Slow SSD Write Speeds? Try This

[TAFB]

I have a GA-Z68XP-UD4 motherboard in a new system that I built about two weeks ago. I tried an OCZ Vertex 3 120 Max IOPs SSD but could not get any consistent write speeds from the SSD -- sometimes in 400s, mostly in 200-250s range. I jumped through a lot of flashing, CMOS clearing, secure erase, clean install hoops in trying to fix the problem. I then tried swapping the Vertex 3 for a Kingston Hyperx 120 SSD and ended up with the same inconsistent write speeds.  Based on a thread from the OCZ forum (thanks Proendo!), I DISABLED C3/C6 state in bios, and my write speeds have been consistently high -- 450+.  It took some digging in bios to find the C3/C6 state option.  Here are the steps for finding the C3/C6 option on the GA-Z68XP-UD4:

go to main bios page
select MB Intelligent Tweaker
select Advanced Frequency Settings
select Advanced CPU Core Features
from the Advanced CPU Core Features menu screen, find the option C3/C6 State Support (towards the bottom of the menu)
the default setting for C3/C6 State Support is [AUTO]...change the setting for C3/C6 Support to [DISABLED]
press F10 to save changes and exit bios

Re-test your SSD speeds.


 

[Dark Mantis]

Thanks for the information regarding the write speeds. I can't say I am surprised though as these states can cause a lot of issues when enabled.

[GTZaskarLE]

Hi TAFB,

Thanks a lot for this tip.

Your information has solved half of my issue with bios F6 on motherboard GA-Z68X-UD3P-B3.
The sata 3 SSD write bottleneck has disappeared!

See for test results:
http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,6292.msg52184.html#msg52184

[Tinker]

An interesting piece of info as just been asking about this setting. In my X58A it was disabled
by default,C3,C6 & C7.

Have the same OCZ Vertex 120gb. Best on mine is just below 300mb/s write though fairly even
Read again is fairly even at about 425mb/s . Had just over a week but not sure if to look for
firmware updates.


Regards tinker.

[Dark Mantis]

It probably would make sense to check for updates even though your drive is new. Often they are shipped with older firmware as it hasn't been updated on the assembly line.

[christillis]

Thank you very much TAFB, very useful to know and I've made the changes. Unfortunately I can't see any difference, but nevertheless still worth doing!

[BIGguiX]

Hello everyone.

bumping an "old" topic cause i just ran into some of the issues described in this post.

i installed a corsair series 3 120g ssd on my gigabyte z68x-ud3h b3 rev 1.3.  (updated bios to f12 just to be sure)

after i realised i had it plugged into a sata2, and moved it to a sata 3, i got better speeds, but only for read speeds.

i'm up to 550mb/sec read, but i seem kinda bottlenecked in write speed at around 280-300, instead of the 450-500 other ppls are getting.

i tried c3/c6 but it didnt seem to make a difference.  reloaded optimized defaults and redid tests without OC, no change.  unplugged everything else, no change.  I'm pretty puzzled.  I came across a thread that speaks about some intel sata drivers but i lost it anc can'T find it again.  no idea what it could be.

here is the link to the atto test i made.  i compared it to other atto tests of the same drive on the same mobo.  they do get twice the write speed as i do.


http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/33/capturebxz.png/

can'T be the cable right ?  what else could i test.  

tyvm everyone