SSD on new P67A-UD3-B3 quite slow

[pauleden]

Evenin all.

I've just finished replacing my P67A-UD3 motherboard with a B3 version.

Because I'm a show off, I wrote down the HD Tach speeds reported on my Intel Gen 2 80 GB SSD when I first built the system. Average Read Speed was 221 MB/s and Burst speed was 250 MB/s.

After installing the B3, I ran HD tach again, and got rather a nasty surprise. Av Read is 186MB/s and burst is 206MB/s! I trimmed the drive and did the tests again, no real difference.

Clearly, something is very different, but as far as I can tell, the BIOS settings are the same as they were before. The drive is in the first SATA3 port in both installs.

Anyone got any thoughts as to what might be causing this?

[nijel]

Make sure no check-mark:

[Dark Mantis]

Hi

You should be running TRIM as default to stop slow degradation of the drives performance. If not you will have to wipe the drive with a secure erase program  every so often to bring it back to speed again.

[pauleden]

I've never seen that setting before but I looked and it's not ticked, nijel.

I TRIM the drive once a week, DM. Just installed v2 of the Intel SSD Toolbox too, and Trimmed it again, but it made no difference.

[nijel]

What firmware do you run? The latest 02M3 was released specifically for SATA 6Gb/s controllers:

Date: 18 January 2011
Revision: 2CV102M3
Description: This firmware revision fixes enumeration and slow-boot issues on SATA 6Gb/s controllers, adds improvements to S.M.A.R.T. attributes for more accurate reporting of drive health, improves NCQ capability, and fixes possible drive hangs when reading S.M.A.R.T. self-test log.

Also get the latest Intel RST Drivers. http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=3334&DwnldID=20023&ProductFamily=PC-Mainboards&ProductLine=Mainboard
Do you run in AHCI?
What score you get in AS SSD Benchmark? My G2 does 433. I have P67 UD7 btw.

[Dark Mantis]

I take it that you have got your controller set to AHCI ?

[pauleden]

[pauleden]

I don't run in AHCI, that causes a bluescreen right after POST, but I'm looking into that right now. I'm missing a driver, it seems.

I do know that it ran in IDE mode on the old motherboard. This means the it was running in IDE mode when the OS was installed.

[pauleden]

What firmware do you run? The latest 02M3 was released specifically for SATA 6Gb/s controllers:

Date: 18 January 2011
Revision: 2CV102M3
Description: This firmware revision fixes enumeration and slow-boot issues on SATA 6Gb/s controllers, adds improvements to S.M.A.R.T. attributes for more accurate reporting of drive health, improves NCQ capability, and fixes possible drive hangs when reading S.M.A.R.T. self-test log.

Also get the latest Intel RST Drivers. http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=3334&DwnldID=20023&ProductFamily=PC-Mainboards&ProductLine=Mainboard
Do you run in AHCI?
What score you get in AS SSD Benchmark? My G2 does 433. I have P67 UD7 btw.

Firmware updated. AS SSD score up to 167.

I tried the RST drivers. The STOT_allOS refuses to install, it says my computer doesn't meet the miniumum requirements.

I downloaded the 64 bit drivers from the same page, but Windows won't install them., it says I have the latest version.

Presumably this is because I'm not running in AHCI?

But none of this explains why the drive ran so much quicker under the same driver set on the old motherboard? That ran in IDE mode with old firmware too.

I should say that I don't use RAID. Don't know if that makes any difference?

[nijel]

WOW, never seen score that bad before!!! Yes, it doesn't explains the worst performance, but let's try to fix it...
Some wrong things with your setup at first look.
You see "31 K - BAD"? Means the partition is not aligned which is really BAD for performance.
Google "Aligning Windows Partitions Without Losing Data", there is many howtos available.
And you gotta move to AHCI. Open regedit, go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci] and in the right pane change Start from 3 to 0. Now you will be able to boot successfully. Update to the latest Intel RST drivers. No need to install the RTS console.

[pauleden]

OK guys, some progress. I've done all you suggest apart from aligning the drive and AS SSD score is up to 343, although HD Tach score is largely unchanged.

I'm starting the align job now.

[Dark Mantis]

It doesn't matter that you don't use RAID. However your drive does need to be aligned.

How to change IDE mode to AHCI after OS installation.

1.Exit all Windows-based programs.

2.Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.

3.If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.

4.Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetServicesMsahci

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

6.In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.

7.On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.

After this you’ll have to restart your computer, go to BIOS and enable AHCI. When you log in to Windows again, you’ll notice the installation of drivers for AHCI. Another restart will be required to finish the driver installation.

[pauleden]

That's all done, DM, thanks, and it improved performance a lot.

But the instructions for using gparted on the are very confusing. They don't apparently refer to the version of gparted I have. I ended up with a screen full of corrupted graphics.

It says boot to gparted and shrink the partition, but it omits the apparently crucial steps in between where the program is asking you important and questions where the correct option is not at all clear.

[pauleden]

I'm giving up on aligning the drive. I now understand why it needs to be done, and how it's come to be in this condition, but it will work without being aligned, so I'm calling it a day at this point.

I've spent and immensly frustrating afternoon with gparted, but it is refusing to play. Like many linux applications, it insists on stabbing me in the eyes each time I put a foot wrong.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me get here. Re-aligning the drive has proved a bridge too far.

[Dark Mantis]

The thing is that when you come to reinstall Windows 7 it will automatically align the drive so just wait until then.