SSD Slow Down in Low Power Mode

I've got an Intel G2 SSD, which I've never really been too impressed with, nor the Agility drive I had either. After trying a bunch of different things, I figured out that when my machine is in low power mode, which almost always how I use my X200, the performance of the SSD is severely curtailed, dropping by over 30%. This is confirmed by the benchmarks and my own real world usage. That makes it seem no better than a platter based drive performance wise in my opinion. I don't know if it's the drive or the notebook, I suspect it's the machine, but that's a guess on my part. I was just curious if anyone using a SSD has been experiencing this as well?

 

Iiiiiinteresting.

I've finally taken delivery of the 160Gb G2's for my TP's recently and I've been wondering why the performance (even when plugged in, but always in the Maximum Battery profile) is much lower than I'd expect an SSD to be.

I was thinking it might be my imagination, but thanks for validating one of my concerns.

Having said that though, Office does start up in a way I'd deem consistent with an SSD. Outlook for example takes about 1.5 secs to launch. However, things like the Thinkvantage tools seem to take an inordinately long time(~11 secs), and a full antimalware sweep also took a heck of a long time - although I can't be sure that this is as a result of any slowness of the SSD.

 

I noticed too that it's not AC/Battery dependent, but whatever the CPU is set to in Power Manager, is what seems to determine the performance of the SSD. As an example, iTunes, which is a slow starter by nature, opens in about 1-2 seconds in maximum performance, 3-4 seconds with the CPU set to adaptive performance or 6-7 seconds in low power mode. I don't really care about the battery life. I've got way more than I need, but when in high performance mode, my fan is a fairly constant presence while in low power mode, my machine is near silent.

You're sold a SSD as the best performance upgrade ever, but oh yeah, you're only getting 60% performance while running in low power mode, which makes it barely better than a platter based drive. You'd think they'd want to mention this before you buy, especially when laptops are all about battery life.

I'm not really sure if this is Lenovo or Intels doing. SSDs certainly do have other benefits like they run cool and quiet, data security and some offer extended battery life. If those have value to you, then perhaps they're worth it. If not, then why are you paying a lot more and giving up a good hunk of space? The whole affair seems a bit underhanded if you ask me.

 

Well, I can't answer the latter query but I can tell you that every other machine I've had around me for a while now is SSD-based, if not around the G2 - and I've never felt this way about any other machine.

I suppose at the outside chance it could be a bad combo.

DO you think this might get a more general response it it was put in the notebook parts forum?

 

I've already got a 12 page thread about my SSD in the hardware forum. I guess I'm just trying to see if other Lenovo users are having the same experience as I am.

 

i just tested my X301...

specs:
X301 2776-3CU
1.6GHz SU9600
4GB DDR3-1066
128GB samsung MMCRE28G8MXP-0VBL1
server 2008 R2 enterprise

maximum battery life mode:
CDM sequential: 220 read / 190 write (average)
launch itunes: 3.8 sec (average)

balanced mode:
CDM sequential: 219 read / 188 write (average)
launch itunes: 2.1 sec (average)

maximum performance mode:
CDM sequential: 222 read / 191 write (average)
launch itunes: 2.1 sec (average)


i tested each scenario three times to get the averages.   it looks like itunes loads slightly slower in battery life mode but benchmarks remain unaffected.

ZaZ - as i said in PM the other day, i think this is an intel power saving issue and has nothing to do with your hardware.

 

Thanks. So how do I get to the bottom of that one? Though you're maximum power savings does seem slower, but the balanced is the same, which was different than mine.

 

my power plan settings are exactly as they come with server 2008 R2 minus changes i made to display brightness and various timeouts.

getting to the bottom of it would require a second system, a non-intel SSD, and perhaps even a copy of 64-bit win 7 to eliminate the OS as a variable.   unfortunately i don't own any intel SSDs to test.   i've only owned samsung SSDs and honestly never gave speed in battery mode a second thought until you asked the other day.

 

I'm more for waiting around for someone to provide a explanation/fix, but if I can be bothered I might exchange the G2 with a Vertex to see if it makes any difference. I have to say that as I said above, in Office apps I get what I expect with an SSD, wherever I might be. It's just that I get this nagging feeling in other general use I don't get elsewhere.

 

unless you have a compelling reason to dump the intel, i'd just keep it if i were you.   at the end of the day, does it really matter if an app takes a few more seconds to launch?   probably not.

besides, intel and samsung are known for having the best reliability in the business.   i wouldn't trade a 160GB intel G2 for an OCZ if i were given the OCZ free.

 

I have two dozen early/mid-'09 250Gb Vertexes scattered about various notebooks and desktops I use, and I haven't had any issues I have to say.

 

Well I don't have any extra notebooks or SSDs laying around I can test. It seems like I paid for one thing and got another, which is what peeves me.

 

i want a free OCZ.. i will use it as a door stopper for something....

But nice explanation of this problem so far, my friend is having this issue too with this SSD and i thought he was drinking too many Monster Energy drinks...

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@Zaz maybe move back to the good old platter hdd. Also maybe you should use TPfancontrol and throttle your fan back to a level that you are comfortable, provided this is not going to cause a CPU thermal shutdown.

 

It's not the fan that bothers me. When I'm in low power mode, it's very quiet, but I don't get the performance from the SSD in low power mode. If I'm at max power there's plenty of performance on the SSD, but the fan is quite audible most of the time. Hence you see my conundrum.

 

indeed a troubling problem.... what is the fan rpm when in high performance mode? when i had the X200 the fan was very quite even in high performance mode....

