Need advice on Phoenix Pro 120 GB Driver. No RAID config. X58A-UD3R MOBO

[bgarrant]

I have a new Phoenix Pro 120 GB SSD, i7 950 Proc, 12 GB RAM, GIGABYTE x58A-UD3R MOBO (Intel ICH10R), and WD Caviar Black 1 TB HDD. I initiall installed Win 7 Pro 64 bit with default settings. I then changed to native AHCI with reg fix from MS and then enabled the TRIM function with modification from G Skill forum (http://www.gskill.us/forum/showthread.php?t=7056). I had a software issue and had to do a System Image recover (did not reformat drive). All seems fine, other than I am not getting the best performance, and I am wondering if I should install the Intel RST driver? Will I see a better perfomance even though I am not using RAID? It says on Intel site that RST is not needed if using Win 7 without RAID. With just one SSD and one HDD, will I have any benefit with updating driver to Intel RST? Can I just update the driver through Device Manager without having to reinstall windows? Shoudl I reformat the SSD again?

I am new to SSD technology so any advice is appreciated. ANy links to drivers or utilities I should instal is also appreciated.

[Dark Mantis]

Hi
I don't think there is any point in your installing the Intel RST as I am sure it only helps with RAID arrays. It took over from the Matrix Storage Console.
More to the point what speeds are you getting and where have you connected the SSD to?

[bgarrant]

Here are the results from CrystalDIskMark.  This drive has my Win7 Pro OS on it.  I disabled Norton to do the test.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
                           Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

           Sequential Read :   215.211 MB/s
          Sequential Write :    86.161 MB/s
         Random Read 512KB :   209.401 MB/s
        Random Write 512KB :    79.845 MB/s
    Random Read 4KB (QD=1) :    26.188 MB/s [  6393.6 IOPS]
   Random Write 4KB (QD=1) :    59.191 MB/s [ 14450.9 IOPS]
   Random Read 4KB (QD=32) :   173.184 MB/s [ 42281.2 IOPS]
  Random Write 4KB (QD=32) :    82.193 MB/s [ 20066.8 IOPS]

  Test : 100 MB [C: 42.9% (47.9/111.7 GB)] (x2)
  Date : 2010/12/12 12:49:54
    OS : Windows 7  [6.1 Build 7600] (x64)
 

[bgarrant]

Connect on MOBO to Intel ICH10R SATA2.

[Dark Mantis]

Your read speeds are quite good and although the write speeds are a little low that is probably because of the small size of the drive ( write speed is dependant on the size of the drive ) and so acceptable. It is possible that these figures could be improved upon with a firmware update.

Have you got Native IDE enabled in the BIOS?

[bgarrant]

I have a 120GB drive with about 60GB available.  I have AHCI enabled in BIOS.  Do I need to enable Native IDE as well for the controller?  How can I check the firmware?  I think drive came with 3.1 on it.

[Dark Mantis]

I really don't know about the drive's firmware that is something for you to check up about on the G.Skill forums. Also I notice that it is one of the new Sandforce drives and I can't say that I have any experience of them personally so again it is probalby better to check with the other forum for the best settings and configuration.

There is quite a good review of the drive here that might be of help:   http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=25198