Single SSD - Windows 8 - ASRock Extreme4

Guys,

This is a bit long-winded, so I'll try to keep it brief.

I carried out a clean install of Windows 8 Pro 64, previously I was on Windows 7 Home Pro 64, and noticed something I'm not so sure about...

When installing the .INF driver for my ASRock mobo, in Windows 7's Programs and Features there was an entry for Intel's SATA3 AHCI driver. In Windows 8, that doesn't show. Checking in Device Manager I can see that Intel's AHCI has been installed. Checking in the driver properties, it is using 'storahci.sys' I believe this is Windows 8's new version of 'msahci.sys'

Now, some questions! I ran my first ever benchmark yesterday and the results seemed fairly OK. Clearly SATA3 is working, but speeds were a teeny bit lower than what certain reviewing web sites had posted, most notably in the 4k region. Not a huge difference, but a difference nonetheless. Now, the ASRock Extreme4 has an ASMedia SATA driver I can install. I do not have any devices plugged into the SATA ports used by ASMedia, so I haven't installed the driver, does that seem OK? Secondly, ASRock's web site offers Intel Rapid Storage as part of the package of drivers for the Extreme4. I installed this a while back in Windows 7 and noticed my boot time slowed up a bit, so unistalled it and never looked back. Any suggestions on how I should have things set up now in WIndows 8?

Thanks in advance.

Intel Rapid Storage provides the storage driver. The INF driver only identifies some devices related to the chipset.

Define 'teeny bit'. Can you post results with ATTO to gauge performance?

Hi TooOld here's a great guide for proper setup and optimization of your ssd. He'give you pointers on how to open up more available GB's that windows tends to hog
http://www.overclock.net/t/1240779/seans-windows-8-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds

Thank you for the replies.

EarthDog, here is a snap of the ATTO result:



It's an Intel 335 240gb SSD.

Johan45 - thanks, I'll have good read through that.

I installed Intel Rapid Storage. You can see that the driver has changed:



I then re-ran the ATTO bench:



Small improvements all round. Interesting stuff... Now if I can just figure out a way to uninstall the annoying, slow to load GUI, but keep the driver. Hmm.

Just disable the helper on Task Manager > Start-up.

Thanks. I'll give that a try when I'm next with the PC.

This is a snap from HardOCP's review of the same drive:



Not sure why they are getting nearly x2 read speeds as I do in the smaller file region.

Was that an exact match of different processor and MOBO/Ram. That will make a difference.

No, not an exact match. Here is another benchmark:

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/5082/intel_335_series_240gb_ssd_review/index5.html

Again, much better than mine on the lower file sizes. Would other hardware really make that much of a difference?

It seems every benchmark I find on the Internet is much better than mine. Odd.

It wasn't that much better. Really! I'm sure there are numerous things that can affect that number. The driver version. other software on your system interfereing even to some extent possibly the bios itself.

txus.palacios said:

Just disable the helper on Task Manager > Start-up.

Click to expand...

You are referring to 'IAStorIcon' ?





Thanks.

Johan45 said:

It wasn't that much better. Really! I'm sure there are numerous things that can affect that number. The driver version. other software on your system interfereing even to some extent possibly the bios itself.

Click to expand...

Nearly twice the read / write speed at 4k file size. That's a big difference, surely?

Not in the link you posted they were almost the same. And hard OCP has a totally different setup. Z68/2500k/1866 and windows 7

TooOld4This said:

You are referring to 'IAStorIcon' ?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Yup, also disable the Realtek software. You don't need it.

Thanks for the help guys.