Asus W3J Upgrade, need help with SATA

So i'm upgrading my Asus W3J...

In the mail...
- Core2 T7600 Processor
- 2x2GB (max for chipset) Kingston HyperX 667mhz DDR2 4-4-4-12
- Lite-on 128GB SSD Hard drive, SATA II, Seq. Read, 500 MB/s, Seq. Write: 320 MB/s

Why? Mainly because I love it . Secondly because it runs Photoshop CS5 amongst a bunch of other apps like nothing but my hard drive crashed so I figured i'd just go "all the way".

So the problem... that SSD is going to be bottle necked to all hell and back. Here are my options:
1. IDE to SATA converter - link
2. Mini PCI-E SATA controller - link
3. Mini PCI-E USB3.0 controller - link to USB3.0\SATA converter.
4. USB3.0 54mm Express Card - link to USB3.0\SATA converter.

Main preference:
Speed!!! Which one will have the least bottleneck? Any ideas?
Chipset is Intel 945PM if that helps.

Sub preferences:
#2 and #3 will lose me my wireless card (which I don't like so much anyway. I use a Wireless-N USB one)
#3 will give me an extra usb port inside I can plug a wireless USB into to make up for the loss of on board wireless.

Thanks all for the help in advance.

Also... i'll post the pics here when it's done! If anyone wants me to run a benchmark to see if it's worth it for their w3j let me know which program.

PCI-e is 1x I believe, not sure?

The PCI-e is a massive gain over IDE, I think the good options are down to #2 and #3, I think somehow #4 is no way close to PCI-e

Any thoughts if using USB3.0 with a SATA converter is going to cause worse overhead Vs a straight SATA controller?

*edit* Just realized my premise for preferring USB3.0 is void, if I share the controller with a wireless stick i'm sharing the bandwidth so it hurts the primary objective... speed! SATA mini PCIe it is!

 

Wait, what? Even with that SATA II adapter you are going to be limited to one lane of PCIe 1.1 which is theoretically 250MB/s. Even if that was enough bandwidth in practice (it's not), you would have an awfully complicated job routing a SATA cable into the hard drive bay, and fitting a power adapter in there (which I haven't even been able to find).

The SSD is going to be worth more than the machine. This is a bit much, you should probably re-evaluate your needs. Pick up a fast HDD for like $40 and save the rest for a new machine. Seriously.

 

Well 250MB/s is substantially > 100MB/s

The parts were ordered days ago so no going back now! (and just ordered the sata controller). As for the cable routing I do a lot of custom computer work so no problem there (yes I am aware it'll be a royal b___h lol). I'll grab the power from the current EIDE connector. The SSD I bid sniped at $117, yes I couldn't believe it either. Total upgrade cost is about $300. Call me a typical Asus performance buyer

As for the lappy it's personal. It built my company, has been with me through thick and thin (*ahem* economy dying) and even today it handles everything with ease and just doesn't break (besides the hdd ). Also for the money i'm putting in it's faaaaaar superior to an equally expensive new computer. It's also damn fun just upgrading the hell out of a 6yr old computer to see what it can do lol.

 

How are you grabbing power from the IDE connector?

 

Mini EIDE has built-in power

 

How are you going to convert that to 2.5" SATA power is my question.

 

BEHOLD!!!


I'll clip off all the pins I don't need and solder the +5v -5v pins to a SATA power cable. 2.5" IDE/SATA disks only require 5v unlike the 3.5" ones.

 

You're going to need to break a slimline sata adapter cable's connector in half for just the power side then. That's the only thing I can think of to make the connection.

 

Update:

I found this sliver of metal between 2 applications of thermal paste on the video card heat sink. Any idea what it is and if I need it? I'm replacing the paste with Arctic Silver 5 and slightly increasing the spring load on the die pressure.


