Brand new Kingston V+ 64GB SSD - What's up?!

Just installed it this afternoon as part of a clean install on my ProBook 4720s and the performance is absymal.

Now I did accidentally install Win 7 onto the smaller of the two partitions I created (I always keep my general stuff separate from audio/media). So I tried to use GParted to move things around, that didn't work, therefore I re-installed the OS, this time onto the larger partition I created after a format within the setup.

Could this schoolboy error be to blame for only a 5.9 HDD score on Windows Experience and this very low benchmark?




FYI - AHCI default set in bios, updated drivers, Windows Update etc. Nothing else installed apart from Paragon Backup and Recovery Free. Turned off superfetch, defrag and indexing.

Need some help methinks. Thanks!

 

Bizarrely a second bench @ 50MB rather than 100MB is better and much more where I expected it to be. Only thing I did was reboot again and have a look in the bios, I changed nothing.



Now I'm curious. . . Going to see what the new Windows Experience score is.

Edit - gone up a point to 6.9.

Is the drive sorting itself out?

 

Try installing the Intel Rapid Storage Driver.

PS. I wouldn't partition it. But I'm sure about the downsides.

Edit: I meant: I'm not sure about the downsides.

 

I'll take a look at that.

What downsides are there to partitioning an SSD?

 

I meant to say I'm not sure about the downsides

 

Ok so I've install the Intel Rapid Storage driver and after a reboot there's no massive change, just a slight improvement on those lower benches. Probably about par going by what I saw online prior to purchase.



Is it worth updating the bios to the latest on the HP site or is that unlikely to do anything?

 

Try Atto benchmark.

Here's for comparison:
Overclock3D :: Review :: Kingston SSDNow V+ 64GB :: Synthetic Benchmarks

I don't think you need BIOS update for the SSD but it might be a good idea for other reasons.

 

Did you get a good deal on it?

I'm not terribly surprised by your last results. On the 128GB version we saw better CDM results (500MB), so you should expect a little drop off with that smaller capacity.



Recheck at 500MB and post the results.

 

Updated the bios, then did that bench.



Definitely seeing that drop off in the region of 5-10%, slightly more with the random 4k write.

Dealwise - no, not especially. I had been deciding between the Kingston and the C300 64GB, Foremost in my mind for my first SSD purchase was UK support/RMA, I don't need the hassle of sending to the Netherlands (apologies to Phil!). The 128GB Crucial was too expensive this time around and I was swayed, due to my desire to play with hefty blocks of audio, to go with the higher sequential writes of the V+. Perhaps a decision of folly, however I had to make a decision as I'd been umming and errring for over a week and my old HP was being traded in (it went today). Depending on how this goes it was always my intention for this drive to end up in my netbook, so we'll see how it pans out.

@Phil

The ATTO bench. . .



A mixed bag it seems, generally down on that review, one mark slightly higher.

Overall slightly disappointing but considerably better than the initial test. Enough tests for now.

 

Today, I checked with Kingston, the delightful lady on tech support agreed the headline rates were below average. After a few different checks including a low level format, it was still the same. Therefore they are going to do an RMA and they want feedback on the new drive.

However, in other news something is distinctly screwy with my machine. I have completely lost my wired ethernet connection. It's just gone! I can't believe opening the machine up and swapping the drives around a couple of times could have done anything lethal to it. I've tried drivers, restoring a backup image I made, another OS re-install, nothing working! Wireless is there but the lan's gone.

So it looks like as well as the drive going back, the PC will too!

Bad times!

 

I don't think the numbers are that bad really, compared to our drive. I'd be surprised if a new one is much different, but let us know what happens.

 

Agreed. Overclock3d posted very similar scores too.

 

Quick update. . .

My RMA has been approved but both myself and a guy at Kingston tech support wanted to check out the IDE performance. So after a clean install of Win 7 with IDE mode set in the bios (very slow comparative install) we gets some quite similar, and in some instances marginally better, results.

CrystalDisk @ 50MB



@ 100MB



ATTO



Therefore I'm wondering if there is an issue with my ProBook running in AHCI mode? Which leads me to the question. . . What should on average be the difference percentage wise with benchmarks between the two modes on the majority of machines?

 

A quick update on this. . .

As expected the replacement drive has pretty similar benches to before, therefore I won't post any snaps. Oddly some variance in CrystalDiskMark if I set the partition to D:, why that might be I don't know. Essentially though it performs the same. Real world use has been good, it's quick, just not quite blow you away quick.

