Introduction

I recently did a review of the ASUS P8Z68-V Pro. Sadly, during this review, I was unable to test one feature due to the lack of an SSD. This feature was the Intel Smart Response Technology. However, through the generosity of ASUS and Corsair, I was able to obtain an SSD that has the perfect features in order to test this technology. Here is a description of what this technology has to offer.

"Intel® Smart Response Technology is an Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (RST) caching feature that improves computer system performance. It allows a user to configure computer systems with an SSD used as cache memory between the hard disk drive and system memory. This provides the advantage of having a hard disk drive (or a RAID volume) for maximum storage capacity while delivering an SSD-like overall system performance experience. Intel® Smart Response Technology caching is implemented as a single drive letter solution; no additional drive letter is required for the SSD device used as cache."

The RAID mode needs to be enabled in the SATA menu of the UEFI BIOS, as this is how Intel sets up the cache. Once this is enabled, and Windows is installed, the Intel Smart Response Technology 10.5 software can be installed. Once installed, a new tab, labeled Accelerate, will become available. This is where you can enable the SSD caching. There are two modes, enhanced and maximized. Enhanced mode is optimized for data protection. Maximized is optimized for total input/output performance.

Test System

Intel Smart Response Technology Benchmarks

• PCMark Vantage
• CrystalDiskMark
• AIDA64