Crucial 256GB RealSSD C300 performance

[nightwoodwolf]

i recently purchased and installed 256GB RealSSD C300 - CTFDDAC256MAG-1G1 SSD to my system, i am expereincing some quick freezing screens when i play games or running Zbrush , Autodesk Maya and other few applications, windows boot is not as expected as well, what could be the problem, it is connected using SATA 6 cable to my SATA III port on my motherboard, the HD Tune Pro showing the SSD has firmware 002 installed on it from manufatuare.

any quick help will be very appreciated

[Ao1]

Are you using the default Window 7 msahci driver? If so I've heard people report lock ups/ freezes and would suggest using the latest chipset driver for your controller.

[AceNZ]

The Asus P6X58D uses the Marvell controller for its onboard SATA 3. The Marvell controller sucks. Move the SSDs to the ICH10R, and you should be fine.

If you want the full benefit of SATA 3, you'll need to buy a RAID card (almost never worth it for just a single SSD).

[nightwoodwolf]

Are you using the default Window 7 msahci driver? If so I've heard people report lock ups/ freezes and would suggest using the latest chipset driver for your controller.

how can i check that ?

so RAID Cards can make the SSD work faster and perform better ?

[Ao1]

Control panel > Device Manager > IDE ATA/ ATAPI Controllers.

I would agree with AceNZ, use the ICH10. Even though it is SATA 2 it will perform better where you need it most. Don’t bother with a raid card.

EDIT:

If you use ICH10 use the latest RST driver from Intel:
http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support...ts/chpsts/imsm

By default the Window 7 msahci driver will be installed. You can change this by using F6 to install the Intel driver or you could update it after install.

Also make sure your bios is set to AHCI mode

[nightwoodwolf]

Control panel > Device Manager > IDE ATA/ ATAPI Controllers.

I would agree with AceNZ, use the ICH10. Even though it is SATA 2 it will perform better where you need it most. Don’t bother with a raid card.

EDIT:

If you use ICH10 use the latest RST driver from Intel:
http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support...ts/chpsts/imsm

By default the Window 7 msahci driver will be installed. You can change this by using F6 to install the Intel driver or you could update it after install.

Also make sure your bios is set to AHCI mode

thanks alot , i'll give it a go, so we need to use the sata II still even tho the SSDs supports SATA 3 now due to performance and stability !!?

[Ao1]

From what I've seen to date (using SSD) on Marvel SATA controllers, you end up with added latency and reduced 4K performance. You might see better sequential performance, but I'd rather see lower latency and better 4k performance. That said I used a Marvel controller for a couple of months and I did not have any stability issues, its was purely performance that made me switch back to ICH.


EDIT:
I should add that I was only using a SATA 2 SSD on the Marvel SATA 3 controller, but if it gimps a SATA 2 drive I would assume it would do the same to a SATA 3 drive.
Why do try both controllers with the latest drivers and run AS SSD benchmark on each controller to see what works best for you?
http://www.alex-is.de/PHP/fusion/downloads.php?cat_id=4

[flamenko]

Using the Marvel controller right now and not having a prob with the C300 at all. In fact, I am testing it along with a number of other drives on Vantage x64 only to come to the same scoring which put the C300 64Gb at a score of 34236 on the HDD suite with the OWC Pro RE drive (28%OP) resulting below it at 33042.

[drnip]

I know I've had nothing but trouble with the Sata 3 and this mobo. When I have my C300 on it windows boot screen is forever and then random freezes/not responding within Windows. Using the Intel drivers at that. I hook it up to Sata 2 and everything is fine. Can't call it. Worked on it for countless hours/days but with no luck. Just one of those things. Kinda reminds me when the Nvidia 790 mobo dropped. Some got it to work right and some didn't.

