Slow intel x25-m g2 160gb/

morfmedia · 14 Aug 2010 at 20:35

Just wondered what was wrong as my benchmarks seem a lot lower than many others.

Running the Intel drivers, latest firmware, ahci in the bios, windows write caching enabled. Just wondered what I'm missing out settings wise or if its a limit of my laptop. Dell Vostro 1700, plugged in on mains power set to high performance:

AS SSD Benchmark 1.5.3784.37609
------------------------------
Name: INTEL SSDSA2M160G2GC
Firmware: 2CV1
Controller: iaStor
Offset: 103424 K - OK
Size: 149.05 GB
Date: 14/08/2010 20:33:17
------------------------------
Sequential:
------------------------------
Read: 133.57 MB/s
Write: 60.71 MB/s
------------------------------
4K:
------------------------------
Read: 15.32 MB/s
Write: 23.09 MB/s
------------------------------
4K-64Threads:
------------------------------
Read: 95.84 MB/s
Write: 58.63 MB/s
------------------------------
Access Times:
------------------------------
Read: 0.156 ms
Write: 0.176 ms
------------------------------
Score:
------------------------------
Read: 125
Write: 88
Total: 279
------------------------------

morfmedia · 14 Aug 2010 at 21:01

Slight improvement with msahci driver but still nowhere near what others are getting:

AS SSD Benchmark 1.5.3784.37609
------------------------------
Name: INTEL SSDSA2M160G2GC ATA Device
Firmware: 2CV102HD
Controller: msahci
Offset: 103424 K - OK
Size: 149.05 GB
Date: 14/08/2010 21:00:25
------------------------------
Sequential:
------------------------------
Read: 133.80 MB/s
Write: 88.98 MB/s
------------------------------
4K:
------------------------------
Read: 16.20 MB/s
Write: 24.13 MB/s
------------------------------
4K-64Threads:
------------------------------
Read: 94.88 MB/s
Write: 58.58 MB/s
------------------------------
Access Times:
------------------------------
Read: 0.124 ms
Write: 0.145 ms
------------------------------
Score:
------------------------------
Read: 124
Write: 92
Total: 284
------------------------------

reygjabla · 15 Aug 2010 at 02:29

Post a scrennie of AS SSD or CDM.

morfmedia · 15 Aug 2010 at 18:09

As requested: Let me know if anything else would be useful for troubleshooting, thanks in advance

reygjabla · 15 Aug 2010 at 18:44

One of the "Guru's" in another thread showed me how to improve the 4K read and write on SSD by enabling the Write back cache and using the intel IRST driver.

Computer mgmt>device mgr.>disk drives>(select Intel SSD)>click policies in properties box. NOTE: if the first box is checked(and it should be by default) then uncheck it and click ok. Now repeat this same procedure and RECHECK the box to enable write-cache again. Rerun the Atto. You should now see those smaller #'s shoot way up due to ram being implemented into the array through the raidchips driver. This is an inherent glitch in W7 and can only be circumvented by using the IRST software and enabling "write-back cache" in the app itself.

After that, you can also try SSD Tweaker and see if your performace improved.

morfmedia · 15 Aug 2010 at 19:45

Thanks for the advice, swapped back to the Intel drivers and tried disabling / re enabling write cache but it has made no difference to the speed

Also tried the ssd tweak with no luck either.

Anyone else have any ideas, i think it might be the intel Ich8m in this notebook that is limiting speeds.

morfmedia · 15 Aug 2010 at 21:23

Using IDE rather than ahci seems better for sequential reads but worse for almost everything else...

reygjabla · 15 Aug 2010 at 21:27

morfmedia said:
Thanks for the advice, swapped back to the Intel drivers and tried disabling / re enabling write cache but it has made no difference to the speed

Also tried the ssd tweak with no luck either.

Anyone else have any ideas, i think it might be the intel Ich8m in this notebook that is limiting speeds.

This could be your issue as most of the benchmark shown are with OC'ed system. Check you power management and make sure you're running on high performance.

Zarf · 15 Aug 2010 at 21:29

It's running in SATA-I mode, which has a max throughput of 150MB/s before overheads. Check for an option in the BIOS to enable SATA-II operation.

morfmedia · 15 Aug 2010 at 21:56

Power management set to high performance, and i can't see an option in bios for sata2.

From more googling it looks like Dell may have capped this laptop at SATA 1

morfmedia · 23 Sep 2010 at 14:00

Just looking at this again, I take it I'd be better off running in IDE mode as everything but the 4K-64thrd figures are pretty good, and seq read / write would be improved for picture / video editing?

reygjabla · 23 Sep 2010 at 21:46

AHCI paired with Intel IRST driver provides a more effecient TRIM functionality compared to IDE.

morfmedia · 23 Sep 2010 at 22:19

Thanks for the feedback, going to go with IDE until I can find a way to hack my vostro 1700 to run at SATA II speeds.

morfmedia · 20 Jun 2011 at 21:09

Just installed the same SSD into my XPS 17 Sandy Bridge and it's not as fast as other G2's. Enabled write caching, AHCI in BIOS.

I did a format before install however it didn't create the 100MB partition as the drive was secondary. Will it still sector align during install without that partition / Any other tips to increase speed?