Why is the Intel 750 Slow to boot?

[RLaBa1]

Howdy Everyone. Just picked up the Intel 750 1.2TB SSD card. Installed it on my X99 Asus Rampage V board and installed Windows 7 X64 without a problem. However, I am seeing a boot performance issue. This drive is taking about 25 seconds to boot, approximately 13 seconds longer than my Samsung 850 EVO. Did a little Googling on this and apparently, I am not the only one. I have read several reviews and the ones that measure boot time / performance will say this is the slowest SSD to boot. I have provided the link below as an example.

http://techreport.com/review/28050/intel-750-series-solid-state-drive-reviewed/5 Intel's 750 Series solid-state drive reviewed - The Tech Report - Page 5

Intel - Is this going to be fixed in a future firmware release? I wont be able to justify keeping this card if first generation SSD's still outperform in terms of booting.

Thanks,

Randman76

X99 Rampage V

I-7 5960X OC to 4.4 ghz

Corsair Vengeance (4x4GB)

980 GTX-SLI

1200W PSU

[BWent]

I am experiencing the same thing that Randman76 is and I've heard that enumeration may be the cause and it is good that you've confirmed that. While it is good that we know the cause, I'm interested in understanding when it will be fixed. I'm sure I, like others, did not spend more than $1,000 for this SSD to have it run slower in any respect.

[jbenavides]

Hello,

Please review the following thread for information about the most common causes for slow performance with the Intel® SSD 750 Series:

1. The https://downloadcenter.intel.com/search?keyword=Intel%C2%AE+SSD+750+Series Intel® Solid-State Drive Data Center Family for PCIe Drivers should be used. The Inbox driver from Windows will let you use the drive, but the performance difference is noticeable.

2. The PCIe link speed and bandwidth may not be the ones recommended for the Intel® SSD 750. This drive requires PCIe Gen 3.0 x4 (four lanes) to operate according to specifications.

You can check the related thread for details and recommendations.

[BWent]

Hello Jonathan. The drive is in a PCIe Gen 3.0 slot x4 as reported by the SSD Toolbox and I also have the latest Intel NVMe driver installed. The issue is it's poor boot performance since it performs well enough once the system is running. What are Intel's plans to address the boot issue?

[RLaBa1]

Jonathan - I would also have to agree that my card is occupied in an PCIE GEN 3.0 slot. As dBannon pointed out, once booted in Windows it performs great, I get the advertised speed / performance. It is the actual boot process that is slow. Let me give you more details on what I am experiencing....

1. I power up the motherboard.

2. I receive the Asus Post Screen

3. I receive the Windows 7 startup screen and the Widows flag begins to animate.

4. Once the Windows flag fully appears on the screen, both the amber and green lights on the SSD go out. A few seconds later, the green light comes back on followed by the Amber light and the SSD continues to boot.

That entire process on step# 4 takes approximately 12-13 seconds (twice the time by last SSD took to boot)

This issue is not isolated to just a few users, This is something that "The Tech Report", who previously reviewed this drive was able to duplicate.

http://techreport.com/review/28050/intel-750-series-solid-state-drive-reviewed/5 Intel's 750 Series solid-state drive reviewed - The Tech Report - Page 5

According to the previous tech, aleki_intel, this is a known issue. The question is, what is Intel going to do about it?

I look forward to your response.

Thank you,

Randman76

[jbenavides]

We are aware of the longer initialization process with the Intel® SSD 750 Series, but you can be sure our engineers are continuously working on ways to improve this.

It is advised to check regularly for updates to the Intel® Solid-State Drive Data Center Family for PCIe Drivers (currently 1.2.0.1002), and also make sure you have the most recent firmware for your SSD, this can be done using Intel® Solid-State Drive Data Center Tool or Download Intel® Solid-State Drive Toolbox.

The most recent versions are available at thehttps://downloadcenter.intel.com/search?keyword=Intel%C2%AE+SSD+750+Series Intel® SSD 750 Series Download Center.

Additionally, we recommend to keep the BIOS of your motherboard up to date.