[Computurd]

The problem isnt so much the controller as it is the chipset, guys. the chipset was not natively designed with sata 3.0, so it does not have the neccesary low latency bandwidth necceesary for this. Several manufacturers have hacked a version of it onto these motherboards, using DMI lanes (slow) and "spare" pci-e lanes.
it is a marketing ploy, which is giving both the marvell and sata 3.0 a bad rep. The marvell is on a constricted interface. for instance, it doesn't matter how powerful a water pump is if it is connected to a garden hose. same thing here.
Without a native implementation you will never see the true benefit of the interface unfortunately, outside of, as others have mentioned, hardware raid solutions.

[mbreslin]

Regardless if the drives are sata2/3, ich10r for 1-3 drives is win.

[nightwoodwolf]

different opinions, which they are all respected, i believe every hardware is different, i am using the sata II now and honestly the performance is pretty good, below an image from CrystalDiskMark 3 x64 with the C300 256G connected to the Sata II port using the same sata 6 cable, i will post another one soon with the same SSD connected to the SATA III port on the same motehrboard, AHCI enabled in BIOS

my curious question is, if you use Raid card which it does support sata 6G, is it going to use marvell driver as well ? cause what difference its going to make if it is the same driver ?

[TV Addict#2]

the controller card will have drivers that need to be installed
this 7 month old with much use 7 x64 install is as quick as day one and no need for defrag cycles is nice

[Ao1]

i will post another one soon with the same SSD connected to the SATA III port on the same motehrboard, AHCI enabled in BIOS

Looking forward to seeing how the SATA III scores work out.

[Computurd]

with the C300 256G connected to the Sata II

The real difference will show when you run raid, or when you have multiple devices connected simultaneously to the sata 6g. do you have any other devices to raid with for testings sake?

[flamenko]

Been following the discussion and I dont know if it will help in any way but I just finished reviewing the C300 in both SATA2 and SATA3 modes and against a few other drives and it can be found below. I had stated earlier that I had not experienced probs whatsoever in SATA 3 and since, have installed and now run the C300 as my main OS drive in SATA 3 without ill effect observed as of yet.

What did surprise me was that the C300 64Gb with low write speeds did better in the Vantage HDD Suite than the OWC drive which was pretty much untouchable previously.

[Computurd]

most of the worst 'offenders' of sorts have been the p55 chipsets tbh, they have had some severe problems with the implementation because of less pcie lanes on the chipset. there have even been boards where you couldn't use the second pcie slot if you intend to use the sata or usb next gen. the x-58 implementations have been said to be better, but after the p55 debacles that is hard to guess at..leaves me skeptical...as you can see several people have had problems of this nature, and this is with the current crop. i will definitely read your review, it would be nice if someone did a decent job on the implementation, but that also could vary form manufacturer to manufacturer.

[nightwoodwolf]

alright .. I am using Intel AHCI drivers ... and new recently updated BIOS for the Asus mobo, and ran some tests, performance looking very good and incredibly stable using the SATA 6G now, check the image below

[IMG] Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/IMG]

[icecpu]

alright .. I am using Intel AHCI drivers ... and new recently updated BIOS for the Asus mobo, and ran some tests, performance looking very good and incredibly stable using the SATA 6G now, check the image below

[IMG] Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/IMG]

Nice, what bios are you using on P6X58D motherboard now ?,
and which bios giving you freezing problem ??

[nightwoodwolf]

i was using the original BIOS which i believe it was v07.** now i am using v0904 BIOS

[sgelber]

To add my 2 cents to this discussion, I have a crucial c300 128gb SSD running off the SATA III connection (Marvell controller drivers 1036) on a Asus P6X58D Premium and it runs like a champ. Be sure to install the 1036 drivers as the 1027 drivers have a bit of a problem. Other than that make sure you are running in AHCI mode and you should have no problem. The only issue is that you will not be able to run a raid configuration on the controller.

[Computurd]

The only issue is that you will not be able to run a raid configuration on the controller.

Thus negating the whole point anyway.

[drnip]

Dumped my Asus P6X58D as well as my problems. Picked up an Asus Crosshair Formula IV and no problems at all now.

[nightwoodwolf]

actually after i took the guys advice and updated Intel's driver everything is running smoothly and perfectly now.