One thing worth noting is Win 7 doesn't seem to recognise the drive as an SSD, therefore it doesn't automatically disable things such as defrag. So I've had to go down the manual optimization route. Also this has had a knock on effect, the app Auslogics Disk Defrag has a setting for not showing SSD drives, this does not work with the V+, you have to manually untick them. Perhaps this is down to some threshold in Win 7 that 'deduces' whether a drive is an SSD? If that's the case the peformance of the V+ doesn't reach it (FYI - I get a 6.9 in Windows Experience).

Overall I don't have any regrets, next time I will probably go for a different brand. Having said that I can't fault Kingston for their service and interest in the issues raised.

 

In case you have a notebook with Intel Series 5 chipset you could try one of the tweaks mentioned in the other thread.

Looking at your scores I think it could help.

Regedit:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Intelppm

Change "Start" from 3 to 4

Re run CDM with 50MB filesize and compare to previous result.

 

It is a Series 5. I haven't looked at the latest thread (I presume http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/513313-laptops-w-intel-series-5-chipset-can-not-take-full-advantage-fast-ssds.html), currently I have defrag disabled, superfetch enabled, prefetch enabled, paging file enabled, Rapid Storage driver installed.

 

You might want to try the tweak I specified.

 

Which page/post should I be looking at?

 

Try post nr.15 in this thread

 

Did you install the Intel Rapid Storage driver via "Setup" or via "Drive Manager"?
This made a great difference for me.

 

Can you clarify what difference it made to you and... which way you actually installed it that made this difference?

 

During my various 'tests' I've done both, saw no discernible difference between the two, perhaps some marginal improvement overall.

 

Have you tried the tweak yet?

Here's what it did for me:
Before


After


Crucial C300 64GB in Acer 1830T

 

Just catching up here. . . No, I haven't. I think I viewed your reply before it was edited to include the link. Are there any negatives to that reg change?

 

First try that tweak to see if it makes any difference.

If it works you can observe if it has any side effects (battery life, heat or noise).

 

I had quick read of the StorageReview.com article that was posted a couple of weeks back as it provided a good summary of the situation. I see this is the second tweak that allows the CPU to idle. I've applied it as you've posted and not added the second regedit as per StorageReview.

Well the bench score difference is dramatic to say the least!

With AC conntected -



Initial observation is that the fan is clearly blowing much harder which is not great when one of your main reasons for going solid state was noise. It may be because the battery is charging currently from flat but I'll see if it's the same when relatively idle, that could be the trade-off for performance with my model.

I'm guessing like most other users I'd prefer a happy medium, so until someone finds one I'll probably return to the norm. Question is has anyone heard a peep from Intel about any of this?

Edit - fan did dip down to it's regular low setting even while still charging. However it quickly ramped up when I started browsing again and then ran the Windows Experience Index. Curiously despite the benchmark improvement, the HDD score stayed still at 6.9.

 

I've got a 64GB V+ now too. It uses very little power.

Did you only partition 40GB? To avoid performance degradation? I don't think it's necessary for this drive.

PS. I only use the tweak (intelppm 4) when I install something because it doesn't impact real world performance otherwise.

 

If I remember rightly when I was comparing the 64GB V+ uses about the same as the equivalent C300, perhaps a tiny bit less.

Yes, it's a 2/3 spilt. I'm only using about 24GB overall. I've been getting organised and consolidating my external drives so as yet I've not been dumping much data onto the D: partition.

With the tweak, at what point exactly are you doing this in your testing? After a fresh install or a clone? And when was it discovered that it wasn't impacting in real world terms? So I guess I might as well return back to the "3" value unless I want to reinstall? I think I need to catch up on some thread reading for the latest. . .

 

In my experience the tweak only affects installation performance (I tested file copies, multi tasking, launching and booting). If someone can show me otherwise I'd be very interested.

So only if I install updates or a program it makes sense to enable it, depending how large the updates/program is.

I think the V+ is more power efficient than the C300. If you have have other information I'd like to see it.

 

Purely on the vendor stats the 64 C300 sneaks it.

http://www.crucial.com/pdf/Tech_specs-letter_Crucial_2.5_RealSSD_C300_v7-15-10_online.pdf

Kingston Technology Company - Solid State Drives - SSDNow V+ Series Drive

As for other's tests, I don't know.

We'll have to see what develops as the general SSD market uptake increases. I do hope Intel are at the very least taking a look at this. I'll stick with the change for 24hrs then switch back.

Edit - One thing I will do is forward this info to one of my contacts @ Kingston's EU tech support.

 

Manufacturers' stats are usually unreliable.

Here are some real measurements:



- The Tech Report -

My own experience with the V+ confirms this.