Samsung 850 Pro 512 GB

[badb0y]

I just bought this SSD and it seems like I can't hit the advertised speed of 550/520 MB/s. The max I can hit is 400/400 MB/s.

Specs:

ASUS Z77 Maximus Gene
i7 2600k 4.7 Ghz
Samsung 850 Pro 512 GB
16 GB DDR3 2133 Ram
NZXT Hale90 750 Watt Power Supply

 

[LTC8K6]

Plugged into a red SATA port?

You'll want the Intel 6GB ports, 6G1 or 6G2

The 6GE1 and E2 are Asmedia ports.

 

[UsandThem]

And make sure your SSD is properly configured in Windows.

The easiest way is to download Samsung Magician.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Yep you have to run ahci, sata 3 and allow magician to configure for performance.

 

[TheRyuu]

The 6GE1 and E2 are Asmedia ports.

Does this really matter though? AFAIK so long as you're using AHCI mode both will be using the same generic Windows driver so that's not going to be an issue. I have an 850 EVO plugged into the Asmedia ports on my Z87 and all is well.

Honestly I wouldn't really worry about your speeds differing slightly from the theoretical limits that you may be able to hit in ideal circumstances.

 

[UsandThem]

Does this really matter though? AFAIK so long as you're using AHCI mode both will be using the same generic Windows driver so that's not going to be an issue. I have an 850 EVO plugged into the Asmedia ports on my Z87 and all is well.

Honestly I wouldn't really worry about your speeds differing slightly from the theoretical limits that you may be able to hit in ideal circumstances.

Possibly.

Will the average user notice the difference outside of benchmarks? Most likely not. But if I spent the extra money on a 850 Pro, I'd want it to run as fast it could. Intel SATA ports are generally regarded as the most stable with the best performance.

Edit: Once again we take a look at the ASMedia ASM1061 SATA III 6Gbps ports and they were quite a bit slower in HD Tune, much like we saw in CrystalDiskMark, nearly 150MB/s down on the Average Read and 51MB/s down on the average write. The SATA Express ports were right up there with the SATA III ports hitting an average read of 428.2MB/s and an average write of 327.2MB/s

http://www.legitreviews.com/asus-z97-pro-wi-fi-ac-intel-z97-motherboard-review_140521/12

Once we connect the SSD to the native Intel SATA3 port, that's where things increase indefinitely as the SSD is freed up from any bottlenecks and bandwidth issues. We have now passed 500 MB/sec.

So our advice is simple -- should you be in the market for a SATA 3 SSD then we absolutely prefer the performance of the Intel Series 6 or 7 (H67/P67/Z68/X79/H77/Z77) integrated SATA 6G controller over anything else available on the market.

The new Marvell and Asmedia controllers also offer good performance, albeit still 20%~25% slower than Intel's controllers.

When you install an SSD, make sure you run your drive in AHCI mode, it does make a significant difference in performance.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pagesprinter/corsair_neutron_and_neutron_gtx_ssd_review,7.html

 

[Elixer]

Also make sure SSD is aligned., and with what program did you do the speed test with?

 

[badb0y]

Also make sure SSD is aligned., and with what program did you do the speed test with?

What does "aligned" mean? I used Samsung Magician to test the performance.

I am using the SATA 6 Gbps port and AHCI is enabled. I also set Samsung Magician to maximum performance.

 

[LTC8K6]

What does "aligned" mean? I used Samsung Magician to test the performance.

I am using the SATA 6 Gbps port and AHCI is enabled. I also set Samsung Magician to maximum performance.

Which SATA 6 port? Intel or Asmedia?

 

[Elixer]

What does "aligned" mean? I used Samsung Magician to test the performance.

Depending on how you installed the OS or made the partition on the SSD, it could have an unaligned partition, so that every access to the SSD takes much longer than normally.

So, for example, you cloned over your HD to the SSD, and the cloning program didn't create the SSD partition on a 1K boundary.
You use AS SSD, and pick the SSD, and it should say in green text if it is OK or not.
Like so: http://www.overclock.net/t/1226963/how-to-properly-re-align-your-ssd-hdd-partitions

 

[pcslookout]

Depending on how you installed the OS or made the partition on the SSD, it could have an unaligned partition, so that every access to the SSD takes much longer than normally.

So, for example, you cloned over your HD to the SSD, and the cloning program didn't create the SSD partition on a 1K boundary.
You use AS SSD, and pick the SSD, and it should say in green text if it is OK or not.
Like so: http://www.overclock.net/t/1226963/how-to-properly-re-align-your-ssd-hdd-partitions

Thanks this really helped

 

[badb0y]

Depending on how you installed the OS or made the partition on the SSD, it could have an unaligned partition, so that every access to the SSD takes much longer than normally.

So, for example, you cloned over your HD to the SSD, and the cloning program didn't create the SSD partition on a 1K boundary.
You use AS SSD, and pick the SSD, and it should say in green text if it is OK or not.
Like so: http://www.overclock.net/t/1226963/how-to-properly-re-align-your-ssd-hdd-partitions

Mine says "OK"

 

[badb0y]

Plugged into a red SATA port?

You'll want the Intel 6GB ports, 6G1 or 6G2

The 6GE1 and E2 are Asmedia ports.

This was it! Thanks a lot!!

 

[TheRyuu]

Depending on how you installed the OS or made the partition on the SSD, it could have an unaligned partition, so that every access to the SSD takes much longer than normally.

So, for example, you cloned over your HD to the SSD, and the cloning program didn't create the SSD partition on a 1K boundary.
You use AS SSD, and pick the SSD, and it should say in green text if it is OK or not.
Like so: http://www.overclock.net/t/1226963/how-to-properly-re-align-your-ssd-hdd-partitions

And if you formatted with Windows 8+ it's guaranteed to be aligned correctly. Just in case anyone was wondering.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

And if you formatted with Windows 8+ it's guaranteed to be aligned correctly. Just in case anyone was wondering.

Either Acronis Disk Director 11 Update 2, or True Image 2014 or later (maybe earlier) will automatically align an SSD properly if the OS was transferred via clone, or the disk was prepared with Acronis before installing Windows 7. I think proof of the pudding was to run -- what was it? -- MSINFO32 followed by Components->Storage->Disks. Look for Partition Starting Offset. It must be perfectly divisible by 4,096 to produce an integer value.

I would hope -- and I would assume -- that the bundled Acronis tool with some SSDs (like Crucial) also works the same way. Why would they leave you in the lurch otherwise, to generate more RMA costs for themselves?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

This was it! Thanks a lot!!

Anyway, it looks more like he was using the wrong ports. But then, for that, I'd expect to see his scores look still lower. Or am I confused?