Crucial M4 128GB super low 4k Write speed

[oden2005]

So I just installed a Crucial M4 128GB SSD and went through some settings tweaks and now benchmarks show super slow 4k write times. Much lower than what others have seen. Take a look for yourself. Is this an issue with the drive itself or a possible "tweak" misconfiguration? Any thing I can do to fix this or is it just an issue with my particular drive?

Edit: after some searching it looks like this may be related to my Intel RST driver version, 10.5.0.1027 should I go back to a previous version? Seems others are having no issues on 1008.

 

[professorchaos]

Congrats on your purchase, I'm loving my M4...have had no problems after doing LPM disable in registry (had some freezes before.)

Also, if you want to try 0002 firmware, it might fix your issues as well. See the Crucial forum

I had the same issue with 1026/1027 RST and my M4 128GB with 0001 firmware on P67-B3 chipset.

1008 works perfect for me and I have no need to upgrade. 1027 is for Z68 chipsets to support Intel SmartResponse.

 

[oden2005]

Thanks, I actually havent updated to 0002 firmware yet. But I am on a z68 chipset. I'll try firmware 0002 first I suppose.

 

[oden2005]

.have had no problems after doing LPM disable in registry (had some freezes before.).

I'm not sure I have seen anything about LPM disable in registry, do you have a link or instructions on how to do this?

 

[professorchaos]

Here's some numbers from my setup for reference. It's a tad slower than when it was brand new a month ago but still 99% performance.

 

[oden2005]

I just updated to firmware 0002 and my 4k write speeds have increased. I'm still on RST 1027, think i should give 1008 a try?

 

[oden2005]

Ok so I just gave RST 1008 a try and with firmware 002 it looks like everything is relatively the same regardless of RST 1008 or 1027 on firmware 002 with exception of the huge difference in the AS SSD 4k-64thrd benchmark on 1008. Here are some screenshots to show the difference. The first pic is firmware 0002 on RST 1027 the second pic is firmware 002 on RST 1008.

 

[professorchaos]

I would run AS SSD a few times because sometimes it gives bogus readings. I doubt the 64 thread 4k is actually 257MB/s, as the sequential is only 185 (which is right on target).

Unless you're going to be boosting an HDD with Smart Response Tech for Z68 chipsets, stick with whichever Intel RST drives gives you better results, albeit the differences between both seem to be very minor.

 

[Nenenene]

I've just bought a m4 128GB (my first ssd) and my benchmark numbers seem a bit lower than everyone elses. I first installed Windows 7 x64 in IDE mode but have since changed it to AHCI through the registry setting & bios.

Running it on an i5 750 OC @ 3.8GHz
and a Gigabyte P55A-UD3R

I'm not sure if its the motherboard causing the slower speeds as I think the SATA 6gb/s and USB 3.0 share the same controller??? In BIOS I have set it to use the SATA turbo mode which disables the USB 3.0.

Any tips would be appreciated as I am a bit of a noob when it comes to SSD's.

 

[professorchaos]

I've just bought a m4 128GB (my first ssd) and my benchmark numbers seem a bit lower than everyone elses. I first installed Windows 7 x64 in IDE mode but have since changed it to AHCI through the registry setting & bios.

Running it on an i5 750 OC @ 3.8GHz
and a Gigabyte P55A-UD3R

I'm not sure if its the motherboard causing the slower speeds as I think the SATA 6gb/s and USB 3.0 share the same controller??? In BIOS I have set it to use the SATA turbo mode which disables the USB 3.0.

Any tips would be appreciated as I am a bit of a noob when it comes to SSD's.

Congrats on your purchase. Your speeds are fine. It`s a limitation of the older Intel 5-series chipsets that your scores will definitely be a little slower than Intel 6-series chipsets. Just be glad you aren`t on an AMD chipset. Those produce pretty weak benchmark results.

As an aside, the minor differences in benches serve no actual purpose and the real-life differences are negligible at best. So nothing to worry about. If you really want to max the results though, install the Intel RST 1008 driver that I recommended to the OP and you will see a few MB increase in benches.

 

[Nenenene]

Thanks for the reply Prof!