Intel X25M-Poor Speed- HELP!!!

Ok so I got an Intel X25-m today from OCUK.

This is the AS benchmark performance which looks pretty dodgy especially 4K but overall its nowhere near what others are getting



1: Its a fresh Vista Ultimate 32bit SP2 install with the SSD as the only HD for now.

2: Installed all the latest Windows Updates as well latest Intel chipset drivers.

3: SSD is connected via a brand new SATA3 cable to the first SATA port on an X58 chipset ICH10R Intel Sata controller.

4: CPU is a Core i7-965 so performance is not an issue & the motherboard is an Gigabyte EX58-UD5 on the X58 Intel express chipset.

5: Ran the Intel SSD Toolbox & it made minmal difference. The HD has approx 49.2GB Free.

6: Before even installing Vista I updated the SSD to the very latest Intel firmware: 2HD. SSD was made 15/01/2010 so its pretty new anyway!

7: AHCI has been enabled in the bios always. MS Defragger & Windows Defender are both disabled since the first boot into Vista!

Please can someone give me an idea why my performance is so slow as right now it feels much slower than the Samsung 750GB HD with 32MB Cache its replacing

I looked around the web but cannot see how to resolve & some people have similar issues on Windows7 with this same drive (G2 revision obviously).

Follow the guide Here for SSDs, but do not disable pagefile, but leave it on C:\ and also disable ReadyBoost...also make sure both options are ticked under Policies under Disk Drives in Device Manager...

Download and nstall Intel Rapid Storage software (to enable write caching), and the latest ICH10R drivers...

Yeah I did what you did and mine run fine TBH (I think) here's the paste of my results I just did:

My best result after 2 tries with each drive:

Is Intel Rapid Storage ok to install as it says its for Raid I only have the single SSD??

Also I swopped the SATA3 cable for SATA2 and the results are even worse so going to have to put the SATA3 cable back!

AWPC said:

Is Intel Rapid Storage ok to install as it says its for Raid I only have the single SSD??

Also I swopped the SATA3 cable for SATA2 and the results are even worse so going to have to put the SATA3 cable back!

Click to expand...

I don't have it installed because of that reason and mine seem to work fine hehe.

Have you tried different SATA ports?

Locke said:

I don't have it installed because of that reason and mine seem to work fine hehe.

Have you tried different SATA ports?

Click to expand...

I will try another SATA port then (I have 10 to chose from 6 intel + 4 gigabyte but only Intel give full performance methinks as only they are ICH10R).

Just put my SATA3 cable back in performance is still poor especially 4k I wonder if I go to IDE mode if it will improve??

Is Intel Rapid Storage ok to install as it says its for Raid I only have the single SSD?

Click to expand...

You could install it and your SSD would show up in it, but on checking it does not let you enable write caching, however ticking the top option under Policies in Disk Drives -> Device Manager will enable write caching...

jbloggs said:

You could install it and your SSD would show up in it, but on checking it does not let you enable write caching, however ticking the top option under Policies in Disk Drives -> Device Manager will enable write caching...

Click to expand...

I enabled write caching as soon as Vista first booted something else must be holding me back its still real slow

Not looking good at all as different SATA ports make no difference nor do different SATA cables.

Last resort now is switching to IDE mode if that does not fix it then the drive is going back as the performance so far is terrible

Ok I just fixed this myself now

The problem apears to be that Vista does not install the optimium drivers for Intel's SSD. The AHCI version which comes with SP2 is just not as fast as Intel's one bundled with the ageing Intel Matrix Storage Manager software. All I did was install that and it now uses the iastor driver instead of msahci & as you can see my results are pretty much the same as those of users on Windows7 with msahci!

Intel/MS really need to get their acts together as Vista with SP2 on a fresh install & all Windows Updates should in this day & age give you the correct drivers for SSD but it does not so until they correct this you have to do what I did & manually install Intel Matrix Storage Manager software! http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Sea...roductProduct=Intel®+Rapid+Storage+Technology

This is after TRIM but the difference is only ever 1-2% anyway!

The AHCI version which comes with SP2 is just not as fast as Intel's one bundled with the ageing Intel Matrix Storage Manager software

Click to expand...

That was why I suggested you download and install "the latest ICH10R drivers... "

jbloggs said:

That was why I suggested you download and install "the latest ICH10R drivers... "

Click to expand...

I know mate but could not find them anywhere I put the latest Intel chipset software on but that did not update them either which is weird!

Where did you find yours from as the ones I have are not new but still much faster than the AHCI MS ones??

Thanks

Download 32-bit floppy configuration utility 7/17/2009 - 8.9.0.1023 (this is the latest official release from Intel) and unzip, go into Device Manager, and update "Intel(R) ICH10R SATA AHCI cont" which will be listed under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers...

Installing the Intel Rapid Storage software would have also updated these drivers...