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    14x SATA II, SATA III Benchmark Comparison - BIOS Enabled or Disabled Discussion

    Discussion in 'Alienware 14 and M14x' started by anand00x, May 11, 2011.

  1. Jetbo

    Jetbo Notebook Consultant

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    Dont give them ideas.
     
    Jetbo, May 13, 2011
    #51
  2. TitanGod

    TitanGod Notebook Evangelist

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    How about no SATA III until the M14x R2

    then I would get all rowdy up in this .......


    $1K+ for SATA III ports -____-
     
    TitanGod, May 13, 2011
    #52
  3. shnarf

    shnarf Notebook Consultant

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    This is Weird... I just RMA'd my 240GB Vertex3 because it would show as SATAII in the intel storage manager occasionally. however about 1/2 the time i would boot it up it would connect at SATAIII and it was verified by ATTO benchmarks. i thought i had got a bad drive but now i wonder if it was an issue with the chipset all along. I tried different SATA drivers before sending it back and i could hit rated speeds when it connected at 6GB but when it said it was connected at 3GB the benchmarks showed it. I guess i wont know till i get another drive now and newegg is out of stock ETA 6/3 so it looks like it ill be a few before i find out. I did get a few hard locks and BSOD's as well as the inconsistencies with connection speed so i still think teh drive was jacked but im not so sure now....
     
    shnarf, May 13, 2011
    #53
  4. anand00x

    anand00x Notebook Evangelist

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    My whole post is about me testing the SATA III drive on the M14x. You can see it reaches nowhere near the actual speeds of a SATA III 6.0 GB-s.
     
    anand00x, May 13, 2011
    #54
  5. TitanGod

    TitanGod Notebook Evangelist

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    It caps out like at 250 MB read/write...

    My question is...

    Can dell get in trouble for advertising SATA III for the M14x and not making it available ?
     
    TitanGod, May 13, 2011
    #55
  6. ted264

    ted264 Notebook Consultant

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    it would be false advertising... Im thinking that the bios update will address this as well... i dont think they would do this unless there was compatibility issues like there seems to be. they prob wanted to out the product before the competition and grab the most users like Apple did with the ipad....

    If there is not sata 3 and the dell rep lied to me I will return this altho its the best laptop out there. (in my eyes)
     
    ted264, May 13, 2011
    #56
  7. shnarf

    shnarf Notebook Consultant

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    i just RMA'd a 240GB vertex3 to newegg because it would only connect at 6GB about 1/2 the time. this was verified by ATTO and i WAS getting 550MB reads and about 520MB writes. however when it would show up in the intel disk management as being connected at 3GB it would max out at around 265ish. i thought my drive was bad and am still convinced it was as i got some BSOD's and hard freezes as well. they are out of stock ATM with a ETA of 6/3 so looks like it will be a couple weeks before i can find out anymore. But just to clarify, YES, THE VERTEX3 CAN CONNECT AT SATAIII 6GB ON THE M14X. it did on mine, just not all the time.
     
    shnarf, May 13, 2011
    #57
  8. EastcoastSix13

    EastcoastSix13 Notebook Enthusiast

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    EastcoastSix13, May 13, 2011
    #58
  9. TitanGod

    TitanGod Notebook Evangelist

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    So here is the latest from dell... They replied back to my tweet.

    I'm sure you'll find my twitter name on twitter but just keep it to yourselves please.

    [​IMG]

    The image should be below 500X500 from what photobucket says lol
     
    TitanGod, May 13, 2011
    #59
  10. madmantm

    madmantm Notebook Consultant

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    DELL doesn't care about alienware owners.
     
    madmantm, May 13, 2011
    #60
  11. anand00x

    anand00x Notebook Evangelist

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    How did you achieve these scores I installed a brand new vertex 3 in a brand new m14x i swapped out my kingston installed windows installed all drivers ran atto and got the scores you see in the first post of this discussion.
     
    anand00x, May 13, 2011
    #61
  12. Paddon

    Paddon Notebook Evangelist

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    anand00x can you tell me how to do this, i have the same exactly same spec as you ( proc & Vertex 3 )

    i could run test
     
    Paddon, May 13, 2011
    #62
  13. Arganon

    Arganon Notebook Enthusiast

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    I am having the same problem as you anand, my m14x recognizes my 120 vertex 3 as sata 2 only. These are my benchmarks

    [​IMG]
     
    Arganon, May 13, 2011
    #63
  14. Paddon

    Paddon Notebook Evangelist

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    Paddon, May 13, 2011
    #64
  15. bc1208

    bc1208 Newbie

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    Seriously Dell? You want people to return your machine that bad? :(
    I'll be on the phone with them next week to see what they going to do.
     
    bc1208, May 13, 2011
    #65
  16. Rob2Kx

    Rob2Kx Notebook Geek

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    Well at least we know Dell cares... about money.
     
