Corsair Force GT running slow

Hi All,

I recently purchased and installed a 240GB Corsair Force GT ssd. I have run some benchmarks which seem to show that my ssd speed is capped at about 1/2 the speed Corsair claims it should run (see my benchmark results below). I have set up the drive per Corsair setup instructions and did a fresh install of Windows AFTER changing the storage mode in my BIOS to AHCI and I have the latest F14 BIOS. And, yes, I have all my SSD's and HDD's plugged into the SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports on my motherboard.

My Gigabyte P55-UD4P motherboard uses a Marvell controller and I have read that mobos with the Marvell controller limit the SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports to more like 3.0 Gb/s performance (which seems to dovetail with my benchmarks). Can anyone verify that?

Any other ideas on what to try so I can uncork this blazing fast new SF-2200 series SSD?

Here's my system specs for your reference:
Intel Core i5 750
Gigabyte P55A-UD4P
G Skill Ripjaws 8 GB DDR3-1600
AMD Radeon HD 5850
Corsair Force GT 240 GB Boot Drive
WD Caviar Black 1 TB Storage Drive
Asus 26” VW266 monitor
Corsair TX750 modular PSU
Cooler Master HAF-922 case
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

Personally I would move the drive(s) to the Intel PCH controller, even though the ports are 3Gb/s SATA II.

redduc900 said:

Personally I would move the drive(s) to the Intel PCH controller, even though the ports are 3Gb/s SATA II.

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OK - I'm admittedly a novice-intermediate with BYOPC, but your suggestion is counter-intuitive. So you are saying that the SATA III ports on my particular mobo are a handicap and that the SATA II ports will actually be faster? If so, why?

I believe the Marvell 9128 controller on that board was limited to a PCIe x1 interface to the south-bridge. Since PCIe on that motherboard is limited to v1 speeds that will limit you to a little below what a SATA II port can do, even if the ports on the Marvell controller themselves are SATA III you will never get anything like it out of the Marvell controller.

That said those benchmarks look like you have the SSD plugged into an Intel SATA port.

I am having the same problem with a 180gb Force GT and a Asrock Extreme3 Gen3, drive is plugged into the SATA III port.

Was this issue resolved and if so, what did you do to fix it?

hoserama said:

I am having the same problem with a 180gb Force GT and a Asrock Extreme3 Gen3, drive is plugged into the SATA III port.

Was this issue resolved and if so, what did you do to fix it?

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I cannot resolve this issue with my current motherboard - it's artificially limited by the design of the motherboard from what other's have said here and on other forums. Not sure if the same Marvell controller and PCIx issues plague your motherboard - hopefully someone around here will have an answer for you. Good luck!

Mr Alpha said:

I believe the Marvell 9128 controller on that board was limited to a PCIe x1 interface to the south-bridge. Since PCIe on that motherboard is limited to v1 speeds that will limit you to a little below what a SATA II port can do, even if the ports on the Marvell controller themselves are SATA III you will never get anything like it out of the Marvell controller.

That said those benchmarks look like you have the SSD plugged into an Intel SATA port.

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After further investigation, I did check how I had everything connected - I did in fact have the SSD plugged into my SATA II ports. I switched it to the SATA III ports and benchmarks did in fact show slightly worse performance, so I switched back to the SATA II ports and will live with this config until I put together a new build in a year or two (hopefully by then, all new mobos will have full speed SATA III performance).

F14 bios is the latest firmware for the drive?

I wouldn't worry too much about it in the end. personally i just moved from a intel 320 to 520 and i'm not sure if i notice any different day to day use. yeah, benchmarks are better, but that's about it.

I wouldn't worry too much about it in the end. personally i just moved from a intel 320 to 520 and i'm not sure if i notice any different day to day use. yeah, benchmarks are better, but that's about it.

Russia14 said:

F14 bios is the latest firmware for the drive?

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My drive came with the latest firmware, so that's not the issue. It's the mobo design. As someone else said here, the difference between HDD and SSD is huge, but the difference between an SSD on SATA II or III is much less. I'm extremely happy with the new Force GT running at 3.0 GB/s.