How to properly benchmark test the Intel 750 PCIe SSD (NVMe Based) Drive

[TScha5]

Hi all,

I recently built a new PC and ran some benchmark tests with CrystalDiskMark and I think I'm getting good numbers but I'm not sure. After having watched a few YouTube videos about this topic, it seems I might not have the correct version of CrystalDiskmark. Apparently you need one that is NVMe based...?? Or at least you did a few months ago. Could someone here have a look at this benchmark pic I have attached and tell me if I am using the right version of CrystalDiskMark? Or is every version currently available NVMe-compatible..?

Some other questions that I think many of us would find helpful are:

1.) Is there any particular way to set the crystaldiskmark test to properly benchmark the new Intel 750 PCIe drive?

2.) What does each one represent? Which one is the "true" Sequential number..? The "Seq" or the "Seq Q32T1"..? Same for 4k....??? And how do I find IOPS?? (Anybody know of a good explanation/tutorial on this subject that you could provide a link to...?)

3.) What other tests might we consider using to benchmark test our Intel 750 drives to make sure they're running the way they should and we're getting optimal performance from them?

Mind you I don't think I have updated to the Intel NVMe drivers yet (I'm on my old PC at the moment so I can't look just yet) but I will update to theirs (Intel's) if I'm still using the default NVMe drivers from Windows 10. And from what I understand that could make a dramatic improvement in and of itself.

PC Build:

CPU: Intel i7-6700k Skylake

Motherboard: GA-Z170X Gaming 7 Gigabyte w/ BIOS F6b (the one you will need if you're having cold boot issues)

GPU: EVGA GeForce 970 Graphics Card

RAM: G.Skill 16GB DDR4

PSU: Corsair 750W

Primary Drive: Intel 750 PCIe SSD 1TB

Secondary Drive: HGST 8tb Ultrastar 7200RPM HDD

Thanks!

-Tyson

[NMeye3 · Accepted solution]

Intel has posted a very good guide using the program IOMeter. Here it is: http://download.intel.com/support/ssdc/hpssd/ssd-750/sb/intel_ssd_750_series_evaluation_guide_332075... http://download.intel.com/support/ssdc/hpssd/ssd-750/sb/intel_ssd_750_series_evaluation_guide_332075...

If you read through the guide on IOMeter (posted on iometer's website under documentation tab) I think you will get a much better understanding of the different tests. As far as evaluating your results from CyrstalDiskMark, it's basically the first row of output that you want to match to intel's sequential read and write spec. As for the rest, check out this video at time stamp 25:17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMSq8nmDTO0 Fastest SSD Ever! Intel SSD 750 with JJ from ASUS - YouTube (on Paul's Hardware Youtube channel)

JJ from Asus should know what he is doing based on this video done with Intel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxpwmrmw6jI Intel 750 Series SSD Interview - Newegg TV - YouTube

(on Newegg Youtube channel)

I think based on the video linked above that you have a recent enough version to test intel's drive. I think CrystalDiskMark ver. 4 and above work.

[TScha5]

Awesome, that's exactly what I was looking for, thanks so much cbartowski!!!