    Rob2Kx, May 13, 2011
    #66
  17. EastcoastSix13

    EastcoastSix13 Notebook Enthusiast

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    The only things that I did differently was install my vertex 3 and do a fresh install of windows 7 pro and installed drivers instead of coping over what came with the laptop.
     
    EastcoastSix13, May 13, 2011
    #67
  18. tehd00d111

    tehd00d111 Notebook Enthusiast

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    K just installed an M4 into my m14x and got these scores after a fresh install of windows and graphics + wireless drivers. Does this help any?

    [​IMG]
     
    tehd00d111, May 13, 2011
    #68
  19. c1ro

    c1ro Notebook Consultant

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    it seems fresh install of windows = unleash sata3 bandwidth ? WTH Dell has done with their copy of windows?? :eek:
     
    c1ro, May 13, 2011
    #69
  20. FlipBack

    FlipBack Notebook Evangelist

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    That does indeed look like it is greater than the maximum bandwidth of SATA 3.0
     
    FlipBack, May 13, 2011
    #70
  21. tehd00d111

    tehd00d111 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I am however having slow boot problems. During the "Starting Windows" part of the boot, it hangs for like 3 minutes. I thought SSDs are suppose to be way faster than that.
     
    tehd00d111, May 13, 2011
    #71
  22. TitanGod

    TitanGod Notebook Evangelist

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    Sometimes my bios hangs before the windows logo pops up :(

    But yea the speeds do look almost like Sata III in the previous piks...

    Wonder what it is we are not seeing...
     
    TitanGod, May 13, 2011
    #72
  23. anand00x

    anand00x Notebook Evangelist

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    For the time being I put an Intel X25-M G2 160GB in my machine. Seems to be running much smoother than anything else I have put in so far. Definitely stripping these cheap screws down every-time I go in haha. Now the question is how did EastcoastSix13 get similar scores to my desktop running true 6.0 GB-s when it seems like no one else gets close to 500+ MB/s.

    Here are my Intel G2 benchmarks. I am impressed with the smaller file read writes which is why the G2 seems to feel noticeably faster than the Kingston, Vertex 2 and Vertex 3 ssds in this machine. Most exe files are small and this is where the G2 shines but it gets killed by the Vertex series in the larger files. You can see using From EastcoastSix13 benches on his atto score even at 2.0 the G2 vs Vertex 3 (SATA III) write speed kills 38718 vs 64191 nd Read of 61643 vs 93220

    [​IMG]


    Overall enjoying the G2 the most so far unfortunately.
     
    anand00x, May 13, 2011
    #73
  24. anand00x

    anand00x Notebook Evangelist

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    Download ATTO here
     
    anand00x, May 13, 2011
    #74
  25. tehd00d111

    tehd00d111 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Installed chipset drivers and my score drastically decreased.
     
    tehd00d111, May 13, 2011
    #75
  26. Jetbo

    Jetbo Notebook Consultant

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    Did the people who got sata III working, when they installed windows did you use the disk that came with the m14x or your own version of windows also, tehd what speeds did you get after the chipset driver, and if you uninstall does it seem to go faster
     
    Jetbo, May 14, 2011
    #76
  27. EastcoastSix13

    EastcoastSix13 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yes you are correct, but I don't see too many exe files that are 2kb.
     
    EastcoastSix13, May 14, 2011
    #77
  28. EastcoastSix13

    EastcoastSix13 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Just did some testing, if I unplugged my caddy with my hdd and just have the the ssd running it comes up at SATA II GB/s. And if I have my caddy with hdd connected the vertex 3 ssd shows up as SATA III 6 GB/s. I will do more testing tomorrow when the GSL finals aren't on.
     
    EastcoastSix13, May 14, 2011
    #78
  29. Arganon

    Arganon Notebook Enthusiast

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    This is very interesting, please let us know more when you can.
     
