X25-2 G2 Performance

M

Main Target

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 5, 2004
Messages
1,690
I just got a X25-M G2 80gig. I feel like its not performing as well it should. I am running it on my Thinkpad T60.

Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit OS

Any ideas?

prefirmware.png
 
My read speeds are over 200. Write speed is correct for an X25-M.

Something is amuck.... either its not aligned or the Thinkpad controller limits the read speed. Mine is on a desktop PC though.
 
AHCI was not enabled in the bios it was in a "Compatibility Mode"

As soon as I turned on AHCI however, BSOD when trying to load windows. Trying to find the BS error now in event viewer.

Is enabling an option like this require a fresh install of window?
 
These results are really depressing when I see other people iwth the same drive:

AS SSD Benchmark 1.4.3704.27281
------------------------------
Name: INTEL SSDSA2M080G2GC ATA Device
Firmware: 2CV102HD
Controller: intelide
Offset: 103424 K - OK
Size: 74.53 GB
Date: 3/20/2010 9:20:00 AM
------------------------------
Sequential:
------------------------------
Read: 128.61 MB/s
Write: 79.69 MB/s
------------------------------
4K:
------------------------------
Read: 15.74 MB/s
Write: 26.98 MB/s
------------------------------
4K-64Threads:
------------------------------
Read: 19.03 MB/s
Write: 38.22 MB/s
------------------------------
Access Times:
------------------------------
Read: 0.124 ms
Write: 0.145 ms
------------------------------
Score:
------------------------------
Read: 48
Write: 73
Total: 150
------------------------------
 
Don't you have to install the AHCI driver before you can run in AHCI mode? if you don't install windows in AHCI mode it doesn't automatically load the driver therefore can't boot... cause of lack of driver? right?


So find the how to install AHCI driver then try again, that's what I would do...
 
Thinkpad T60 is limited to SATA150. These results are normal.
 
Thats the first thing I looked into but I read that the T60 supports SATA II. Apparently my sources are wrong :-/
 
Most people have reported an increase in performance after enabling AHCI. It should be possible to switch after installing Windows; here is a guide from another forum:

Change from IDE to AHCI Mode after Installation

Information: AHCI stand for Advance Host Controller Interface. AHCI is a hardware mechanism that allows software to communicate with Serial ATA (SATA) devices (such as host bus adapters) that are designed to offer features not offered by Parallel ATA (PATA) controllers, such as:
Hot-Plugging
Native Command Queuing (NCQ) -might improve computer/system/hard disk responsiveness, especially in multi-tasking environment
You can read more about AHCI mode HERE

Instruction: There is one way to fix this, although you need to have knowledge of registry editing.
The detailed steps from Microsoft website are as follows:
Exit all Windows-based programs.
Press [Win] + R or take the RUN option from the start menu.
Now type regedit there and press Enter Key to open up the Registry Editor Window.
If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.
Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\msahci

In the right pane, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify.

In the Value data box, type 0 [3 is default], and then click OK.

On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.
Restart your computer
Go to BIOS and enable AHCI, Save & Reboot
Another restart will be required to finish the driver installation.
 
The above instructions work great for changing to AHCI after already having Windows installed. I just did that last night and my X25-M G2 speeds jumped up.
 
Slight performace bump. I put in my old drive to run a test for shits and giggles and its like 35mbs seq writes vs 130. Despite less performace im pretty sure i will go ahead and stick with this
 
Sequential write would be the least of your concerns. The system drive priority is:

random read
random write
sequential read
sequential write

In that order of magnitude. So, Sequential write is the least important spec for your system drive. Note that Intel controller does very well in random write benchmarks; even despite its low sequential speeds.

You can check whether command queueing is working by running AS SSD; link is in my previous post.
 
sub.mesa said:
You can check whether command queueing is working by running AS SSD; link is in my previous post.
Click to expand...

Since I love benchmark programs as much as the next guy, I downloaded that app and tried to run it. It crashed and wouldn't run. :confused:
 
hmz said:
Thinkpad T60 is limited to SATA150. These results are normal.
Click to expand...

Was about to post this answer. The max you can get with SATA 150 / 1.5Gbps is about 134Mb/s. It also affects your 4k read/writes as you're I/O limited on that lower bandwith interface.

HOWEVER, that said, you're still getting the lower access times of a SSD, and great random read/writes of small files which is what most OS activity is.
 
Need some advice. For some reason Firefox is freezing all the time. Sometimes I cant switch between tabs or whenever I start a download the browser shows as not responding. Then it will come back.

I feel like even though the computer is is quicker, these random freezes are driving me insane. Any ideas?
 
@Main_Target

Regarding FireFox, I am using Fedora Linux. I wrote a sample script to move Firefox related files to RAM-drive before starting FF, and another script to move everything from RAM-drive back to disk before shutdown PC. I do not know how to do this nicely in Windows.

I find it helps slightly in general for everything.

Some will suggest increasing FireFox ram cache config. However, my suspect FF still writes to disks for certain things for certain reasons irrespective of the amount of ram cache you specify. I do agree that SSD should have resolved the issue if disk is a problem.
 
Without writing to disk, you would lose the protection of recovering your tabs from crashes/power issues. You don't have that protection with a RAM-backend. The writes that firefox does are probably writes that are necessary to update the state of your tabs, or the protection won't work or be stale.
 
sub.mesa said:
Check all drives for PIO issues, investigate, isolate possible causes.
Click to expand...

I am afraid I dont know what PIO means.

Also, I am having the same problem in Thunderbird when searching my e-mail. The entire program will freeze and come back.
 
PIO issues are very common on Windows. Windows loves PIO! What PIO is; google for it. Its one of the most asked/answered questions in my history on techforums.

Generally PIO can be detected quickly by having extremely high CPU usage which cannot be explained. Also it would slow down the PC significantly, and even cause choppy mouse behavior. Your PC feels like a Pentium1-class pc.

If any of those issues apply to you, check if you're affected by PIO.
 
Still having issues, thunderbird and firefox run absolutely horridly. These being the 2 most used applications, any advice?
 
You running any anti-virus or other 'protection' programs on the background? Have you tried disabling them?

Have you looked at the possible PIO issue by checking all your disks?
 
I shall try turning off microsoft security essentials.

To be honest while I have googled about PIO i havent found a good source to help me address any issues. However I have not put alot of time into it. Work is really challenging me right now.
 
So I have decided to move my SSD into my desktop. I am having this issue and was curious if you guys had some ideas.

I have a Gigabyte x58-UDR3 with a ICH10R raid controller (Running raid 10 on my storage). However I cannot seem to get my raid bios to support AHCI, when the bios is loading it simply says AHCI bios not installed.

Is there a way to have the raid bios support AHCI? I cant find an option in the bios, or its hiding from me real good.
 
Well I have 2 drives on a raid 0, but I only have 1 x25, which isnt in a raid. I do not see any AHCI drivers installed.

Maybe I should run my SSD on a different controller?
 
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