Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Slow iMac performance SSD 840 Pro

C

choupimab

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 28, 2014
13
0
Hello everyone,

I tried to find the answer without any success !

So I would like to have your opinion if it is possible !

This is my configuration :




My computer seems pretty slow when I'm using softwares like Final Cut Pro x or the Adobe Suite CS6...
I can't understand why. My Samsung 840 Pro is in a Firmtek miniSwap/U3 case, in USB 3.

Here is the BlackMagic Disk Speed Test results :



Thanks a lot in advance !
 
Last edited:
The read speeds seem normal, what capacity does the 840 PRO have?

And what do you mean with slow when using FCP X and CS 6 (which applications exactly)?
 
choupimab said:
Hello everyone,

I tried to find the answer without any success !

So I would like to have your opinion if it is possible !

This is my configuration :

[url=http://s23.postimg.org/4daq3vdx7/Capture_d_cran_2014_02_07_11_03_39.png]Image[/url]


My computer seems pretty slow when I'm using softwares like Final Cut Pro x or the Adobe Suite CS6...
I can't understand why. My Samsung 840 Pro is in a Firmtek miniSwap/U3 case, in USB 3.

Here is the BlackMagic Disk Speed Test results :

[url=http://s10.postimg.org/svgp7xz7d/Disk_Speed_Test.png]Image[/url]

Thanks a lot in advance !
Click to expand...


http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/buffalo-ministation-thunderbolt_3.html

Quoting from that link directly, it's a well-known fact that USB 2.0 cannot deliver in practice its theoretical 480 Mbps and we also know that the speed of a USB 3.0 connection is far from the specified 5 Gbps.

From that site, the Crucial M4 SSD section provides a better comparison.
 


Actually, I do a lot of post production on Final Cut Pro X, and maybe after 15 minutes, my iMac seems pretty slow, especially when I'm using plugins and effects...

I use memory clean sometimes and it helps a little bit but it's not significant.
I can't understand why...

My configuration seems good for me but maybe I made a mistake somewhere...
 
yjchua95 said:
That's only read performance, not write.
Click to expand...

I know, but it shows the capability of USB 3.0 to at least get to 400 MB/s.
The "low" write speeds are not USB 3.0 dependent and are probably due to some other factors, though the 256 GB SSD should offer faster write speeds.

Since the OP did not mention, what exactly slowed down on his Mac, just mentioning applications and showing a benchmark is not enough.

We will wait and guess I suppose.

----------
choupimab said:
[url=http://s2.postimg.org/a96hx3h7d/Capture_d_cran_2014_02_07_11_21_49.png]Image[/url]

Actually, I do a lot of post production on Final Cut Pro X, and maybe after 15 minutes, my iMac seems pretty slow, especially when I'm using plugins and effects...

I use memory clean sometimes and it helps a little bit but it's not significant.
I can't understand why...

My configuration seems good for me but maybe I made a mistake somewhere...
Click to expand...

Have you used Activity Monitor to look at what exactly slows down?

 
simsaladimbamba said:
I know, but it shows the capability of USB 3.0 to at least get to 400 MB/s.
The "low" write speeds are not USB 3.0 dependent and are probably due to some other factors, though the 256 GB SSD should offer faster write speeds.



Click to expand...

Hmm, but that does not explain why in the link I posted in one of my previous posts, Thunderbolt offered faster performance than USB 3, although the drive clearly doesn't saturate either Thunderbolt or USB 3 connections at its maximum performance.
 
simsaladimbamba said:
I know, but it shows the capability of USB 3.0 to at least get to 400 MB/s.
The "low" write speeds are not USB 3.0 dependent and are probably due to some other factors, though the 256 GB SSD should offer faster write speeds.

Since the OP did not mention, what exactly slowed down on his Mac, just mentioning applications and showing a benchmark is not enough.

We will wait and guess I suppose.

----------



Have you used Activity Monitor to look at what exactly slows down?

Click to expand...

Ok sorry for the lack of information.
I'll do a screenshot of my Activity Monitor when my iMac slow down.
 
choupimab said:
Ok sorry for the lack of information.
I'll do a screenshot of my Activity Monitor when my iMac slow down.
Click to expand...

Sort by CPU and select to SHOW ALL PROCESSES, which is now located under the VIEW Menu Bar listing.
Also select the Memory tab to see your RAM usage. I will update the guide I linked to for Mavericks today or tomorrow.
 
simsaladimbamba said:
Sort by CPU and select to SHOW ALL PROCESSES, which is now located under the VIEW Menu Bar listing.
Also select the Memory tab to see your RAM usage. I will update the guide I linked to for Mavericks today or tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Okay thx.

