How do I know my SSD is runing at it's rated speed?

[purple stain]

I have a OCZ Vertex 2 SATA II.I also have a Gigabyte 770T-USB3 mobo.

Windows Rates my SSD as a 6.9 yet the test is on Data Transfer Rate.Since an SSD is much much faster than a traditional HDD it makes me think that my SSD isn't running at it's full rated speed.

So i'm wondering how do i know or check to see how fast my SSD is actually running?

 

[tecmo34]

I would look at either running AS SSD Benchmark or CrystalDiskMark 3.0 to see how it performs. I would do CDM myself but it is helpful to see AS SSD Benchmark's screenshot (not benchmark required) to see what controller it is on and if properly aligned.

 

[purple stain]

I downloaded the AS SSD Benchmark program and here are the results.



If I'm understanding them correctly(don't know german) the very top numbers are Read/Write speeds.The OCZ Vertex 2 is rated at 285 Read/Write.
So is their's something wrong isn't there?

Also thought I'd like to add that I'm unsure of what speed the SATA cable I'm using.It is possible that it's only SATA I.Could that be a reason?

 

[tecmo34]

If you look at the test, you see it reads pciide at the top. This means you are running in IDE mode versus AHCI mode (which is the recommended mode). You need to switch your SATA controller to AHCI in your BIOS. Follow these instructions: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

 

[purple stain]

Can running it in IDE mode make it slower?

I went into the BIOS and switched the SATA controller from Native IDE to AHCI.But after I switched it I couldn't get back into Windows.Kept crashing at the logo stage.Had to switch it back to ACHI.

Any Ideas?

 

[tecmo34]

Yes... Running it in IDE will make it slower. I would switch back to IDE for the Controller, boot back into Windows. Once there, you need to follow the steps listed in the below article before switching to AHCI in your BIOS.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

 

[purple stain]

So i went to that site you linked in your post and then I clicked the "fix it" link windows provided on that page.After that i went back to the BIOS and switched it to ACHI and now it seems to be working.But I still think theirs a problem,i don't think it's running at it's rated speeds.
Here's a screenshot of the new test.



Thats the new one.Compare it to the old one it does seem like it's faster but it's still off by a lot of it's rated speed.

 

[tecmo34]

Your results are better

I see two things:

1) I would recommend downloading the latest Intel RST drivers from Intel for your native Intel SATA II port Intel® Rapid Storage Technology

2) Based off of your testing, it looks like you have put the SSD in a Hammer Throttle state from too many benchmarks. This will cause the drive to slow down until the GC/TRIM can properly clean up OP area of the drive. This may take a few days or so of normal to idle use to correct. Here is a thread from OCZ on this subject providing more details... http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?85029-Understanding-SF1200-drives-TRIM-OP-area-use-and-Life-write-throttle

 

[purple stain]

I have an AMD mobo and processor.Nothing is Intel that I have.

Really?All I've done was the 2 tests.1 with the IDE and 1 with the ACHI.

Like I said i still don't know what speed the SATA cable is.Do you think that if the cable was SATA that it would explain the rest of it?

 

[tecmo34]

Sorry... I missed the AMD board in your first post... :lol: So you are right... Don't install the Intel RST

I don't think your cable is your issue on speed, as even the SATA I cable had a higher throughput than your numbers. Also, there are a lot of people that say there is no difference between a SATA I and SATA II cables.

I do think performing two test relatively close to each other can cause the issue. How it was explained to me by the author of the OCZ thread, is each time you perform on of those test, it is writing 18 GB of data to get the results, which quickly eats up your OP. Based on your images, it is basically writing 2/3rds of your capacity in a 10 minute span. It can have an effect on the Sandforce 1200 controllers.

 

[purple stain]

So you think it's fine it's just locked up right now?

 

[purple stain]

So I see from that test that the Read speed is close to it's rated speed by why is the write speed so slow?

 

[tecmo34]

Throttling of the drive effects the write speeds of the drive... Here is an example I performed...

New:

Heavy Benchmarks:

These results seem to reflect your results with the write speeds taken a big hit in performance...

 

[purple stain]

I've read that article and it seems that the stress test's only affect the Write speed not the Read speed.I did 2 test's in total.One was yesterday then another was today after I switched the ACHI.I think 1 day is plenty for it to recover from 1 test.

Any other ideas what the problem might be?

 

[purple stain]

But why is the Read speed 60mb's off?

 

[tecmo34]

As my previous post (seconds before yours ) stated, I still think your issue is the effect of throttling. In my conversation with Tony (author of the thread you read), he stated it could take a couple of days to recover from throttling and could be weeks, if you put the drive in a HAMMER state (of course you didn't put your drive in that state).

 

[purple stain]

Does the hammer State affect the Read time as well?

 

[tecmo34]

The HAMMER state is when you run heavy heavy benchmarks causing the drive to throttle down the write speeds to prevent premature decline in performance. The goal in a SSD is to limit the number of unnecessary writes to the SSD, as there is only a limited number of writes to a SSD before it can't be written to. Granted, the average or extreme user will most likely never reach that level before an upgrade but it is part of the firmware to prevent decline in performance.

I would recommend visiting the OCZ forum, as they'll provide a little more details on this subject than I probably can. Also, I would recommend letting the drive run under normal state for a few days to a week and re-perform the test. If you see the same results than there might be more there. Or you can do a secure erase on the drive, re-install everything again with the BIOS set to AHCI and see what your get performance wise (Secure Erase sets the performance back to like new).

 

[purple stain]

I was reading that the reason that it Throttles Down is to save it from dying to early.Basicly I guess if you stress it to much it will shorten the life span.That firmware you said is there to stop that from happening.

I guess I will repost in a week.

Thankyou very much for your help.

 

[purple stain]

So it's been about 3-4 days and the score still hasn't improved.It's the same as the very first test I did.

 

[shadychopper]

I had the same questions about my ocz vertex 2 90gb,Ocz replied to me that their speeds are based on intel systems and will be a little slower on amd builds and also to use ATTO disk benchmark,so I did and my speeds seemed much better.Shame they didnt tell me about intel speeds being faster before I bought the ssd.

 

[purple stain]

What the difference between ATTO benchmark and Crystal Disk Mark or any other SSD benchmarks ing software?

 

[purple stain]

Figures.That can be said about almost everything,lol.A very thin line of truth.

Thanks for that.

 

[purple stain]

What is a RAID?

Is that better than ACHI?

 

[purple stain]

That was very informative,Thankyou.

So basicly i'm not loosing out on extra speed with not using a RAID.