Intel X-25m G2 losing performance?

[Reven]

Hi

I was wondering if you guys could help me with a problem I've been having with my Intel X-25m 80gb G2 SSD. Recently, it has felt like the drive has been losing some performance. The PC is still snappy, but every once in a while there is some lag (that I didnt notice before). I have noticed that in some multiplayer games, I dont always load first. ( Considering I have an SSD I should be loading fastest 99% of the time). The most worrying thing is that I now have a '5.9' on my Windows Performance Index. It is my SSD that is bottlenecking at 5.9. It used to score somewhere in the 7.X range...

I have run a diagnostic check with the Intel SSD toolbox but it didnt show anything. I have about 7 gigs of free space on the drive. My copy of Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit is installed on that drive. TRIM should be active.

What is the problem ( or is there one? ) with my SSD?

 

[flamenko]

Can I ask if you have system restore enabled?

 

[Reven]

How can I check that? I know that under properties - disk cleanup I have deleted everything but the last restore point before.

 

[IntelUser2000]

On my current SSD, the X25-M G1, the performance dropped rather dramatically since the free space went from 15GB to 10GB. Though on my drive, I have set the max capacity of the drive as only 70GB(rather than 74.5GB).

WEI went from 7.0 to 5.9, and even fps in games dropped 10-20%. And yes it felt more sluggish than before.

You'd want to keep around 15GB space on your SSD to perform optimal.

 

[flamenko]

That means that your system restore is enabled.

There is a way to check to see if it is affecting your system.

Run Crystal DiskMark and get a benchmark as your system is right now...post it.
Download and run Intel Toolbox Optimizer.
Run the benchmark again and post it again.

Let us know how long it took to run the Toolbox Optimizer.

If this was a problem...which it very well may be, the thread below will help. In fact, since you are low on space, check out the thread below as there are many space regaining optimizations within it.

 

[Hacp]

Hi

I was wondering if you guys could help me with a problem I've been having with my Intel X-25m 80gb G2 SSD. Recently, it has felt like the drive has been losing some performance. The PC is still snappy, but every once in a while there is some lag (that I didnt notice before). I have noticed that in some multiplayer games, I dont always load first. ( Considering I have an SSD I should be loading fastest 99% of the time). The most worrying thing is that I now have a '5.9' on my Windows Performance Index. It is my SSD that is bottlenecking at 5.9. It used to score somewhere in the 7.X range...

I have run a diagnostic check with the Intel SSD toolbox but it didnt show anything. I have about 7 gigs of free space on the drive. My copy of Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit is installed on that drive. TRIM should be active.

What is the problem ( or is there one? ) with my SSD?

So you have 68gb of stuff in your drive? OF COURSE it will slow down. To solve the problem, move some of your data out of there. To keep performance at maximum you should really have about 50-60gb filled and keep the rest unused.

 

[Reven]

I did the Crystal Disk Mark test. Here are the speeds ( in MB/s) Sequential Read/Write: 233.5/79.31 512K Read/Write: 158.7/45.45 4K Read/Write: 20.73/26.37 4K QD32 Read/Write: 23.75/30.79

I'm no SSD expert, but how can my Write speeds be HIGHER than some of my read speeds? That just doesnt make sense...

For those who commented on free space: I understand if the speed reduction was on my G1 drive. Thing is, my system is on my OS drive. Shouldnt TRIM be handling this? Wasnt the whole point of TRIM to give the drive more 'spare area'? Worse comes to worst I'll move some programs over, but my drive should be handling this...

 

[flamenko]

Your write scores in the 4kb randoms should be higher than read. Thats just the way it is.

CXan I ask how much free space you have on the drive???

 

[Reven]

Sure: Its currently 7.21gb free (of 74.5gb). Obviously that number is subject to change, but I try to keep it above 6gb minimum. For reference, the 'color bar' beneath my drive is still blue, not red, so I still have some good room, according to Windows.

 

[flamenko]

Do a Crystal Score Now...remove about 15Gb in data files, TRIM manually with the Intel Toolbox and the get another score. Post them both of course.

I am going to bet you are getting some slowing because of the filled drive.

 

[GlacierFreeze]

Sure: Its currently 7.21gb free (of 74.5gb). Obviously that number is subject to change, but I try to keep it above 6gb minimum. For reference, the 'color bar' beneath my drive is still blue, not red, so I still have some good room, according to Windows.

6GB minimum? Sounds like you have some misinformation.

Your drive needs more free space either way.

 

[killster1]

i agree with others thats not enough space on drive, but my question is how hot does your q6600 run with a zalman 9700 @ 3.5ghz, that is impressive since that cooler only has 92mm fan (i have two spare 9700's just sitting in box from 939 days)

 

[IntelUser2000]

For those who commented on free space: I understand if the speed reduction was on my G1 drive. Thing is, my system is on my OS drive. Shouldnt TRIM be handling this? Wasnt the whole point of TRIM to give the drive more 'spare area'? Worse comes to worst I'll move some programs over, but my drive should be handling this...

You are confusing user free space with logical free space. You need both in order to make it perform. TRIM addresses the latter, but the former you'll have to manage it on your own.

 

[skid00skid00]

Write caching has a huge impact on benchmark writes.
In -IDE- mode (which is slower than AHCI),
With cache OFF
4k read: 19.68 4k write: 3.72
With cache ON
4k read: 20.12 4k write: 45.11

 

[Makaveli]

Wait is it recommened to turn off System restore on a SSD?