    Arganon, May 14, 2011
    #79
  30. anand00x

    anand00x Notebook Evangelist

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    So there is still hope.
     
    anand00x, May 14, 2011
    #80
  31. DustoMan

    DustoMan Notebook Guru

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    I replied back to them and they asked me to contact @dellprosupport about this issue. We'll see what they say.
     
    DustoMan, May 14, 2011
    #81
  32. anand00x

    anand00x Notebook Evangelist

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    HOWW? in the next thread Dell themselves say it is not enabled or available???? How are you reaching those speeds? What exactly did you do from start to finish?
     
    anand00x, May 14, 2011
    #82
  33. anand00x

    anand00x Notebook Evangelist

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    EastcoastSix13 is your vertex 3 plugged into your previous dvdrw SATA port while your 500GB is plugged into the SATA factory HD port?
     
    anand00x, May 14, 2011
    #83
  34. EastcoastSix13

    EastcoastSix13 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I put the ssd in the port that the original hdd was in. I'm returning my m14x so it will be a while before I can do testing on the ssd.
     
    EastcoastSix13, May 14, 2011
    #84
  35. solrac13

    solrac13 Notebook Evangelist

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    These seems great, be nice if we can get a clear answerer to this ASAP

    As I am tempted swap, to the M11 R3 if no clear answerer soon !

    BR
    JC
     
    solrac13, May 15, 2011
    #85
  36. Tsukurimashou

    Tsukurimashou Notebook Evangelist

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    Swap if you wan't, unless you don't need the ultra portability and the really good battery life you'll be disapointed.
     
    Tsukurimashou, May 15, 2011
    #86
  37. 2GStyle

    2GStyle Notebook Geek

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    Just wanted to move this over from another thread so people know
     
    2GStyle, May 16, 2011
    #87
  38. anand00x

    anand00x Notebook Evangelist

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    You are the only one getting SATA III speeds 500 MB-s Read /Writes sell me your laptop and ill return mine to Dell. Seems like you have the golden ticket. If I read your post right in order to achieve Sata III speeds we need to have a HD caddy plugged into the DVD rw sata port and once both are plugged in apparently we can achieve SATA III speeds. Can you tell us where your caddy is from (link) and also what model hd you have plugged into your caddy. This may be the work around to getting SATA III Speeds since Dell does not want to give us access to it. HARDWARE HACK :D
     
    anand00x, May 16, 2011
    #88
  39. anand00x

    anand00x Notebook Evangelist

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    Is it worth getting 1866 memory. Aren't we maxed out at 1600?
     
    anand00x, May 16, 2011
    #89
  40. Jetbo

    Jetbo Notebook Consultant

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    Worth it compared to what, how much are you paying for 1866 vs 1600? I payed 99 dollars for 8gb cat 9 latency 1600mhz
     
    Jetbo, May 16, 2011
    #90
  41. EastcoastSix13

    EastcoastSix13 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have the cheap optibay hdd caddy for a macbook from ebay. My inclination is that is has something to do with the drivers, when I took my screenshot I had jsut done a fresh install of windwos 7 and did not have the drivers installed yet.
     
    EastcoastSix13, May 16, 2011
    #91
  42. mojorific

    mojorific Notebook Consultant

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    Just received my Alienware m14x today, and wanted to share what changed when I upgraded to a Vertex 2 SSD.

    Stock Configuration (Seagate Momentus 750GB 7200RPM):


    http://img706.imageshack.us/i/stockm14xatto.jpg/
    http://img36.imageshack.us/i/stockm14xwindow.jpg/

    Upgraded Configuration (OCZ Vertex 2 240GB SSD):

    http://img189.imageshack.us/i/m14xvertex2atto.jpg/
    http://img33.imageshack.us/i/m14xvertex2winex.jpg/


    I ran into a problem where installing the Intel Rapid Storage Technology component would cause the system to lock up and the Vertex 2 to perform badly. Upgraded the firmware on the Vertex 2, and just left the Intel Rapid Storage component off the system.

    Anyone having similar issues with Intel Rapid Storage? Seems like an odd problem. Have uninstalled and installed it multiple times, and every time it creates a unstable system that requires me to system restore to an earlier point.

    Happy with the speed of this system. For those wondering, i'm running the
    3 Gig GT555M, 4 core 2820QM 2.30 GHz, 8 Gig 1600Mhz Ram.

