P55A-UD3 supporting Vertex 3 120gb SSD?

[Dark Mantis]

You would see a performance boost by having it as AHCI certainly.

How to change IDE mode to AHCI after OS installation.

1.Exit all Windows-based programs.

2.Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.

3.If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.

4.Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetServicesMsahci

5.In the right pane, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify.

6.In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.

7.On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.

After this you’ll have to restart your computer, go to BIOS and enable AHCI. When you log in to Windows again, you’ll notice the installation of drivers for AHCI. Another restart will be required to finish the driver installation.

[piopakk]

Hi again,

Please be so kind to respond to all 6 questions  

1. So I can without any issues just turn on AHCI first within windows and in BIOS? Everything will work without problems afterwards?
I mean shouldn't AHCI be turned on befores OS installation?

2. But also, what would be the argument to turning away from IDE and using AHCI? I read somewhere, that AHCI also takes off a performance boost from SSD's.. true?

3. Is there a difference on SATA cables? The cable I use, just says SATA on ii. Are there perhaps cable with SATA2 written on them?

4. I have not upgraded the SSD firmware. Please see the attached screenshot. Should I upgrade?

5. OCZ says that before upgrading the SSD, backup off the data should be taken. But it's holding my OS.. Is it safe to upgrade without backup you think?

6. Please note the other attached screenshot with the device manager. I have just upgraded the intel chipset drivers with the latest. Is it actually ok to do so, after having installed all my programs, games, updates etc.?

Thanks Dark Mantis, highly appreciated!!

[Dark Mantis]

Ok no problem.

1. So I can without any issues just turn on AHCI first within windows and in BIOS? Everything will work without problems afterwards?
I mean shouldn't AHCI be turned on befores OS installation?

Yes if you follow my instructions properly. Ideally but it won't make any difference.

2. But also, what would be the argument to turning away from IDE and using AHCI? I read somewhere, that AHCI also takes off a performance boost from SSD's.. true?

SSDs run better in AHCI mode and they will get a performace gain.

3. Is there a difference on SATA cables? The cable I use, just says SATA on ii. Are there perhaps cable with SATA2 written on them?

No difference in cables.

4. I have not upgraded the SSD firmware. Please see the attached screenshot. Should I upgrade?

No screenshot but it wouldn't be a bad idea to updtae the firmware anyway.

5. OCZ says that before upgrading the SSD, backup off the data should be taken. But it's holding my OS.. Is it safe to upgrade without backup you think?

There is always a chance of something going wrong so backing up you important files is a sensible precaution.

6. Please note the other attached screenshot with the device manager. Should I upgrade the chipset drivers from Intel? I have not done anything to them, only windows 7 installed on it..

No other scrrenshot attached either.  It is always best to use the latest drivers available though.

[piopakk]

Sorry for missing screenshots - Because I updated my reply, as you actually replied to mine hehe. Please be so kind to read it again.

Ok. I updated the intel drivers. No performance change.

Device manager says that the Vertex 2 is using microsoft drivers. Is that good enough? Please see screenshot.

[Dark Mantis]

You could use the Intel IRST drivers available from their website instead of the Microsoft version. You may well find that they will help with performance but the biggest boost you will get will be changing from IDE to AHCI mode.

[piopakk]

Okay, so I changed to AHCI. Read and Write boost achieved!
But access time on both Read/Write decreased..
Please see screenshot.

Is it a myth or do you need to spare like 10% free space on a SSD?

Thanks for the help again!

[Dark Mantis]

Yes that looks more like what I would have expected to see.

I am not sure  why you ask about the 10% spare but if you are saying is it good to fill a drive then the answer is no and that goes for any drive not just a SSD.

I would mention at this point in case you are not aware that you should either disable or move your swapfile to another drive. It is not good to use it on the SSD as it is continuously reading and writing to the drive.

[piopakk]

ok thanks.

By swapfile you mean the paging file?!

Please dee the attached screenshot. How do I do this? I would then like to put the swapfile/pagefile to the D: drive (a 500GB HDD).

Is it better to disable or move the swapfile?

[Dark Mantis]

If you have 6GB or more  of memory then you can safely disable it altogether if not just move it to your magnetic drive.

To do this just turn off the pagefile on the SSD as in the screenie and then click on where you want to locate it and  click the radio button for how you want to manage it. Personally I like to have a fixed size pagefile if I am having one at all because it stops fragmentation of the drive so much.

[piopakk]

ok I have 4GB ram. I disabled the pagefile on the SSD and enabled it on the HDD. Yet no pagefile or folder is created on the HDD for the pagefile.. perhaps it will create itself eventually

Thank you for your considerate help!

[Dark Mantis]

You must change the settings as I described and then press the set button. After that you click "OK" and exit. At that point a dialogue box will appear saying that it will not take effect until you restart.

No problem for the help that is what I am here for.