Cruicial M4 0009 Firmware Update

Broken Hope · 26 Aug 2011 at 15:41

http://www.crucial.com/support/firmware.aspx

Release Date: 08/25/2011
Change Log:

Changes made in version 0002 (m4 can be updated to revision 0009 directly from either revision 0001 or 0002)
Improved throughput performance.
Increase in PCMark Vantage benchmark score, resulting in improved user experience in most operating systems.
Improved write latency for better performance under heavy write workloads.
Faster boot up times.
Improved compatibility with latest chipsets.
Compensation for SATA speed negotiation issues between some SATA-II chipsets and the SATA-III device.
Improvement for intermittent failures in cold boot up related to some specific host systems.

Not my Benchmarks but performance seems to be up a fair bit.

Before

After

Broken Hope · 27 Aug 2011 at 10:24

Mr. May2 said:
i got my 128gb M4 yesterday and updated it straight to the 009 firmware but iam only getting around 300 mb/s read speeds using my marvell controller on my evga x58 sli3

The Marvell controller is horrible, you need a Sandy Bridge setup to get full use out of SATA 3 drives.

Broken Hope · 28 Aug 2011 at 10:41

It shouldn't be a problem, but I've read reports that you can flash in AHCI mode now.

Broken Hope · 29 Aug 2011 at 11:47

That site is incorrect though isn't it? It's not a destructive flash so you don't have to take all your data off it first.

Broken Hope · 31 Aug 2011 at 23:54

Guessing you aren't running AHCI mode?

Broken Hope · 1 Sep 2011 at 12:04

EllisDJ said:
That is in AHCI mode

I am wondering if there is soemthing I have not done drivers or something??

Without you posting a proper AS SSD screenshot it's hard to see how it's set up.

Broken Hope · 2 Sep 2011 at 09:00

Most Sandy Bridge motherboards have 2 SATA 3 ports that are an Intel controller, 4 SATA 2 that are an Intel controller and then 2 SATA 3 ports that are a Marvell controller. Saying that there's no point wasting one of your Intel SATA 3 ports with a mechanical HDD because they aren't fast enough to make proper use of the interface.

Broken Hope · 17 Sep 2011 at 15:16

Marvel controller is crap, but you need to switch to AHCI mode, which will probably require the registry edit since you already installed Windows.

Broken Hope · 17 Sep 2011 at 15:22

Andromeda1983 said:
The Marvell SATA3 controller is pretty poor and you wont get the full speed out of the drives with that.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CC-004-SR

A separate SATA3 card will help

That card has a Marvel controller on it..

Broken Hope · 17 Sep 2011 at 18:51

Nick1881 said:
Turns out I hadn't set Marvel interface to AHCI, now I have close to 400mb/s.

Quite happy with that TBH.

It was pretty obvious to see you weren't in AHCI despite what you originally said, because your 4K QD32 results were no different from your normal 4K results.

Broken Hope · 24 Sep 2011 at 15:14

mohoshin said:
I purchased the 64gb version after my vertex 2 gave me a bsod !
I have updated the firmware on the day i received the ssd. My write speed does not seem to be around 180 -200 that most people are getting, i am on around 105.
Read speed is around 514.

Any ideas what is with the slow write speeds?

Those speeds are normal for the 64GB drive.

Broken Hope · 25 Sep 2011 at 12:01

You need to list what board you're using, it can't be the one in your sig can it, since it won't support SATA 3.

Broken Hope · 25 Sep 2011 at 15:11

Slackjaw190 said:
sorry I havent updated it yet.

my MB is the ASRock Extreme 4 Gen 3

Make sure you're using the Intel SATA 3 port and not the Marvel SATA 3 port.

Broken Hope · 1 Oct 2011 at 16:21

bigjimmyauk said:
Why are the seq write times so slow?

my spinpoints seq's are faster than that

64GB drives have less channels, so writes are slower.

IvanDobskey said:
With trim, how long before performance on these drives starts to degrade? Seems a bit of a major negative for SSD's if you ask me. What do you need to do to restore performance? A reinstall of windows?

With TRIM performance won't degrade, that's the whole point of TRIM.

Broken Hope · 2 Oct 2011 at 09:18

IvanDobskey said:
I know TRIM is supposed to reduce degredation. But I didn't think it stopped it altogether?

Drives with proper TRIM support, such as these Crucial drives will have a very small performance degradation compared to a fresh drive, you honestly don't have to worry about it.

If you look at this review of the new firmware on Anandtech you can see after TRIM has done its magic that performance is good as new.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4712/the-crucial-m4-ssd-update-faster-with-fw0009/6

Broken Hope · 22 Oct 2011 at 14:54

TaKeN said:
Hmm.. Do I order the 128GB or 64GB? I can't decide!

64GB drive has much slower writes, I'd go for at least 128GB.

Broken Hope · 25 Oct 2011 at 10:27

Nodiggidy123 said:
just ran intel rapid storage tech and it tells me ive got 0002 firmware.

it was sold advertised as having the 0009 firmware on it.

is it simple to do it yourself?

If the sticker on top of the drive doesn't state 0009 firmware then it won't have it.

Broken Hope · 8 Nov 2011 at 17:56

MilanoChris said:
Looks at some results, my drive seems a little slower compared to some?

What controller is it attached to?

Broken Hope · 12 Nov 2011 at 09:12

R5GTT said:
Why are my read speeds down compared to most and my write speeds higher than others? I'm guessing it could be due to the size of the drive but surely I should still see 500MB/s+ Read?

This is a 240GB M4 that came with 0009 already on it.

Power saving/CPU clock speed can make a fair amount of difference to SSD speeds, I was getting similar read speeds to you until I clocked my CPU to 4.4GHz now I get the following.

If I disabled power saving I'd likely get another small bump.

Broken Hope · 12 Nov 2011 at 13:56

welshdragon said:
Having read through the thread this has convinced me a crucial m4 is the way to go for my first ever ssd. 128gb enough for windows/office, 2 games and a few apps?

You could fit that on the 64GB drive so yeah plenty of room for that plus a fair few more games.