New Plextor M3 Pro: push Marvell, push :D

[Modaeus]

One of the SSDs had fw 1.0 and it still worked? In other words, the 1.01 fw update to "improve drive compatibility with SAS cards" is not necessary to use M3Ps with the Areca 1880?

Indeed yes. It worked out of the box with fw 1.0 and an Areca-1880

[Christopher]

Indeed yes. It worked out of the box with fw 1.0 and an Areca-1880

That is excellent. I wanna see some benchies.

[Modaeus]

we want to see some benchies
my 2nd will be here in the AM.

Benches as you requested. Just keep in mind the array is in use, and filled ~60%. I was more instested in getting everything up running again than benching an empty array

The Array is divided into an OS drive and a Game drive. Hence the somewhat small drive size in AS SSD
I haven't fixed the C-state yet, so 4k will be abit slow on writes

[Anvil]

It doesn't really matter if the drives are full or not, as long as you've got the 4G you need to run tests with larger testfiles.
Using a 1-4GB testfile, you are more or less testing the cache on the controller, C-states will still make a difference though.

Anyways, good to see that the drives are working with the Areca!

[AMD_Freak]

looking nice ..thanks for the post 128stripe?

[Modaeus]

looking nice ..thanks for the post 128stripe?

8k stripe size.. The card loves going low

[ximius]

Hey guys I have a 512 GB M3P and am getting significantly lower results than those shown before in this thread. Admittedly this is on the known poor Marvel 9128 controller but still its way below. Any suggestions on whats wrong? Is it just the controller? Ive updated drivers for the chipset/controller/etc and flashed the drive to 1.03 FW.

Using SATA II Chipset:

Using SATAIII Marvel:

[Modaeus]

Just a quick update with C-states disabled:

[AMD_Freak]

ximius its the same controller as the other M3P so it cant be to poor its the fastest SSD. SATAIII Marvel:is lower then Intel chipsets / C-states all play a part its kind of hard to tell w/o knowing your MB etc have you tried running crystaldisk mark , AS SSD what was the results?

[johnw]

Hey guys I have a 512 GB M3P and am getting significantly lower results than those shown before in this thread. Admittedly this is on the known poor Marvel 9128 controller but still its way below. Any suggestions on whats wrong? Is it just the controller? Ive updated drivers for the chipset/controller/etc and flashed the drive to 1.03 FW.

1) The fastest results will be had with an INTEL SATA 6Gbps port. Not Marvell, not SATA 3Gbps. I listed this first because it is the biggest factor in your results.

2) As has been mentioned, you will often see higher benchmarks if you disable "C-states" (aka C1E) in your motherboard BIOS. You may also need to disable speedstep and set your OS to keep the CPU at 100% (minimum). After you do that, run CPU-Z to check if core0 of your CPU is running at full speed, or if it is throttled (you want full speed).

3) If you cannot get your CPU running at full speed in (2), then try running a CPU intensive program on at least one thread of your CPU. I have had good luck running wPrime on 1 thread of my i7-3770K that I have been testing. No matter what I did in the BIOS (turned off C1E, speedstep, etc.), the CPU was still throttling while running SSD benchmarks. But running wPrime on 1 thread kept the CPU going full speed, and it helped my 4K QD1 benchmarks significantly (the 4K high QD benchmarks seem to unthrottle the CPU by themselves, so it did not make much difference there).

[ximius]

ximius its the same controller as the other M3P so it cant be to poor its the fastest SSD. SATAIII Marvel:is lower then Intel chipsets / C-states all play a part its kind of hard to tell w/o knowing your MB etc have you tried running crystaldisk mark , AS SSD what was the results?

I actually meant the Marvel 9128 SATA III controller on the motherboard, not the SSD controller. The motherboard is what is shown in the screenshot - Asus P6X58D-E.

[johnw]

its kind of hard to tell w/o knowing your MB

According to ASU, it is P6X58D-E (Asus).

[Anvil]

Hey guys I have a 512 GB M3P and am getting significantly lower results than those shown before in this thread. Admittedly this is on the known poor Marvel 9128 controller but still its way below. Any suggestions on whats wrong? Is it just the controller?
...

It is the onboard controller that limits the result, your results are as expected.
I've got a few MB's with that controller and I disabled it and connected the drives to the Intel 3Gb/s controller.

Not much to do about it except for getting a 3rd party controller or upgrading to a new chipset with a proper onboard 6Gb/s SATA controller. (i.e. Sandy Bridge(-E) , Ivy Bridge, AMD SB850-950)

[Rubycon]

Just a quick update with C-states disabled:

Can you run Anvil with 32GB test size?

[Nizzen]

Can you run Anvil with 32GB test size?

12gb is enough. Have tested it many times with my areca 1880 ix-24 4gb.

[lm358]

One thing to note, is that the 512GB M3P is actually specified LOWER than the 128GB and 256GB variants..

check http://plextoramericas.com/index.php...series?start=1

[Christopher]

One thing to note, is that the 512GB M3P is actually specified LOWER than the 128GB and 256GB variants..

check http://plextoramericas.com/index.php...series?start=1

It has higher sequential writes but worse random performance if memory serves. The number of 512GB drives which are as fast or faster than 256GB equivalents are few at the moment. The 830 and Vertex4 spring to mind.

[Anvil]

Unfortunately, the 128GB M3P was on sale today, couldn't resist.

[AMD_Freak]

pushing that Marvell ...updated w/ Anvil's

[squick3n]

I'm so close to going with an M4. Prices are sooo good, but the syntheitc loving whore in me loves this drive. Decisions . . .

[Nizzen]

Unfortunately, the 128GB M3P was on sale today, couldn't resist.

Where?

[Anvil]

It was MPXs 10th anniversary. (it's too late though, valid from 12:00-16:00 CET+1)

200,- NOK off per drive. (from 1549 NOK -> 1349 NOK)

About $235, not sure how that compares.

[Christopher]

The M3P 128GB is about $210 here. I paid $220 for mine, and I would have gladly paid another $15 for it. That drive is something else.

I need to go to SSD rehab.

Another drive which is not so fast, but the same price here -- the Intel 510 120GB. TBH, I can make an argument for getting either. But the M3P 128GB is faaaassssttt.

[AMD_Freak]

LOL if you get a Plextor Pro ..everything else is ..boring

[Nizzen]

In front of me: Areca 1880ix 4GB + 4x plextor M3p 128gb

I hoping for better result than 4x vertex 4.. It was epic fail with Areca