Poor RAID0 performance on Intel X79

[lostsoul49]

Hello.

I have an Intel X79-based system that seems to have poor I/O performance using two Intel SSDs paired up in RAID0.
My specifications are as follows:
Motherboard: Gigabyte X79-UP4
CPU: Intel Core i7 4930K
RAM: 32 GB Corsair XMS3 running at 1600 MHz in quad channel
Video: Sapphire Radeon R9 290X
Storage: 2 x Intel SSD 530 180 GB in RAID0
2 x Western Digital Caviar Black 2 TB
The system is almost brand new (bought in December 2013) and as expected it works blazingly fast aside from a small but annoying problem...

And here comes my problem... the two SSDs are plugged into the motherboard using two SATA3 ports into the Marvell Controller and set up to use RAID0.
From what I have read around the internet, one single SSD of this model should reach around 500 MB/s read and around 250 MB/s in write speed (sequential write as measured by CrystalDiskMark), with RAID0 speed for two drives getting as high as a whopping 850 MB/s read and 500 MB/s write, as noted in the following article:
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/6300/intel-530-180gb-two-drive-ssd-raid-report/index.html

However, I am getting much lower speeds. Namely 350 MB/s read and 250 MB/s write as measured by CrystalDiskMark on a freshly installed Windows 8.1 x64 using the latest drivers.

I am using the Marvell controller and have read that the Intel Controller should be faster. Aside from that, is there anything else that I need to change to get higher speed? What should I do to unleash the full power of these SSDs on my system? 500 MB/s and 250 MB/s are a huge difference for me and aside from the controller thing I have no idea over what's going on and why am I getting these poor speeds.

And also one more question. Would another chipset and a powerful enough CPU make a difference using the same SSDs? For example a Z97 motherboard coupled up with an i5-4690K ? Using the Intel controller this time of course...

Thanks in advance.

 

[ss202sl]

Raid with SSD's isn't really going to perform like you want.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-raid-benchmark,3485.html

The controller is the weak link here. The controllers just aren't designed to take advantage of SSD speeds. Maybe another controller would be better, but it would depend on the specific controller. I don't know enough about the controllers to recommend one.

 

[lostsoul49]

Thanks for the information. So the controller would be the only problem probably... Still I am open to other suggestions.

 

[Eximo]

If you want to wait for some feedback I can run a bench when I get home. I have two OCZ Vertex on a Z87 intel raid. (At the time 500GB drives were very expensive, so I bought a pair of 256GB on sale) I haven't benched it since I built it in 2013 it runs fast though. Theoretically should pump out about 1100MB/s

Here are some interesting benches using z77, z87, and a discrete raid controller.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?287673-Samsung-840-Pro-in-Raid-0-on-z77-z87-(Haswell)-and-Areca-1882

 

[geofelt]

What is your purpose for raid-0?
Raid-0 has been over hyped as a performance enhancer.
Sequential benchmarks do look wonderful, but the real world does not seem to deliver the indicated performance benefits for most
desktop users. The reason is, that sequential benchmarks are coded for maximum overlapped I/O rates.
It depends on reading a stripe of data simultaneously from each raid-0 member, and that is rarely what we do.
The OS does mostly small random reads and writes, so raid-0 is of little use there.
There are some apps that will benefit. They are characterized by reading large files in a sequential overlapped manner.

The Marvell controllers are not that good.
You would be better off using the two 6gb intel ports for your raid-0, or even basic sata attachment.

If your purpose is to have a single larger image for the "C" drive, then go ahead.
I did that once, but eventually, I found that a single larger ssd was a better solution.

 

[lostsoul49]

@Eximo: I am in no hurry and can wait as long as needed for some helpful feedback. Please try to run those benches and post the results here. I would appreciate it. Thanks for the help!

@geofelt: Well when buying the system I thought it would speed it up having two SSDs running in RAID and that they would be faster than the 360 GB model with the same specifications while used alone...
So guess all I can do now is to change to the Intel controller and buy a single SSD next time... Thank you, too!