Due to the presence of Gigabyte's innovative and patended mSATA SSD onboard technology we opted to briefly test this feature. The concept is to obtain via an affordable mSATA SSD, a faster and more responsive data subsystem. Faster boot times and full compatibility with Intel's Smart Response and Rapid Start features.

We tested the performance of our HDD, a Western Digital Green Caviar 1TB, versus the RAID setup combined with a Kingston mSATA SSD of 64GB versus an Intel 520 240GB SSD hooked up to either the SATA2.0 or 3.0 port.

Installing the MS100 SSD is pure child's play. We decided to go for a full RAID configured installation instead of using the Gigabyte Software. All scores are the average out of 3 runs.

The Crystal Disk Mark scores in both read and write tell the tale. This is a very fast and easy system boost, especially if you want to keep a balance between speed and large storage capacity. The Intel 520 SSD hooked up to SATA2.0 is a bit crippled. However it's power is totally unleashed if we hook up the Intel 520 SSD to the SATA3.0 port. But how about 340 euro's for just 240GB of storage space ? The Kingston mS100 is not cheap either, with close to 100 euro's for just 64GB storage/caching action. But the results speak for themselves.

The boost from the normal HDD drive, towards the combination with the Kingston MS100 mSATA SSD, is a day and nite difference. Take note when installing a mSATA SSD, that SATA port 5 will be disabled as it used the same resources.