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Gigabyte builds a 20GB Intel SSD into new Sandy Bridge motherboard

By | May 29, 2011, 7:39am PDT

Summary: Want to build a fast-booting system without buying and installing a solid state drive? Gigabyte is giving you another option by launching a new motherboard that has a 20GB SSD baked right in. The Z68XP-UD3-iSSD is based on the new Z68 Express chipset for Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors, and comes with a new m-SATA Intel Solid-State [...]

Want to build a fast-booting system without buying and installing a solid state drive? Gigabyte is giving you another option by launching a new motherboard that has a 20GB SSD baked right in.

The Z68XP-UD3-iSSD is based on the new Z68 Express chipset for Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors, and comes with a new m-SATA Intel Solid-State Drive 311 Series unit. The Z68 introduces Intel’s Smart Response Technology to improve system performance through app caching, and 20GB gives you enough space to park your OS and some frequently used programs to take advantage of it. Intel claims that the technology provides a 60-percent speed boost over a pure hard drive-based system, and a fourfold performance improvement over hybrid SSD-hard drive setups.

The mobo also comes with LucidLogix Virtu switchable graphics technology, allowing you to switch between Intel’s integrated graphics and a discrete graphic card — or cards — depending on the application. You also get two PCI Express x16 slots, support for both CrossFireX and SLI multi-graphics card technologies, a handful of SATA 6Gbps and USB 3.0 connectors, and Gigabyte’s Touch BIOS for easier BIOS tweaking.

Gigabyte hasn’t announced a price for the Z68XP-UD3-iSSD, which will tell you a lot about whether it’s worth having a motherboard with a built-in SSD or getting a different mobo and a separate SSD. It does plan to make it available in early June, so we won’t have to wait long to find out how much it would set you back.

[Via Engadget]

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Motherboard, Intel Corp., Sean Portnoy

Sean Portnoy is a freelance technology journalist.

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Sean Portnoy

Sean Portnoy is a freelance technology journalist; currently, all work that Sean does is on a contractural basis. Sean has also written corporate communications documents for CA.

Sean does not accept gifts from companies he covers. All hardware products he writes about are purchased with his own funds or are review units covered under formal loan agreements and are returned after the review is complete.

Biography

Sean Portnoy

Sean Portnoy started his tech writing career at ZDNet nearly a decade ago. He then spent several years as an editor at Computer Shopper magazine, most recently serving as online executive editor. He received a B.A. from Brown University and an M.A. from the University of Southern California.

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RE: Gigabyte builds a 20GB Intel SSD into new Sandy Bridge motherboard
Nortman337 1st Jul
This would be handy to install a clean windows install + drivers to have an emergency backup on hand at least. I agree about the size limitations as far as actually using for anything but cache
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It will only work for Windows XP, not for Windows 7
DeRSSS Updated - 30th May
Windows 7 folder can take 15 GB alone, and the drive also has to have memory dump files, Users folder, and so on.

Blue screen of death waits for people who will install Windows 7 on this SSD. It will show errorcode and an advice to make bigger free spare or check faulty drivers (as "specific" as MS error could be).

I would not recommend installing Windows 7 on any volume less than 64 GB. Even with all of installations going to my drive "D" (I created "Program Files" there), the volume "C" takes no less than about 45 GB.

There are special utilities that can move some of W7's guts to other drives, but then the whole point of SSD goes away since the system will work slower.
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Rubbish
Economister 29th May
@denisrs

So you think Gigabyte is that stupid? You can run W7-64 fairly comfortably in 20GB. You start by turning off system restore, the swap file and hibernation. If you are looking for speed, you stick enough RAM in it so the swap file is not necessary. Then you install user files and most apps to another drive. You must also remove all Windows update files regularly.

Maybe there are a lot of users out there who would not mind a little tweaking for a good speed boost at an affordable price.
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No need to turn off anything
wackoae 29th May
@Economister Just change the location to different drive.

