14x SATA II, SATA III Benchmark Comparison - BIOS Enabled or Disabled Discussion

The 4 drives being tested
Kingston SNVP325-S2 128GB SATA II 3.0 Gb-s

OCZ 120 GB Vertex 3 SATA III 6.0 Gb-s

OCZ 120 GB Vertex 2 SATA II 3.0 GB-s

Intel X25-M G2 Vertex 2 SATA II 3.0GB-s

Intel 120GB 510 SATA III 6.0 Gb-s

UPDATE Corsair Force 3 120GB SATA III firmware V 1.33 Works with no BSOD's so far view below for benchmarks


Below are the atto disk and WEI scores for the Kingston 128GB SATA II drive in the M14x



Vertex 3 SATA III benchmarks in the M14x



Same Vertex 3 SATA III benchmark in my Desktop setup



Intel X-25 M G2 benchmark


Intel 120GB 510 benchmark w/o RST



UPDATE BACK TO BSOD's w/ vertex 3 w/ RST and w/o RST maybe someone else will have better luck with the vertex 3

Vertex 3 on the M14x : achieving 500+ MBs using these steps on Read
Write is still very sporadic
Installed Vertex 3 again using these steps thanks ted264 +1

1. Fresh install W7x64
2. Install Wifi Drivers from resource disk
3. Windows Update (restart)
4. Install all drivers from Resource disk except RST and SATA drivers (restart)

2 benchmarks one after step 3


One after step 4



UPDATE
UPDATED ALIENWARE BIOS to the latest BIOS AS OF 8/24/2011 A05
CORSAIR FORCE 3 120GB SATA 3 HD with updated 1.33 firmware
EVERYTHING INSTALLED WITH IRST etc

 

6.9 for the Kingston 128GB?? That sounds a little bit off...

Have you installed Intel (Rapid Storage Technology) driver? just asking

on my SSD with the Intel G2 80GB I get 7.7

 

Not sure why it was so low maybe it wasn't installed. I wont ever know know just took it out and installed vertex 3. I was hoping for 500+ Reads and writes but getting a little more than half that but on the lower sized files its twice the speed of the SATA II kingston.

 

I don't think you are going to reach those 500Mb read/write speeds because the M14x HDD port is only a Sata II 3.0GB port.

So even if you use a Sata III 6.0GB SSD it will automatically downclock to Sata II speeds

 

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/18/vertex3.jpg
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/1369/vertex3.jpg

 

So it does not support SATA III that sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I am just going to stick my vertex 2 in this machine and hook the vertex 3 up to my Maximus IV what a waste of time!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Look so you can see

Sata II 3.0 GB

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk263/iorazeoi/M14x.jpg

 

I might be wrong but M14x do support SATA III
Manual can be found here
It seem like your SSD drive is a SATA II drive, that's why it show that

 

Yea it can "Support" Sata III but it doesn't mean it'll run at Sata III speeds.

We have Sata II ports. The Sata ports are all backwards compatible thats why a Sata III SSD will work with the M14x Sata II port

Serial ATA - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

That's suck!!! What the point to support it and not able to run at the speed.
I guess I'll give up buying a SATA III SSD then.

 

hmm this is interesting...
guess ill buy a vertex 2 instead of 3 then...

 

Is the performance boost really worth the money. I am getting a intel 510 SSD for $400. Its 250GB but is it really worth the money and downgrading my capacity from 500GB to 250GB.

 

What I am wondering is, if the interface is in fact 3gb/s due to the fact that a sata2 disk is attached to it?

As far as I can tell you've got an Intel X25 G2 plugged in - Will the interface change to 6gb/s if a sata 3 disk is connected?

 

Pretty sure it will. Cause the chipset with SB processors support SATA III.

 

So I plugged the Vertex 3 into my Maximus IV desktop setup and everything increased on ATTO. Really disappointed that the M14x does not have a 6.0 GB-s SATA III interface.

Vertex 3 in M14x
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/859/vertex3u.jpg
http://img859.imageshack.us/img859/5439/vertex3u.jpg

Vertex 3 in my desktop
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/163/desktopyga.jpg/
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/641/desktopyga.jpg

 

Something is setup wrong. The m14x runs off a Mobile Intel HM67 chipset which offers support of 2 Sata III, 6Gb/s transfer rates, ports. Unless dell is using a faulty CP chipsets with voltage leaks there would be no reason to not use Sata III ports

Edit I would also note that in the Mobile Manual, Chapter 7, it states: Hard drive, one 2.5 inch SATA 2.0 (3Gb/s) or SATA 3.0 (6Gb/s)
You can veiw that here

 

WOAH.... S TOLD ME IT WAS SATA 3 CAPABLE!


hmmmmmm

 

5.7??? Odd..mine registers 5.9 for the first graphics rating

 

This is really important to know. So does the M14X not run at SATA 3.0 speeds?