Note: When the project is done everything will fit inside, no rubber bands . I only have to use them here because the IDE converter makes the HDD stick up, I have a neoprene pad underneath it.
1- T7600 installed, extra heat sink added.
2- IDE to SATA converter soon to be replaced with a PCIe SATA controller.
3- LiteOn LAT-128M2S Hard Drive - stats
4- This is the PCIe 1x slot i'll use for the SATA controller currently used for internal wireless.


Here's the HDD Tune benchmark (before the processor upgrade), as you can see the IDE bottlenecks it at 84.5MB/s max. Looking forward to the controller!!


My lappy is running INCREDIBLY fast with the new HDD in every way, i'm extremely pleased with the result even though it's not finished yet. As for the processor which I added after the HDD, the difference was not noticeable except under heavy loads.

 

So problem... I fitted the PCIe SATA controller and it recognizes it in the bios. It also recognizes the HDD as a boot device but... Windows flashes a blue screen I can't read fast enough then resets each time. I attempted re-installing XP with the same setup but it hangs at the point in the picture (tried twice, hangs at the same point both times).

The CD-ROM shuts down and the HDD sounds like it's in an infinite loop. I'm assuming this is a driver issue. If that's the case can I...
A. Install Windows on IDE, install the SATA controller drivers, then boot it up plugged into the SATA controller?
B. Use a USB floppy disk to give the drivers to XP during the install boot up sequence? (not sure if it'll recognize a USB floppy)
* EDIT: Problem solved, installing the driver while on IDE made it work for the SATA Controller.

Also anyone know where I can get a cable with this plug on the end? I need more space and I don't want to tear into the stock IDE ribbon
* EDIT: Problem solved maybe, newly ordered SATA controller includes power cables.



Thanks!

 

Update:
So... now i'm on PCIe SATA, I went from 84.5MB/s to 110MB/s max read and 0.3ms access time to 0.2ms. Good, but not what I was looking for... The SATA controller has 2 ports and it's own raid controller, thinking maybe the bandwidth is split between the two even though i'm only using 1 port? Not sure if that makes sense.


I ordered this, we'll see how it does over the current controller. Only 1 port and no chips, hopefully i'll have better gains. Any thoughts?

 

holy
i've always wanted to do this with my w3j (just upgrade everything!). i've had it for 6 years and its still my main computer.

 

So sorry to anyone following this for leaving off, had A LOT of work

So the custom SATA Converter (HX-SATA090307) does not work. It's ment for custom projects and simply does not work out of the box, it also has no drivers anywhere on the web. I went with the StarTech 2 controller (stats above) and it works like a dream. With all the upgrades i'm now playing Mass Effect 2 on max graphics, the only lag is when i'm exploring a planet with mist, it also opens Adobe Photoshop CS5 cold start after boot in 2.5 seconds (with tons of other stuff open), subsequent times take 2 seconds to open. It's faster than many brand new laptops out there, I love making my friends depressed lol.

Here's pics of how I routed the SATA cable through the case, everything closes up fine as if it's not there with the exception of the memory stick port which has to be removed (just unplugs very easy removal). For power I stole it from a usb port and blocked it off with foam so I wouldn't accidentally use it, it'd be better to get it from the IDE cable but there was complications and I just needed it finished.

So both financially and as far as gains I highly recommend these mods. Uber fun

 

So an interesting thing about the Startech 2, both chips get veeeeeery hot even at idle, we're talking finger burning hot if you press against it for a few seconds even with the upgraded heatsink. If someone wants actual temps I can get them. There was actually a point the chips got so hot the original mini-heatsinks I had on melted off so I made a bigger one. I'd recommend Artic Silver epoxy paste but i'm using Akasa sticky pads and it's staying on there fine now. That's while using a HDD test for 4+hrs and 10hrs worth of Mass Effect. It's been totally reliable for months.

Also note the usb wireless stick I saudered on, it's attached to the same USB slot that i'm taking power off for the HDD. The black thing is heatshrink being used as a protective sleeve.

*edit* Also to make a custom heatsink you'll need some copper shims to raise the heatsink above the other board components. I used artic silver epoxy for those and would recommend the same.

Here's the custom heatsink I made for it.