240GB SSD on SATA II

[TheBinaryGuy]

Sorry for being a noob at this, but can I install an SSD on my old DELL prebuilt PC ?

I'm posting the motherboard's photo dwon below.

Also SSD of choice is Kingston a400 or Crucial BX500 (2.5 Inch/240gigs)

 

I'm also confused where to mount the SSD and what cables to buy.

Any help is appreciated.

[Princess Luna]

Yes it is compatible but it will be bottlenecked on occasion.

 

Between your two options the Crucial BX500 is a significantly better drive than the Kingston A400 so go with it.

[VIVO-US]

Looks like you have an open 3.5" bay behind the HDD, so you can get a 2.5" adapter to hold the SSD.  Beyond that, you should only need a SATA data cable.  Is there a free SATA power connector from your power supply (same as the one on the HDD), or are all the connections used up?

 

SATA II will limit the speed of the SSD, but it will still be much faster than the HDD.  I made this upgrade on a couple of my old computers to give them new life, and they still run usably fast as a result.

[TheBinaryGuy]

4 minutes ago, Princess Luna said:

Yes it is compatible but it will be bottlenecked on occasion.

 

Between your two options the Crucial BX500 is a significantly better drive than the Kingston A400 so go with it.

So 1 SATA cable and 1 sata power cable will be enough ? And i have to keep it hanging as no mounting space, is it okay ?

[vanished]

It should work fine, but just know you will not get the maximum 500+ MB/s sequential speeds.  However, it will still achieve sequential speeds higher than a HDD, especially vs any HDD of that era, and where SSDs really make a difference in how fast things feel is the random IO speeds which should not be hampered at all

 

1 minute ago, TheBinaryGuy said:

So 1 SATA cable and 1 sata power cable will be enough ? And i have to keep it hanging as no mounting space, is it okay ?

It looks like you do have places to mount it, but SSDs, due to not having any moving parts, don't really need to be mounted at all.  Just toss it in anywhere it's not obstructing the rotation of a fan or pulling on its own (or other) cables.

[TheBinaryGuy]

2 minutes ago, VIVO-US said:

Is there a free SATA power connector from your power supply

I'm afraid there's no extra power connector. I dont use the Optical drive though, can i use that one ??

[Princess Luna]

2 minutes ago, TheBinaryGuy said:

So 1 SATA cable and 1 sata power cable will be enough ? And i have to keep it hanging as no mounting space, is it okay ?

Yes, just connect the proper cables and it should be good to go, as pointed out mounting it is not necessary.

[TheBinaryGuy]

Thanks everyone, will post another snapshot if the SSD installation is successful !!

Thanks a ton again

[Bacon soup]

17 minutes ago, TheBinaryGuy said:

And i have to keep it hanging as no mounting space, is it okay ?

I held mine up with medical tape for years. Duct tape works too.

[dalekphalm]

17 minutes ago, TheBinaryGuy said:

I'm afraid there's no extra power connector. I dont use the Optical drive though, can i use that one ??

If you're not using the ODD (Optical Disk Drive), I would actually disconnect both the SATA Data and Power cables from it, and use both for the SSD. I would also remove the ODD completely.

 

If you want to keep the ODD, you need a regular SATA Data cable (connects to one of the spare ports on the motherboard - the white and the black ports right below the blue and orange SATA cables), and you'll need a SATA Power Cable Y-Splitter. These are cheap on places like NewEgg and Amazon and eBay.

 

Either will work.

 

In terms of mounting, as previously mentioned, SSD's have no moving parts, so they don't strictly need to be mounted. You could just use some double sided tape and stick the SSD to the side of the case. Or you could get a proper 3.5" to 2.5" Mounting Bracket, and install the SSD in the spare 3.5" slot behind your HDD (Or, conversely, move the HDD to the lower slot and install the SSD w/ mounting bracket where the HDD currently is).

[TheBinaryGuy]

9 hours ago, VIVO-US said:

Looks like you have an open 3.5" bay behind the HDD

Thanks for pointing that out, i even found an extra sata power connector.

ordered the ssd and sata cable and the mounting bracket, thanks everyone

[TheBinaryGuy]

9 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

move the HDD to the lower slot and install the SSD w/ mounting bracket where the HDD currently is).

I have moved the HDD down, will post final snap when SSD arrives. Thanks a ton

 

[dgsddfgdfhgs]

2 minutes ago, TheBinaryGuy said:

sata cable and the mounting bracket,

not needed

reuse your cable from cd drive & tape the ssd to case

[TheBinaryGuy]

UPDATE :

Installed the SSD, running windows !! Installed extra RAM from another old system.

Startup time is just 8-10 seconds. Office apps load in a blink.

Thank a ton you guys for the help