Dell D610 / Inspiron 6000 + Kingfast SSD = Slow SSD performance

Hi everyone,

I have been using my trusty D610 for sometime and although it has aged, the laptop still runs wonderfully. Current configuration is:

- 1400 x 1050 screen
- Windows 8
- Pentium M 780 2.26GHz
- 2 GB RAM

I also have a 6000 which has the same configuration except for the better screen. Was hunting for some SSDs for these machines and came across Kingfast SSD. Seems like these guys have the cheapest price in IDE/PATA SSDs. So I bought the 128GB version (KF2502MCS-128GB). I installed both Windows 7 and 8 and received some poor performance.

Validated the performance via AS SSD benchmark (Read of 22, Write of 2 and Combined 36), direct observation and also task manager (100% active time when with little disk transfer rates). The Windows 7 / 8 are fresh installs. Double checked:

- Disk offset alignment - Good.
- Latest BIOS of D610 is A06 and latest for 6000 is A09 - Good.
- Downloaded all the drivers Windows told me I needed - Good.

Not sure what else I can try to remediate this slow performance and here I am looking for direction. From my searches on the net, seems like there is something with the BIOS and IDE driver that is the cause. Both D610 and 6000 do not have a AHCI mode in the BIOS. Has anyone else encountered this in their travels and what was the solution. Any help would be great.

Thanks,
-max

 

Well, from the start, the specs of the ssd are really small: Max Seq. Read 80 MB/s
Max Seq. Write 40 MB/s
Random IOPS Read 3200
Random IOPS Write 300

Obviously those being 'max speeds', real-world performance would be even slower.
That being said, how much space did you fill on the ssd? When checked in device manager, what interface does windows list the ssd as running under (UltraDMA / Pio?)

 

I agree, I think it's just a junk SSD. Half of these no-name IDE/PATA drives are still using derivatives of the "original" JMicron SSD controller, which was notorious for "stuttering" due to high max latency and low random write I/O.

 

Thanks sangemaru,

Agreed the specs are weak compared to say a Samsung 840 Pro. I am not expecting that level of performance, simply what I have now with my hard drives. Figured I would benefit somewhat from the lower latency and higher MB/s.

The Windows 7 / 8 installs are fresh with no apps. I have 90% plus free space. Looking at device manager I have an Intel 82801FBM Ultra Ata Storage Controller with 2 ATA channels. The ATA channel that has the SSD has enabled DMA checked. I experimented with checking and unchecking this. Same story.

In my search, did come across this:
Universal ATA driver for Windows NT3.51/NT4/2000/XP, last version

I wonder if this will make any difference?

Thanks again,
-max

 

Hi Commander Wolf,

Kingfast SSD did forward over a pdf on technical specs, however no mention of JMicron controller.

-max

 

Hi maxval,

Can you post that pdf with the tech specs?

BTW the read/write speeds 80/40 are normal for SSD drives with IDE/PATA interface.