SSD Performance problem on H67

[idata]

I recently built a Demonstration PC to show my customers the speed of the latest Intel Sandy Bridge CPU, Windows 7 and SSD's.

The specs are:

Gigabyte H67MA-D2H Intel Core i5 23002x2GB Kingston DDR3-1333MHZ OCZ 60G Vertex II E Series SSD Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64

No dedicated graphics card.

I noticed the SSD was not performing like it should (below) and could not work out why.

I opened a thread over on the OCZ forum but as SB is new they could not work it out iether.

So I set about working it out for myself and found the problem. I'm hoping Intel provide a solution.

I found the same problem on a new PC I built over the weekend using the new B3 mobo with the fixed chipset so that is not the problem.

Fault Finding Log:

Loaded optimized bios defaultschanged bios to AHCIInstalled Win 7 HP x64 SP1 to 1TB WD Black WD1002FAEX on SATA III Deleting all partitions first.Installed Lan DriverTurned off UACSecure erased SSD with OCZ toolbox v2.33initialised, partitioned and quick formatted SSDRan ATTO v2.46

As you can see the performance is back so it isn't a hardware problem or a Windows problem or an SP1 problem!

Installed latest Intel INF 9.2.0.1025

No great change.

Installed Latest Intel HD Family GFX driver 15.21.12.64.2321

Bingo!!! That certainly looks like the problem. Who would have guessed a graphics driver could do that!

Has anyone else seen performance problems with SSD's on the H67 chipset?

Any ideas on how to fix this problem?

[idata]

Interesting! This is the latest test.

Secure erased SSD with OCZ toolbox v2.33initialised, partitioned and quick formatted SSDRemoved WD black Drive.Installed Win 7 HP x64 SP1 to SSD with HD 5450 GFX card in placeInstalled Lan DriverInstalled latest Intel INF 9.2.0.1025RebootedRan ATTO v2.46Large Write Performance was down 27%!This is with no Intel or ATI GFX driver installed

Took the ATI card out

Large Write Performance is back up to about 266000

So there is no way to have normal SSD write performance and any sort of 3D performance at the same time.

[idata]

I have observed identically impaired SSD performance in my system since the latest Intel Graphics driver 8.15.10.2321 was installed but never made the connection. I am using a Patriot Inferno SSD and saw identical ATTO disk write slowdown since the new graphic driver installation. I also have the greater problem seen in multiple other postings about the BSOD at Windows 7 boot through the HDMI onboard port but not the DVI port that seems to be a result of this new driver.

Intel has clearly frustrated me as I built my latest PC as a HTPC which is worthless without a working HDMI connection and now, thanks to your posting, I have learned this driver has degraded my SSD performance as well which I previously attributed to a TRIM problem. Having been through the H67 chipset recall snafu and the annoyance of reinstalling a new MOBO in mid March that came with these defective drivers, I have serious doubts about Intel's quality checking processes.

So I will try to revert to an earlier graphics driver for the time being as I hope Intel upgrades the drivers to fix BOTH issues.

Gigabyte H67MA-UD2H-B3

[idata]

Thanks for your reply JSK I will try some older drivers and see what happens but as you can see below more tests reveal it may not be a driver issue.

I tested a setting in the Bios called Onboard VGA, it has two options 1) Enable if no ext PEG 2) Always Enable. With the GFX card in but no drivers installed I get good SSD performance with 2) Always Enable and bad performance with 1) Enable if no ext PEG.

You would think having both enabled would use more bandwidth so it may not be a bandwidth issue.

Next test:

I took the GFX card out leaving the bios option on Always Enabled and installed the Intel GFX driver. SSD performance went bad again. So still no way of having 3D and SSD speed.

Built another PC with a GA-P67A-UD3-B3 mobo instead of a H67.

I've just finished building it and find I can not get normal write performace at all!All the options that would make the write performance normal on the H67 mobo are absent on the P67 even without 3D performance.

To summarise I have three different mobos with three different 60GB OCZ SSD's all showing a 27% loss of large write performance.

[idata]

Hi, I too have an under performing ssd with a ga p67-ud7-b3 and two graphics cards in crossfire. I was wondering if either of you guy noticed that all of our motherboards are gigabyte? I wonder if other brands have the same issue? just curious.