Adding an SSD  

Hi everyone, haven't posted anything in a long while. Although I haven't got a problem per se, more of a technical question - I would like to add an SSD to my workstation that has a Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R motherboard but I'm not sure it's possible. I essentially would like to rebuild it with the OS (Windows 10) on the SSD and use my existing spinner disks as storage. Would anyone know, for sure, that I can do this, or is the motherboard too old (it's about 10-12 years old)? There are a number of SATA connections on the board but I wouldn't know which ones, if any, to use.

Should be fine, and any of the sata connections should work fine, just do a fresh install.

engine987 said:

Hi everyone, haven't posted anything in a long while. Although I haven't got a problem per se, more of a technical question - I would like to add an SSD to my workstation that has a Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R motherboard but I'm not sure it's possible. I essentially would like to rebuild it with the OS (Windows 10) on the SSD and use my existing spinner disks as storage. Would anyone know, for sure, that I can do this, or is the motherboard too old (it's about 10-12 years old)? There are a number of SATA connections on the board but I wouldn't know which ones, if any, to use.

Hi there

@engine987

If you have SATA connections it will work -- You will need the "older" classical 5 cm (2.5 inch I think in Old Queen Victoria's measurements !!)) SSD's though --the newer things that look like a bit of memory chips won't work but the standard SSD's will work -- you'll need to connect one end into the SATA connector on the Mobo and for the power you'll need something like this



Connect this to the part on the ssd with the most pins and simply connect the SATA cable to a Sata port on the mobo.

If you haven't got any spare molex connectors you can connect a "Molex splitter" or even use a DVD slot if you aren't using the DVD connector --in that case you'll need a special DVD-->Sata power connector to connect the power bit.The standard sata cable should just go on to the "fewer pins" part of the SSD and connect to the mobo.

Molex splitter :




Older machines benefit absolutely HUGELY from having SSD's -- even the slower Kingston ones (real el cheapo now) will make a HUGE improvement.

Cheers
jimbo

Hi,
Any 2.5" ssd will work
Samsung 860 evo/ pro/.... but yeah you might need a molex to sata connector
GA-X58A-UD3R (rev. 2.0) | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global

GIGABYTE SATA2 chip:

1. 1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices
2. 2 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (GSATA2_8, GSATA2_9) supporting up to 2 SATA 3Gb/s devices
3. Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, and JBOD

ThrashZone said:

Hi,
Any 2.5" ssd will work
Samsung 860 evo/ pro/.... but yeah you might need a molex to sata connector
GA-X58A-UD3R (rev. 2.0) | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global

Hi there
@ThrashZone;

I've posted for the O/P details of the connectors etc -- they are just pennies so easy to do even if one isn't used to meddling with hardware.

Older systems benefit HUGELY (probably even more so than newer ones with really powerful cpu's etc) by fitting SSD's.

Cheers
jimbo

Hi,
Power extension
https://www.amazon.com/Power-Cable-A...9621750&sr=8-3

Data cable
https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters...9621810&sr=8-5

You can mount a 2.5" ssd anywhere with a little Velcro

860 evo 500gb
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-500GB...4-3e7a9c0027d0

ThrashZone, I looked at the spec sheet that you provided a link to and noticed this:
Marvell 9128 chip:

1. 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (GSATA3_6, GSATA3_7) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices
2. Support for SATA RAID 0, and RAID 1* SATA3 RAID 0 4x and SATA3 2x performance are maximum theoretical values. Actual performance may vary by system configuration.
   * SATA3 SSDs are not recommended for use in RAID 0 mode on Marvell SE9128 ports.
   Would one of the SATA 6Gb/s work?

Hi,
Yes
Some are 3gb/s and looks like some are 6gb/s
SSD's now days are 6gb/s so that's a good thing

ThrashZone said:

Hi,
Yes
Some are 3gb/s and looks like some are 6gb/s
SSD's now days are 6gb/s so that's a good thing

Hi there

@engine987

Even on an OLD MOBO's 3gb/s is so much better than the old clunky IDE HDD's --for my money is if you have spare sata ports get the really cheap Kingston things (I think in UK on amazon these are around 30 EUR --sorry you in UK don't like EU so probably about 28 GBP) for the 250 GB ones -- for older Mobos even a 3 Gb/s SSD will be lightning faster than the old clunky 5600 RPM HDD's on IDE strips.

Cheers

jimbo

Hi,
I believe samsung has best ssd utility though and support frankly.
But really doesn't matter which brand now days.
Samsung to me has never not hit or exceeded advertised read/ wright spec's so I stick with them