Extremely slow PNY 240GB SSD

[Ryan40r]

I am getting extremely slow read/write speeds on my 240 GB PNY Optima SSD2SC240G5SA754D117-511 (about 35 MB/s both read and write) and was wondering if anyone could help me.
Things I have done:
- Tried all 6 SATA ports on motherboard
- Set computer to AHCI mode in BIOS prior to installing Windows 10
- Wiped disk and did a Secure Erase using PArted Magic
- Tried it on fresh install of Windows 10 and of Windows 7
- Ran Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostics (it passed) **
WD - http://i.imgur.com/PrkjarJ.png
- I get same results with like 3 different benchmark programs **
AS SSD - http://i.imgur.com/WzLsUlN.png
CRYSTALDISKMARK - http://i.imgur.com/V7YjgkC.png
- When I first got drive I remember the read/write speeds both well over 200 MB/s (on same motherboard/system)

My motherboard is an Asus M5A78L-M LX PLUS (https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/M5A78LM_LX_PLUS/specifications/)

I don't know what else to try. This drive is running much slower than my old 7200 RPM HHD. Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[Mattios]

That is strange. Are you sure you've got SATA III ports? Also can you try it on another PC?

 

[Ferdly1]

Here is something I always do when troubleshooting. Bring up task manager take a look at what processes are running. Also click on performance tab, if cpu is 100% or more it will run slow and even freeze up.

 

[Ryan40r]

That is strange. Are you sure you've got SATA III ports? Also can you try it on another PC?

I haven't had a chance to try it on another computer. That is what I will try next. I do not have SATA III ports. I have SATA II ports. I knew that before, but that really shouldn't matter here considering my read/write speeds are around 35MB/s and SATA II is capable of speeds of at least 300MB/s

 

[Ryan40r]

Here is something I always do when troubleshooting. Bring up task manager take a look at what processes are running. Also click on performance tab, if cpu is 100% or more it will run slow and even freeze up.

Hi thanks for the response. My CPU is at about 5% and memory is at about 20%.....

 

[JohnnyLucky]

I am afraid I have some bad news for you.

You have an old motherboard. According to the specifications page you linked to your AMD motherboard does not poperly support SATA 3 6Gb/s ssd's. All six ports/connectors on the motherboard are listed as being only SATA 2 3Gb/s ports. In addition, the ports use an AMD SB710 controller instead of an Intel controller embedded in an Intel chipset. Not a great combination.

Typically ssd's are designed for use with Intel hardware. The ssd's should also work with AMD hardware but sometimes there are problems.

The PNY ssd you mentioned came in two versions. One used a Silicon Motion SM2246EN controller and the other version used a SandForce SF-2281 controller. In addition the flash memory used in the ssd's also varies. PNY, Kingston, and one other company sometimes change ssd components in their basic, entry level, low budget ssd's to help keep prices down.

Check for an AMD motherboard BIOS update.
Check for an AMD chipset update.
Check for a PNY firmware update.

 

[Ryan40r]

I am afraid I have some bad news for you.

You have an old motherboard. According to the specifications page you linked to your AMD motherboard does not poperly support SATA 3 6Gb/s ssd's. All six ports/connectors on the motherboard are listed as being only SATA 2 3Gb/s ports. In addition, the ports use an AMD SB710 controller instead of an Intel controller embedded in an Intel chipset. Not a great combination.

Typically ssd's are designed for use with Intel hardware. The ssd's should also work with AMD hardware but sometimes there are problems.

The PNY ssd you mentioned came in two versions. One used a Silicon Motion SM2246EN controller and the other version used a SandForce SF-2281 controller. In addition the flash memory used in the ssd's also varies. PNY, Kingston, and one other company sometimes change ssd components in their basic, entry level, low budget ssd's to help keep prices down.

Check for an AMD motherboard BIOS update.
Check for an AMD chipset update.
Check for a PNY firmware update.

Thanks for the response! I know that this drive shipped with 2 different controllers, I found out that my drive has the SMI controller. Not sure if that makes a difference. Also, I understand that my motherboard has only SATA II ports, but those would still be capable of speeds much greater than 35MB/s. I did get speeds well over 200MB/s for both read and write on this same system when I first got the drive. One day the speed just dropped. I've updated the BIOS and AMD chipset to no avail and there is no firmware update available from PNY. I think I'll try it on another computer and if it's still slow, I'm out of luck. If it's not, I think I need to upgrade my Motherboard.
thanks again!

 

[Ferdly1]

I have an older pc with sata 2 ports. It has a MSI motherboard with intel proc and ami bios. I installed an ssd drive a while back. I recently purchased a pny 128gb thumbdrive to backup my harddrive. Last night I did a complete backup of my harddrive which was a little over 100gbs. It took 40 minutes . I was getting speeds of 235 to 300mb/s speeds. I used the free program macrium reflect. Gonna upgrade to windows 10 and wanted a backup. I was having some prob with my other computer my wife uses. Hers was freezing up and running real slow. It would be ok first few minutes then it would start acting up. Turned out to be bad sector on harddrive causing problems with windows updates. I used task manager to help figure it out. that and hard drive sentinel.

Prior to this thumbdrive-I had purchased a thumdrive on ebay that claimed higher speeds, but it was some offbrand. I wasnt able to get even 1gb/s speed. I sent it back So I was really shocked at the performance of this chip pny 128gb.

 

[meaga1n]

I still got 250MB/S on an old Lenovo desktop, SATA II, with a cheap Sandisk 64GB SSD so it's definitely a faulty drive

 

[Ryan40r]

I still got 250MB/S on an old Lenovo desktop, SATA II, with a cheap Sandisk 64GB SSD so it's definitely a faulty drive

I believe you're right. That sucks