So I recently installed a SSD to my system, along with Windows 8.

My motherboard only supports Sata II @ 3Gb/s and it does not support AHCI. I understand both of these issues can cause it to run slow but I still expect it to run a bit faster than this? It still boots fast, applications open fast etc.

The motherboard I have is a XFX 750i SLI (these use nForce SATA controller drivers which I've read are pretty crap, I've tried using Microsoft's drivers but my PC wouldn't boot :shrug

The SSD is a Samsung 830 128 GB which is rated at Read 520MB/s Write 320MB/s, here are my results using AS SSD Benchmark,



Am I just hunting for benchmark results or is the SSD not running properly?

I have pretty much done almost everything in this optimisation guide,

http://www.overclock.net/t/124 ... ation-guide-for-ssds-hdds

Thanks for anyone who helps

Sata2 has half of the bandwith of Sata3, so I think your only problem is the Sata connector and bandwith, or if you are not sure if you have a friend or a spare PC with a Sata3 connector plug it there and see if there is still a problem..

Quote from FRZN-95 :

Sata2 has half of the bandwith of Sata3, so I think your only problem is the Sata connector and bandwith, or if you are not sure if you have a friend or a spare PC with a Sata3 connector plug it there and see if there is still a problem..

Yeah I understand that but surely I should be seeing around 200 MB/s read speeds? My brother has the same Samsung 830 but in 256 GB on his socket 775 Asus P5KC which is also SATA II and his runs around 230 MB/s read?

Unfortunately I don't know anyone with a SATA III capable motherboard.

If it means anything in Device Manager the SSD's transfer mode says 'Let BIOS select transfer mode' 'DMA Mode' is selected.

Thanks for the reply though.

This is definitely too slow for SATA2, it should go up to 280 MB/s

Maybe you could search for some SATA3 PCIe card

Quote from DANIEL-CRO :

This is definitely too slow for SATA2, it should go up to 280 MB/s

Maybe you could search for some SATA3 PCIe card

I was looking at a PCIe card but I have two graphics cards and the second one pretty much blocks the PCIe port

So if I wanted to run it in SATA III I'd have to get rid of it lol

Currently the SSD is in port 4, would changing it to port 1 make any difference?

Thanks for the reply.

I doubt changing it to another port would improve the speed, as I believe it's still the same controller.

I think your best bet is to indeed get a PCI card for it.

Quote from Bose321 :

I doubt changing it to another port would improve the speed, as I believe it's still the same controller.

I think your best bet is to indeed get a PCI card for it.

Right, yeah I believe they are all connected to the same controller - only the ESATA port is different.

Could anyone recommend me a good PCIe card then? As cheap as possible please..

Is this any good? I've heard it uses the Marvell controller though..

In a review it said,

Before R/W 283/267 - After R/W was 430/296

http://www.ebuyer.com/205769-s ... -controller-card-pexsat32

I possibly may be able to squeeze it in with my graphics card lol...

No AHCI is a pretty big deal when it comes to SSD's, that motherboard also seems to have a pretty slow chipset to make things worse. Not sure there's much to do without a separate controller card. Might end up being cheaper to get a better used motherboard with the same CPU socket.

Quote from Matrixi :

No AHCI is a pretty big deal when it comes to SSD's, that motherboard also seems to have a pretty slow chipset to make things worse. Not sure there's much to do without a separate controller card. Might end up being cheaper to get a better used motherboard with the same CPU socket.

Yeah I guess I'd have to change the motherboard - a shame to lose SLI though. I think I'd just wait until I upgrade my computer.

That SATA card I linked to says,

The maximum throughput of this card is limited by the bus interface. If used with PCI Express Gen 1.0 enabled computers, the max throughput is 2.5 Gbps. If used with PCI Express Gen 2.0 enabled computers, the max throughput is 5 Gbps.

I'm not totally sure whether the slot on mine is 1.0 or 2.0?? I would guess 1.0 but..

Edit - According to HWiNFO64 the slot is a PCIe x1, so it's basically pointless to bother with a PCIe SATA card right??

I've read to do this?

Put it on that boards sata2 slot while set to raidmode. That will effectively run a single drive in AHCI mode. Will need to first do the IDE to AHCI reg hack before changing sata modes in the bios like that though.

I managed to get it to use the Microsoft Drivers - seems even worse lol



I'm going to give the above a try now.

Quote from Racer X NZ :

http://www.overclock.net/t/828 ... no-ahci-on-750i-sli-board

Thanks for the link,

I've read

Quote :

Trim works fine, you just have to un-install the nvidia storage controller drivers, and then install the default Microsoft ones.

Quote :

On my 680i board I get 252 mbytes/sec reads and 242 mbytes/sec writes, benched using ATTO. It's a Sandforce based SSD. Well worth the upgrade even without AHCI.

As you can see in the image above I have used Microsoft drivers but it still is just as slow.

I still don't understand why it's so slow? My brother has the same SSD on his motherboard which also doesn't have AHCI but his runs at 230 MB/s, is it just my motherboard?

Edit - I also get this,