Slow speed SSD Samsung EVO 860 500GB

[DUNRITE]

Hey guys,
I'm baffled as my speed is much lower than others.
I bought the Samsung EVO 860 SSD 500GB and fresh installed Windows 10.
My PC is HP(i5 quad, 6GB RAM, PCIe x1 with Vantec SATA-3 6Gb/s card, etc).

Previously with onboard SATA-2(3Gb/s), my sequential read/write = 284/271 Mb/s.
Now with higher speed Vantec SATA-3(6Gb/s) it has improved to read/write = 399/382.
So it did improve. But still not close to where it should be.

I updated all sorts of drivers for the Vantec(Asmedia 106X SATA) and PCIe drivers from old Microsoft to Intel, etc but it stays the same. Samsung Magician also recognizes the card as 6Gbps also.
What is causing the lag that I should see around 550/520 and not the 399/382? Thanks.

 

[UsandThem]

You might want to read through this older thread, but the performance you are getting with that Vantec add-in card is expected. This will be about as good as it will get for you unless your upgrade your system that features native SATA-3 (6 Gb/s).

https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...ata-iii-card-improve-ssd-performance.2496457/

 

[DUNRITE]

You might want to read through this older thread, but the performance you are getting with that Vantec add-in card is expected. This will be about as good as it will get for you unless your upgrade your system that features native SATA-3 (6 Gb/s).

https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...ata-iii-card-improve-ssd-performance.2496457/

Thanks. So it seems from the old thread I read that ANY SATA3 6Gb/s card will have latency vs onboard SATA 2 controller. I'm not sure whether to stick to native SATA-2 or keep this Vantec SATA-3.
I see that IOPS from SATA-3 is MUCH LOWER than native SATA-2.
Is it better with MB/s or IOPS?

SATA-2 -

SATA-3 -

 

[UsandThem]

Thanks. So it seems from the old thread I read that ANY SATA3 6Gb/s card will have latency vs onboard SATA 2 controller. I'm not sure whether to stick to native SATA-2 or keep this Vantec SATA-3.
I see that IOPS from SATA-3 is MUCH LOWER than native SATA-2.
Is it better with MB/s or IOPS?

It really won't matter to much for home use, but I would personally just use the motherboard's SATA 2 ports, and return the add-in card.

You could always try doing whatever you do with your PC, and see if you can notice any difference in speed, and go with whatever one is faster. But you likely won't be able to notice any real difference.

 

[DUNRITE]

You might want to read through this older thread, but the performance you are getting with that Vantec add-in card is expected. This will be about as good as it will get for you unless your upgrade your system that features native SATA-3 (6 Gb/s).

https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...ata-iii-card-improve-ssd-performance.2496457/

Yeah I'm gonna return the Vantec card definitely.
It took 26 seconds to boot to Windows login screen. And also shutdown took 20 seconds.

I put it back to onboard SATA 300Mb/s -
Boot time improved in huge way. Takes 6 seconds...so fast that during the boot driver loading and Windows logo and circle dots don't even appear at all!!! Since it doesn't show the Windows 10 logo I measured it from the time monitor power lights up till login screen = 6 sec. Boots so fast that it feels like the PC is waking up from sleep mode!
Shutdown also improved to 4 seconds.

One another positive outcome, if any, is that because of this speed troubleshooting, I updated a handful of Windows 10 drivers from the fresh install a week ago. I remember it took 11 seconds to boot to login screen few days after the Win10 installation. So this manual drivers update probably further improved it to 5-6 seconds.

I can assume that if BIOS allows to disable the onboard SATA controller, then the PCI SATA controller might work faster, but my HP does not allow disabling it. So having 2 SATA controllers might not be good idea.
Cheers! Thanks UsandThem. WithandWithout.

 

[PliotronX]

That particular card looks like it has a Marvell 88se923x but a PCI-E x1 interface. I like the chipset because of the HyperDuo feature and set up both my moms and dads desktops with the IO Crest 9235 x2 card and it pulls 500+MB/sec which I was surprised with. I had also updated the firmware and BIOS from Station-drivers but I dont know if that improves speeds any. More than happy with them for 30 bucks.

 

[DUNRITE]

That particular card looks like it has a Marvell 88se923x but a PCI-E x1 interface. I like the chipset because of the HyperDuo feature and set up both my moms and dads desktops with the IO Crest 9235 x2 card and it pulls 500+MB/sec which I was surprised with. I had also updated the firmware and BIOS from Station-drivers but I dont know if that improves speeds any. More than happy with them for 30 bucks.

I wish that this card comes with Marvell chipset but rather Assmedia asm106x. They don't tell on the box what chipset comes with it. Others seem to come with SIL-3114 chipset. No HyperDuo either because of non-RAID card.
I don't recommend this card. I bought it because my local Fry's carries it and that's the only SATA card they carry non-RAID card. I'll look into IO Crest card.

 

[DUNRITE]

OK. So I returned the Vantec and bought IO Crest SI-PEX40058 card. It has Marvell 88se9230 chipset.
It has pumped up the throughput to 538/442 Mb/s from 284/271 of onboard SATA 2.
However, after playing around trying to max it out, I see other disavantages.
- IOPS dropped 12k/13k.
- Samsung Magician does not recognize the SSD drive nor the interface.
- Samsung Magician does not recognize the FW is on the SSD now. And also the RAPID mode is disabled.
- Boot time is longer by 3-5 seconds longer...BIOS screen comes on for eternity. Windows logo comes on albeit pretty short(the old onboard SATA 2 is so quick to boot that I don't see BIOS nor Windows logo screen and it's about 4-5 secs to login screen and bypass the ugly BIOS wait).
- IO Crest card takes up a precious slot - my HP PC comes with one x16 and x1 slots. This card requires
x2+ slot which I have to use the x16 slot. I'm gonna use it for video card later.

Overall operation in Windows is pretty fast I guess but nothing that onbard SATA 2 can't handle.
It's hard to tell the difference. I think the onboard SATA2's higher IOPS makes up for the lower throughput.
One advantage of this card:
- RAID.
I don't need to use RAID for home use and all the overhead and loss of precious space.

I like the simple and relatively fast onboard's SATA 2. So I'm gonna return the IO Crest card.
Nothing like turn on the PC and few seconds later it prompts for login.
Plus all the headaches of Magician related issues with the card. YMMV.
UsandThem is right. Thanks.