I have a intel 160GB G2 drive and its off but I wasn't aware that you should turn it off.

 

[killster1]

Wait is it recommened to turn off System restore on a SSD?

I have a intel 160GB G2 drive and its off but I wasn't aware that you should turn it off.

turn it off on all type of hardware all it does is slow you down, seems like when you do need it doesnt wrok

 

[flamenko]

turn it off on all type of hardware all it does is slow you down, seems like when you do need it doesnt wrok

I thought it was this thread but I just responded to another similar....

Yes system restore should be turned off with a ssd because TRIM and th Intel Optimizer do not work well (if at all) with TRIM. TRIM or the Intel Toolbox Optimizer should work in a split second. Many have observed that, with restore on, there is a significant performance drop after a few weeks.

I wish I had a dollar for every person i have advised on the proper way to check for this problem by now eheheh.

If your system has restore on, take a crystal bench as it is, dl and run the Toolbox Optimizer and the run the crystal bench again.....most are shocked.

System Restore alloction point, IMHO, slow and quite possibly prevent TRIM from running properly.

 

[Makaveli]

Good to know thanks.

I decided to shut it off when I first installed because I back up an image of the drive on another HD regularly so no point having it on.

 

[Reven]

OK I uninstalled some games. I now have 18.9gb of free space. I then went into the Toolbox and ran the SSD optimizer. I then ran the Crystal Mark Test 2 times. Scores are (in MB/s):

Seq. Read/Write: 238.6/88.17 & 238.6/88.38
512K Read/Write: 159.7/88.98 & 159.7/53.08
4K Read/Write: 22.44/35.83 & 22.19/30.56
4K QD32 Read/Write? 23.52/40.10 & 23.58/39.01

The big difference in test results is surprising and makes me doubt the validity of the tests ( should I increase the test 'amount' *its @1gb now* or the number of tests done? *its at 5 now*.

The 1st time I ran the test I was away from my computer. No major programs were open. All it was doing was streaming iTunes content (itunes was installed on the drive but media was on a HDD) and I had a torrent client up. (again downloading to a HDD). However, because I noticed a anti-virus background scan had activated when I came back, I ran the test again. This time all that was happening was some LIGHT internet surfing and yet the scores went down...

For reference I'm running the 64bit version.


On the cpu -- I was hitting around 75-75 C average, a max of 79C. That was with all fans maxed, however. I recently dropped it down to 3.3ghz with all my fans on low due to the noise. ( My PC has gone from hardcore gaming set to a multimedia center that I use for DVDs so I needed to lower the noise). Hehe you should have seen what temps I was getting with a bad application of thermal paste and a 3.6ghz speed -- high 90s!

 

[jimhsu]

Random disk activity causes fluctuations that you are seeing.

I keep complaining, but Intel drives ship with way too little spare area (considering the atrocious performance drop once free space goes into the single digits). The Sandforce approach of nearly 30% spare area might seem excessive, but that's about what you need for good performance. Your 18.9 GB free space is (74.5-18.9)/80 = 0.695 or ... just about 30%. I personally try to stay at the 20 GB mark because it's a nice round number. SSDs are fairly different from HDDs in this regard (which degrade once you have to write in the inner tracks, but that's about all).

79C? That seems high for a desktop PC. I load at low 50's and idle at a frigid 31C (which sometimes is 35C, meaning that I have to clean out fan filters) - overclocked E8400. And this is a SFF system with no heatsink fan (!).

 

[n7]

As has been mentioned many times here already, you must keep a decent portion of the drive empty for best performance, or yes, performance will drop severely.

If you don't like CDM testing, you can try something like AS SSD
http://www.alex-is.de/PHP/fusion/downloads.php?cat_id=4

 

[flamenko]

I see a diff in your scores after vice before...am I missing something. Do u want to get the highest score??? Shut your system off right now by just the power button and when u restart, start it in Safe mode and then run Crystal again...

Post scores eheh

 

[IntelUser2000]

The big difference in test results is surprising and makes me doubt the validity of the tests ( should I increase the test 'amount' *its @1gb now* or the number of tests done? *its at 5 now*.

The only flaw with CrystalDiskMark is the score that is shown are HIGHEST of the 5 scores. That's why it can vary a lot, its not average of 5, but rather peak. You can of course, jot down each results.

 

[flamenko]

Absolutely correct and you can use AS SSD which then gives you an average. Personally, I like the highest in Crystal and, well lets face it, advertised scores, for the most part, are scores which have been reached rather than flagged right off which is why the high is the best.

That is the maximum.

 

[zoic]

I keep complaining, but Intel drives ship with way too little spare area (considering the atrocious performance drop once free space goes into the single digits). The Sandforce approach of nearly 30% spare area might seem excessive, but that's about what you need for good performance. Your 18.9 GB free space is (74.5-18.9)/80 = 0.695 or ... just about 30%. I personally try to stay at the 20 GB mark because it's a nice round number. SSDs are fairly different from HDDs in this regard (which degrade once you have to write in the inner tracks, but that's about all).

Just to make sure I understand, the whole drive can be partitioned, and the free space can be on that partition or do I need to leave some unpartitioned?

I have a 160GB Intel X25-M G2, with about 35% free space(partitioned) at the moment.