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Upgraded MB & CPU, need SSD recommendation

G

gifty74

Junior Member
Ok, to be nice and short, upgraded to an i5 2500k on a Asus P8Z68-V LX motherboard with 8 gb of RAM. Want to go with a ~128gb SSD for my main Win 7 64-bit boot/programs drive. I've been stumbling through the sea of SSD info, wikis, stickies, etc, and just cannot wrap my head around what I need to be buying. I want to buy something current (SATA III, 6bg/s I assume??), but want to make sure I get a drive my MB can take advantage of, if it has some newer technologies not in some of the older wikis. I also don't want to get too crazy because I would not consider myself an enthusiast. So, looking for a recommendation of a few SSDs that would fit my bill. I'm budget minded, but don't really have a target in mind just because there's so much out there I was looking at I didn't know where to start. Thanks!!
 
get this Crucial drive . Its reliable and fast and has all the latest specs.

Basically, I looked for the fastest SATAIII drive but reliability took precedence as it was the main OS drive I could not risk failure. According to my research Intel was the best and next was Crucial but Crucial was faster so I chose Crucial.
 
So the Marvel controller still all works ideally with my Asus MB & chipset, etc? There's no other technology in a different drive that will utilize the Z68 technology?
 
I have P8Z68-V LE, it too has the same marvel controller. I believe its for the 6gbps SATAIII ports? It doesn't really matter, any SATAIII drive (like the Crucial linked above) can take advantage of it. Since you are buying 128GB I dont think you will need SSD caching (another feature of Z68).

Z68 chipset does not support SATA 6Gb/s so ASUS uses Marvell's PCIe SATA 6Gb/s controller. Any drive, even a traditional HDD can can utilize this faster channel. However, initially I has some issues with the configuration no my machine so i used the SSD on the SataII 3Gb/s port, then later switched to 6Gb/s, frankly I did not see any difference in performance in gamin or boot time or anything at all...
 
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So you say that Asus uses a PCIe controller. Is that an add-on card to get the 6gb/s speed? In the specs is says my board has 4 SATA II ports at 3gb/s, and 2 at SATA III 6gb/s. I assumed I could just hook the SSD into one of the 2 SATA III ports and be off and running?
 
not on add on card but more like an integrated add on chip that somehow, to the best of my knowledge feeds in to the main bus. There is no card but a chip on the mobo itself. On your mobo there are four black SATA 3.0 Gb/s ports that are controlled by the z68 chipset. The other 2 blue ports are controlled by the Marvell's controller, which, I suppose uses the CPIe bus for the 6.0 Gb/s ports or something like that. Bottom line is, the two blue SATAIII ports are the 6.0 Gb/s ports using the Marvell's controllers so any SSD that are rated as SATA III 6.0 gb/s, can he hooked to the blue ports on your mobo and will be hence using the "Marvell".
 
Got it. That's what I figured. The other competitive drive that looks right along the same lines is this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...SH100S3%2f120G

Looks to be in a little higher price class, but with a $40 mail-in rebate about the same price. Looking on anandtech.com the Kingston kills the Crucial on every test (apples to apples, 256gb of each version), and most by a long shot. Might be leaning toward the Kingston given that comparison.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/356?vs=412
 
I just bought the Crucial drive below last night (html is disabled somehow, can't link it): 100% 5 star reviews (altho only 3 ratings so far, fairly new drive), less than half more for almost twice the storage space (240GB) and lots of good performance reviews on line too.
I haven't done my build yet but will post on the SSD when I've got it up and running.

Putting it into a similar board: P8z68 Pro/Gen 3

drive: Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F240GBGT-BK 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $359

linky: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820233208
 
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DesiPower said:
Z68 chipset does not support SATA 6Gb/s so ASUS uses Marvell's PCIe SATA 6Gb/s controller....
Click to expand...

Are you sure about that? The specs from their website shows otherwise:

Storage Intel® Z68 chipset :

2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), gray
4 x SATA 3Gb/s port(s), blue
Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10
Support Intel® Smart Response Technology on 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processor family
 
all 6 series chipsets have 2 native 6G ports.

Don't use the much slower Marvell 9128 ports for a fast SSD unless you don't mind being bottlenecked to 400/250 speeds. Some higher end mobo's even have a faster Marvell 9182 chip but it's still a bit weaker than the native Intel 6G ports.
 
Burner27 said:
Are you sure about that? The specs from their website shows otherwise:

Storage Intel® Z68 chipset :

2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), gray
4 x SATA 3Gb/s port(s), blue
Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10
Support Intel® Smart Response Technology on 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processor family
Click to expand...

