Torqx 128GB Read Times disappointing for me

[nrs250]

I just installed Windows XP Pro using the restore function on a Lenovo T61P laptop. I made a backup of my old drive onto an external USB drive, then used Lenovo's proprietary utility to back that image onto the newly installed Patriot SSD.

The computer boots great and seems to work fine. My issue is with performance. I have run various benchmarks:

1) HDTach
2) Everest
3) HDTune

The all report the same: 115-120 MB/s READ MAX

I was expecting: 190-210 MB/s. Almost every review I have read for this drive is glowing. They all brag about 200MB/S random reads. Problem is I am nowhere near that. Do I have a defective drive?

That seems about 50% slower than what I expected. Am I doing something wrong? Does anyone have any tips on what I may want to try next.

I have tried:

Firmware Update from Patriot (that worked fine)
TRIM utility and that worked fine
Disabling indexing on the Patriot drive

Essentially the install went flawlessly. What I left with is performance far below what I expected from this Patriot drive.

[nrs250]

I updated to the latest BIOS and I got a small READ speed bump to 130MB/s using 8 MB write blocks in HDTune. Its still not at where I thought I would be.

[Dreven]

I think the problem is your expecting to get numbers that aren't really possible with XP. Even Vista was designed and tuned to HDD drives only (long before SSD's were more than fantasy). But, at least Vista trys to fill blocks where XP sends partial blocks that can kill SSD performance. Who knows what else - I'm no expert.

If you read through the posts here there are several tweaks you need to do to get max performance in XP anyway (including registry changes).

[AGlobalThreatsK]

If you are using XP the partition should be aligned before installation.

A restore is also definitely NOT the best way to install the OS, especially if you are restoring an OS that was originally installed on a HDD.

http://patriotmem.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1665

You must keep in mind those specs are on a BLANK drive not in use with no OS installed, and those are the MAXIMUM specifications, even with top of the line hardware it will be very difficult to reach the maximum.

You say "The computer boots great and seems to work fine. My issue is with performance."

This statement seems somewhat redundant to me and clearly explains why you feel there is a problem.

Unless you bought the drive specifically to run benchmarks on, there is no need to worry so much about the benchmarks. Every drive will be different, every computer will be different, every benchmark program will be different, and every actual benchmark will even be slightly different. Try not to benchmark the SSD excessively as it will cause wear, and you will need to run the Performance Restore Utility sooner.

Were any of the reviews you read using a Lenovo T61P with a 128GB Patriot Torqx SSD with a restored+unaligned XP OS? ;) You were expecting to get the same results, with different hardware and software.

Do you have all the latest drivers installed?

You can tweak settings to allocate more into cache, disable more, etc, but even if you are able to increase the speed, you will not be able to notice any difference other than in the benchmarks. The access time makes the biggest difference with a SSD vs a HDD, the read and write speed will not be nearly as noticeable during use unless you are transferring gigantic files. I'm sure you want to get the most speed out of your Torqx so I'm not saying give up, but try not to worry about it so much. If the pc boots fast and everything is snappy and fast, I don't see any problems with the performance of the drive :)

[nrs250]

Benchmark Reviews (http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=332&Itemid=60&limit=1&limitstart=9)

This one is amazing:

Guru 3D (http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=332&Itemid=60&limit=1&limitstart=9)

And this one:

Bjorn3D (http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1601&pageID=7090)

The benchmarks are massive. I mean over 200MB/s. That is simply phenomenol. I held out on SSDs until this drive because it seemed like Patriot just blew the doors off SSD performance. I am a bit of a extreme user (i.e. overclocking, watercooling etc.) so I want the absolute bleeding edge of hardware and thats what I expected out of Patriot's Torqx line.

Could anyone post: ATTO or HDTune (ATTO would be better benchmarks).

Also you learn something every day:

If you are using XP the partition should be aligned before installation.

Does Patriot make any mention of this. I have never heard the term "aligning" with respect to OS installation ever. I cannot find any Microsoft documentation on their site that reviews this procedure for installation of Windows class OSes. Is this something new with the advent of SSDs?

[AGlobalThreatsK]

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc938956.aspx

Vista and 7 installers auto-align the partition, as will every other MS OS in the future

You're comparing to overclocked i7's with x58 and ich10. The Guru3d test is showing performance with 1000MB sequential read/writes.... like I said in my original post if you aren't transferring gigantic files there is no need to start worrying about your benchmarking results if the drive is performing great everywhere else.

The speed is in the drive, the speed is in ALL of the drives. Hardware and software optimization will help you attain higher speeds.

[bats]

Essentially the install went flawlessly. What I left with is performance far below what I expected from this Patriot drive.

the performance problem isn't with the drive, it's with your laptop. its southbridge is capped to sata 1.0 speeds (150mb/s max theoretical). do a google search and you'll see you're not alone, regardless of the ssd used.


edit note: here is the explanation for the speed capping:

http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=T_Series_Thinkpads&view=by_date_ascending&message.id=34741#M34741

[bats]

I think the problem is your expecting to get numbers that aren't really possible with XP.

xp can handle ssd transfer speeds just fine. i have several xp machines running various different ssd's that bench the same as they do on vista and w7.