In any case, having a Win swap space in an SSD will significantly degrade the lifespan of the drive by doing too many writes (SSDs have a limited number of writes).
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RE: Gigabyte builds a 20GB Intel SSD into new Sandy Bridge motherboard
Peter Perry 29th May
@Economister Forget that, use the 20 GIG with the swap file.
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RE: Gigabyte builds a 20GB Intel SSD into new Sandy Bridge motherboard
Patanjali 29th May
@Economister
winsxs expansion will kill any free space left.


@wackoae
MS telemetry data shows the swap space has lots of small reads, but fewer, mainly 1MB, writes, making SSDs one of the optimal devices for a swap drive.

Win 7 must be doing write caching to the swap space.
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Are you really this clueless?
wackoae 29th May
@denisrs Ever heard of using multiple partitions?

Anybody with a brain knows that Windows can be installed in a completely separate partition from where the programs are installed. Contrary to what a dumbazz believes, programs, temp dirs and swap space don't have to be installed in Drive C.
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Are you this illiterate? I wrote that all of my programs are installed on D
DeRSSS 30th May
@wackoae: ... drive, and the C drive still takes the amount I wrote about it.

And moving swap to HDD just kills whole point of SSD, since the system will be slow. And, anyway, swap file alone is just few gigabytes of tens of gigabytes that W7 takes.
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Totally Agree
Drakaran 31st May
@denisrs

I have an 80 gig partition with a D: partition for programs, and I only have 15 gig free on C: (even with removing all the usual culprits.

The problem is Windows/Installer and Windows/winsxs. And there's no way around this.

SURE! Windows can "install" on 20 gigs, but after some updates and adding programs, it'll quickly overflow 20 gig.
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Why only 20GB?
Michael Alan Goff 29th May
As somebody pointed out, the most modern Windows needs about 15 or more GB just for the setup alone. It could run Linux rather well, I suppose, but that's a small set of users to cater to.

And I get the feeling OSX would need a larger amount to, if used for anything big.

So why not go up to 64 GB for the SSD?
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Cost maybe? (nt)
Economister 29th May
@goff256

NT
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Cost is always a factor
Michael Alan Goff 29th May
Maybe they should release this -and- offer higher SSD storage amounts? I would just rather see this to be something that I could get -without- limiting myself too much.
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Caching
chefjoe 29th May
Pretty sure the point isn't to use the SSD as a C drive but that it's a cache. It will hold duplicates of the most commonly used files on all your drives and make it speedier to access those files. No planning on the part of the user = great for OEMs actually pushing SSDs to the masses.
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RE: Gigabyte builds a 20GB Intel SSD into new Sandy Bridge motherboard
lcloria2 29th May
@chefjoe maybe so... I still don't see the real point though. My system boots and runs VERY well with a SATA II SSD. What if this thing crashes, which HDDs and SSDs are apt to do occasionally?
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The real point may be ...
Economister 29th May
@lcloria2

fast and cheap?
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RE: Gigabyte builds a 20GB Intel SSD into new Sandy Bridge motherboard
SlimSam 29th May
@chefjoe -
As you said, the Smart Response Technology is aimed at app caching. That's where all of those speed comparisons are measured. Sean P. just overstated the intent of this product when he mentioned using it for the OS.
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RE: Gigabyte builds a 20GB Intel SSD into new Sandy Bridge motherboard
lcloria2 29th May
I have a 128gig SSD and it has only 40gigs available. Most of the contents of My Documents are stored off C. 20 gigs of SSD for the system drive won't even be a good start.
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So you have ......
Economister 29th May
@lcloria2

a lot of crap and/or applications on your C drive. Your point is what?
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Oh .. I think you can cut posters some slack on this point.
kenosha77a 29th May
@Economister

This blog article is the first info that I have read concerning this new product and I admit to having a severe lack of tech knowledge with the inner guts of Win 7 but the point several posters have made regarding this 20 GB SSD and it's relationship with the "Smart Response Technology aimed at app caching" seems to make sense.

IMO, as far as SSD based systems are concerned, the greater the SSD storage size is, the better.

As for myself, I have last years BTO iMac with the Nehalem core i7 2.93 GHz chip set and 16 GB of installed 1333 MHz DDR3 ram. My primary boot drive is the 256 GB SSD with a secondary internal 2 Terabyte HD. (A very nice 27" monitor system.)

