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May 30th, 2017 09:00
AW 15 R3 SSD performance..
I've added a Samsung 960 EVO M.2 drive to my 15 R3 but the performance isn't what I was expecting.
Using the Samsung Magician software, I'm getting reads of 2300 MB/s and writes of 1300 MB/s. This seems a little low to me but I'm not sure what I can do to control it - the laptop has the latest BIOS, the SSD has the newest BIOS and the newest Samsung driver. Windows write cache buffer flushing is turned off too.
The SSD contains a new Win10 install (not cloned from anything) and all power saving is turned off too.
What speeds are others getting on similar setups?
Does anyone have any advice on getting better performance from this SSD / machine combination?
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Tesla1856
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May 30th, 2017 14:00
Maybe try Crystal DiskMark?
If it's not "cpu bound" (like it might be with just an Intel-i5) maybe it has limited dedicated PCIe-Lanes to the M.2-NVMe slot ... holding it back a bit.
Still, those numbers are nice ... and way better than SATA3-600.
HomeyJay
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May 30th, 2017 15:00
CrystalDiskMark gives a figure of 2800 read and around 1200 write. Not sure which one is correct!
covfefe
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May 31st, 2017 01:00
two questions:
1. what model is it exactly?
2. do you have latest chipset drivers installed?
HomeyJay
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May 31st, 2017 08:00
It's the i7 6700 cpu, 4K screen, nvidia 1070 graphics, 1TB HD model. I've updated to the latest chipset drivers and Dell update says there's nothing else left to update..
covfefe
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May 31st, 2017 09:00
sorry. i should be clearer. i ment the model of your new ssd. 256 GB ssd is usually slower then 1 TB for example.
try to disable all the firewalls and antivirus tools and then run crystal disk mark again.
Tesla1856
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May 31st, 2017 10:00
Yep. I think it has to do with the way the memory banks are arranged (and maybe even the way the controller-cores are assigned). Anyway, "good catch" that you noticed that too.
Tesla1856
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May 31st, 2017 10:00
Different benchmarks use different file-sizes and measurement metrics. For instance, notice Crystal has 4 different ways to measure. Obviously, we usually compare with the larger-file sequential number.
HomeyJay
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May 31st, 2017 12:00
Its a Samsung 960 EVO M.2 256gb model
Carbon Based Lifeform
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May 31st, 2017 14:00
yeah. the package says up to 3,2 GB/s Read and 1,9 GB/s Write. which means it's not guaranteed. My Samsung 960 Pro SSD is as fast as advertised, but i have to stop all unnecessary Processes and run the machine in Performance Mode. and only CrystalDiskMark is able to squeeze everything out of the SSD.
I know, it blows to have those Benchmark Results, but those Results are the absolute Best Case Scenario. they have nothing to do with Real Time Performance. my advice? let it go. just install your favorite game and be amazed by how fast it actually is.
ydumais
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June 1st, 2017 07:00
Have the same setup as you and observed the same issue.
To fix it, I changed to AHCI mode instead of RAID in the BIOS because the 960 EVO M.2 interface is NVMe.
Check step 2 in the following guide : Upgrading to an SSD - Alienware User Support
HomeyJay
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June 1st, 2017 12:00
I couldn't install Windows on SSD in RAID mode anyway - it would ask for a driver and even if I provided it, it couldn't find it. I had to switch the machine over to AHCI mode and then it installed Win10 quite happily. The machine is still in AHCI mode as I read that you couldn't just switch from one mode to another without re-installing Windows anyway!
Just running through that link now to see what I've not done!