Splitting an SSD for SRT

[Chaoticlusts]

Hey all

With the Z68 NDA *finally* gone seeing all the details regarding SRT I started wondering since you can use part of a SSD for SRT would there be any performance impact from dedicating say 30GB of a 120GB SSD too SRT on a 1-2TB HDD to use for games while using the rest as an OS partition?

Basically I was already planning on getting a 120GB drive for my OS drive but it would be useless for games (since my steam directory is about 400GB and rising and I have plenty of non-steam games) I figured maybe sometime down the track I'd take advantage of SRT for a 'games' drive but since it can work with a partition why not do it straight away unless there's some form of disadvantage?

I wouldn't want it to impact on the performance of the OS partition of the drive though I can't see how that would happen but figured it was worth putting the question out there for more knowledgeable people

Thanx all

 

[LokutusofBorg]

Reading Anand's description of the technology I think your plan would yield very good results.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

With the Z68 NDA *finally* gone seeing all the details regarding SRT I started wondering since you can use part of a SSD for SRT would there be any performance impact from dedicating say 30GB of a 120GB SSD too SRT on a 1-2TB HDD to use for games while using the rest as an OS partition?

If I understand correctly, you can't do that. To use SRT the OS must be on a HDD. It can't be the SSD that's being used for caching.

 

[Chaoticlusts]

If I understand correctly, you can't do that. To use SRT the OS must be on a HDD. It can't be the SSD that's being used for caching.

That was one of the issues I was wondering about, I couldn't see a definitive answer and there seems to be confusion on other boards too...

Basically I guess the main question boils down too can SRT be implemented on secondary drives, so your saying you think it can only be used on the primary OS drive?

I'd gotten the impression it could be from this quote in the Anand article on the tech "The fact that you can use any SSD as a cache is nice since it gives you something to do with your old SSDs when you upgrade." I'd read that as implying you can just throw your old SSD onto a secondary HDD...though it could also be read I guess as throwing it into another system to boost it up

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Basically I guess the main question boils down too can SRT be implemented on secondary drives?

Looking at screenshots of the setup - it seems like you can, but only one drive can be acclerated at a time.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/05/11/intel_smart_response_technology_srt/5

The Anand quote seems to confirm this. I think I understand what he's saying looking at the previous context. He was talking about a dedicated game HDD using an SSD for caching. So maybe it would be possible to install your OS on one portion of the SSD while using SRT on the other portion for accelerating a storage HDD. Seems like an odd idea, but might work nicely if possible.

 

[greenhawk]

The only issue going from my reading is that the cached drive needs to be setup before the OS is installed into the partition that is the extra space on the SSD.

I base this on the details for setting up the cache, that everything that is on the drive to start with is deleted to create the cache space.

So as long as the cache is setup (bios I hope), then you should be fine to install the OS to the rest of the space. I am thinking that it might be the way to go, but want to hear a bit more about how hard the SSD is written to when caching. (ie: why intel went SLC vs MLC).

Though a question I do have that I would like a answer from before I think of getting it, is the one about caching multiple HDD's. Does it need a SSD for each drive, or is their a one cache setup per system limit or can one SSD be used for caching multiple drives (that is without raiding the HDD's first).

I ask as I have a 80GB SSD (G2), but while caching a storage drive would be nice, using the extra space for caching my programs drive (v-raptor) would be even better. I would be getting a new SSD to replace the 80GB one before I make it a cache drive.

 

[Chaoticlusts]

Thanx heaps for that link Wolf that's the first review I've found that has seemingly complete answers to some of these questions (and I've checked several >_<) even if the answers are a little hidden it seems from that it's *definitely* possible to cache a secondary drive and any space past the cache on the SSD can definitely be used as a separate drive in itself.

There's also been a few more questions posed in here I'd be curious about a big one being what kind of impact it has on the longevity of the drive (which if your planning on using the other partition as a primary drive seems a pretty important issue ) also I've been wondering if it'll have a noticeable performance impact on the drive, I imagine it wouldn't but I also imagine that it could depending on the way it's implemented...I *really* hope someone does a review around it to show how it plays out in a real world scenario...soooooo many questions >_<

I'd gotten the impression Greenhawk that you can only setup one cache per drive but again I'm really not sure >_<

As it is I'll be buying my system once Z68's are decently available over here (Australia) and have lost their initial low supply price premium, hopefully I'll have a better idea about this by then..otherwise it's not *that* much of a PIA to implement this down the track