SSD: SATAII vs SATAIII real world difference

[JumBie]

If for instance I throw a SSD that only supports SATAII into my computer will I notice a difference in actual use compared to another drive that supports SATAIII? In task such as gaming, browsing, photo editing is their even a point to paying extra for a native SATAIII SSD?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Does your system support SATA 2 or SATA 3?

A SATA2-only SSD will probably be older. The controller will tend to be higher latency, poorer garbage collection, less consistent performance, etc. A SATA3 SSD will get you some of those benefits even with a SATA2 motherboard/SATA controller.

In general:

SATA2 Controller + SATA2 SSD < SATA3 Controller + SATA2 SSD < SATA2 Controller + SATA3 SSD < SATA3 Controller + SATA3 SSD.

YMMV depending on the specific model SSD you have.

 

[Essence_of_War]

A SATA2-only SSD will probably be older. The controller will tend to be higher latency, poorer garbage collection, less consistent performance, etc. A SATA3 SSD will get you some benefits even with a SATA2 motherboard/SATA controller.

Exactly this. If it were just a question of SATA controller, no it probably wouldn't matter, but you cannot find modern SSDs that DO NOT support SATA 6Gbs. They just don't make intentionally older SATA controllers, when the modern controllers are backwards compatible.

 

[JumBie]

Well is the SATA2 controller going to realistically make a difference in terms of actual performance.

 

[pauldun170]

If for instance I throw a SSD that only supports SATAII into my computer will I notice a difference in actual use compared to another drive that supports SATAIII? In task such as gaming, browsing, photo editing is their even a point to paying extra for a native SATAIII SSD?

I have identical Samsung 830's on all my systems.
Q9550+ep45 (sata2) + Samsung 830 is just as snappy as my i3-2100 Z68 setup and i7-2700K + z77 setup.

I have also used them in some lower end builds (Athlon 240X2, Core Duo, and Core2Duo) and the limiting factors had more to do with other components. However, it was WELL worth upgrade. It turn old slow junk into usable hardware that offered a huge increase in performance over the drive they came with. Well worth the upgrade that extended the useful life of obsolete equipment. The Athlon and Core Duo didn't even have AHCI support.

 

[pauldun170]

There are certain usage scenarios where you may notice but for general usage....no.
Unless you are one of THOSE people who get all nitpicky about fonts and complain about hz settings and stuff.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Well is the SATA2 controller going to realistically make a difference in terms of actual performance.

The controller on your motherboard? Meh, no. The controller on the SSD? Oh hellz yeah.

 

[JumBie]

The controller on your motherboard? Meh, no. The controller on the SSD? Oh hellz yeah.

Okay so for instance, a Samsung EVO 840 (sata3) vs a Vertex 2 (sata2). What is the actual difference between them going to be?

If the difference is minimal, I am talking less a second or less in difference, than is that even really a huge leap?

I am talking boot up, shut down, loading programs, loading a game. "Oh hellz yeh" implies that I am going to notice something drastic and major.

 

[OlyAR15]

Okay so for instance, a Samsung EVO 840 (sata3) vs a Vertex 2 (sata2). What is the actual difference between them going to be?

If the difference is minimal, I am talking less a second or less in difference, than is that even really a huge leap?

I am talking boot up, shut down, loading programs, loading a game. "Oh hellz yeh" implies that I am going to notice something drastic and major.

Vertex 2 in an Ivy Bridge system, probably not much difference vs. Samsung.
Vertex 2 in a Haswell system, huge difference.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Okay so for instance, a Samsung EVO 840 (sata3) vs a Vertex 2 (sata2). What is the actual difference between them going to be?

If the difference is minimal, I am talking less a second or less in difference, than is that even really a huge leap?

I am talking boot up, shut down, loading programs, loading a game. "Oh hellz yeh" implies that I am going to notice something drastic and major.

"Less than a second difference" is a funny way of putting it - a 1 second difference can be insignificant (44 vs. 45 seconds) or very significant. (0.002 seconds vs. 1.002 seconds.)

If it helps, I went from a Vertex 3 to an 840 EVO on my current rig, and there were definite "smoothness" improvements. Stuff happened faster, but there were also fewer chugs. (The Vertex 3 would take a nap once in a while.)

Vertex 2/3 were also just about the most commonly hated/returned-defective SSDs ever, so I'd probably avoid them based on that alone, even having had one.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Vertex 2 in an Ivy Bridge system, probably not much difference vs. Samsung.
Vertex 2 in a Haswell system, huge difference.

...huh?

 

[OlyAR15]

...huh?

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2409373

 

[dave_the_nerd]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2409373

Ah. The difference between working and not working would be a pretty big difference. ()

 

[JumBie]

I guess I can find out for myself whether or not the difference is major or noticeable. I currently have a Samsung 470 (SATAII), will be upgrading to a Kingston v300 (SATAIII). I will post back here with what ever I find.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I guess I can find out for myself whether or not the difference is major or noticeable. I currently have a Samsung 470 (SATAII), will be upgrading to a Kingston v300 (SATAIII). I will post back here with what ever I find.

The V300 is not a good example - newer models use crappy NAND that kills performance. Unless you get a hand picked old one, it's probably not any faster than your 470.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7763/an-update-to-kingston-ssdnow-v300-a-switch-to-slower-micron-nand

Anyway, there's a lot more to it than just "this one is SATAII and this one is SATAIII."

But if you come back and ask about the Crucial V4, we'll all have a really good laugh.

 

[probedb2]

If it helps, I went from a Vertex 3 to an 840 EVO on my current rig, and there were definite "smoothness" improvements. Stuff happened faster, but there were also fewer chugs. (The Vertex 3 would take a nap once in a while.)

I went from the same but to an 850 Pro, day to day usage not a huge amount of difference but startup is noticeably faster.

 

[Headfoot]

Apparently people don't transfer files anymore. Sequential write gets capped by SATA II pokiness.

 

[coercitiv]

If for instance I throw a SSD that only supports SATAII into my computer will I notice a difference in actual use compared to another drive that supports SATAIII? In task such as gaming, browsing, photo editing is their even a point to paying extra for a native SATAIII SSD?

I had the opportunity to subjectively compare loading times in Diablo III on the same PC equipped with Samsung 850 Pro running on SATA II and then SATA III: loading times seemed faster as far as i could tell, but to be honest I couldn't care less, gaming experience was virtually the same.

If browsing experience sees a significant improvement on SATA III... change the browser.

Photo editing benefits can vary from zero to impressive depending on RAM usage (file size, undo settings etc.). Normal users should see little to no benefit when working with small files (less than 100MB). Start working with 1GB files and every speed bump matters.

You will not see a huge performance leap going from a good SATA II SSD to a good SATA III SSD unless you are using your system in a manner that puts considerable strain on your storage, which clearly you aren't.

Apparently people don't transfer files anymore. Sequential write gets capped by SATA II pokiness.

Apparently people transferring large files multitask while the operation takes place. Even at SATA III speeds large files will take a while to transfer.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I went from the same but to an 850 Pro, day to day usage not a huge amount of difference but startup is noticeably faster.

I also noticed an improvement in map load times in Rome 2 Total War and SWTOR (which is what I was playing at the time.)