Here is an example of my Activity Monitor when I'm working on both photoshop and Final Cut Pro X.

And it does not appear fluid when I'm working.





PS : Not the same PID because I quit the Monitor Activity accidentally between the two screenshots :)
 
shaunp said:
The article below shows ...

Do you have another drive you could plug into the case, or another device you could use for testing just to see if it is anything with the SSD you have?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link.

Unfortunately, I can't plug my SSD in another way.
I'll try to find someone who have another one to try it.

Thanks anyway :)
 
There may be a problem with the SSD itself. Please have a look at my results using the $18 Inateck FEU3NS-1E enclosure with a 500GB 840 EVO.

Like the Firmtek, the Inateck is UASP which the Late 2012 iMacs also support. I actually got slightly faster speeds with USB3 than with my Thunderbolt enclosure.

TRIM is not supported over USB3 and I wonder if this could be relevant. How long have you been using that drive and were those your speeds from the beginning?
 
I think those speeds are fair for a usb3 case. My Samsung Evo was about 250/250 read and write while on a seagate SATA usb3 dock.

Is trim enabled?
 
wwohl said:
I think those speeds are fair for a usb3 case. My Samsung Evo was about 250/250 read and write while on a seagate SATA usb3 dock.
Click to expand...

With a UASP USB3 enclosure in a Late 2012 or newer iMac you can expect around 400MB/sec for both read and write, depending on the size and make of the SSD. You can see my own results in the link to my review of the Inateck enclosure I posted above.

Is trim enabled?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, it is not possible to enable TRIM when using SSDs in USB3 enclosures since they are not recognized as SATA devices. You also won't be able to flash the firmware.

Using a Thunderbolt enclosure resolves these problems.
 
SaSaSushi said:
There may be a problem with the SSD itself. Please have a look at my results ...

...

TRIM is not supported over USB3 and I wonder if this could be relevant. How long have you been using that drive and were those your speeds from the beginning?
Click to expand...

I just bought that drive, so the results are from the beginning :)

I saw your results, maybe I'll go on your 18$ enclosure which seems pretty good !

I have to try my SDD on another enclosure to make sure that it's not damaged.
 
choupimab said:
I just bought that drive, so the results are from the beginning :)

I saw your results, maybe I'll go on your 18$ enclosure which seems pretty good !

I have to try my SDD on another enclosure to make sure that it's not damaged.
Click to expand...

With your Pro you should actually expect to get better results than my Evo, although the drive sizes are different. Yeah, the Inateck is a great little enclosure and you can't beat the price.

Is your Firmtek still under warranty? You can find some benchmarks from other miniSwap owners with 840 Pros in this thread.

Actually, in that thread someone mentions that the miniSwap doesn't support booting OS X. I don't know if that's true or not or if it's of any consequence to you but I can say that the Inateck does have full support for booting the OS.
 
SaSaSushi said:
Is your Firmtek still under warranty? You can find some benchmarks from other miniSwap owners with 840 Pros in this thread.
Click to expand...

Yes it is under warranty.

I'll try to update the firmware to see if it does something.
I'll let you know.

But I don't think it doesn't support booting on OSX because it works well on my iMac and I saw other topics where there is no problem.

Thank you for your time, I let you know if after the update, and I will try to plug in to my macbook pro too.
 
Good info. Yea id get a TB enclosure if you're gonna run the OS off of it

B
 
choupimab said:
Not at all :)

But I tried to update some firmwares, about the enclosure and the SSD, I did some tests and I don't really know why, but now, it's a little better :)
Click to expand...

I'd say it's a lot better! :p Glad to see that.

By the way, were you able to update the firmware of the drive in the USB3 enclosure? I know enabling TRIM is not possible but I wasn't sure about the firmware and would be interested to know.
 
SaSaSushi said:
I'd say it's a lot better! :p Glad to see that.

By the way, were you able to update the firmware of the drive in the USB3 enclosure? I know enabling TRIM is not possible but I wasn't sure about the firmware and would be interested to know.
Click to expand...

Actually, I really don't know what I really did !!

I tried to boot from a USB key with the firmware but it didn't work. I tried a lot of things and I can't really explain why it works haha, I'm sorry !
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back