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Q: Best COMPATIBLE ssd for NVidia MCP79 chipset?

I'm having a **** of a time searching for an answer.

 

I recently purchased a Toshiba Q Series SATA3 SSD, only to discover my MBP will negotiate it at 1.5 Gigabits only. That's when my crusade began.

 

I've read that SATA3 is backwards compatible with SATA2. I've proven that false, at least with mine.

 

I've read that some SATA3 SSDs will indeed work with MCP79, but I've only found hearsay, not real people who have done it and guarantee it.

 

I've been looking at SATA2 SSDs, but the ones I've seen benchmark well below 3 Gigabits... so what's the point?

Posted on Feb 23, 2014 8:44 PM

by keg55,Solvedanswer
keg55 keg55
Level 6 (8,407 points)
Mac OS X
A:

Try Crucial M500 SSDs and possibly Samsung 840 Pro SSDs.

 

I tried to upgrade a friend's late-2008 MBP with an Intel 520 Series SSD and it would not boot into OS X Mavericks when installed in the MBP. The drive could be seen and maintained when I booted from an external drive. Also, when I could see the drive, it showed the same Linked Speed and Negotiated Link Speed as you're seeing with your Toshiba SSD.

 

I had a new Crucial M500 SSD that I tried and it worked great showing 3Gbps Linked and Negotiated. And it was bootable when installed in the MBP. So, I used that one.

 

Bottom line, as you've noticed, some brand SSDs don't play nice with the nVidia chipset.

Posted on Feb 24, 2014 10:06 AM

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Q: Best COMPATIBLE ssd for NVidia MCP79 chipset?

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  • by nitramwin,

    nitramwin nitramwin Feb 21, 2016 12:24 PM in response to johan-kristian
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 21, 2016 12:24 PM in response to johan-kristian

    Thanks for the confirmation Johan! I had seen some posts indicating that the MX200 didnt work straight out of the box for the iMac version of the nvidia MCP79 controller which is why I was hesitant to pull the trigger. But thankfully, we know have a confirmation that the drive works. Thanks :-)

     

    In conclusion, we now know that for iMac versions (such as 9,1) with the MCP79 controller, the proven SSDs to run at full SATA2 speeds (3gb/s) are:

    1     Crucial   -->   M500

    2     OCW     -->   Mercury Electra 3G

    3     Crucial   -->   MX200

     

    Hope this helps others that are in a similar position! Cheers to all :-)

  • by johan-kristian,

    johan-kristian johan-kristian Feb 22, 2016 4:56 AM in response to nitramwin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 22, 2016 4:56 AM in response to nitramwin

    Oops - it seems like I forgot to mention a little detail....

     

    The drive I got was a BX200, not an MX200. According to Crucials site, the MX200 should also work. I figured the extra speed wasn't anything that my machine could make use of anyway, so I saved the $25 in extra cost for the MX.

     

    I've also installed three Crucial MX100s for customers of mine. Two ordered the upgrades, and the third one was supposed to go in my machine, but a customer with a failed HDD needed an urgent fix, and that was what I had on hand.

     

    When I got around to order myself a new one, I ran into these controller issues with the Kingston HyperX.

     

    Johan-Kr

  • by nitramwin,

    nitramwin nitramwin Feb 22, 2016 8:07 AM in response to johan-kristian
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 22, 2016 8:07 AM in response to johan-kristian

    Ok, thanks!

     

    EDIT

     

    In conclusion, we now know that for iMac versions (such as 9,1) with the MCP79 controller, the proven SSDs to run at full SATA2 speeds(3gb/s) are:

    1     Crucial   -->   M500

    2     OCW     -->   Mercury Electra 3G

    3     Crucial   -->   BX200

     

    Possible compatibility:

     

    1     Crucial   -->   MX200 (likely)

    2     Crucial   -->   MX100 (unlikely)

    3     Crucial   -->   BX100 (not recommended)

     

    Hope this helps others that are in a similar position! Cheers to all :-)

  • by johan-kristian,

    johan-kristian johan-kristian Feb 25, 2016 3:16 PM in response to nitramwin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 25, 2016 3:16 PM in response to nitramwin

    The Crucial MX100 also works.

     

    Johan-Kr

  • by maulana,

    maulana maulana Aug 13, 2016 10:38 AM in response to Invisible E
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 13, 2016 10:38 AM in response to Invisible E

    In case someone want to search for alternative, I just bought a Transcend SSD (http://id.transcend-info.com/Products/No-735) for my Macbook Late 2008 with Nvidia MCP79 chipset, and OS X Yosemite. I got full speed (3gb) link without any problem. I can see on the website that they support Apple Product pretty well, there's a combo pack that helps apple user (http://www.transcend-info.com/apple/jetdrive420/)! I also enable the trim force. The blackmagic disk speed test result is around 206mbps for write and 260mbps for read, I'm happy so far, booting only need 6-10 seconds.

     

    Screen Shot 2016-08-14 at 12.32.24 AM.png

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