Crunching on SSDs: What you need to know

[jcool]

Some of the 2nd generation SSDs do support TRIM (I know that the indilinx Vertex and Agility support TRIM).

Yes, they do. Did I say they don't?
If so I need to edit that.

Linux does support TRIM now if it uses Linux 2.6.33 kernel. I haven't messed with linux and TRIM so someone with linux and an SSD would need to test, but it is supported based on the release notes.

Good to know

I believe the Intel Rapid Storage Manager is for RAID only. TRIM is built into the OS and requires AHCI to be set for the SATA controller. I believe it is for RAID only because I do not have it installed on my socket 1156 system and TRIM is working properly.

No, it's for AHCI and Raid. If you set your board to Raid, but don't actually create any Raid volumes, the drives will runj in AHCI mode automatically.
It's true that TRIM probably works without that driver, but GC on Indilinx-SSDs doesn't. So it's better to have it installed.