Slow SSD Performance on Windows 7 - tips?

[Kaido]

I'm building a few new rigs at work based on the MSI Big Bang-Xpower board. Specs:

-Core i7-950 (3.06ghz)
-24GB DDR3-1600 RAM
-MSI Big Bang-Xpower motherboard
-850w Corsair PSU (modular)
-ATI V4800 FirePro 1GB GPU
-OWC (not OCZ) 240GB SF-1200 SSD
-Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

Pretty straightforward systems. Just finished building the first one. I have an OWC 50GB SSD in my laptop and it gets 250 MB/s in benchmarking. On the MSI, the 240GB OWC gets:

ACHI: min 32 MB/s, max 199 MB/s
IDE: min 130 MB/s, max 157 MB/s

So far I've tried:

-Latest motherboard BIOS
-Latest Windows 7 updates (SP1 + latest updates)
-SSD Tweaker
-HDTune & AS-SSD Benchmark
-Swapping ports (2 different SATA 3.0 ports, also the SATA 6.0 port for fun)
-Latest drivers from MSI (chipset, SATA, etc.)

So I'm running about 50 MB/s south of where I should be under AHCI, and about 100 MB/s less under IDE. Any tips?

 

[pcunite]

Did you install using the Windows 7 installer or use a disk imaging problem? The offset alignment can slow the drives down. The Windows 7 installer gets it right.

 

[Kaido]

Did you install using the Windows 7 installer or use a disk imaging problem? The offset alignment can slow the drives down. The Windows 7 installer gets it right.

Straight from an OEM full-version DVD disc.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

disable the network on the pc, close all programs, and let the computer idle all night long to let garbage cleanup or w.e.t.f.i.c do it's job.

 

[mfenn]

Does your laptop have eSATA? If so, try the drive there. Alternatively, try your laptop drive in the new system. That way, you can determine if it's an issue with the SSD or with the rest of the system.

 

[Kaido]

Built the second system with a second SSD. Same issue - can't break 200 MB/s. Kinda odd. 50 MB/s less than my laptop gets.

 

[Puppies04]

I'm not an expert on ssd's but I do know different sized drives can have quite large % differences in speed. Have you checked the rated speed on the 2 drives or are you just assuming a 50gb and a 240gb ssd from the same manufacturer should have the same r/w speeds. It comes down to the type and number of controllers and also the density and number of memory modules the ssd is split into.

 

[Kaido]

I'm not an expert on ssd's but I do know different sized drives can have quite large % differences in speed. Have you checked the rated speed on the 2 drives or are you just assuming a 50gb and a 240gb ssd from the same manufacturer should have the same r/w speeds. It comes down to the type and number of controllers and also the density and number of memory modules the ssd is split into.

Yeah I'll try a swap this week. Good idea - the larger size may be slower.

Not that 199 MB/s is slow or anything :thumbsup:

 

[mfenn]

In general, larger SSDs are faster because they have more flash channels. I'm betting the problem is either a configuration issue with the OS or mobo. Swapping the drives around is a great way to confirm or disprove that though.

 

[Claudius-07]

Can you go directly to the Intel site and download their latest chipset drivers and Intel Rapid Storage drivers please. Give that a try. No reason for that SSD to get those numbers. Once you have done that go to your Device Drivers, find the SSD under drives, Right click it, under policies, make sure Enable Write Caching for this Device, is checked, and check the Turn Off Windows Write Cache Buffer-Flushing etc.. says don't if you concerned about data loss if you lose power. I've never had issues ever, but I have my system running off a UPS.

Edit: for my Asus board, the chipset, SATA drivers they list on their site are NOT the latest. When I installed the latest from Intel, I got much better numbers for my Vertex and Vertex 2 drives. Just a thought.

 

[Kaido]

Either the drivers or the controllers. Got 260 MB/s on another system, same drive. Tried a couple different drivers, going to tinker a bit more to see what's up.

 

[Kaido]

Can you go directly to the Intel site and download their latest chipset drivers and Intel Rapid Storage drivers please. Give that a try. No reason for that SSD to get those numbers. Once you have done that go to your Device Drivers, find the SSD under drives, Right click it, under policies, make sure Enable Write Caching for this Device, is checked, and check the Turn Off Windows Write Cache Buffer-Flushing etc.. says don't if you concerned about data loss if you lose power. I've never had issues ever, but I have my system running off a UPS.

Edit: for my Asus board, the chipset, SATA drivers they list on their site are NOT the latest. When I installed the latest from Intel, I got much better numbers for my Vertex and Vertex 2 drives. Just a thought.

Just loaded up the latest (9.2.0.1030) direct from Intel and that boosted it up to about 256 MB/s. Thanks! Wouldn't have thought to look at Intel vs. MSI!

 

[mfenn]

Just loaded up the latest (9.2.0.1030) direct from Intel and that boosted it up to about 256 MB/s. Thanks! Wouldn't have thought to look at Intel vs. MSI!

:thumbsup: Sounds good! Somebody at MSI is being slack I guess.

 

[Kaido]

Running into issues again, this time with SATA-III drives. I've been migrating to OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD's:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Mercury_6G/

They are rated at peak read of 559 MB/s and most people get at least 450 MB/s out of them. Right now I'm maxing out at 360 MB/s on the Big Bang platform over SATA 6Gbps. Swapped BIOS settings, upgraded BIOS releases, updated Windows (64-bit Windows 7), tried a couple different chipset versions (including 9.2.0.103, which works well for the SATA-II drives), etc.

So currently running about 100 MB/s less than what the actual speeds should be. Not sure why these MSI boards in particular are goofy with SATA performance...my other systems work OOTB with proper speeds.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Intel is probably too busy with Ivy Bridge

 

[Kaido]

Intel is probably too busy with Ivy Bridge

Bah, humbug

I really like these boards - a lot of goodies on them for a decent price, and stable to boot. Just goofy drivers for SATA!

 

[mfenn]

Remember that the SATA 6Gb/s for that mobo are on a separate controller, not on the Intel chipset. Thus, I wouldn't expect the chipset drivers to make much of a difference.

Try downloading the "Marvell SATAIII" drivers from the MSI website. Also, since the ports are on a separate controller, don't expect it to compete with benchmarks of the Sandy Bridge or AMD 800 series chipsets (they have SATA 6Gb/s on the controller itself).

 

[Kaido]

Remember that the SATA 6Gb/s for that mobo are on a separate controller, not on the Intel chipset. Thus, I wouldn't expect the chipset drivers to make much of a difference.

Try downloading the "Marvell SATAIII" drivers from the MSI website. Also, since the ports are on a separate controller, don't expect it to compete with benchmarks of the Sandy Bridge or AMD 800 series chipsets (they have SATA 6Gb/s on the controller itself).

Ah, good point about the chipset software. Yup, I have it on the SATA 6 jack and have the Marvell drivers directly from MSI. Theoretically it should be running at 559 MB/s peak and most reviewers are getting at least 450 MB/s, so I'm still at 100 MB/s less than reported speeds and 200 MB/s less than advertised speeds, which is pretty significant (especially given the price of 6Gb/s SSD's!).

I haven't found much in the way of SATA-III testing on this particular board, so I'll keep my eyes open as more power get 6Gb/s drives on them. Just when I thought I had the SATA problems licked...haha.