 

I don't know what the RPM is. I just know it's loud and it comes on when it's just sitting there idling.

 

solution: TPFanControl

 

Since I don't use notebooks as my main machines, especially ones like these which I buy to be portable, they're all set up for maximum runtime. Putting it in a performance mode is not really an option - and I've never really had throughput issues like this with other machines, at least not to a level as - as I said before, that I'm often questioning the performance - this.

Are there things I can specifically tweak to see if this is a CPU direct related issue, or maybe do something with the chipset without impacting runtime too much? The X201T is already on the absolute ragged edge of both my maximum tolerable carry weight (2Kg) and runtime (~<6h in real-life use on maximum power saving, which is how I use the vast majority of my notebooks. I prefer having 8 though).

 

Every time I install TPF control, my system seems to run hotter. I didn't mess with it too much. I ran without it since my system seemed to do better without it.

 

well... you can't expect a system to run in high-perf mode without the fan running and stay cool.   that goes against the first law of thermodynamics (literally).

i'm suggesting TPFC as a solution to your acoustical issue, not the resulting thermal issue.   quiet and cool usually means slow since anything that runs fast produces heat.

it is odd that i can launch itunes faster than your X200 even with my supposedly slow X301 processor in battery life mode though.   i can only think the issue here is your SSD.   perhaps there's some merit to those samsung SSDs after all.   lol

 

That's probably fair, but that's not what your sold when buying one of these. They don't say outstanding performance, but expect 60% of performance when running in low power mode. None of the reviews I've seen have mentioned this, which seems a pretty important factor since these are primarily laptops drives. It's I why I feel a little jipped I guess. It's not the end of the world, but it's close.

I'm interested to see if this is an Intel specific issue or if other drive makers SSDs are performing in the same manner. Anyone with a OCZ, Crucial, Samsung, Kingston, etc., drive care to chime in, besides erik of course?

 

Here's a interesting link:

Does Power-Saving Technology Kill SSD Performance? : Flash SSDs Can Suffer From Power Saving Features

I have a X201 with a Mushkin SSD (new Sandforce controller). It displays the same characteristics as the Intel drive - when the CPU is throttled you don't get optimal performance.

 

That is exactly what I think is going on here, but points to a larger question. Were sold SSDs as the best performance upgrade, but if they're throttled in low power mode, I think they have a lot less value. When I run my machine at full power where it has the SSD is performing at its best, the fan noise becomes an issue. I plan to keep mind only because since I've gotten, I've kind of become used to the quiet operation, but if I had a larger machine that was better at blocking noise, I'd probably dump it.

 

Perhaps apps like iTunes eat up CPU when they open. How is CPU usae in low power mode?

 

Everything is slower in low power mode.

 

Indeed interesting.

"Aggressive Link Power Management (ALPM)

This feature is described in detail in the AHCI 1.x spec. ALPM is a power-saving technique that focuses on the SATA link. When enabled, it allows the host controller and the disk to negotiate when to lower the power of the SATA link. When it is enabled, it can provide power savings of anywhere from .5-1.5 Watts per disk, depending on the system. "

I wonder if connecting an SSD through compatible mode we'll give the same results, since this power saving feature is available only for AHCI.

 

I would give up the battery life for better performance. The nine-cell I have now gives me about 3x what I actually need. I just bought the four cell cause i mainly use it around the house and I've got four AC adapters.

 

I have a T400 with an Intel 80GB ssd like yours and I benched it using CrystalDiskMark in Maximum Perfornance and Maximum Battery with CPU set to lowest and I got similiar results. about 250 read and 80 write. So that means the ssd is not capped with the CPU set to lowest. However, when I open Word or ITunes there is a difference. Word opens in less than a second and Itunes opens in about 2 seconds on peformance. Then on battery Word opens in 2 seconds and Itunes in like 6 seconds.
Therefore, it is not the ssd's fault but rather the CPU. However, I'm sure the ssd is faster than a regular spinner in battery and any other mode.

 

Are the X200 and X201 that much different? Even at max performance settings (in Windows and BIOS) the fan almost never runs and the machine runs cool. Also have an older T61 with the same Intel 80GB SSD as you. Same thing, fan rarely runs and the machine always runs cool.

And to me "SSD" and "value" still can't be used in the same sentence

 

Maybe SSD in question does not implement power management correctly or does this too aggressively. For example, I have Vertex 2 and haven't noticed any slowdowns even on battery with max power savings.

Do you use Intel Matrix(Rapid) Storage driver for SATA controller?

If you do, you can disable both Device-Initiated Power Management and Link Power Management, see if it helps.
Go to all HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor\Parameters\Port* keys in registry
For all these keys (there will be several ports), set values of DIPM and LPM to 0. Reboot the system after you do.

Another option to try would be disabling power management on drive using hdparm. This is independent of link power management, so you must try both options to see if any/both will help.
By using hdparm you can try to force drive to max performance regardless of what OS asks - however you will need to periodically resend this command to keep drive from entering power save (for example, will need to be re-done each time computer reboots). Easely enough done by using Windows Task Scheduler.

 

Well, I guess your machine and mine are different.

 

@kuujinbo

The X201 is different - I don't have his fan issues either.

 

I'll give this a try when I'm back with the 201's tonight. I'm on the Sony Z11 today and jeez it feels like I'm carrying a feather in comparison. I really, really, need Sony to come out with a convertible

Then perhaps it's a Lenovo setting thing? As I've said before, I've not had this in-the-back-of-head feeling 'shouldn't it be faster'? when using anything else with an SSD on batteries.

 

if you pay Sony enough, they should take up on your offer of creating the convertible.