I mention this only because with the installed RAM and all my installed programs on the SSD, my system is still competitive with the latest Sandy Bridge iMac systems with standard HD boot drives. It also has 162 GB of free SSD capability left.

Solid state memory is the way to go. For example, Photoshop CS5 extended boots in 3 seconds on my system.

So .. if owners of Win 7 systems wish to install all their programs and OS files on the boot SSD, I can understand their "wants or needs" for as large an SSD option as possible.

Believe me, Economister, I don't have any crap ware installed on my system but I do wish the 460 GB class SSD units had been available at the time of purchase.

One needs all the space for video editing that a person's disposable income can purchase.
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Pfffft
Robert Hahn 29th May
I don't agree. All my apps are on E:, the swap is on F:, and the SSD with Windows 7 and all the fur and lint it has collected in a year is pushing 60G.

Anybody who tries to make Win 7 work in 20G is going to be spending every weekend brushing out the lint just to keep it running. Who needs that?
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RE: Gigabyte builds a 20GB Intel SSD into new Sandy Bridge motherboard
d.gruntled 30th May
20GB is plenty of space for a core Win7 install. At work, we use VMs with a full suite of "base" apps installed (Office, etc plus install source residing on the same drive) on a 20GB VHD with about 5 GB to spare. The swap files is on the drive but there is no hibernate file.
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RE: Gigabyte builds a 20GB Intel SSD into new Sandy Bridge motherboard
phatjmo 29th May
The design here seems a little backwards. I like the concept, but I would expect the formfactor to be smaller in this case. Motherboards with an onboard SSD are nothing new, they have been used for industrial applications for over a decade, and I'm sure a clever admin with a custom Win7 preinstall ISO could fit the install on this 20GB drive, but the design seems to cater to gaming performance with dual x16 slots. As a workstation heavily utilizing NAS for user data, or a 1U light server, this motherboard would be optimal, but I don't see the point for gaming with only 20GB.
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Undersold
johnfenjackson@... 29th May
The beauty of the Z68 chipset is that it allows one to:

1. Overclock the CPU whislt retaining the integrated graphics.
2. Use up to 64GB of any SSD as a disk cache for any traditional SATA disk.

The latter particularly is a very welcome development: instead of having to manage which of your files are on your (up to 64GB) SSD ... once set up the system will handle the operation automatically.

Perhaps 20GB will prove too small but I wouldn't like to call it without testing: W7 is big in total but only the highly utilised files will be cached.
[SP gives a misleading description of the caching process I think: you will install an OS, apps. and data onto the combination of SSD+HD.
He undersells INTEL's Smart Response Technology, making it sould like a vendor-specific add-on, instead of a more general effort.]

My guess is that 20GB will produce a snappy system and be large enough to handle a day's work-in-progress, so having this built into the motherboard sounds very convenient.
Allied to a 64GB SSD then medium size working data files should also come within scope (for AKH's 'Ultimate Photoshop PC' for example).

I like this type of development: surely we will see variants of the 20GB and price reductions in SSD's leading to much-needed improvements in disk performance.
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Oh....
Gis Bun 30th May
Baked in? Can't remove? What if you want something larger in the future? What happens when the drive dies?
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This type of Motherboard architecture has potential
sismoc 30th May
I have always thought that the O/S should be embedded on a reprogrammable ROM chip on the MB. All installed applications, user data and all other non-essential programs and data would be on disk drives that would not be wiped out by a new/fresh O/S install. Make the O/S more like the BIOS.
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You guys don't get it
Joe_Raby Updated - 30th May
The SSD is used for CACHING. Do you think that all of your software runs on your 16MB disk cache that's built into your drive? Ever see how slow a drive works without having read caching enable? How about if the Windows disk cache is turned off? Do you think that all Windows files actually require 16GB+ of RAM to benefit from drive caching?

This is designed to be a cheap way to enable a much bigger disk cache for your hard drive. Does anybody remember Intel TurboMemory? This is the evolution of that.

