Intel X-25M SSD, lags/stutters

[PascalT]

I just replaced my OCZ SSD with an Intel one (120gb G2) with a fresh install using AHCI. I experience occasional and sometimes quite heavy lag/stuttering while in games or just in Windows. The mouse will jump around the screen and everything seems to be "forcing". The timing of this seems rather random. I don't have any scheduled scans.

I have 55% free space on the drive. Hibernation and system restore off.

I have all the recent windows updates, the latest firmware and AHCI/controller drivers from Intel. I have indexing, defrag and some other services disabled. I've also ran the Intel diagnostics/TRIM tools.

At this point I am out of ideas and looking at google/Anand search results didn't really help.

Specs:
Windows 7 SP1
P35 BloodIron
8gb Mushkin
1TB WD
GTX 460

Any ideas on what might cause this? I tried IDE mode and the drive was much slower. Here is my HDTune graph:

CrystalMark:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 258.238 MB/s
Sequential Write : 118.590 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 196.304 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 113.501 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 23.593 MB/s [ 5760.0 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 52.975 MB/s [ 12933.3 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 184.831 MB/s [ 45124.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 101.305 MB/s [ 24732.7 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [C: 53.6% (59.9/111.7 GB)] (x5)
Date : 2011/03/18 19:14:27
OS : Windows 7 Home Premium Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)

 

[jiffylube1024]

Did you disable some kind of caching on the drive? It sounds like maybe by turning all of those features off something might have been disabled that shouldn't be. Did you turn off write caching or using part of the drive as a scratch disk?

Your results for Crystal Disk Mark look totally fine - pretty solid actually.

IIRC, you don't need to turn off defrag in Win 7 for an SSD - it should do that automatically.
-----

Have you tried the SSD in another machine? It could be either your motherboard, Windows installation, or the other HDD causing the stuttering issue.

I had an 80GB X25-M G2 and currently have the 160GB version of the G2 and I've never had any stuttering issues.

 

[Engineer]

Have you tried using the Microsoft AHCI drivers instead of Intel's version?

 

[PascalT]

The MS AHCI drivers were the original ones and I just now replaced them with Intel's. I am not sure if it fixed the issue since the stutter comes and goes randomly..

I have write caching ENABLED on the drive. I have the pagefiles set to AUTO on both C: and my D : drive.

In terms of services I disabled superfetch, windows search. Is there others that might affect the SSD?

thanks

 

[nusyo]

did u oc? I had similar issues from unstable oc not too long ago...

 

[taltamir]

It is possible that it is a defective drive. contact intel support. I have actually seen some cases where people had exactly the issue you describe and it was resolved by an RMA replacement.

 

[Makaveli]

RMA!

 

[Emulex]

bad cable!

 

[PascalT]

I didn't OC. I will try a diff. cable and SATA port before RMAing.. It would suck if I had to since the reason i switched to Intel is bc my OCZ drive failed after 12-18 months.

 

[PascalT]

Is there a way I can be 100% sure that it's the SSD causing the lag? I was just playing a game and the mouse was just jumping around the screen because of it, but the graphics were not lagging. How can that make sense? I know it's not the mouse since I use it on my laptop and it's fine.

Is the HD Tune jumpy graph proof enough? I switched sata cable/port and the graph is the same. From what i've seen online the graphs are usually almost a straight line.

BTW, the drive is not running DMA Mode 5, but 2. Is that normal?

 

[Emulex]

so you have a pata to sata converter bridge chipset? that would be very abnormal.

ATA-33 is more like for cd/dvd-rom only.

 

[PascalT]

Sorry I checked again and it looks like the DMA Mode 2 was the CD-rom. The other ATA channel has no mode listed in its details. Usually it should list DMA Mode 5 no? my controller is the Intel ICH9R.

Also is there something to the fact it only happens randomly and in spurts? Like right now I am using the computer (no games) and it works just fine. It sees like it happens more often if I start loading a big game or have a lot of programs opened. It makes no sense though since it never happened with my OCZ SSD and I also have 8gb of RAM.

 

[taltamir]

so you have a pata to sata converter bridge chipset? that would be very abnormal.

ATA-33 is more like for cd/dvd-rom only.

wait, he uses a PATA to SATA converter? I didn't notice... but I would suspect it is the cause

 

[PascalT]

wait, he uses a PATA to SATA converter? I didn't notice... but I would suspect it is the cause

I wrote after that the DMA Mode 2 was for the CD. Is that what you are referring to?

 

[taltamir]

I wrote after that the DMA Mode 2 was for the CD. Is that what you are referring to?

I am referring to what he said, it is possible that he misread your post and confused the DMA2 for the CD as using DMA2 (IDE @ 33MB/s) with converter to connect the SSD.

 

[LamTek]

I would try looking into disabling any power saving features for the drives in Windows 7 through your power profiles.

 

[jeffbui]

What makes you think it's the SSD instead of some of the other components? Did you change OSes when you installed the SSD?

 

[Dubb]

hmmm. I've had a similar issue occasionally, and I'm using a 160GB G2. Mine seems most noticeable on flash video...audio is constant, but video stutters. Same mouse lag as you describe as well.

I thought I had a firefox plugin that was messing with something, but hmmm.

 

[SickBeast]

At 9.5% CPU usage, could it possibly be throttling in and out of a low power state during the test?

What CPU are you using, OP?

 

[PascalT]

I would try looking into disabling any power saving features for the drives in Windows 7 through your power profiles.

Checked them out and the hard drive is set to Never Sleep. Is that all?

CPU: Q9450 @ stock speeds

I used the same OS from OCZ -> Intel, same hardware as well.

 

[Makaveli]

What firmware are you using on this drive OP?

 

[PascalT]

The latest one.

 

[zip1385]

I have 2 intel SSD 1 120GB (desktop) and 1 80GB (laptop) and have 0 issues what so ever. Have you tried the drive in another system?

 

[PascalT]

I have 2 intel SSD 1 120GB (desktop) and 1 80GB (laptop) and have 0 issues what so ever. Have you tried the drive in another system?

No i haven't. So far the latest changes I made seem to have done the trick.. I guess if it doesn't happen again today (the lag) it will have been a success.

thanks for all your help so far, guys and/or girls.

 

[PascalT]

alright so it's doing it again.. i have around 6-7 programs opened. 25% Cpu usage, 4gb of memory free. I have the ressource monitor on and nothing stands out. Is there anything i can check now to see what the issue is with?

Everything is slower than normal, even popping out a window is laggy.