The OCZ Vertex 3 Thread

VortX · 10 Apr 2011 at 10:26

simulatorman said:
First run on an Asus Rampage III Extreme (Win 7 x64 i7 980X 4.2GHz) using the Marvell 6GBs controller:

I've got the same set up as you, they look like pretty good results considering its the Marvell. What driver are you using? Is TRIM working? (Only some drivers seem to support TRIM with Marvell).

Cosimo · 10 Apr 2011 at 11:47

VortX said:
I've got the same set up as you, they look like pretty good results considering its the Marvell. What driver are you using? Is TRIM working? (Only some drivers seem to support TRIM with Marvell).

I think that they are fairly good for Marvell on an X58 board. I’m certainly not ditching a great system to get better results on Sandy Bridge. I’ve given up with the TRIM argument with Marvell drivers, some say they support TRIM and others not. The only drivers to have given consistent results on my RE3 with my previous SSD were the original Marvell 1.0.0.1034 and I am using these with the Vertex 3. I will experiment with a few others later in the week. What are you using?

Nutella33 · 10 Apr 2011 at 12:47

with a Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H, is the controller marvell or intel? the only info i can drag up is that sata3 runs "directly through" the 890gx chipset which doesnt really help give an idea of speeds?

Marzipanogram · 10 Apr 2011 at 15:32

Nutella33 said:
with a Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H, is the controller marvell or intel? the only info i can drag up is that sata3 runs "directly through" the 890gx chipset which doesnt really help give an idea of speeds?

It looks like an AMD one to me.
Here's a screengrab that I took from the Gigabyte website.
Click the link and then click the picture to expand it.
http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/1837/gigaw.jpg

Vlad Drac · 10 Apr 2011 at 16:00

simulatorman said:
I think that they are fairly good for Marvell on an X58 board. I’m certainly not ditching a great system to get better results on Sandy Bridge. I’ve given up with the TRIM argument with Marvell drivers, some say they support TRIM and others not. The only drivers to have given consistent results on my RE3 with my previous SSD were the original Marvell 1.0.0.1034 and I am using these with the Vertex 3. I will experiment with a few others later in the week. What are you using?

Hi simulatorman

Did you try the newer 1.0.0.1036 drivers listed on the Asus site??

Cosimo · 10 Apr 2011 at 17:48

Vlad Drac said:
Hi simulatorman

Did you try the newer 1.0.0.1036 drivers listed on the Asus site??

Not on this drive. I suspect that drivers won't help and that the Marvell controller bandwidth is being limited its implementation on this and other X58 boards. I will try it and possibly a SATA 3 controller card as well.

VortX · 10 Apr 2011 at 18:27

simulatorman said:
I think that they are fairly good for Marvell on an X58 board. I’m certainly not ditching a great system to get better results on Sandy Bridge. I’ve given up with the TRIM argument with Marvell drivers, some say they support TRIM and others not. The only drivers to have given consistent results on my RE3 with my previous SSD were the original Marvell 1.0.0.1034 and I am using these with the Vertex 3. I will experiment with a few others later in the week. What are you using?

Sorry I haven't got mine yet, it's coming tomorrow

.

I guess it's fairly easy to see if TRIM is working, use a benchmark to fill a good portion of the drive, benchmark 5-10 times and if the speeds gradually get slower then obviously TRIM isn't working?

reygjabla · 10 Apr 2011 at 21:18

simulatorman said:
Not on this drive. I suspect that drivers won't help and that the Marvell controller bandwidth is being limited its implementation on this and other X58 boards. I will try it and possibly a SATA 3 controller card as well.

Here's the latest Marvel driver after 1051. http://www.station-drivers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=3050&p=10880#p10880

Testing it at the moment.

Nutella33 · 10 Apr 2011 at 21:32

thanks marzipanogram, how does the AMD compare to the marvell and intel? ive found websites claiming better than marvell but will i still be behind intels offering?

VortX · 10 Apr 2011 at 23:31

reygjabla said:
Here's the latest Marvel driver after 1051. http://www.station-drivers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=3050&p=10880#p10880

Testing it at the moment.

Thanks for the link! However I would like to point out it's actually version 1.2.0.1002.

