Want an SSD and WiFi card for my ASUS G74SX

Hi,

Apologies if this is not posted in the right sub-forum.

I have ordered an ASUS G74SX-91176V which is coming with 2*750GB HDD. I want to replace the primary HDD with a ~120 GB SSD. Though I have messed around with and customized desktops before, this is my first notebook, and considering how much I spent on it, I really don't want to take any risks. But after reading the advantages of SSD, I really want the primary to be one.

So, I am hoping you guys can tell me how to make the change step-by-step, without any risk being involved. Also, I need advice on a good SSD to go for.

Another thing I wanted to change in the notebook was the WiFi Card. I was thinking of putting in the Intel Advanced-N 6230 Wireless-N + Bluetooth Combo Card, but have been advised against doing that as it will involve messing with the motherboard. Is there a safe way for me to do this?

 

Doesn't the G74 have bluetooth separate from the wireless adapter? The 6230 will work just fine, but if you have a separate bluetooth, i'd go for a 6200 instead.

As for the SSD: Samsung 830, Intel 510/320 or Crucial M4 would be my recommendations.

 

The easiest way is to use the ASUS factory recovery discs and use it on the SSD.

For the SSD, I would say it all depends on your budget and what you are trying to achieve. Intel or Samsung are highly preferred over OCZ and SandForce.

I believe there are issues with any __30 Intel WLAN card as the Bluetooth uses the 2.4 GHz signal.

 

Yes, some people are experiencing issues with the 6x30 cards, the 6200 is rock solid for almost every user though.

 

How do I tell about the bluetooth module? The specs say:

Integrated 802.11 b/g/n
Built-in Bluetooth™ V3.0
10/100/1000 Base T

If I do go for a new WiFi Card, can I install it without messing with the motherboard?

As for the SSD, is this a good one:

128GB 2.5-inch SSD 830 Series | Samsung Memory & Storage

Will it be compatible with my notebook? It fits my budget.

That covers the software part. I want to know about the hardware installation as well. This will be my first time opening up a notebook and I don't want to damage anything.

Thanks for your guidance tijo and Princess.

 

How to install the SSD: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...g-day-ssd-installation-guide.html#post8160280.

You can see the wireless adapter on the left where you have the black and white antenna wires connected to it. Remove the two screws, slide the old adapter out and put the new one in. Plug the antennas on the new one and done. Of course, remove the old adapter's drivers through the device manager before doing the swap. You can see what bluetooth device you have in device manager, if you see something made by broadcomm and your wireless is from Atheros, then they are separate.

EDIT: Yeah that SSD is one of the good ones, stable and reliable.

 

Thank you for the SSD installation guide. That is exactly what I was looking for.

A question about the SSD itself though. I read that TRIM is a very important for SSD maintenance. I couldn't find it on Samsung's website. How do I know the SSD has TRIM?

I guess I'll wait for the notebook to come to figure out about the WiFi card then.

Thanks again.

 

TRIM is a command passed by the OS to the SSD, if you have windows 7, then it should enable TRIM on it's own when it detects the SSD. The 830 definitely supports TRIM like all recent SSDs do.

 

The notebook arrived today. It's making me go gaga! But I digress...

This is what the device manager is showing me:



So, does this mean bluetooth is separate from the wireless adapter?
If yes, then I should go for a 6200?

 

Well, usually it would say something like BT-270 for a broadcom bluetoth module. However, with that spec number for your Atheros adapter, i was able to find out that it does indeed do bluetooth too so i assume that if you don't want to loose bluetooth, you'll need the 6230 which is still going to be a step up from your Atheros card right now.

 

After hunting like a madman for either a Samsung 830 or an Intel 510 or a Crucial M4, I've come up empty. The only ones I can get my hands on here are OCZ Agility 3 and Intel 320 series. I might be able to import the Samsung or Intel 510, but that adds quite a bit to the cost. So my questions are:

1. Are the ones available here (OCZ Agility 3 and Intel 320 series) any good? Will either one of them be a dramatic improvement over the stock 7200 rpm HDD?

2. How much will I be missing out on if I take one of these here (OCZ Agility 3 or Intel 320 series) rather than one I might be able to import (Samsung 830 or an Intel 510)?

3. Which of the two -- OCZ Agility 3 or Intel 320 series -- is better?

 

1. Intel 320 is very reliable and reasonably fast. Either the agility 3 or intel 320 will be a SIGNIFICANT upgrade over the stock 7200 rpm HDD and will beat it into oblivion.

2. Samsung 830 and intel 510 are their latest SSDs, but they are supposed to be faster than their predecessors, but realistically speaking, samsung 470/830 and intel 320/510 are all VERY fast drives, their speed difference are not big enough for your to notice in real world usage, except in benchmarking. 830 and 510 isn't worth the hassle of importing and paying for a huge premium.

3. Definitely get intel 320, most OCZ drives(agility 3 is one of them) are based on sandforce controllers, which can be pretty problematic and unreliable if you are unlucky.

 

Thanks for the reply. Ordered the Intel 320.