Low SSD speeds - need help

[Collider]

I recently posted here about low speeds on my X25-M G2 (160GB), I was basically getting 175MB average read in HD Tune.

Some of the suggestions included:
- Update SSD firmware
- Install Intel storage driver
- Install latest chipset/mobo dirvers
- Install Intel's SSD toolbox & run clean up utility

After completing each of the suggestions the speeds improved slightly, HD Tune reports now average read speeds of 195 MB - which is an improvement but not exactly what I should be seeing (I have a 80GB G2 on a dif machine and see ~220MB in HD Tune)

System specs (this is a DELL machine at work so mobo model is a mystery to me)
- i7 860
- DELL branded mobo
- 8GB Ram
- 2 x ATI 4550 in crossfire
- Windows 7 64-bit

I've really exhausted all of my resources at this point and need some help. Thanks!

 

[Davidh373]

On newegg, and many other sites it says "Up to 250 MB/S". Your benchmark is putting out a calculation of the average, "Up to" means the maximum transfer rate under ideal conditions. You will never get an average of 250MB/S because the SSD will never go over that transfer rate. Also, I believe the specs are for the controller, and does not count for memory size. That may be why the 160GB and 80GB differ in transfer speed.

 

[Emulex]

could be poopy cable or trim disabled or power saving features or raid[ahci] not used.


my dell 530 mobo must be in RAID mode or you won't get ahci and no NCQ/TRIM

 

[Collider]

cables were brand new, power is set to always on, running in RAID mode atm (unable to go AHCI until OS reinstall) ... how would I go about finding out if TRIM is disabled tho?

 

[tweakboy]

cables were brand new, power is set to always on, running in RAID mode atm (unable to go AHCI until OS reinstall) ... how would I go about finding out if TRIM is disabled tho?

Download "hd tune" google it its free. and that app tells you wheter you have TRIM enabled or disabled. gl

 

[taltamir]

On newegg, and many other sites it says "Up to 250 MB/S". Your benchmark is putting out a calculation of the average, "Up to" means the maximum transfer rate under ideal conditions. You will never get an average of 250MB/S because the SSD will never go over that transfer rate. Also, I believe the specs are for the controller, and does not count for memory size. That may be why the 160GB and 80GB differ in transfer speed.

actually, with SSDs the larger it is the faster it is (as long as the controller is the same)

the 160GB intel G2 is faster than the 80GB intel G2.

195MB/s is still a very respectable figure. The greatest speed impact of SSD is not in the sequential reads (a good spindle drive gets 120MB/s), but random reads/writes (which are literally hundreds of times faster). Its not that random reads/writes are more important, but that an improvement of hundreds of times faster in one aspect of the drive is really noticeable.

this could be the problem: - DELL branded mobo
you see, your mobo contains something called a "drive controller", it basically provides the SATA port you plug into, and not all of them are made equal, slowing down your drives by varying amounts.

That being said, such a large drop is unexpected for merely using a lower quality board... board quality make VERY slim differences while chipset quality makes large differences, intel makes the best and you use an intel chipset (i am hoping, otherwise you were trying to install intel drivers on another company's chipset and it wouldn't work)... so a more plausible explanation is that you are not getting NCQ which would hurt performance some. Are you using it in AHCI mode? does it even support AHCI mode?
if it does and you aren't using it, don't just turn it on or your windows will bluescreen on boot, you need to first install and enable the AHCI driver in windows before doing so.

 

[Emulex]

my dell says installing AHCI bios when it detects drives not in a raid group.

the x25-m 80gb i have is faster than all others using full random data CDM that i've tried. 10% faster in the first sequential read test than smaller and larger sandforce drives and it's unaligned lol

 

[Collider]

actually, with SSDs the larger it is the faster it is (as long as the controller is the same)

the 160GB intel G2 is faster than the 80GB intel G2.

195MB/s is still a very respectable figure. The greatest speed impact of SSD is not in the sequential reads (a good spindle drive gets 120MB/s), but random reads/writes (which are literally hundreds of times faster). Its not that random reads/writes are more important, but that an improvement of hundreds of times faster in one aspect of the drive is really noticeable.

this could be the problem: - DELL branded mobo
you see, your mobo contains something called a "drive controller", it basically provides the SATA port you plug into, and not all of them are made equal, slowing down your drives by varying amounts.

That being said, such a large drop is unexpected for merely using a lower quality board... board quality make VERY slim differences while chipset quality makes large differences, intel makes the best and you use an intel chipset (i am hoping, otherwise you were trying to install intel drivers on another company's chipset and it wouldn't work)... so a more plausible explanation is that you are not getting NCQ which would hurt performance some. Are you using it in AHCI mode? does it even support AHCI mode?
if it does and you aren't using it, don't just turn it on or your windows will bluescreen on boot, you need to first install and enable the AHCI driver in windows before doing so.

Thanks for the explanation, I will give AHCI a try. As of now I am using RAID mode, it does have AHCI.

 

[Zap]

how would I go about finding out if TRIM is disabled tho?

Instructions are in the sticky. You need to look in two places, first is to find out if your drive supports it and second is to find out if it is currently enabled in Windows.