Intel Z77 3Gbs MSata vs 6Gbs Sata

[ChrisLoudon]

Hi guys,

 

I've recently brought a very old Asrock Z77 ITX mobo and a 2500K back from the ashes and paired with 16gb of ram and a 1080ti, it seems to be performing pretty well with Win11 and my current use case.

 

Given its all squeezed into an old Corsair 250D with a custom loop cooling the CPU and GPU, space is at a premium and due to the fact what was the hard disk tray is now the pump and reservoir, I've got a 10 year old Sandisk 2.5" SSD just lying loose in some spare space.

 

The question I have is, the mobo has a 3Gbs MSata slot which is of course far neater than the 2.5" SATA drive BUT does anyone know what the 'real-world' performance reduction is likely to be if I moved from the 6Gbs (rated) 2.5" SATA drive currently installed.

 

To be clear, this PC is NOT a daily driver and is more of a doner PC for bits and bobs that move down my stack as I upgrade at the top but it does get some use if my other PCs are out of action when cleaning my loops out. I also hat e-waste, so if it works as a soho PC and copes with a little light gaming then it will get use until it properly dies.

 

Cheers

 

C

[Needfuldoer]

Try it! Worst thing that can happen is you spend a few bucks on an eSATA enclosure that you would've bought for additional storage anyway.

 

If you're using a mechanical hard drive, you probably won't notice a difference. If it's an SSD you might notice a little slowdown.

[ChrisLoudon]

10 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

Try it! Worst thing that can happen is you spend a few bucks on an eSATA enclosure that you would've bought for additional storage anyway.

 

If you're using a mechanical hard drive, you probably won't notice a difference. If it's an SSD you might notice a little slowdown.

Cheers,

 

I'll give it a bash and see what happens. Like you said, no harm done!

 

Current disk is the 2.5" Sandisk SSD so wasn't sure if the downgrade from the 6Gbs SATA port to a drive on the 3Gbs MSata slot would make any real difference.

 

I don't actually have an MSata disk yet but can pick one up on Amazon for 20ish quid so pretty cheap.

 

I take it MSata drives rated at 6Gbs will work just fine on the 3Gbs port on the mobo. Never used MSata before just M.2 / NVme so don't know the interface.

[Needfuldoer]

24 minutes ago, ChrisLoudon said:

I take it MSata drives rated at 6Gbs will work just fine on the 3Gbs port on the mobo. Never used MSata before just M.2 / NVme so don't know the interface.

mSATA is just regular old SATA on an external port. It was only around for a few years because USB 3.0 gained traction around the same time, and overshadowed eSATA with its versatility and familiarity.

 

The speed difference will be more noticeable if you're booting off the drive or using it as your games drive than if it's just additional storage.

[ChrisLoudon]

17 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

The speed difference will be more noticeable if you're booting off the drive or using it as your games drive than if it's just additional storage.

Thanks for the the info.

 

for the 20 quid it will cost me, I'll probably just by a cheap MSata drive and see if I notice any major difference in speed.

 

It will be the only drive in the PC (boot, apps and games) so if it runs like crap then I can always switch back to the Sandisk and get myself info cable tidy misery!