SATA 2 vs SATA 3 - noticeable differences?

[rh71]

I'm finally getting with the times and upgraded my USB 2.0 connectors with an adapter card to USB 3.0. Nice difference there.

I also got an SSD drive (SATA 3) but my mainboard is SATA 2 only and it's running at SATA 2. I also have an HDD that is SATA 3 compatible, but again not running to its full potential.

1) Is there any way to upgrade to SATA 3 speeds other than changing out the mainboard?

2) Will I even notice a significant difference (supposed to be double SATA 2 transfer speeds?) with a) data transfers and b) program/game loading?

3) HDD SATA 3 data transfer through my USB 3.0 to an external drive would be improved vs. HDD SATA 2 through USB 3.0?

 

[shabby]

Which ssd drive did you get?

1) plenty of pcie sata3 cards out there, just don't get the cheap $9.99 ones
2) yes and yes
3) no, hard drives can't saturate sata2 at all

 

[Cerb]

1) Yes. Marvell cards are pretty good, these days, but watch your PCI-e bandwidth*. An old board might do poorly with a 1x card.
2) Depends on your controller. If it's an ICH series, or SB700 series (or older), probably (but more due to the newer controller than SATA 6Gbps). If it's an nForce, just buy a SATA controller card.
3) No.

* PCIe 1.0:
1x = ~200MBps
2x = ~450MBps
4x = more than needed
PCIe 2.0:
1x = ~450Mbps
2x = more than needed

 

[rh71]

Kind of confused with the PCIe 1.0 vs 2.0 and 1x, 2x. I've come to understand x16 and x1 are the slot sizes.

My mobo specs don't say anything about 1.0, 2.0 or 1x or 2x. Do I assume it's a 1.0? Is this a 2x card?

And do I have to worry about this with that card: http://www.amazon.com/review/RLQVR4I...#RLQVR4IUM9C86 since I'd be using it in PCIe x1 lane also? Obviously I'm doing all this just to get the SATA III speeds out of my SSD and HDDs.

Which ssd drive did you get?

The Samsung 250gb 840 EVO.

 

[Cerb]

1 x PCI Express x16 slot
(The PCI Expressx16 slot conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)
4 x PCI Express x1 slot
2 x PCI slots

So, you need to upgrade the PC if you want faster, because the video card is using the 2.0 slots.

 

[shabby]

So, you need to upgrade the PC if you want faster, because the video card is using the 2.0 slots.

Aren't those x1 slots pcie2? That would still give him 500mb/sec.

 

[Cerb]

No. The P45 allows 1x16x or 2x8x 2.0 slots, and the video card uses those. The ICH provides 1x lanes. That's among the reasons why the onboard SATA 6Gbps controllers were generally not recommended over the internal Intel ones, at the time.

 

[mfenn]

No. The P45 allows 1x16x or 2x8x 3.0 slots, and the video card uses those. The ICH provides 1x lanes. That's among the reasons why the onboard SATA 6Gbps controllers were generally not recommended over the internal Intel ones, at the time.

The P45 provides PCIe 2.0 lanes, not 3.0, but otherwise this is correct. The ICH10 only provides PCIe 1.1 lanes.

Really though, I wouldn't worry about changing anything right now unless you want an upgrade in other aspects. You'll only notice a difference between your current SATA 3Gb/s and SATA 6Gb/s (no such thing as "SATA2" and "SATA3") on sustained transfers, and then only if you have a source/destination which can keep up that speed (i.e. another SSD). The main benefits of an SSD are fast random-access speeds, and those are roughly the same on SATA 3Gb/s and SATA 6Gb/s.

 

[Cerb]

Sorry about that, that was a bit of slip (most current CPUs give 16 3.0 lanes, so I bet I had that in my head as a comparison point, rather than just making a typo)

 

[sub-80]

Which ssd drive did you get?

1) plenty of pcie sata3 cards out there, just don't get the cheap $9.99 ones
2) yes and yes
3) no, hard drives can't saturate sata2 at all

+1