I have a motherboard that only has sata II ports. But I am looking at buying a Kingston hyperX SSD that is sata III. I know it will work but my question is, is it worth it to upgrade knowing that my sata II ports can't fully utilize the Sata III speeds? I game a lot and will use the SSD as a primary drive. Looking for any experience or help on the issue. Just don't want to waste money if the performance isn't there. Thank you for your time in advance.

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My laptop is one or the later Core 2 Duos, which makes it about 3 generations behind. I switched to using an OCZ Agility 3 that I got cheap, and the computer is great now. Actually, I notice a huge difference (good) from my computer and clients i5s with mechanical HDs. It's sad.

(in case you were wondering, Sata 2 port on this laptop)

You won't really see much improvement in game but you do in everyday use and application loading.

Sata II or III, your load times will drastically decrease going from a mechanical drive to an SSD.

Thank you both. I really appreciate the info/input. I can't wait to see the improvements.

In truth most SSD drives don't even saturate Sata II interfaces yet - remember those are 3 GB/sec....the fastest SSD drive can do something like 500MB/sec.

I've got a pair of SSD SATA 3 in 2 Sata 3 Ports and 2 more Sata III SSD drives in 2 Sata 2 Ports....very little difference when running benchmarks.

I do have 2 weird Sata 6 ports that are running on a marvel chipset on my motherboard and it's horrible....it made my SSD's feel like they were standard drives.

Originally Posted by s0undwav3 I do have 2 weird Sata 6 ports that are running on a marvel chipset on my motherboard and it's horrible....it made my SSD's feel like they were standard drives.

I too have also had bad experiences with Marvel SATA III ports so much to the point where I don't use them anymore. Thankfully I have some other Intel ones that work great, but only two ports available.

Originally Posted by s0undwav3 In truth most SSD drives don't even saturate Sata II interfaces yet - remember those are 3 GB/sec....the fastest SSD drive can do something like 500MB/sec. I've got a pair of SSD SATA 3 in 2 Sata 3 Ports and 2 more Sata III SSD drives in 2 Sata 2 Ports....very little difference when running benchmarks. I do have 2 weird Sata 6 ports that are running on a marvel chipset on my motherboard and it's horrible....it made my SSD's feel like they were standard drives.

You're mixing measurements. SATA 2.0 is up to 3 gigabits, not bytes. That's 300 megabytes after overhead, max. An SSD like a Sammy 830 will saturate it.

Originally Posted by elessar123 You're mixing measurements. SATA 2.0 is up to 3 gigabits, not bytes. That's 300 megabytes after overhead, max. An SSD like a Sammy 830 will saturate it.

How badly do you think it will slow me down running the SSD III on Sata II ports?

Originally Posted by UnicornBang How badly do you think it will slow me down running the SSD III on Sata II ports?

Not enough that you'd notice, imo. I have a 830 on SATA 3, and I don't think it's quite worth it. Compared to my GF's laptop, it loads faster, but it's not a huge deal.

What's your reason for the upgrade? Because IMO, you probably should save the money til you get a new computer.

Originally Posted by elessar123 Not enough that you'd notice, imo. I have a 830 on SATA 3, and I don't think it's quite worth it. Compared to my GF's laptop, it loads faster, but it's not a huge deal. What's your reason for the upgrade? Because IMO, you probably should save the money til you get a new computer.

Honestly I haven't had a new PC in five years, so I am all for spending a little extra cash. I have been piecing a PC together the last few months. Only thing I really needed was a new processor. Picked up a i5 3570k and a Kingston hyperx 3 120gb ssd. Pretty much the last two things I needed for my pc. Running a mid grade Evga 660 sc which I am finding to be a great card. And watching some of the videos online with the SSD speeds really seemed like a great upgrade for another 80 bucks. I am just trying to build a machine that will last me for a few years.

Originally Posted by UnicornBang Honestly I just like spending money on PC crap. I have been piecing a PC together the last few months. Only thing I really needed was a new processor. Picked up a i5 3570k and a Kingston hyperx 3 120gb ssd. Pretty much the last two things I needed for my pc. Running a mid grade Evga 660 sc which I am finding to be a great card. And watching some of the videos online with the SSD speeds really seemed like a great upgrade for another 80 bucks.

Are you sure you only have SATA 2 on a motherboard that runs an i5 3570k?

Unfortunately yes. I didn't get an amazing mobo which I regret but only because it doesn't have those ports. The mobo is cheap but has never given me on problem during any process or game done on this rig so far. I will link the board below. But honestly it boots great and I love it.

http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/...p?S_ID=564#cpu

I noticed my Bios has an option to enhance Sata 0 and Sata 1. Do you think this would help with the ssd?

*Update* Just installed my Kingston Hyperx 3 120 gig on a mobo with Sata 2 ports. The speeds are awesome. Boot times, loading games, installing drivers. You name it I am seeing a very noticeable increase. For 89.99 I can't complain. Very excited and highly recommend this drive to anyone. Will update in a month on performance or any issues.