Kaili MS-7826 Intel Z87 - SATA SSD versus mSATA SSD

[HPENVY700-230QE]

HP ENVY 700-230qe CTO Desktop PC

Motherboard description
•Manufacturer: MSI

•Manufacturer name: MS-7826

•HP/Compaq name: Kaili 

Chipset 
•Intel Z87

Disc 0 is currently 1TB HDD.  No SSD in mSATA port.  Considering adding 1TB SSD as primary drive and moving 1TB HDD to secondary position.

QUESTION:

I believe installing a 2.5 inch SSD on a standard SATA channel will operate at 6.0Gb/s.  If instead, I install a mSATA SSD in the mSATA port,

1) can I make the mSATA port with 1TB mSATA SSD the primary drive

2) will it operate at 6.0Gb/s ?? 

3) will the whole 1TB mSATA SSD be accessible?

 This would save a HDD bay and make use of the mSATA port that probably wouldn't be used otherwise.

[banhien]

Hi,

The following link shows the specs of the motherboard:

     http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03748942

1. It does not have mSATA slot therefore mSATA is out of the picture,

2. It use Z87 chipset that means it supports 6Gb/s and the specs say it uses 6Gb/s already

    http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03983810

3. as #1. Note the PCI slot is occupied by the network card.

mSATA is better than normall HDD but slower normal SSD. If you wish to use SSD you can swap with the existing HDD and move the HDD to the second bay, you can also add another HDD to the 3rd bay as mentioned on the above specs.

Regards.

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

The below image for the Kaili motherboard does show a mSATA slot.

The mSATA slot is a 6 Gb/s slot and it's use is primarily meant for to be used as a hard drive caching function and not as an independent boot device.

The Intel Z87 chipset supports six 6 Gb/s ports; five are native SATA ports and the sixth is the mSATA port. mSATA is slightly below full SATA speed mainly due to the mSATA caching function, the technology being used and the mSATA capacity.  

[HPENVY700-230QE]

How can you be certain that

1) mSATA slot is a 6 Gb/s slot ?

2) mSATA cannot be independent boot device ?

Do you have any written documentation on the motherbooard that corroborates your assertions?

[HPENVY700-230QE]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6989/intel-z87-motherboard-review-with-haswell-gigabyte-msi-asrock-and...

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

I don't use asserations but rather facts as shown by your Intel link for the Z87 chipset.  You need to look at the diagrams more closely rather than just posting a link and implying that mSATA off a Z87 chipset is not 6 Gb/s.

mSATA on some PC can be used as a boot device but that was not Intel's or HP's intended purpose.  The new m.2 slot is better suited to be used as a boot device.

Your post seems very familar to a recent post with the same type of information.  That poster was very vague and didn't really seem to know what direction was that he/she wanted.

[HPENVY700-230QE]

I have not seen a chipset diagram for the Kaili MS-7826 Intel Z87, however, if you inspect the article at the http://www.anandtech.com link above, you will notice that there is a chipset diagram for the Intel DZ87KLT-75K, and, that the mSATA connects to the PCH via a multiplexer.  It is not immediately apparent what the impact on transfer rate due to the multiplexer will be.

Since there has not been a chipset diagram presented for the 7826 Intel Z87, one can only guess whether the mSATA interfaces via a multiplexer. 

Where are you getting your information/documentation?? 

Do you have an engineering level schematic for the  Kaili MS-7826 Intel Z87 ?

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

I am not guessing.  My background is computer science and engineering.   

You need to research the Z87 chipset more and additionally the PCI-E capabilities.

BTW  --- I had the Intel x75 mobo and RMA'd it back as defective.

If I should have an engineering schematic for the Kaili mob then I would not even think of telling anyone out here about having it.

[HPENVY700-230QE]

Whether it is permissible to boot from the mSATA SSD (presuming it's large enough to contain the OS) is still not clear.  Current mSATA SSD's are comparable in performance to standard SSD's.  See for example,

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/samsung-840-evo-msata-review,3716.html

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

The fact still remains that the larger SSDs perform better than the small SSDs.  A 512 GB SSD is going to perform better than a 64 GB SSD due to design and not just because it has more capacity.  Notice that the Samsung EVO has allocated over provisioning space.

If you search this forum, your will discover a link to a site that has comfigured a laptop to boot from a rather large mSATA.  I never said or implied that it wasn't possible to boot from a mSATA port.