[SSD] Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB with 140 mb/s write

[drutism]

Hey Guys,
I just built my first desktop and installed Windows 7 onto my new HyperX 3K and have everything set up (using SATA 6Gb/s). I later found out I should have switched to AHCI but I found the work around and these benchmarks are with AHCI enabled. My boot time is still very fast and everything loads instantly but when I ran a benchmark with CrystalDiskMark and AS SSD I got these results:

Is this normal and if not what am I doing wrong or can do better? Thanks in advance guys

Specs:
Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz
Asus P8H77-V LE Mobo
G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM
Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB
EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB
Cooler Master HAF 922 Case
Corsair Professional Gold 750W 80 PLUS Gold Certified

 

[Fulgurant]

Some of the numbers seem a just a little low for your SSD, but not significantly lower than they should be, based on a cursory reading of the following review:

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4902/kingston_hyperx_3k_120gb_solid_state_drive_review/index8.html

I wouldn't worry about it. Nice setup you have there.

EDIT: You might want to double check that your system is properly set up for an SSD, while you're at it: http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/seans-windows-7-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds

 

[ELMO_2006]

Please note that is it also important that you have the latest chipset drivers installed.

I ran into a problem whereby I had to re-install the OS from scratch. Once the OS was up and running I performed some benchmarks and found that my current SSD was running at below specs i.e. 380MB/s Read and 230 Write.

Once the the chipset drivers were installed, my benchmarks increased i.e. 445MB/s Read and 350 Write.

By following the optimization guides my SSD is now running at 530MB/S Read and 485MB/s Write = close to specs.

Too many people out there (such as myself) become complacent with the Microsoft native driver support.

 

[drutism]

Hmm, as for the chipset I checked my registry and it says I have successfully installed version 9.3.0.1019 which is the most current version. I downloaded it and installed it from here:
http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=P8H77-V+LE&os=8

But when I go into my device manager and check the driver version of something named chipset the version is 9.3.0.1011. Also when I first started installing all my drivers I accidently installed the chipset drivers for the P8H77-V Mobo instead of the P8H77-V LE Mobo. Not sure it that screwed me or what.

I don't get why you got yours so close to the advertised specs and the HyperX 3K advertised specs are 540 mb/s read and 510 mb/s write.

 

[Fulgurant]

Hmm, as for the chipset I checked my registry and it says I have successfully installed version 9.3.0.1019 which is the most current version. I downloaded it and installed it from here:
http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=P8H77-V+LE&os=8

But when I go into my device manager and check the driver version of something named chipset the version is 9.3.0.1011. Also when I first started installing all my drivers I accidently installed the chipset drivers for the P8H77-V Mobo instead of the P8H77-V LE Mobo. Not sure it that screwed me or what.

I don't get why you got yours so close to the advertised specs and the HyperX 3K advertised specs are 540 mb/s read and 510 mb/s write.

Your benchmark performance could vary quite a lot depending on a whole host of factors. How much free space do you have on the drive? Are you sure that trim is both enabled and allowed to run in between your benchmarks? Are your benchmarks saturating your compression-reliant Sandforce SSD with incompressible data? Are you, in fact, benchmarking too much, too fast? Do you have a stripped down OS install or are you running all sorts of programs in the background?

Again, I don't think it's realistic to expect the advertised max write speeds; I don't think sequential write speeds are all that important in the grand scheme of things, in fact. Even at ~140 MB/sec sequential write, you're still beating most any consumer-grade HDD at its best. More important, your non-sequential numbers are an order of magnitude higher than any mechanical drive's.

By all means, do what you can to make sure your setup is tuned for max performance (the links above will help); if it matters that much to you, you might go ahead and perform a clean install with AHCI enabled from the get-go. I just don't think it's healthy to fret over marketing-derived numbers when your SSD still provides great performance by any qualitative standard.

 

[smorizio]

make sure your mb bios is up to date and your ssd on the intel 6g port not the 3 party chipset. also check that the ssd firmware is up to date.also try seeing if the intel istor drivers works beter for you.

 

[drutism]

Your benchmark performance could vary quite a lot depending on a whole host of factors. How much free space do you have on the drive? Are you sure that trim is both enabled and allowed to run in between your benchmarks? Are your benchmarks saturating your compression-reliant Sandforce SSD with incompressible data? Are you, in fact, benchmarking too much, too fast? Do you have a stripped down OS install or are you running all sorts of programs in the background?