In the mobile manual, it says:

Hard-Drive Storage
Number of storage drives - one Hard drive

• one 2.5 inch SATA 2.0 (3Gb/s) or SATA 3.0 (6Gb/s) hard drive
• one solid‑state drive

This will determine whether I go with a Vertex 2 vs. a Vertex 3, or the C300 vs the M4.

*UPDATE* - apparently Dell is saying that although the board supports SATA III, they will only support SATA II speeds.

 

How do u get 7.7 for graphics? I get only 5.9..

 

I believe it was his desktop, the score just to insane to be on the m14x
The first two picture shown is the M14x

Anyway, more testing would be great. I would like to see more result of SSD in m14x

 

These are my scores from the M14x

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk263/iorazeoi/WEI.jpg

 

So I went out and bought a 240GB vertex 2. It was about $160 cheaper than the Vertex 3, and the difference in speed between the 2 won't be noticeable to me (since i'm coming from traditional HDD's anything SSD is much faster anyways).

My laptop should arrive either today or tomorrow, so i'll post what my scores are with the Vertex 2 when I get everything installed and up and running. I also have a maxed out 2820QM processor and 8GB ram which may help a bit too.

 

I'm almost sure that amount of RAM doesn't matter for the score..doesn't hurt though

 

It helps for an ssd, when you disable virtual memory you need 8 sometimes for games, also did anyone see if they updated the cougar point driver before trying sata III

 

Hi,
Do you OC your video card or do I need to update drivers or something? TIA

 

its an overclock

 

The weird thing is, is that is clearly supports sata 3 6 GBps, we just need to find what is using ports 0 and 1

 

Whoa, there is apparently 4 Sata ports O_O

I would love to see where they are at...

BTW The HM67 chipset in the M14x apparently does support it, maybe Alienware didn't include them?!?! lol I am so lost now

Intel HM67 Express Chipset - Overview

 

Someone needs to call dell and get on this

 

Agree with you there. It still may also be an issue with the OCZ line of SSD's too, and not a Dell issue.

Anyone know what kind of SSD's they put in the m14x when you configure it?

 

samsung and I believe its sata 2. that is what is says on the site

 

Hey, I have a dumb question.

Are you guys sure AHCI is enabled in the BIOS?
I wouldn't be surprised if the systems were shipped with ATA as the default.

 

ahci is enabled my default

 

Guys, please... lol. forum rules concerning images embedded into posts -

Thanks

 

So I called dell, and the tech said sata III should work I do not have a drive to test though so it is anyones guess

Update. It is a bios issue that they may or may not fix in the future. It is capable but the current bios revision does not have it available

 

So I called Dell and they said that the computer it self is capable of sata III but it is not enabled in the bios and they have no information on if they will enable it so save you money for sata III drives...for now.

 

And e-mail/twitter bombardment of Alienware begins NOW....

 

That actually quite disappoints me. Wouldn't it also be considered false advertisement to include such things as "Sata III" capable and then not enable it? Like I'm not the type to complain about things but this oddly
Bothers me more than the battery issue ...

 

well it is capable...learn how to write a bios lol. But ya the battery issue was nothing compared to this for me because I knew they had to address the battery issue. This could be something they could potentially not address. Good thing I didn't buy a vertex 3 yet. My vertex 2 is still kicking.

 

Good to know. Thanks for following up on this Jetbo. I sent a message to them via Twitter to get a response directly from Alienware.

 

They better not be waiting for an R2 to address the SATA3 thing...that is messed up.

Hopefully they will release a BIOS update soon...

 

What a joke. Makes me seriously consider returning it. I mean - I spent $$$ on upgrades assuming SATA3 would be available...and for some strange reason it is not? Just doesn't make sense.

 

sketch - What SSD are you using?

 

120GB Intel 510...haven't installed it, yet...hoping to do it this weekend. I saw the thread on problems, too. Hoping that doesn't affect me.

 

Haha... thats why i'm curious. That thread was me. Let me know how it goes though as I am really curious if it is a dell problem or intel problem. Good luck however!

 

..... well i just put a hault on buying a sata 3 drive...... its a p67 mobo it should support sata 3?!?!?!

anyway please keep me informed on this i want to know as well.

 

well guys, i am waiting for a bios update to decide which gpu (discrete, integrated, optimus) i want to use, and i sent an email to dell and wrote a post on the Dell community forums, i think it should be worth it if you did the same.

 

this is almost like DRM on our BIOS.

Alienware: So you want SATA3, that would be 80$ more.
User : FFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU