Does Power-Saving Technology Kill SSD Performance?

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Testing Details And Test Platforms

Testing Details

We ran two system setups that were technically identical except for the motherboard: first we tried Gigabyte’s EX58-UD4P motherboard, followed by Supermicro’s X8SAX in the second set of runs. In the first run we enabled all available power saving mechanisms (for the processor and the platform) and we gradually disabled some of them when doing additional runs. We even switched off virtualization technology in a sixth run, to check whether or not such a feature would have an impact. As you will see on the following pages, all of the power related features have a measurable—and sometimes even noticeable—impact on the performance of the X25-E flash SSD.

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Gigabyte EX58-UD4PRUN 1RUN 2RUN 3RUN 4RUN 5RUN 6
Intel Turbo BoostEnabledEnabledEnabledEnabledEnabledEnabled
CPU Cores EnabledAllAllAllAllAllAll
CPU Multi-ThreadingEnabledEnabledEnabledEnabledEnabledEnabled
CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E)EnabledEnabledEnabledDisabledDisabledDisabled
C3/C6/C7EnabledDisabledDisabledDisabledDisabledDisabled
CPU Thermal MonitorEnabledEnabledDisabledDisabledDisabledDisabled
CPU EISTEnabledEnabledEnabledEnabledDisabledDisabled
Virtualization TechnologyEnabledEnabledEnabledEnabledEnabledDisabled
Bi-Directional PROCHOTEnabledEnabledEnabledEnabledEnabledEnabled
Vista Power OptionsHigh PerformanceHigh PerformanceHigh PerformanceHigh PerformanceHigh PerformanceHigh Performance
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Supermicro X8SAXRUN 1RUN 2RUN 3RUN 4RUN 5RUN 6
EISTEnabledEnabledEnabledEnabledEnabledEnabled
C1EEnabledEnabledEnabledDisabledDisabledDisabled
VTEnabledEnabledEnabledEnabledEnabledDisabled
Intel C-State TechEnabledEnabledDisabledDisableddisableddisabled
ActiveState Power ManagementEnabledDisabledDisabledDisabledDisabledDisabled
Vista Power OptionsHigh PerformanceHigh PerformanceHigh PerformanceHigh PerformanceHigh PerformanceHigh Performance

Test Setup

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System Hardware
HardwareDetails
CPUIntel Core i7-920 (45 nm, 2.66 GHz, 8 MB L2 Cache)
Motherboard (Socket 1366)Gigabyte EX58-UD4P Revision: 1.0 Chipset: Intel X58 + ICH10R Bios: F5
Motherboard II (Socket 1366)Supermicro X8SAX Revision: 1.0 Chipset: Intel X58 + ICH10R Bios: 1.0B
RAM2 GB DDR3-1333 Corsair CM3X1024-1333C9DHX
System Hard DriveSeagate NL35, 400 GB ST3400832NS 7,200 RPM, SATA/150, 8 MB
Power SupplyOCZ EliteXstream 800W OCZ800EXS-EU
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Benchmarks
Performance Measurementsh2benchw 3.12
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System Software&Drivers
DriverDetails
Operating SystemWindows Vista Ultimate SP1
Intel Chipset Drivers9.1.0.1007
AMD GraphicsATI Catalyst 8.12
Intel Matrix Storage Drivers8.7.0.1007

Gigabyte EX58-UD4P

Supermicro X8SAX