128GB Crucial M4 SSD (Poor Benchmark)

[smokarz]

hey guys,

just installed my new Crucial M4 128GB SSD and my overall AS SSD score is only 400.

what am i doing wrong?

i followed the instructions here to tweak my SSD:

http://www.computing.net/howtos/show/solid-state-drive-ssd-tweaks-for-windows-7/552.html

here's my system.

AMD Athlon II X4 630
4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
Win 7 x64 Ultimate
AHCI Enabled in BIOS


edit 1: verified my parition is aligned (offset = 1024)

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edit 2: upgraded to the latest firmware 001F and re-ran. score improved a bit but still nowhere near what's reported

[/img]

 

[Chainzsaw]

Hello,

First off - why are you using the german version?

Need your motherboard name and model number.

However my initial guess is your using a SATA 2 port instead of a SATA 3 port.

 

[VJTB]

Or a SATA 2 cable instead of a SATA 3 cable? It does look suspiciously close to SATA II's limit. Mine was 360-400mb/sec out of the box and you are only getting high 200s.

 

[smokarz]

Hey guys, the mobo is ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO

How can I tell if I am using Sata II port instead of Sata III?

 

[dish_moose]

The mobo manual!!! You have only SATAII ports - sorry.
Edit again - says you have true 6G ports - let me look some more

-Bruce

 

[smokarz]

ok. so there are six SATA ports on my mobo.

I want to plug the SSD into port #3?

 

[dish_moose]

Do you have the /U3S6? I think that may be a revision of your board that has USB 3.0 and SATAIII - I think you are out of luck.
-Bruce

M4A785TD-V EVO/U3S6

True SATA 6Gb/s & USB 3.0 support *********************************
140w CPU support
128MB SidePort Memory
GPU NOS
ASUS EPU
Turbo Key

M4A785TD-V EVO

140w CPU support
128MB SidePort Memory
GPU NOS
ASUS EPU
Turbo Key

 

[proxy711]

The ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO Doesn't have SataIII. The speeds you're getting now are as good as you'll get unless you upgrade to a mobo with SataIII.

 

[VJTB]

The U356 has a PCI-looking card that has two external facing USB 3.0 ports and two internal SATA 6.0gb/sec ports.

If you have that card in your computer, plug your SSD into those SATA ports on that card
If not, you have no 6.0 ports.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813995004

Just elaborating more on what moose said.

 

[smokarz]

thanks guys. so according to specs. my mobo only has Sata II.

does this mean i am getting only half the performance of the SSD?

it does seems that everything is noticeably faster. win7 boots faster, firefox, vlc, etc starts instantly.

i guess in real world performances, am i shorting myself with a Sata II mobo?

do i need to upgrade to Sata III?

 

[VJTB]

thanks guys. so according to specs. my mobo only has Sata II.

does this mean i am getting only half the performance of the SSD?

it does seems that everything is noticeably faster. win7 boots faster, firefox, vlc, etc starts instantly.

i guess in real world performances, am i shorting myself with a Sata II mobo?

do i need to upgrade to Sata III?

That depends on what was your reason for purchasing the SSD. If you do all the optimizations for using it as an operating system drive, then the difference between it running at 260mb/sec and 500 would not be extremely noticeable. Are you getting half performance? That depends. If a program starts in 3 seconds on a regular drive and 0.5 on the SSD at 260mb/sec, then increasing to 500mb/sec won't seem extremely better seeing as it goes from 0.5 to 0.25...

It depends if you think it could be even faster or not, or want it faster. If you are getting everything you want out of it, it is perfectly fine running at SATA II speed and there is no problem or anything to worry about. SATA is fully backward compatible.

Granted the comparison is not completely apple to apple, but its similar to Dialup vs DSL vs Cable.
Is Cable generally faster than DSL? yes. Can I normally tell a difference? no. Are both insanely better than dialup? yes

If you think programs could start faster if you double the speed, and think you could benefit from double speed without it hitting diminishing returns(harder to get faster than half a blink...), then it might be worth spending money on a addon card or motherboard. Addon cards I've seen as low as $25 if you have a free PCIe slot, but have not heard good reliability about them. A motherboard is going to run you anywhere from $50 - $200 depending on the quality you get. Anything more than $200 I'd question whether you need it unless you have specific reasons and anything below $50 I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw it.

Logically, yes...
You are getting half the performance of "read speed". Write speed will not be higher than 175~, so its perfectly fine on sata II.

So you are getting full write speed and half read speed. What matters is do you "feel" it could be faster. If it is already instant, that is hard to improve on.

 

[smokarz]

thanks for the feedback/opinion.

primary reason i get the SSD is so that i can improve on system bootup and application launches. so i think i've achieved that.

i am not doing any heavy/hardcore stuff so further improvements and more costs is really hiting that point of 'deminishing returns'.

i think i am all set for now. until and see a SLICK deal on an ASUS/Gigabyte mobo.

thanks all.

 

[smokarz]

Best answer selected by smokarz.