDs), then that fully explains your situation. But I thought a Nehalem board would have some SATA-III ports, if only two of them.

[FONT=&quot]Yes that’s my case indeed. My board does not have SATAIII or USB 3.0 and ASUS kind of tried to fix that with the introduction of the U3S6 (Usb3-Sata6).[/FONT]

In a first gen i7 system I'm not sure how well a PCI-E SSD would act as a boot drive. If the SATA controller is also subpar though the PCI-E might be better.

[FONT=&quot]Exactly my dilemma[/FONT]

If you do choose SATA I fully reccomend the SanDisk Ultra III series. Incredible SSDs for the price. I love my 480GB one.

[FONT=&quot]I’m not aware of the Sandisk Ultra III, currently I’m looking at the Extreme Pro 240 & 480.[/FONT]

I would put the Mushkin Reactor on your list. It has a good controller and MLC. See … TR review.

The Reactor 1TB frequently goes on sale for about $200. Bigger is better when it comes to SSD's as you have more flash to spread the writes to, and more empty space means less housekeeping for the SSD.

I'm not convinced there is really much benefit in going to a format outside a SATA3 drive. On sequential read/writes you can see 3-4x as fast, but as soon as you load some program, you're usually dealing with hundreds of small files and the benefits become almost nonexistent (see TR load tests), there is virtually no benefit vs SATA3. The jump from SATA2 - 3 doesn't even really show too much because of this in many cases.

Some people just want that extra speed in some situations, and that's ok, but my thinking is that SATA3 is decently fast and if you upgrade your CPU and system, it's a easy swap to a more compatible and universal interface.

[FONT=&quot]I will have a look at the Mushkin Reactor 256 & 512 SSDs but not the 1TB[FONT=&quot],[/FONT] [FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]a[/FONT]nything bigger t[FONT=&quot]han 500-[FONT=&quot]512 is [/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]overkill for me so I won’t be considering it. Thanks for the TR link, it is a good read.[/FONT]

 

[therealnickdanger]

Another vote here for SATA. My Z77 motherboard has a beta BIOS that enabled bootable NVMe, but the whole experience was less than ideal. Take that anecdotal evidence with a grain of salt, but my opinion is that you'll be better off buying a quality MLC SATA drive or 3D TLC drive (850 EVO). Other than raw throughput (which is astounding), I couldn't really feel a difference in day-to-day operation between SATA3 and NVMe. As long as you focus on drives with superior random IO and garbage collection/TRIM performance, I don't think you'll miss the sequential speed offered by PCIe. Plus, they're so affordable now.

EDIT: I just upgraded my dad's Q6600 machine from an X25M 80GB (still works great!) to a 256GB 840 Pro (from his laptop, which has been upgraded as well). Despite using a SATA3 drive on a SATA2 port, it's a tremendous improvement.