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iMac 2011 + Intel 510 SSD Performance

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peregrines

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 18, 2010
43
0
Yesterday I installed Intel`s SSD 510 (120GB) in my iMac 2011 27 inch (along with a 2TB WD Caviar black)
Today I did some testing and the results are somehow disappointing.

It would be great if other owners of Intel`s 510 can post some benchmark results! Here is mine:
Tested with AJA:
bildschirmfoto20110511uh.png

Write: 131,3
Read: 174,4
720x486 8-bit and 128mb file size

The 510 in system profiler:
bildschirmfoto20110511ua.png


Finally: xbench
bildschirmfoto20110511ue.png


The results should be WAY higher!?
Does anybody have a hint what I did wrong?
 
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Its odd because the drive shows that it is connected at 6Gb/s in system profiler.

Do you have another machine you could try it in?

Might also be a faulty SATA cable? Not enough power? Could be that it has to do with the power cable that it's splitting from, i.e. the HDD power cable which seems to have a special Apple configuration....
 
I have the same 4 wire sata power y-splitter on the 120GB Vertex 3 and I'm getting about 410MB in AZA which is connected into the SATA0 port on the Logic Board.
 
Its odd because the drive shows that it is connected at 6Gb/s in system profiler.

Do you have another machine you could try it in?

Might also be a faulty SATA cable? Not enough power? Could be that it has to do with the power cable that it's splitting from, i.e. the HDD power cable which seems to have a special Apple configuration....
Click to expand...

i have been thinking about that already ... did some testing in win7 over bootcamp ... it seems to be much better but still not good.
maybe i am going to get vertex 3 aswell ... i am kind of tired of playing around for days already!
what do you think about vertex 3 reliability-wise? its the same price here at my retailer so i could probably exchange it.
 
peregrines said:
i have been thinking about that already ... did some testing in win7 over bootcamp ... it seems to be much better but still not good.
maybe i am going to get vertex 3 aswell ... i am kind of tired of playing around for days already!
what do you think about vertex 3 reliability-wise? its the same price here at my retailer so i could probably exchange it.
Click to expand...

Vertex 3 are new on the market so reliability is still unknown. But the Vertex 2 series were pretty good and OCZ have a lot of experience in the field.

I was going for the Intel SSD initially but then the Sandforce controller on the Vertex pulled me on the other side.
 
Something definitely seems screwy there. Here is my result using my '11 MBP and a SATA-II (3Gbps) OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD:

AJA.JPG
 
Not to threadcrap as I don't have much to add but would you care to share how you did this so that others can do the same :)? After that posting on MacRumors' front page I got scared off. Is it easy?
 
I ran the test with the new settings on my 120GB OCZ Vertex 3 and I guess I'm a happy bunny :D

 
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02Eob.png


Here is my XBench score on a 120GB Intel 510 in a 2011 MBP. You sequential read should be much higher. It almost looks like you are only getting SATA II speeds, although I see from your screencap you have a SATA III link speed there. :confused:
 
Thank you for your results!
Yeah, something is wrong here!
Would be VERY interesting to get results from other people`s 2011 iMacs with custom-added third sata devices!
Maybe there is something about power supply ... or its a problem with system-drivers in iMac 2011?
If you know anybody who added a ssd to their 2011 iMacs it would be great to get them to do a benchmark!
I think I can still return it next week ... for Vertex3 or Crucial 300 ... I am just not sooo happy to have to open it again ... and Intels seem to be the most reliable.
I am really thankful for your help and any further advice!
 
I got the same results.

Also installed a Intel 510 SSD with 120GB and left the original WD Caviar Black in my iMac. My SSD is connected to S-ATA 0 and is on a Y-Splitter with the HDD for energy.

I will definitely keep it in there, but still hope there will be a fix.
 
okay ....

I just exchanged my Intel 510 with Vertex3 .... benchmarking brought me around 140 read and 145 write on aja system test :( ... ( 1920x1080, 10bit, 2gb).
Are you guys sure that the sata0 port is the right port for our ssd?
maybe sata1 and sata2 are the sata3 ones meanwhile sata0 is for the slower optical drive?

i am really frustrated now ... and i also think i would have kept my intel 510 becuase of its higher reliability.

@schneiderinho do you mind posting benchmarks, would be great!

i also used a normal satacabel, nothing special and especially no sata3 (because i dont believed it would change anything)

i have a feeling like we are getting closer!
 
Actually: can someone, who`s ssd upgrade has been succesful (speed-wise) post which sata ports are connected to which devices? (e.g sata1 =ssd sata2= hdd sata0= optical)

i now think the point is just, that i plugged my sata for ssd in the sata0 port.
( which means i have to redo the whole procedure AGAIN)
 
ChargedPC said:
I think that's a great choice. I've heard good things in general about OCZ's SSD line, as we personally have been running a few Vertex 2's with no problems for a few months now.
Click to expand...

Agreed! I have a Vertex 2 in my MP and it works great!
 
peregrines said:
Actually: can someone, who`s ssd upgrade has been succesful (speed-wise) post which sata ports are connected to which devices? (e.g sata1 =ssd sata2= hdd sata0= optical)

i now think the point is just, that i plugged my sata for ssd in the sata0 port.
( which means i have to redo the whole procedure AGAIN)
Click to expand...

As I originally posted, I connected the SSD where the original HDD was installed initially which I believe is the one marked as SATA0 next to HDD Power connector.

This has been debated before but by any chance, did you use a SATA3 cable or an ordinary SATA2? Supposedly there isn't any difference but in some cases, a bad cable may not be capable to handle those speeds.

I used one of these which has written on them 6Gb/s:
54792594.jpg


But the one with a 90 degree connector.
showimage.asp
 
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peregrines said:
Actually: can someone, who`s ssd upgrade has been succesful (speed-wise) post which sata ports are connected to which devices? (e.g sata1 =ssd sata2= hdd sata0= optical)

i now think the point is just, that i plugged my sata for ssd in the sata0 port.
( which means i have to redo the whole procedure AGAIN)
Click to expand...

You have done your EFI 1.6 update as well, correct? From OWC Firmware Update Enables 6Gb/s in 2011 iMacs.

While iMac EFI Update 1.6 is described as including “fixes that improve performance and stability for Thunderbolt,” it would also seem that an unadvertised benefit is that it also unlocks the full 6Gb/s, SATA 3.0 capabilities of two of the internal drive bays.

Unfortunately, the optical bay remains at 3Gb/s.
Click to expand...
 
thanks for your helpful replies again!

i just went to me retailer and eschanged my intel 510 with vertex 3 ... built it in and THE PERFORMANCE WAS REALLY BAD.
kind of frustrated I decided to give the operating reinstall a try ... and now I am getting almost 500mb write AND READ in aja system test!

its really strange, but it seems like reinstalling snow leopard resoloved the problem! (or maybe it was necessary to reinstall after intels 510 messed the system, so that vertex 3 wasnt able to perform).

so, for now I can recommend any<body with similar problems to do a full reinstall of you os!

(as I mentioned before, the misperforming Intel 510 was listed as sata3 in system profiler ... and of course I did the EFI update to unlock sata3)

when I am back home from work, I am going to do further testing. I also didnt yet install the latest updates to snow leopard or enable trim ...
 
Make sure your partition(s) are aligned properly as well. If not, the drive can suffer a 50%+ loss in performance.
 
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