OCZ Vertex 2 weird test results

truflip

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 4, 2005
Messages
281
Just picked up my 50GB Vertex 2 and installed W7 on it but seems like the Benchmark result is not linear. Here's a pic of what I mean. Is this normal? The reviews of SSD I see online show a linear graph with consistent dips.

4859454930_54c72c2c94_z.jpg


AS SSD Score:
4858833241_01c47f9a83_z.jpg


So I loaded back my WinXP OS and ran another bench and got this:
4859454966_2428ede10b.jpg


Drive was formatting in the Windows 7 install before loading the OS on it. It's plugged in to a GA-P55A-UD3's regular SATA ports. MB has PCH Control in IDE and GSATA in AHCI. Having PCH in AHCI doesnt load the OS.
 
MB has PCH Control in IDE and GSATA in AHCI.

What's PCH and GSATA?

You definately want the drive hooked to the Intel chipset/controller.

Is PHC or GSATA the Intel chipset/controller?
 
GSATA I'm guessing is the onboard JMicron 363 controller that Gigabyte uses to provide one PATA and two SATA ports running off a PCIe x1 interface. The GSATA is not something you want to run SSD's on.
 
I looked at the manual and it seems like PCH is the intel controller for sata ports 0-5. GSATA is for the two sata3 ports. I have the drive on sata_0. I enabled ahci on the PCH and reinstalling w7 now

will report back in a bit
 
you might also enable write caching on the device, that helps tremendously. you will need to install the latest drivers for ICH as well, the 9 ver are optimized for ssd.
 
I looked at the manual and it seems like PCH is the intel controller for sata ports 0-5. GSATA is for the two sata3 ports. I have the drive on sata_0. I enabled ahci on the PCH and reinstalling w7 now

will report back in a bit

OK so if that is what GSATA is, it is the same idea (add-in non-Intel SATA ports), different chip. Thanks for the clarification.
 
so I installed all the latest drivers from gigabyte including the P55 chipset driver. didn't help one bit. I'm getting pop ups that my SSD is 100c. WTF :(
 
bad sata cable possibly you might try another. did you install latest ich10r driver off intel website?
 
did he mess up the the alignment by formatting it in windows instead of letting the OS disk install set up the drive and install?
 
you might also enable write caching on the device, that helps tremendously. you will need to install the latest drivers for ICH as well, the 9 ver are optimized for ssd.
I toggled write caching on and off. no go. where can I find ich driver for my ga-p55a-ud3?
OK so if that is what GSATA is, it is the same idea (add-in non-Intel SATA ports), different chip. Thanks for the clarification.
you're welcome!
bad sata cable possibly you might try another. did you install latest ich10r driver off intel website?
do you have a link?
did he mess up the the alignment by formatting it in windows instead of letting the OS disk install set up the drive and install?
well I did in the win7 installer because it would not install on the drive unless I clicked format.

Update: i checked my alignment using this guide: http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/other/157 and everything looks proper for my drive.
 
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I've tested a bunch of these even as non system empty drives and they always have little spikes up and down *like the one on your first pic.

cpu usage 0, all quality components.

no idea why it does this.
 
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AS SSD is one of the best SSD testing programs and also checks the alignment.

Get the latest version from here.

There's links at the bottom of the page for English support. ;)

NM....you already have it!
 
I've tested a bunch of these even as non system empty drives and they always have little spikes up and down *like the one on your first pic.

cpu usage 0, all quality components.

no idea why it does this.
hmm.. thats not good. have you tested any intels? specifically the X25-V?

AS SSD is one of the best SSD testing programs and also checks the alignment.

Get the latest version from here.

There's links at the bottom of the page for English support. ;)

NM....you already have it!
Yea, I got much higher score with AS SSD now after reinstalling W7 in ACHI mode, and also updating to firmware 1.11. I dont know if the score is due to ACHI or the firmware 1.11 though :(

score.png


Benchmark is still not linear. I tested with some 2gb-4gb SD cards for my cameras and those have straight line with dips here and there but at least theyre consistent (like, every 2 bars on the graph they dip a little bit.. not all over the place).

score2.png
 
Yea, I got much higher score with AS SSD now after reinstalling W7 in ACHI mode, and also updating to firmware 1.11. I dont know if the score is due to ACHI or the firmware 1.11 though
It just doesn't matter what increased the speed but my vote is with AHCI. ;)

Have you gone into the Device manager and enabled write caching?
 
Yea, it's enabled by default. So I turned it off, test, same thing. re-enabled it and still same pattern for the benchmark.

I still cant find where to get this ICH10... but read up on it and seems like its an old driver for the older chipset. I have the Intel P55 chipset and using the 1156 platform. Are these compatible?
 
I know it applies to standard drives, and don't know why it wouldn't also apply to ssds.. But if you are benchmarking your boot drive you will get dips in the performance as the OS accesses the drive in the background while the benchmark is happening.

The only way to avoid this is to boot off a different drive to benchmark the one you want to test.
 
CAUTION....Learning involved....:D


Now that's out of the way have you checked Intel's site for updates?

And "yes" you do want the RST (Rapid Storage Technology) also.
Yea, I installed the RST already. I'll try the chipset driver from Intel. I got the one from Gigabyte which might be the same. Will report back......

I know it applies to standard drives, and don't know why it wouldn't also apply to ssds.. But if you are benchmarking your boot drive you will get dips in the performance as the OS accesses the drive in the background while the benchmark is happening.

The only way to avoid this is to boot off a different drive to benchmark the one you want to test.

I understand. I have booted up to a normal HDD and bench'd the SSD. with similar results. See original post.
 
i "updated" the chipset driver from the link Old Hippie.. I had a newer driver already but downgraded anyway.. still the same. I think I'll bring this back and try the X25-V instead............
 
I went to exchange the OCZ Vertex 2, no more stock, so I picked up an Intel X25-V.. results below:

4867855820_5b5511284e_z.jpg


4867855858_dcafe4965c_z.jpg


going to stick with this one and hope I made the right choice!
 
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