18 replies to this topic

[ericgcollyer]

Im sure this has been done before, but what are the best settings to use with an SSD? I recently got a Intel 520 120GB and I am getting less than advertised speeds. At first it didnt bother me, but when I saw others getting higher speeds than me, I began to wonder what I was doing wrong. I made sure the drive was using the SATA3 controller on my motherboard. I used a fresh install of windows on my SSD and have the following settings:

AHCI mode enabled
Defragmenter off
Superfetch off
Caching off


But I am "only" getting about 380-400MB/s of read speeds. I feel like a whiny brat saying that, because the performance is still amazing, but I would still like to get the most out of my hardware. This is using crystalmark and ATTO software. Am I missing something obvious?


Intel i7 920
Asus Sabretooth x58
12 (4x3) GB Corsair RAM
Intel 520 SSD
AMD Radon 6790
Corsair 850W Power Supply

[El_Capitan]

Are you using the Marvell or Intel SATA 3 port?

The "up to so-and-so speeds" is when there's no incompressible data it's transferring, and where there's no data on the drive.

[Waco]

I'm fairly sure that mobo (since it's an X58) only has a Marvell SATA 3 port.

OP - I'd use the Intel SATA 2 port over the Marvell controller. It will have slower sequential read/write speeds but the boost in random reads and writes is worth the difference (the Intel controller is MUCH faster in that regard).

[ComputerEd]

If you are running Widnows 7 then turn on AHCI inBios and leave the drive alone, Windows will take care of the rest.

[ericgcollyer]

It is the Marvell controller. I don't have an intel sata 3 controller. Although perhaps when the ivy bridge comes out I may upgrade. But are these speeds normal for this drive and a Marvell controller? Is the 500+ read speeds only on an intel controller?

[ericgcollyer]

If you are running Widnows 7 then turn on AHCI inBios and leave the drive alone, Windows will take care of the rest.

This is pretty much what I did. I only moved my pagefile from the ssd to my media hard drive. But other than that I let windows take care of everything else.

[Waco]

But are these speeds normal for this drive and a Marvell controller? Is the 500+ read speeds only on an intel controller?

Yup. The Marvell controller really does kinda suck.

[ericgcollyer]

Yup. The Marvell controller really does kinda suck.

sadface...Well, perhaps in the (distant) future I can get an ivybridge processor with an Intel 6GB/s SATA controller

[Marvell Chip]

Yup. The Marvell controller really does kinda suck.

Do you now how motherboard function.Have you ever seen scheme of motherboard.Marvell controller must push data true pci-e line and Intel is direct connect to cpu,memory and hole system.I will like to see intel scores in position where is Marvell now.Some of the fastes SSD,are Marvell based ssd.If and when Marvell do some motherboards i will be first to buy it .

[Waco]

Do you now how motherboard function.

Yes. That doesn't change the fact that for every motherboard released in the past few years the Marvell controller has been lackluster at best. I'd be hesitant to blame all of that on the way they are connected to the chipset/CPU.

[johnnyd]

Im sure this has been done before, but what are the best settings to use with an SSD? I recently got a Intel 520 120GB and I am getting less than advertised speeds. At first it didnt bother me, but when I saw others getting higher speeds than me, I began to wonder what I was doing wrong. I made sure the drive was using the SATA3 controller on my motherboard. I used a fresh install of windows on my SSD and have the following settings:

AHCI mode enabled
Defragmenter off
Superfetch off
Caching off


But I am "only" getting about 380-400MB/s of read speeds. I feel like a whiny brat saying that, because the performance is still amazing, but I would still like to get the most out of my hardware. This is using crystalmark and ATTO software. Am I missing something obvious?


Intel i7 920
Asus Sabretooth x58
12 (4x3) GB Corsair RAM
Intel 520 SSD
AMD Radon 6790
Corsair 850W Power Supply

What?

[johnnyd]

Sorry for last post, it was just enter key with wrong focus

 

Anyway, I'm stoned!

I have pretty much the same config (but with half of the ram capacity) and getting merely

270 MB/s (Read) and 210 MB/s (Write) while connected to Intel sata3 controller (3Gb/s)

and

380 MB/s (Read) and 210 MB/s (Write) when connected to Marvell controller (6Gb/s).

Am I missing something?

Anyway my config is,

i7 950,

Sabertooth X58

6 Gb corsair (XMP enabled)

SSD Intel 520 180GB (400firmware)

 

The partition is aligned, AHCI enabled, the firmware is latest 400i, the TRIM is supported.

The OS is installed from scratch, with all necessary drivers (Win7x64 Ultimate)

 

Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Edited by johnnyd, 14 January 2013 - 06:46 AM.