Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD

[Acebmxer]

I just received my Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD in today. I unboxed it and connected and started doing some test but not all the test have been completed. Here is a run down of some of the test that I have done or will be doing along with hardware for the test and how I will be doing the tests.

Hardware

X58A-OC i7-920 Overclocked @ 4.2Ghz HT disabled
Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD FW 1.3.3
OS Win7 EntSP1x64

Tests
(Hardware)

1. Marvell 9182 Sata3 ports in AHCI mode
2. Intel Sata2 ports in AHCI mode

(Software)

1. ATTO Disk Benchmark
2. AS SSD Benchmark
3. CrystalDiskMark

(Method)

1. Test the drive on both ports in a empty state.
2. Test the drive on both ports windows fully tweaked for SSD.
3. Test the drive on both ports in a 50% full state.
4. Test the drive on both ports as the OS drive.
5. Do all test with out and with Marvell driver installed?

If anyone has any suggestions or comments on the software, methods of these test please feel free to. I am open to ideas.

[Acebmxer]

Re: Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD

Here are some pics from some tests. Nothing was done to the OS or the drive except formatting the drive with diskpart. I did verify that TRIM was enabled.

This is the Corsair Force GT 120GB on the X58A-OC Marvell 9182 Controller empty drive 4k align



Same test just showing iops in AS SSD Benchmark




This is the Corsair Force GT 120GB on the X58A-OC Intel Sata2 Controller empty drive 4k align



Same test just showing iops in AS SSD Benchmark



Here is the drive with the Marvell drivers installed





This is the Corsair Force GT 120GB on the Z77X-UD3H Intel Sata3 Controller windows is running from the drive and its 4k aligned.

[Acebmxer]

Re: Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD

Ok Installed drive back onto the Sata3 Marvell 9182 controller and installed win7 ENTSP1x64. I did not tell win7 setup to format the drive and it did not either. Looking in computer management>Disk Management Win7 setup did not create the system reserved partion on the ssd. Maybe because my old boot hdd was still connected which had one? When installing I set hdd boot order to 1ssd,2hdd. I then set boot order to hdd cd-rom but I booted from F12.

So far every impressed. Only installed drivers and google chrome. I rebooted 1 time so far only for the drivers then ran some tests. Installing ATI drivers was 10x faster. Just detecting hardware and such would take what would feel like 2 min now is done in like 20 sec. W.E.I score was awesome lowest score is now my cpu

[wazza300]

Re: Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD

thats good scores considering its on marvell ports,doesnt win7 align it automatically at 4k? post your bootracer times :)

[Acebmxer]

Re: Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD

Yeah I was suprised at the scores my self. Right now im still booted off my samsung 320gb hdd. The Corsair is still empty and just followed LSD's directions with diskpart.

About to test the Sata2 ports soon just waiting to see if anyone else any other ideas.

[wazza300]

Re: Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD

you might be better off on marvell,seems like they have fixed the drivers for those ports? i dont think youll see those figures on intel sata2

EDIT: did you think the package was empty ace, when your ssd arrived? i was suprised how light they are

[Acebmxer]

Re: Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD

No marvell drivers installed either I was trying to remember if LSD suggested not installing them. So that will be one of the things ill test.

I didnt think the package was empty just thought it would come shipped in a brown box through UPS not a envelope through the postal service. It was very light.

So I will install the Marvell drivers and do the tests again while it is still on the Marvell ports.

[wazza300]

Re: Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD

im sure lsdme said not to use marvell drivers,just to use what microsoft installs,i think you get less performance with marvell drivers,probably why your seeing good figures

[Acebmxer]

Re: Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD

Updated second post with Intel sata2 tests.

[wazza300]

Re: Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD

looks right for sata2,dont run too many benches though,ssd's and benchmarking dont go together,it can degrade your ssd

EDIT: were you running raid before? or just single hdd?

[Acebmxer]

Re: Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD

Updated posted #3. Installed Win7 on the SSD.

Wazza what boot time programs do you use? Just did some tweaking to disable windows index and prefatch set pagefile to the hdd and this this is freaken fast. The windows logo does not even complete it self. grated nothing is installed yet but damn!!!!!!!

[wazza300]

Re: Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD

bootracer

Download BootRacer - Test your Windows boot speed

[Acebmxer]

Re: Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD

Here are some boot times.

[wazza300]

Re: Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD

mines longer than that,15secs and 29 secs,due to me using different setup as in using ssd for caching the 2tb hdd

[profJim]

Re: Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD

Looking in computer management>Disk Management Win7 setup did not create the system reserved partion on the ssd.

Because you pre-formatted and 4K-aligned your ssd, Recovery is the name of a hidden folder on the ssd boot drive that serves as the system reserved partition.
You can't access this folder when running windows, but you can look at it if you boot from many partition manager programs.
The advantage to this setup is that when you create a backup image of your ssd's boot partition, the recovery partition folder is automatically included.
If win7 formatted an empty ssd, you would need to remember to backup the full ssd, not just your C: drive (i.e. boot partition).

Clear as mud?

Benchmarks are good to verify that everything is okie-dokie, but it will be interesting to see how well your system performs when using the Marvell sata 6Gb/s port versus the Intel sata 3Gb/s port. Hopefully the Marvell port will prove to be stable with your single ssd setup.