kingston SSDNOW v300 low read performance

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Max Ime

Honorable
Aug 8, 2013
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Hi I just bought a brand new an Asus z87-a, kingston SSDNOW v300, Geforce 770, 8Gb DDR1600mhz, I5 4570, Corsair TX 750w.

When im running AS SSD Benchmark i got very low read (175 Mb/s) performance and overall low performance.

here is the screenshot

http://



what's going on?? everybody else benchmark got like 400-500 mb/s on read.

Last mobo bios is installed and last SATA AHCI Intel driver are installed.
I am AHCI enabled in Bios, New WIn7 install, full Windows Updated and Intel Storage Tool said that im 6gb/s connected.
The SSD seems to have the last firmware
I am using a 6gb/s cable brand new

Thank you
 
Solution
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The TL;DR response is exchange your drive under warranty or through the retailer you bought it from. The new drive fixed the issue for me. Read below for details:

I had a similar experience, using CrystalDiskMark to bench, but...
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Dereck47

Dereck47

Splendid
Jan 20, 2011
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Although all of your SATA ports are the same (6Gbs/), connect your drive to another SATA port and re-test.
Connect the drive to port SATA6G_1 if it not there already.

Also FYI, advertised Read/Write speeds for your drive are with ATTO, not AS-SSD.
 
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vacaloca

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Aug 11, 2013
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The TL;DR response is exchange your drive under warranty or through the retailer you bought it from. The new drive fixed the issue for me. Read below for details:

I had a similar experience, using CrystalDiskMark to bench, but also used the program you mentioned as well with the same result. I am on a laptop -- Toshiba S55-A5279, and I also got read speeds anywhere from 170-180 MB/s, which seemed slow. I performed a secure erase via PartedMagic, and installed the Windows 8 x64 default factory OS from the USB key I had created from the recovery media creator that came pre-installed, and the issue persisted. Before this, I was booting from Windows 7 x64 SP1 via legacy CSM and that's when I noticed the slow read speeds. In all cases, the native AHCI drivers vs the Intel RST ones did not make any real difference, and ACHI was set to performance mode when CSM booting.

I was curious and took the SSD out of the Toshiba laptop and benchmarked it on my desktop machine, and the results were very similar, maybe 8MB/s more in seq read speed and similar numbers for 512k read/write, some +/- 3-5MB/s. The only significant difference was the QD32 sequential writes on the desktop 83MB/s vs 135MB/s, but it still pales in comparison with a different V300 drive that I have in a different Acer laptop on Windows 8 x64 that scores 380 MB/s in sequential reads on that machine.

It turns out that the SSD drive itself was the issue, and not the test machines.... I exchanged the drive for a different one and the new drive benchmark read speeds hit 400+ MB/s on my desktop, just as the drive that was in the Acer laptop. Write speeds are, again, unchanged. The new drive has a different firmware ending in F1, and was manufactured in Taiwan, as opposed to China. Other than that, the CrystalDiskMark benchmarks for the new drive and the one that was in the Acer laptop are pretty much identical.

I also should point to this thread -- there is at least one other person whose drive was 'defective', and I added my own response there as well: http://www.overclock.net/t/1380526/kingston-v300-help
 
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Maxgadgetguy

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Sep 6, 2013
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You gents have come across the 'ol "Bait 'n Switch" routine from another SSD maker - Kingston - on the V300!

When this drive hit all the review sites early this year, you only saw the v5.0.5 Sandforce version made in Taiwan. This unit will always benchmark just fine (I've owned 5 of these). In fact, it slightly beats my Corsair Force GT 5.0.5 (an older model to be fair). However, the V300 with v5.0.6 is made in China. This can be seen on the white label on the retail packaging and the drive label itself. I also wondered why the major drop in benchmarks. I emailed and spoke with Customer Service on the phone regarding this dramatic difference in performance between China or Taiwan-made models. To Kingston's credit, they did respond promptly to both.

This difference is not a 'defective' drive. All units made in China are using different internal components (as in the only one that matters -> NAND) than the Taiwan models. Kingston claims no 'foul' as they only claim benchmark performance using ATTO (fully uncompressed data which any Sandforce drive could breeze through). When using ASSD or Crystal, the default is compressed data which is rough for any Sandforce-based SSD -- but shouldn't account for one reading <200 MB/sec (China) and the other reading > 440 MB/sec (Taiwan)!!! This shocked me, as it should all of us! Kingston claimed they can't even RMA exchange the drive for me because it's doing as the packaging advertises (ATTO > 450 MB/sec). This is crap of course, so I exchanged mine at the retailer for the ***Taiwan*** models only and all is good.

I do feel this is a true and classic "bait and switch" job to use lower-quality (CHEAP) NAND flash on the V300 AFTER the positive web site reviews were published - but you can draw your own conclusions. In the end, I'm happy with the performance of the V300 (Taiwan model ONLY) - and I advise anyone and everyone to look at the retail label (white sticker) and make sure you get only the ones made in Taiwan w/ 5.0.5 made with the better quality Nand flash.

--MaxGadgetguy
 
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holyknight1121

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Feb 15, 2011
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I'm pretty sure its the firmware.
I have a 120 GB v300 model. It is made in Taiwan but has the 5.0.6 or 506ABBF0 firmware causing my read and writes average below 200 MB/s.
When will Kingston bring out 5.0.7 -_-.
We can't even downgrade back to 5.0.5 x.x.
 
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