I plan on building systems with Highpoint's new RocketHybrid controller card and Kingston's S100-series 16GB 2.5" SSD's because it will work with any system with a PCIe slot, and the S100 has still faster access speeds than Intel's 310 SSD's and is still in a cheap price point (approximately $100-120US for the two parts). The S100 even supports TRIM.
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RE: Gigabyte builds a 20GB Intel SSD into new Sandy Bridge motherboard
Noobbuilder 30th May
Is this a workable solution since most programs only use 2 gigs of space? Install 16 gigs of ram, use a program that turns excess ram into a swap file, and the SSD can be used as the C drive for Windows xp or 7? For storage you can use a regular hard drive to store everything else. 8 gigs of ram for a swap file should be fine and the other 8 gigs of ram for system use? what do you all think?
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No
Joe_Raby 30th May
@Noobbuilder

This is technically hard drive space, not RAM. Windows manages swap file space automatically based on the amount of RAM you have in your system. Windows will also use free RAM to make disk access faster, which is called the disk cache. Your hard drive has a (very) small amount of cache on-board, to the tune of 8-64MB. Now, Windows will use RAM automatically for a disk cache, but you're only talking maybe a GB or two and that's it. An SSD is faster, but using it as a cache is a relatively new technology. What SSD caching is, is there's a controller that will monitor "hot files", files that are frequently used, and copies them to the SSD drive for faster access because an SSD has much faster read times than a hard drive. You don't need to move files manually to the SSD - that's the controllers job.
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RE: Gigabyte builds a 20GB Intel SSD into new Sandy Bridge motherboard
stevvie 30th May
My windows7 X64 folder ALONE is 18.6 Gig with a HUGE chunk of that being the WinXS folder (that us SSD users know all about)
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And?....
Joe_Raby 30th May
@stevvie

So do you need 18.6GB of RAM to load all of Windows? And how often are all of your WinSxS files used?
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RE: Gigabyte builds a 20GB Intel SSD into new Sandy Bridge motherboard
malon1 31st May
500 gb SSD built in the motherboard should be quite good enough
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RE: Gigabyte builds a 20GB Intel SSD into new Sandy Bridge motherboard
bd1235 31st May
Tom's Hardware did a review of this drive used by the Z68 as a cache and the results were not great. IMO not good enough to inspire me to open my wallet. Their eventual conclusion was if you looking for speed go SSD big enough to do a full install on it. Dont use it as a cache.
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Message has been deleted.
gertendz Updated - 1st Jun
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No need for namecalling...
decryobliviots 31st May
The on-board SSD was clearly meant for the OS alone, but the OS (11.9 gB) and Users dir (8.56 gB) - which can't be reassigned at install time - total over 20 gB on my machine. Unfortunately, it will most likely be too small for Win 8 and its required files as well. This mobo will only work for a clean Win 7 install, with no user data. Forget about moving an existing install onto it. Someone made the very valid point that unless this drive is user-replaceable, it is worthless. The MTBF of intensively used SSD drives (lots of writes) is far shorter than any conventional hard drive on the market. If hardwired, it would show thinking typical of the immature on Gigabyte's part...when it goes bad, just toss the entire mobo.
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RE: Gigabyte builds a 20GB Intel SSD into new Sandy Bridge motherboard
EddieStarr 3rd Jun
I have been BETA testing Windows 7 THIN PC , which is a less than 2.5 GB complete install, (uncompressed), the 20GB MB-SDD is fantastic, I LOVE IT. Many Operating Systems will function flawlessly, but Not All Of Them. This technology clearly is not for everyone, though I am quite certain this is just the beginning of a much larger trend.
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RE: Gigabyte builds a 20GB Intel SSD into new Sandy Bridge motherboard
Nortman337 1st Jul
As noted by someone else, this would be good for OEM builders, especially since few provide disks anymore, just put a clean windows install and drivers image on that SSD for the ability to instantly do a clean reinstall if something borks your system
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RE: Gigabyte builds a 20GB Intel SSD into new Sandy Bridge motherboard
Nortman337 1st Jul
This would be handy to install a clean windows install + drivers to have an emergency backup on hand at least. I agree about the size limitations as far as actually using for anything but cache

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