Again, I don't think it's realistic to expect the advertised max write speeds; I don't think sequential write speeds are all that important in the grand scheme of things, in fact. Even at ~140 MB/sec sequential write, you're still kicking the crap out of most any consumer-grade HDD in its best. More important, your non-sequential numbers are an order of magnitude higher than any mechanical drive's.

By all means, do what you can to make sure your setup is tuned for max performance (the links above will help); I just don't think it's healthy to fret over marketing-derived numbers when your SSD still provides great performance by any qualitative standard.

I did not expect the advertised speeds, but I did expect something a little bit closer to them and that's why I came to ask you guys. I have followed Sean's SSD Optimization guide already and I'm not complaining I want to just get the most out of my SSD. Hmm, and I just ran a "compression-benchmark" in AS SSD and got 490 mb/s write, what does that mean?

 

[ELMO_2006]

This may sound like a silly question and I do not mean any disrespect however the SSD itself is connected to the SATA3 connector on the mobo or the grey connectors?

Is AHCI enabled in the BIOS? (apologies again for asking).

You may want to also peruse the following link which has worked for me:

http://thessdreview.com/ssd-guides/optimization-guides/the-ssd-optimization-guide-2/2/

 

[Fulgurant]

I did not expect the advertised speeds, but I did expect something a little bit closer to them and that's why I came to ask you guys. I have followed Sean's SSD Optimization guide already and I'm not complaining I want to just get the most out of my SSD. Hmm, and I just ran a "compression-benchmark" in AS SSD and got 490 mb/s write, what does that mean?

Sandforce SSDs use an algorithm to compress data as it's written to the drive, both to increase the speed of the write operation, and to save space (which also, indirectly, helps to preserve the drive's performance). Sandforce's performance degrades significantly when it's forced to handle uncompressible data loads.

I'm not personally familiar with the benchmark you're running, but it sure sounds like the AS compression benchmark plays to Sandforce's strengths. You can bet your bottom dollar that whatever benchmark Kingston's marketing department used to derive its advertised numbers featured compressible data. That's but one reason your results may vary.

Do be careful, in any case. It's not good for your drive to benchmark the crap out of it.

 

[drutism]

make sure your mb bios is up to date and your ssd on the intel 6g port not the 3 party chipset. also check that the ssd firmware is up to date.also try seeing if the intel istor drivers works beter for you.

Just updated Mobo and made no difference. There are no SSD firmware updates
http://www.kingston.com/us/support/technical/downloads?product=SH103S3&filename=SH103_503fw_win

 

[Fulgurant]

This may sound like a silly question and I do not mean any disrespect however the SSD itself is connected to the SATA3 connector on the mobo or the grey connectors?

Even though the OP's benchmark numbers are lower than expected, they're still higher than a SATA 2 connection would allow (max of 3 Gb/sec, or ~375 MB/sec). So it's clear he's on SATA 3.

 

[drutism]

This may sound like a silly question and I do not mean any disrespect however the SSD itself is connected to the SATA3 connector on the mobo or the grey connectors?

Is AHCI enabled in the BIOS? (apologies again for asking).

You may want to also peruse the following link which has worked for me:

http://thessdreview.com/ssd-guides/optimization-guides/the-ssd-optimization-guide-2/2/

Photo of my BIOS settings:

 

[ELMO_2006]

Even though the OP's benchmark numbers are lower than expected, they're still higher than a SATA 2 connection would allow (max of 3 Gb/sec, or ~375 MB/sec). So it's clear he's on SATA 3.

Point taken, thanks for pointing out my error.

However it is somewhat odd that my external drive via USB3 scores a SEQ write of 120MB/s whereby the OP's is 10 to 20MB/s more.

 

[drutism]

Do be careful, in any case. It's not good for your drive to benchmark the crap out of it.

Yeah, I probably should stop benchmarking. I am still very satisfied with my SSD but any other suggestions are welcome.

 

[Fulgurant]

Point taken, thanks for pointing out my error.

However it is somewhat odd that my external drive via USB3 scores a SEQ write of 120MB/s whereby the OP's is 10 to 20MB/s more.

NP. It's always worth asking about these things.

I'm not sure I understand; why is that odd?

 

[Fulgurant]

Yeah, I probably should stop benchmarking. I am still very satisfied with my SSD but any other suggestions are welcome.

Your concerns are understandable; don't get me wrong.

I think your most recent compression-test results show that your drive is capable of very nearly matching its advertised speeds, though, FWIW.