SSd - your opinion and experience

[xxsk8er101xx]

Hey there,

I just bought an SSD, the Intel 520 180gb version and I thought about starting a discussion about them. Particularly the rated speed vs your experienced speed.

So according to Intels website this drive is rated when at SATA 6Gb/s read 550 MB/s / writes 520 MB/s. However, when I ran benchmarks on it I'm getting 480MB reads and 250MB writes. It's connected to the grey port on my Asus p8p67 deluxe motherboard with a core i7 2600k. I'm wondering why my write speed is halved compared to what intel rates it at. Maybe it's a chipset limitation?

I already did the recommended optimization settings that I found. Such as removing page file, turning off write caching, enabling trim - etc.

So what do you think? are you getting your rated speed or are you experiencing something slower (or faster)?

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Here's what I post for each ssd brand in the ssd database I maintain:

"Actual solid state drive performance may differ from published specifications and benchmarks."

The ssd companies are very selective about which benchmarks they use as well as the settings for the benchmarks. They try and show their ssd's in the most favorable way possible. At best those synthetic benchmarks are only a very very rough approximation of real world performance.

 

[aicom]

Turning off write caching is going to make it slower if it has any effect at all. You've found the difference between compressible and incompressible data benchmarks. Grab a copy of CrystalDiskMark and run it in 0x00 fill mode and you'll see the numbers you want.

 

[Dereck47]

Benchmark with ATTO software and see if you get advertised Read/Write speeds.

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

Ok I will look into that.

I did a benchmark before and after with turning on/off write caching and I think it improved it by 1% but not much to really be noticeable.

Turning off write caching is going to make it slower if it has any effect at all. You've found the difference between compressible and incompressible data benchmarks. Grab a copy of CrystalDiskMark and run it in 0x00 fill mode and you'll see the numbers you want.

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

I tried ATTO and they want me to create an account to download the software. I didn't really have the patience for that at that time.

Benchmark with ATTO software and see if you get advertised Read/Write speeds.

 

[Dereck47]

I tried ATTO and they want me to create an account to download the software. I didn't really have the patience for that at that time.

Here's a link where you can download the software without creating an account:
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1749/ATTO%20Disk%20Benchmark%20v2.46.html

 

[SchizTech]

I've used a second-generation Intel X25M 80 GB SSD for a couple of years. It's benchmarks do match it's advertized speeds and even if it's not the fastest SSD around anymore the responsiveness of the O/S is incredible (much better than any HDD).

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

Cool thanks! I downloaded it and ran it. I'm getting 521MB/s Write and 557MB/s Read. That's pretty stupid if you ask me lol.
Between the 128.0 mark to 8192.0 mark It was pretty consistent at that speed. Compared to my 300GB WD velocity rapter which maxes out at 118MB write and 112MB reads. So the SSD is 5 times faster than my velocity raptor and I'm pretty sure I paid the same amount for each.

So is it then just benchmarks are still immature to know how to benchmark a SSD properly maybe?

Here's a link where you can download the software without creating an account:
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1749/ATTO%20Disk%20Benchmark%20v2.46.html

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

Before I installed trend micro the responsiveness was amazing. Compared to a HDD where you click on something and then 30 seconds later it pops up - with the SSD I clicked on something and it came up instantly. Not use to that. Trend micro screwed up my computer so now I have to redo it I think. Unless I can figure out why I'm having issues.

So are you guys happy with your SSD given the cost? Would you go back to a HDD with your next PC build? Who knows maybe they'll be DNA LDD (DNA Laser Disk Drives).

I've used a second-generation Intel X25M 80 GB SSD for a couple of years. It's benchmarks do match it's advertized speeds and even if it's not the fastest SSD around anymore the responsiveness of the O/S is incredible (much better than any HDD).

 

[Dereck47]

So is it then just benchmarks are still immature to know how to benchmark a SSD properly maybe?

No. Different benchmark software use different types of data to test Read/Write speeds.