    My 3dMark 11 score was: P1347 3DMarks
     
    mojorific, May 17, 2011
    #92
  43. DustoMan

    DustoMan Notebook Guru

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    So, IMO we either need a BIOS update, a Intel RST driver update, or both. Probably the Intel RST driver since it hasn't been updated since December, and if it was the BIOS I don't think it we would be seeing SATA III enabled at all. I'm sure the chipset design might have been completed back in December, but you can't account for everything once the hardware is out in the wild. Intel seems to be having QA issues if you think back to the Sandy Bridge SATA problem when it launched.

    @mojorific I'm guessing you did a clean install?
     
    DustoMan, May 17, 2011
    #93
  44. mojorific

    mojorific Notebook Consultant

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    Yes I did a clean install.

    Installed drivers from the resource CD and from online. Funny thing I found was that the resource CD did not include the Dell Bluetooth drivers and it wasn't shown on the m14x driver download page at dell.com.

    I had to do a google search to find it and install it from another systems driver page at dell.

    Still wary about trying to install the Intel Rapid Storage Technology. I don't think it will improve performance any (since i'm not using a RAID configuration). If they do an update to the software, maybe i'll try it again. SSD performance is great - loving the speed and heat under the keypad is much less than the 7200 RPM drive (although there is still some heat generated from the SSD). It is noticeably quieter and I don't feel the vibration like I did either.

    I have a drive caddy on the way, but I may end up leaving it out if I find the heat is too much. Both drives would be stacked on top of each other.
     
    mojorific, May 17, 2011
    #94
  45. DustoMan

    DustoMan Notebook Guru

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    So I'm poking around the Intel Support Forum and came across this thread:
    SSD Performance problem on H67: Intel Communities

    This guy has a theory that it's a bad graphics driver that's hindering SSD performance. If you look at the middle of the page, one of the posters reported problems since installing graphics driver 8.15.10.2321 which happens to be the graphics driver that's posted on Dell's support page. He installed a newer version-8.15.10.2342 which fixed a problem he was having with HDMI and more importantly, fixed his SSD performance. Just another theory to try, I can't work on this until my SSD arrives tomorrow- possibly today.

    EDIT: Also found a link to a french website that posts newer OEM drivers for RST. Use with caution.
    http://www.station-drivers.com/page/intel raid.htm
     
    DustoMan, May 17, 2011
    #95
  46. mojorific

    mojorific Notebook Consultant

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    I only tried the dell nvidia driver after upgrading the SSD.

    I did try the laptopvideo2go driver on the 750GB momentus drive, but my 3dmark11 score actually went down by 10-15 points vs. the dell driver.

    I'll try and attempt the intel rapid storage technology driver again tonight. I finished updating windows with service pack 1. Perhaps the problem is that I was installing it on a system without all the updates completed yet. I'm going to be careful and set a system restore point before I try it again just in case.
     
    mojorific, May 17, 2011
    #96
  47. DustoMan

    DustoMan Notebook Guru

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    Oh they were talking about the driver for the integrated Intel HD Graphics driver. Not the Nvidia.
     
    DustoMan, May 17, 2011
    #97
  48. xAtLx

    xAtLx Notebook Consultant

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    So... for right now just stick with the SATA II ?
     
    xAtLx, May 18, 2011
    #98
  49. JADCampbell

    JADCampbell Notebook Enthusiast

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    The latest Intel HD drivers are here, they are 8.15.10.2361: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...Premium, 64-bit version*&DownloadType=Drivers

    I'll be interested to see the outcome of this. It is bizarre, and like many, I'd rather not choose an SSD until I know what speeds I'll get...
     
    JADCampbell, May 18, 2011
    #99
  50. ted264

    ted264 Notebook Consultant

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    I Am in the same boat..... I called and they stated yes its Sata 3 "capable" but looking at the thread it seems its capable but the drivers dell/intel provide will clock it to sata II,

    In contrast I am starting to wonder if they never intend to fix the degration of the chip......

    "Early Monday, Intel identified a problem with its Cougar Point chipset family affecting SATA 3 Gb/s ports, specifically. Though it's only expected to affect 5% of systems over three years, enthusiasts pushing lots of data should wait for a fixed platform." Intel Identifies Cougar Point Chipset Error, Halts Shipments


    Im wondering if they are still shipping the bad chips and not allowing us what we paid for....
     
    ted264, May 18, 2011
    #100
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