Intel NUC USB Ports Speed Problem

mmr001 · ‎01-20-2020

Using intel nuc8i3beh that has 4 usb ports of 10gbps and 1 thunderbolt 3 port. Encounter reading and writing speed problems on certain USB ports. Have updated to latest bios and drivers from intel nuc webpage.

When using samsung evo 850 sata 6gbps ssd put into sata to usb enclosure, these are the following read and write speed I get from the different ports testing over several times, have underlined for speed problems.

1) Front left blue USB port: 555 MB/s read, 519 MB/s write.

2) Front yellow USB port: 552 MB/s read, 43 MB/s write.

3) Rear top blue USB port: 550 MB/s read, 296MB/s write.

4) Rear bottom blue USB port: Speed test failed, cannot read and write.

5) Thunderbolt USB-C port: Speed test failed, cannot read and write.

Next, I used a Western digital My passport Ultra usb 3 hard drive to test all the ports again and the speeds were 110+ read and 110+ write across all 5 ports.

Please help to resolve USB ports problem.

AdrianM_Intel · ‎01-21-2020

Hello mmr001,

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.

Can you please provide the following information?

1. Intel® System Support Utility (Intel® SSU)

Intel® SSU Download link
Open the application and click on "Scan" to see the system and device information. By default, Intel® SSU will take you to the "Summary View".
Click on the menu where it says "Summary" to change to "Detailed View".
To save your scan, click on "Next", then "Save".

Please correct me if I am wrong this is what I understood, so when you connect the Western digital directly to the Intel® NUC Kit NUC8i3BEH without SATA to USB enclosure (I guess it's an adapter) you are able to get the speed as expected right? but when you use the sata to usb enclosure the speed problem starts is it right?

Questions:

How are you checking the speeds?
Can you please provide the part numbers of the hard drives?
Can you please share a link of the specifications of the SATA to USB enclosure or provide a part number? so we can see more information about it.

Best regards,

Adrian M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

mmr001 · ‎01-22-2020

Hi,

Please find attached report of Intel SSU.

Regarding your questions,

1) The western digital is a portable hard disk drive without sata to USB enclosure connected directly to the Intel® NUC Kit NUC8i3BEH and I get consistently same speeds acorss all 5 USB ports.

2) I am checking the drive speeds with the latest version of crystal disk mark 7.0.0g 64bit.

3) The part number of the ssd that I am using with SATA to USB enclosure is MZ7LN250HMJP (Samsung 850 evo ssd).

4) Link to SATA to USB enclosure: https://www.ugreen.com.cn/products/usb-c-hard-drive-enclosure. I believe the enclosure is using a ASM235CM chipset inside.

I would to like to highlight that when using the ssd inside the SATA to USB enclosure, I can only get the expected speed of 555 MB/s read and 519 MB/s write on the front left blue USB port and the speed of other ports are deficient. On the rear bottom blue USB port and the USB C thunderbolt 3 port, the speed is so slow and the response time of the connected drive is so high that I cannot even complete the speed test.

What led me to suspect this was a bios problem was when I first tried this on bios 0075, I was still able to get 250 MB/s write on the front yellow USB port (other ports were having speed problems too), but after updating to latest bios 0077, the speed of the front yellow USB port dropped to 43MB/s write. The only working port that gives expected speed is the front left USB port.

AdrianM_Intel · ‎01-22-2020

Hello mmr001,

Thank you for your response.

I would like to test this behavior on our end, please allow me some time to investigate it.

Regards,

Adrian M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

Ronny_G_Intel · ‎03-05-2020

Hello mmr001,

We did the same test using Crystal Disk Mark utility and we got similar results, we tested the same NUC model you have and other models, we tested with ASMT 2105 enclosure and with Intel SSDPEKKW256G8 and with a WD* external disc (mechanical) see some results attached.

Our conclusion is that Crystal Disk Mark utility is a disk drive benchmark tool and not USB speed analyzer. The speed measured by Crystal Disk Mark utility depends on the capability of the enclosure and drive. That is the reason why we have different results. Having said that, I would say that we are getting the expected results based on the conditions mentioned before.

On the other, the issue that you mentioned with some ports not providing any results needs to be addressed, this is not the right behavior.

I would recommend that you reach out to our Customer Support Service via Phone or Chat for additional troubleshooting and/or possible product replacement. Here is our contact us information: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/contact-support.html#@7

Regards,

Ronny G

mmr001 · ‎03-06-2020

Hi Ronny G,

Based on the result I posted earlier for the front left blue USB port, I can conclude that the NUC is at least able to deliver up to 555 MB/s read and 519 MB/s write for said combination of enclosure and drive. Hence, crystal disk mark utility is just a tool to test whether the other USB ports can perform the same as the front left blue USB port.

What first led me to suspect this was a bios issue was this: when I was running bios v0075, the front right USB orange port was able to deliver around 500MB/s read and 200MB/s write, when I upgraded to bios v0077, the write speed of the same port dropped to 43MB/s write.

Ronny_G_Intel · ‎03-09-2020

Hi mmr001,

How about the ports that are not providing any results when running Crystal Disk Mark* utility? Do you see any different results when running previous BIOS version?

I tested both BIOS versions and I had no significant differences and by the way, my previous results were taken from a system running the latest BIOS version. I also checked the BIOS release notes and I don't see any specific item that indicates any change in that sense.

Please let me know your comments.

Thanks,

Ronny G

mmr001 · ‎03-10-2020

Hi Ronny,

The two ports that did not produce results did not change with upgrade in bios version, their latency time was so high that it could not complete the test. (perhaps not enough current?)

From the results you posted earlier, it seems to be the benchmark for a mechanical hard drive. As I mentioned earlier, all the USB ports gave me similar results when I tested with a mechanical hard drive, the issues only appear when I tested with said enclosure and ssd combination.

Ronny_G_Intel · ‎03-11-2020

Hi mmr001,

The behavior that you are describing is not what I am seeing in my lab units, only the issue with the ports not producing results is a sign that something is not good with the unit.

I would recommend that you reach out to our Customer Support Service via Phone or Chat for additional troubleshooting and/or possible product replacement. Here is our contact us information: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/contact-support.html#@7 please make reference to case 4497088.

Regards,

Ronny G

AdrianM_Intel · ‎03-16-2020

Hi mmr001,

Were you able to check Ronny's post?

Let me know if you need more assistance.

Regards,

Adrian M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

mmr001 · ‎03-17-2020

Hi,

I probably have to make do with this unit as it is the only computer I have and my Windows and Microsoft office license are both tied to this unit and there is no guarantee a new replacement unit will work as intended. Thanks for time spent on helping me troubleshoot.