Falcon 1 64Gb Poor bench

[monographix]

I just got my first SSD, a 64gb Falcon 1 with firmware 1370 . I initiated it (basic disk) and format it (ntfs default alocation) and started benchmarking . i havent installed anything in it yet, OS or program or moved any files in it.

I get reads around 150-160mb/s and writes around 60 mb/s.

HD tune, ATTO, AS SSD.

System is P35 - ICH9R (MSI Neo2-FR board), XP x86 Pro SP3, Q6600, Sata in IDE mode.

(I have a suspicion i am getting low speeds in all my HDD drives in general, have no clue why though. Also the only accessible sata port to connect the ssd for now was an isolated port that i suspect is on a marvel 88SE6111 controller which also controls IDE/PATA on this board, and not the ICH9R)

wanted also to ask, is win7 trim working optimaly and flawlessly with this firmware or do i need to flash to the latest one?

[TwoCables]

I just got my first SSD, a 64gb Falcon 1 with firmware 1370 . I initiated it (basic disk) and format it (ntfs default alocation) and started benchmarking . i havent installed anything in it yet, OS or program or moved any files in it.

I get reads around 150-160mb/s and writes around 60 mb/s.

HD tune, ATTO, AS SSD.

System is P35 - ICH9R (MSI Neo2-FR board), XP x86 Pro SP3, Q6600, Sata in IDE mode.

(I have a suspicion i am getting low speeds in all my HDD drives in general, have no clue why though. Also the only accessible sata port to connect the ssd for now was an isolated port that i suspect is on a marvel 88SE6111 controller which also controls IDE/PATA on this board, and not the ICH9R)

wanted also to ask, is win7 trim working optimaly and flawlessly with this firmware or do i need to flash to the latest one?

I personally recommend flashing to 1571 instead of 1819. This should help quite a bit.

If it doesn't, then we'll keep troubleshooting.

[monographix]

[monographix]

Do i maybe have to check if my ICH9 is running in 3gb/s mode or if for some reason is limited to 1.5gb/s ? And how do i do that ? ....

Do the speeds of the rest of the discs seem normal ?

[monographix]

After switching port to an ICH9R port, better but still not right. Switching to AHCI from IDE also didnt make any performance difference.

[TwoCables]

I have 2 things to say:

1. Flash to firmware 1571
2. Leave benchmark software at their default settings in order to make it easier to compare your results to others' results.

If you don't flash to 1571, then you will probably continue to have these results.

[monographix]

Thank you TwoCables, just wanted to explore all other possible reasons before flash, just for methodology sake. After i checked that AHCI was enabled in bios and OS (XP 32) and tested the ICH9 port against the marvel sata port, i just finished flashing to 1571, but the results remain the same (i had a suspicion they would, as all the reviews i saw with 1.10 (1370) FW were along the lines of 235/135 MBs) I thought to use Wiper just in case (blind longshot) but it looks i will have to install an OS on the Falcon and disconect every other hard drive from my system before use it ? ........

I didnt touch any setting on the benchmark apps, is there some setting that seems modified from my screens that i need to put to some more standard state?

Thanks again
Nick

[TwoCables]

Thank you TwoCables, just wanted to explore all other possible reasons before flash, just for methodology sake. After i checked that AHCI was enabled in bios and OS (XP 32) and tested the ICH9 port against the marvel sata port, i just finished flashing to 1571, but the results remain the same (i had a suspicion they would, as all the reviews i saw with 1.10 (1370) FW were along the lines of 235/135 MBs) I thought to use Wiper just in case (blind longshot) but it looks i will have to install an OS on the Falcon and disconect every other hard drive from my system before use it ? ........

I didnt touch any setting on the benchmark apps, is there some setting that seems modified from my screens that i need to put to some more standard state?

Thanks again
Nick

It's just that the settings in ATTO are pretty different from what I get at default. Mine are:

• Transfer Size: 0.5 to 8192 KB
• Total Length: 256 MB
• Queue Depth: 4

But perhaps it depends on the system.

As for running Wiper, you're right that it must be run from the drive and so it needs to have XP, Vista or 7 on it. Additionally, it must either be connected to channel 0, or it must be the only drive connected to the system. I don't know if running it will make any difference, but I guess it's worth a shot.

I have another suspicion, although it's probably pretty far off. But let's try it anyway:

• Open Device Manager
• Expand IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
• Click on the [B]Driver[B] tab
• Click Update Driver

After the above, follow the screenshots below:


Select No, not at this time



Select Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)



Select Don't search. I will choose the driver to install.




(Continued in next post due to )

[TwoCables]

Choose Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller. (I had to leave NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller selected for these screenshots so that I didn't make any changes to my XP installation)



Click Next and then this will appear briefly. Of course, yours will say "Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller".



When it's finished, this will appear. Click Finish.


Then, of course, reboot when it prompts you.

If you already had the Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE controller installed, then install whatever MSI provides instead using the CD or whatever is the latest on their website.

That's all I can think of right now.

[monographix]

Here are the results after temporarily connecting it to an ICH9 port (have to remove the program files HDD and plug in the ssd in its place) (and after flashing to fw 1571, and aligning acording to http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/fo...10r+raid+guide). Matrix is 7.8.0.1013)




Seems to be getting closer. Alignment / offset seems to play a role with SSDs (and probably Raids too), and its not mentioned often around since most of the SSD users run it under VIsta / 7 which properly align drives upon partitioning unlike XP32 which doesnt bother about alignment. That combined with placing on proper ICH9 port improved results but still writes are not where they should i guess yes. Kinda following some sort of stable low read/write ratio. Besides what suggested above, next is trying Wiper and trying updating intel matrix storage manager

Tried write cache also after this, no difference though


- Have there been reports about the 1370 ("1.10") FW giving low benches? (can't find yet)
- What are the fixes of 1571 over 1370?
- What shortcomings 1370 and 1571 have regarding Win7 TRIM ?