Dying SSD or I'm just dumb??

Good news: Your SSD is not dying and you're not dumb.  

"pciide - BAD" means that the port your SSD is connected to is in IDE mode. That's why your benchmark results are lower than they should be. All SSDs need to be in AHCI mode for best performance.

You need to edit the Windows Registry file before you can change your SATA mode to AHCI.

Here's instructions on how to do it: http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/content.php?286...

Your benchmark also indicates that you are on firmware version 2.15. If you have any issues with your drive (BSOD, freezing, etc.) then update to the latest firmware version 2.25.

+1 what dereck said. you need to be in ahci mode. you can either edit your registry or go into your bios and set it to run in ahci instead of ide. of course if you do it through your bios you will need to reinstall windows.

As Dereck stated
simple method, go to: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976
Can select "Fix it for me", or let me fix it.
NOTE: This method will NOT require reinstalling windows.

2) Once you have corrected the problem, Just open AS SSD (DO NOT rerun Benchmark) and verify that it shows msahci for driver. IF you have an intel system iaSTor driver works better than uSoft's default msahci driver.
3) Delete a couple of files then empty your trash can. Wait a couple of days, Then re-run Benchmark.

So yesterday I got it all straight.. I had to update my bios about a billion times however so maybe it isn't a bad thing that I had to do this anyway =)

So now I'm in ahci mode and while bootup/shutdown still feels very slow I will try and do the benchmark tomorrow as RetiredChief stated.

Should have asked, What MB (really what sata port are you ON)
T obtain max performance (Close to manuf specs) you would need to be on an INTEL Sata III port runing the latest Intel RST driver.

Here is a snapshot of my M4 (about a year old). Not driver is iaSTor which is Intels driver.


If you are on a 3rd party controller such as the marvel Sata it will be lower.
Also for the vertex 3 to obtain manuf specs you would need to run atto (which I do not like).

You hit the nail on the head.. I'm on an AMD 990FX motherboard, so no IRST for me =( Motherboard and CPU were a gift when my old rig blew so I can't really complain. I just updated the AMD drivers and here's the latest: Kinda sad I can't get the same speed as other people with the same drive now that I've been poking around the forums.



At least my video card from the old rig lived and is Nvidia...lol

well, even on that controller your ssd is performing considerably better than any hard drive.

Advertised AS-SSD speeds for your drive are "up to" 455MB/s Read and 85MB/s Write.
Here's the link to the spec sheet of your drive: http://www.ocztechnology.com/res/manuals/OCZ_Vertex3_Pr...

Your benchmark results indicate that you are getting 94% of advertised Reads and 86% of advertised Writes.

Don't be too sad.  

Your performance is about equal to an Agility III on a SATA II port. Would have expected better, maybe not equal to specs, but better than what you are getting.

While neon neophyte is correct it is Much faster than a HDD, it would be nice if you can get what you should out of it.

How full is the drive. Max that you should use for that drive is arround 44->48 gigs. They use to recommend 10->25% free space. Read an article at anadtech that now indicates that it is best to leave 20->25% free.

on a usb2 port? um. what? usb2 is like 30Mbps

Typo USB -> Sata (corrected)

@ Dereck47
NOT a total fair comparission as My Agility III is 120 gig vs his 60 gig (large = faster). But then the Agility uses async NAND vs ther vertex using the faster Synchronous NAND.

My agility III overall score (AS SSD) is 398. 310/398 = 78% lower than a agillity III

Agility III AS SSD scores:
.. Seq Read 206 MB Write 142 MB
.. 4K Read 16 MB Write 62 MB
.. 4K.. 64 Thrd Read 85 MB writes 135 MB
ACC time Read 0.1 ms write 0.36 ms
Score Read 121 write 211
.......... 398

While I agree that real life he would not see much diff, if he is like me, I always try to get the max. And I'm just not sure something else is not going on here that is cutting his performance.

A firmware upgrade to version 2.25 followed by a Secure Erase and a fresh install is probably the way to go.

Drive has 37.4 gigs taken up.
17.8 is free.

I just think it is what it is

I'm going to give that a whirl.

Dereck47's suggestion is a great one. Also make sure MB bios is the latest.

Just tried this.

Bios Updated, clean install all latest drivers, firmware, etc etc.

Same speed.

Not a big deal I suppose, I doubt I will see any real world differences, I was just expecting, I don't know.. something more for the money.

its not the ssds fault

its your sata controller