You are correct, P8Z68-V says

Intel® Z68 chipset :
2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), gray
4 x SATA 3Gb/s port(s), blue
Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10
Support Intel® Smart Response Technology on 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processor family
JMicron® JMB362 controller : *2
1 x eSATA 3Gb/s port(s), red

Its the P8Z68-V PRO that says
Intel® Z68 chipset :
2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), gray
4 x SATA 3Gb/s port(s), blue
Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10
Support Intel® Smart Response Technology on 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processor family
Marvell® PCIe SATA 6Gb/s controller : *2
2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), navy blue
JMicron® JMB362 controller : *2
1 x eSATA 3Gb/s port(s), red

This apparently has 8 SATA ports... the P8Z68-V (LX is what OP has) does not have a Marvell controller at all... I guess OP, we have been going around in circles for nothing... you do not have a Marvell controller, even if you do (which means you have the PRO version) you should avoid using them as they are slower than the Z68's.

P.S. - I was confused with the usb 3.0, z68 does not support USB 3.0 it does support SATAIII 6.0 Gb/s
 
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Ok, so on my Asus P8Z68-V LX mb I can pretty much just plug into one of the grey 6gb/s ports, enable AHCI in the bios, and fire up and install Win 7? Reading a bit more is looks like the Kingston HyperX is a pretty solid drive with good support. Uses the SandForce (not sure if that's related to the Sandy Bridge on the Intel chip or not), but sounds like a good performer.
 
gifty74 said:
Ok, so on my Asus P8Z68-V LX mb I can pretty much just plug into one of the grey 6gb/s ports, enable AHCI in the bios, and fire up and install Win 7? Reading a bit more is looks like the Kingston HyperX is a pretty solid drive with good support. Uses the SandForce (not sure if that's related to the Sandy Bridge on the Intel chip or not), but sounds like a good performer.
Click to expand...

SandForce is the some newer SSD technology which is supposed to be much better, no wonder Crucial bites the dust in the link you posted earlier. SandForce is what Intel will use in its next gen SSDs, the 520s which is greatly anticipated by people...
 
while that particular drive is certainly one of the fastest on the market(toggle based nand helps too).. it has had many growing pains since release and may not be the best choice for those not technically minded in setting them up/troubleshooting if any problems should arise.

The latest drivers, bios revisions, and Sandforce firmware revision has cured the bulk of the issues but would be more of a gamble than some of the other SSD's mentioned already.

And this advice comes from someone who has many Sandforce controlled drives and would consider them as a favorite so far with all controllers tested to date. Just my honest opinion on the matter based on your previous statement.
 
yep.. they've had me pegged for a while now. lol

So when I say "might want to think about that one first"? It might be worth listening since I beta test them and rarely speak against Sandforce controllers.
 
gifty74 said:
No, says right on their specs that it has a ASMedia USB 3.0 controller...
Click to expand...

correct, USB 3.0 is available through the ASMedia chip not through Z68. Unlike USB 2.0 which is supported by Z68. So the motherboard does have USB 3.0 support but not through the Z68
 
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Hmm. Still not sure. At a $1.66/gb do you think it's worth it to wait just a little bit? Or, should I strike while the iron is hot (xmas time, self gifting 🙂).
 
Price is definitely not the reason to wait, it will always get cheaper and cheaper. SSDs are simply amazing, one of the best things ever happened to PCs... while W7 boots you don't even get time to see the full animation... Go for it, don't wait.

Although they have been out there for a while, I feel the technology is still buggy and your OS will sit on it, I would hate to have to reinstall OS again and again. Be very careful while you choose the make and model, take your time, do you research.
 
groberts101 said:
yep.. they've had me pegged for a while now. lol

So when I say "might want to think about that one first"? It might be worth listening since I beta test them and rarely speak against Sandforce controllers.
Click to expand...

Don't worry, I have a Kingston HyperX in my SSD arsenal and I am working on an issue right now that is keeping me from using it as my primary drive. Perhaps we can chat about it via PM?
 
So, digging a little more, found this drive as a nice alternative to the Kingston HyperX and Crucial mentioned above...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...scrollFullInfo

Gets pretty good reviews with the latest firmware update. Performs right up there with the Kingston, and is 25% ($50) cheaper. Any of you have experience with the OCZ products, or this drive in particular?
 
With 43% 5 stars and 23% 1 stars in the ratings, plus the bad rap OCZ SSDs have all over the forum, you might want to reconsider.
 
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