This video is for people with the Gigabyte Z68 chipset motherboards (mb) that has the micro SATA connector onboard:
• GA-Z68XP-UD3-iSSD (bundled, great price if you get one)
• GA-Z68XP-UD3
• GA-Z68XP-D3
• GA-Z68AP-D3
• GA-Z68P-DS3
All the information you need for DIY install Intel's 311 mSATA Solid State Drive (SSD) enabling Intel's Smart Response Technology (iSRT). Kudos to Gigabyte's Global Technical Service who outlined most of the steps, before downloading the essential EZ Smart Response utility from Gigabyte's website.
Gigabytes launch of its Z68 motherboards enabled iSRT which allows people to use lower capacity SSD as well as a traditional HD to get complete system wide performance as if they were using a higher capacity SSD.
MicroCenter technicians let me watch them do it the old fashioned way. Well, Gigabyte's EZ Smart Response (EZSR) utility makes it simpler (not simple) and faster for DIY. I wasn't lucky enough to get the iSSD bundled, so I purchased the Intel 311 through Amazon.
What makes the standard installation complicated, without the EZSR utility, is that the BIOS must be set up in RAID mode before installing the operating system (OS), and when finished the BIOS will be set in IDE mode.
The EZSR utility does it all, after you select optimize the BIOS for IDE, and install the OS. This vid shows EZSR at work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li8PSinA1Sw
The increase in speed is noticeable after installing, and I found that using the integrated graphics built into the second generation i3, i5 and i7 cpu's for my applications (not a gamer) was faster than my discrete video card, lowered system memory and cpu usage. My mb has one HDMI port, chose the HDMI to DVI-D cable over the adapter. Note: With discrete video card, BIOS screen will appear on that monitor, not the one connected directly to the mb.
