OCZ Vertex 3 report back

marine1

marine1

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It got delivered here today.
As you may know my specs are:
Gigabyte X58-UD3R (issues with Marvell SATA3 ports :mad:)

I plugged into the blue ports, thought it was the MArvell SATA 3 - was not it was the SATA 2 Intel port.
Everything loaded up fine, windows was pretty quick on the install - Windows 7 Enterprise x64
AHCI is enabled in BIOS on every port.
Latest drivers are installed

Below are the tests:

5zipn8.jpg


MARVELL Port SATA 3 6G

s6tb87.jpg


INTEL Port SATA 2 3G

fw3psi.jpg


INTEL Port SATA 2 3G with Intel Rapid Storage Sfotware installed

Write speeds are not looking good, any comments would be great.
 
Sigh, I hope you followed the OCZ forum recommended method of benchmarking. Else you've just done a lot of damage to your SSD.

Did you have the latest drivers installed for the Marvel controller?

Also have you updated the SSD to the latest firmware? (If yes did you remember to do a Secure Erase?)
 
Gnome said:
Sigh, I hope you followed the OCZ forum recommended method of benchmarking. Else you've just done a lot of damage to your SSD.

Did you have the latest drivers installed for the Marvel controller?

Also have you updated the SSD to the latest firmware? (If yes did you remember to do a Secure Erase?)
Click to expand...
Hi I tried to do an update on the firmware (I have 2.15) It kept freezing which it says happens if you have the latest firmware.
I did install the latest Marvell drivers - http://www.station-drivers.com/page/marvell.htm
I did not do a secure erase....should I have?
Did I damage it? :(
 
Any flash based product has a limited number of writes as the cells get damaged over time. By running benchmarks, you are using up a lot of those valuable write cycles...

That is why they advise you to move swap files, hibernation, etc off of the SSD and onto a second magnetic HDD. You want to keep all unnecessary writes off of the SSD.
 
russellO said:
Any flash based product has a limited number of writes as the cells get damaged over time. By running benchmarks, you are using up a lot of those valuable write cycles...

That is why they advise you to move swap files, hibernation, etc off of the SSD and onto a second magnetic HDD. You want to keep all unnecessary writes off of the SSD.
Click to expand...
Ok yes I get that but trying to figure out why my read / write is so slow, even on the Intel side. The MArvell is disgraceful
 
Marine go for a new mobo and cpu but other than copying files do you use programs that will utilize that read and write? Is 500 meg read and write worth 3-4k to you?

I mean i understand you want the full package but buying a new mobo and cpu and you don't use the extra read and write seems a complete waste.

Obviously if you will use 500 mb read and write get a new mobo and cpu :D.
 
Sorry if it sounded like I was telling you to by new hardware, killadoob is right. I was just saying I didn't even test the other ports and stuck with the reliable Intel ports from the get-go.

I actually haven't even benchmarked anything so I might be getting around 200mb as well. All I know is that my SSD is WAY WAY faster than my magnetic drive and I am very happy.

EDIT: I actually only have a Adata S511 120Gb (almost identical specs to Vertex 3) and a OCZ Agility 3 in the laptop.
 
Awesome thanks man, spoke to the guys on the OCZ forum and they say I could not damage it as it was already flashed with current firmware, standard.
They also said what I am achieving is correct.
All that benchmarking did was waste space, a bit. :D
So I am going to load up BF3 on it is that advisable? Or should I install on a normal secondary drive
 
russellO said:
Sorry if it sounded like I was telling you to by new hardware, killadoob is right. I was just saying I didn't even test the other ports and stuck with the reliable Intel ports from the get-go.

I actually haven't even benchmarked anything so I might be getting around 200mb as well. All I know is that my SSD is WAY WAY faster than my magnetic drive and I am very happy.

EDIT: I actually only have a Adata S511 120Gb (almost identical specs to Vertex 3) and a OCZ Agility 3 in the laptop.
Click to expand...

No dude you are not wrong it is the hardware and he should get hardware that runs it if he needs, plus there is nothing wrong with a lekka upgrade :D. It never sounded like you told him to buy new stuff either :D.

Marine install everything on the drive dude, obviously work stuff or documents etc is better stored on another drive in case you want to reload :D. Ok well not everything if you have like 20 10gb games ya then it won't fit haha.

So does your pc feel super charged or what?
 
killadoob said:
Marine go for a new mobo and cpu but other than copying files do you use programs that will utilize that read and write? Is 500 meg read and write worth 3-4k to you?

I mean i understand you want the full package but buying a new mobo and cpu and you don't use the extra read and write seems a complete waste.

Obviously if you will use 500 mb read and write get a new mobo and cpu :D.
Click to expand...

+1
 
marine1 said:
Would it make much difference in real life having the faster (double speed)?
In terms of work and Bf3? :D
What would utilise the 500mb speeds?
Click to expand...

Well i work in corel draw and photoshop and 500mb would make a big difference to me hey. My samsung ssd goes at about 100 read and write and my other g.skill goes at about 180 and the difference is big. Things render faster, exporting happens faster. Still i won't buy a new mobo and ssd because i can cope with a couple seconds here and there. I would rather buy my gaming pc more stuff like a 32/40 inch screen.

It won't any difference for normal gaming and work stuffs. When i say normal work i mean like accounting programs, office and so on.


What programs do you work in?
 
Last edited:
marine1 said:
Awesome thanks man, spoke to the guys on the OCZ forum and they say I could not damage it as it was already flashed with current firmware, standard.
Click to expand...

Good to hear, I was talking more about the benchmarks. Be very careful! Some of these benchmarks can kill an SSD really quick because they do an insane amount of read/writes.

Ideally you should do a secure erase every time you format ;)

I re-read my initial post and I come off a bit harsh, sorry, was a crazy day!

Rather stick with the Intel controller. Forget about the read/write speeds, the latency is what counts and that SSD has that in spades.

When you decide to upgrade, you'll get another little speed boost by just having a proper SATA III controller ;)

I say wait for the next generation Intels to arrive, sometime early next year.
 
Afaik you only supposed to update the firmware if absolutely necessary. Also there is a whole guide to follow to maintain your SSD, the one I followed was from Pada iirc. Also I suspect your actual Pc is bottlenecking the SSD right now :P
 
Not with Sandforce 2281 SSD's - they were extremely unstable until firmware 2.15.

Pretty happy with my 240GB OCZ Agility 3 - everything flies! No more waiting for stuff to load, it just starts. Like you know when you load windows, and you spend ages waiting for it to actually load so you can start your programs up? With an SSD, Windows loads, I click on 3 programs I normally use (browser, Netbeans based IDE, and Winamp) and all start instantly. Its awesome.
 
I have an ADATA S511 running on a SATA2 intel controller.

Here's my crystalmark score (read/write):
Seq: 272.4 128.8
512K: 260.9 133.8
4K: 42.86 73.14
4K QD32: 162.9 125.4

There's something seriously wrong with your read speeds if you get similar speeds to mine which is only running on SATA2. Then again, I'll make sure that I never buy a mobo with a marvell controller then :p
 
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