Here is a Google Translation from the website:

"After version 1.0.0.1051 WHQL version, here today version 1.2.0.1002 WHQL 88SE91xx Marvell chipsets (eg: 9128.9123), not Raid Raid XP/Vista/7 Windows 32 or 64bit.
No information about the improvements but he first saw an improvement in startup.
For information, TRIM and supported since version 1.0.0.1051."

At least we know it supports TRIM!

Vlad Drac · 11 Apr 2011 at 06:16

Just had a look on the Asus site again for Marvell 91xx drivers. I found the V1.2.0.1002 there for the x58 Sabertooth board.
It says there that the driver is a beta just to warn you, but it is (WHQL).

HEADRAT · 11 Apr 2011 at 06:36

How can you tell if TRIM is doing what it should (Intel Controller)

VortX · 11 Apr 2011 at 07:41

HEADRAT said:
How can you tell if TRIM is doing what it should (Intel Controller)

VortX said:
I guess it's fairly easy to see if TRIM is working, use a benchmark to fill a good portion of the drive, benchmark 5-10 times and if the speeds gradually get slower then obviously TRIM isn't working?

Worth a try...

EDIT: After reading on the OCZ forums it seems that the GC is just as good. It also seems the second you reboot these drives the performance returns to stock.

VortX · 11 Apr 2011 at 07:45

HEADRAT said:
How can you tell if TRIM is doing what it should (Intel Controller)

From the OCZ ABC quide someone posted in this thread on page 1:

Q. How do I know if TRIM is enabled on my OCZ SSD?
A. Use a SMART Monitoring Tool such as Crystal Disk Info and this will show the SSD supports TRIM.
A. In Windows 7, go to start/run/cmd), type the following:
fsutil.exe behavior query DisableDeleteNotify. It should respond back with:
DisableDeleteNotify=0 if TRIM support is ready and active.
If it's not.. type fsutil.exe behavior set DisableDeleteNotify 0.
A. For Linux look HERE and HERE
A. Apple Mac OS, currently does not support TRIM.

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/f...BC-for-OCZ-SSD&p=567557&viewfull=1#post567557

Section 60-67.

VortX · 11 Apr 2011 at 07:51

On another note, do these drives need/have a firmware update? Or do they come with the latest firmware?

Cosimo · 11 Apr 2011 at 09:02

VortX said:
On another note, do these drives need/have a firmware update? Or do they come with the latest firmware?

They were shipped with the latest firmware, 2.02 (240GB).

HEADRAT · 11 Apr 2011 at 09:09

VortX said:
From the OCZ ABC quide someone posted in this thread on page 1:

Thanks

Marzipanogram · 11 Apr 2011 at 13:58

Nutella33 said:
thanks marzipanogram, how does the AMD compare to the marvell and intel? ive found websites claiming better than marvell but will i still be behind intels offering?

No problem, sorry Sir I don't know the answer to your question.
I have a Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3R MoBo myself, so I'm stuck with Marvel.

I was hoping someone made a PCI SATA3 controller card that used Intel drivers, but I've not seen anything.

VortX · 11 Apr 2011 at 14:08

I've just finished installing Windows, updated drivers, turn on write caching etc and this is my first benchmark...

AS SSD Benchmark 1.6.4067.34354
------------------------------
Name: OCZ-VERT EX3 SCSI Disk Device
Firmware: 2.02
Controller: mvs91xx
Offset: 103424 K - OK
Size: 111.79 GB
Date: 11/04/2011 14:07:58
------------------------------
Sequential:
------------------------------
Read: 293.16 MB/s
Write: 159.99 MB/s
------------------------------
4K:
------------------------------
Read: 19.09 MB/s
Write: 46.65 MB/s
------------------------------
4K-64Threads:
------------------------------
Read: 92.16 MB/s
Write: 142.01 MB/s
------------------------------
Access Times:
------------------------------
Read: 0.103 ms
Write: 0.243 ms
------------------------------
Score:
------------------------------
Read: 141
Write: 205
Total: 418
------------------------------

I have to say after looking at others, even with the Marvell controller I am disappointed. Is there anything I am missing?

Alfie · 11 Apr 2011 at 14:56

What method of secure erase shall we use for these drives? Don't think OCZ drives work with HDDerase and I was using that with my x25-m.