Using mSATA SSD as Cache AND OS drive?

[orangedude]

Hi,

Here is my current system that I am planning to build:

Core i7-3770K
Gigabyte Z77-D3H
16 GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600
Gigabyte Geforce GTX 660Ti
1.5 TB WD 5400 RPM HD (This is from my old PC)
500 GB WD 5400 RPM HD (This is from my old PC)

I would like to add an SSD to improve the performance of my PC with every-day tasks.

The one thing I noticed about the Z77 board that I'm using is that it includes an mSATA slot.

Now my question is... if I buy a 256 GB mSATA SSD drive, can I partition it into 64 GB for the cache to speed up my HDD access times and leave the remaining 192 GB for OS and program installation?

Or would it be better to simply buy a 256 GB SATA III drive?

The price differential between the mSATA and SATA is not a concern (it's only ~$10 apart)

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820148613 ($199)
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820148443 ($189)

So basically, is this possible, and if so, how is the performance for this setup?

Thanks

 

[Coup27]

I would get a standard 2.5" SSD because you can buy much newer, faster and generally better SSDs than the Crucial m4 for the same price as the m4. The m4 is nearly 2 years old now and is still priced the same as brand new drives like the Samsung 840 which out perform it.

 

[philipma1957]

I use the crucial msata in my itx builds but it is the only drive in the build. it does not matter if you use a crucial as my asrock extreme itx msata is sata II so the m4 floods it. The main reason i use it is the drive is small and wireless. I am waiting to get a mushkin atlas 480gb msata in jan.
here is a review.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/5102/mushkin_atlas_480gb_msata_ssd_review/index.html


I will use this in an asus maximus v gene that I have laying around.

 

[orangedude]

I would get a standard 2.5" SSD because you can buy much newer, faster and generally better SSDs than the Crucial m4 for the same price as the m4. The m4 is nearly 2 years old now and is still priced the same as brand new drives like the Samsung 840 which out perform it.

For some reason, I thought the SSD caching would only work with mSATAs.

Since this is not the case, I agree with you and plan to get a Samsung 830 or 840 Pro 256GB.

However, I still would like to use the SSD for SRT and OS together. I found this thread explaining how to do so:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2172381

My only remaining question before I make my purchase is about the TRIM feature. According to what I've read, the remaining data portion of the SSD becomes a "Raid 0" drive. Since the newer Z77 chipsets now include TRIM support for Raid 0, would this work with this setup as well?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6161/...ssd-arrays-on-7series-motherboards-we-test-it

Thanks

 

[Coup27]

I'm afraid I can't help you with that. I have never used SRT myself.