Fresh OS Install on new SSD -- really low benchmark tests??

Hey everyone,

I just bought an Intel 335 240gb SSD since I wanted to speed my whole computer up and I have finally installed everything. I backed up my old HDD on an external HD, did a fresh windows 7 install on the new SSD, imported all my old files & setting using Windows Easy Transfer, then added my 1TB WD 7200rpm drive for media. The SSD still has 160gb free.

Anyway, I ran some benchmarks using AS SSD Benchmark and found to have write speeds of around 114 MB/s and read speeds around 185 MB/s, which is a lot slower than the SSD should perform no? I'm using the Marvell 6.0 GB/s SATA III port for my SSD, as the intel ones are SATA II. I enabled AHCI mode after installing the SSD by mistake, which I'm wondering if it is the cause of the slower speeds. It's definitely faster than my old drive, especially with boot times, but I want to get the most out of this new drive. Could anyone shed some light on what I can do to dramatically speed up the benchmark tests? I know benchmarks aren't everything, but it should not test this low. Thanks!

I installed the Intel SSD Toolbox program which updates the SSD firmware, but did not do so until after installing the SSD. Would you recommend creating a System Image of the SSD, putting it on an external HD, then formatting and reinstalling windows? Most of my programs are on my SSD, but some are also on my HDD (most of it is music, pictures, and videos though).

Could anyone tell me if making a System Imagine, reformatting, and changing the BIOS to AHCI mode before installing windows would help? Thanks.

I would do a clean install of Windows 7 and make sure your SATA ports are set to AHCI before you do it. As for the Marvell vs Intel ports.....you might get a little more sequential read/write speed out of the Marvell port, but those speeds don't make a real world difference. I would run it on the Intel SATA port before the Marvell port.

Check out this tutorial to help you properly change it to AHCI if you don't want to reinstall Windows: Enable AHCI

Hirokotzu said:

Could anyone tell me if making a System Imagine, reformatting, and changing the BIOS to AHCI mode before installing windows would help? Thanks.

If you just did a clean install, you don't need to make a system image of it. Just make sure SATA ports are set to AHCI in the BIOS and go about reinstalling Windows 7.