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Extremely slow perfomance on intel ssd 2 generation 2 160gb.............

idata
Esteemed Contributor III

I dont know where is the problem i have mac book pro 15" custom configuration intel core 2 duo t9900 ,4gb ddr 3 ,nvidia 9400+9600, intel 160gb generation 2 ssd i think my trim is on and i have extremely slow perfomance i also ran intel ssd toolbox i use mac os x 10.6.4 and windows 7 64bit pro.

my scores from as ssd are

please help me improve my ssd performance without formating my ssd my ssd is not so old and i also formated it when i get it in the summer.

29 REPLIES 29

idata
Esteemed Contributor III

Well now that we've seen your PC naked... and the answer is: Chipset: NVIDIA MCP79/7A

I am not familiar with this chipset at all. Frankly, I've never owned any equipment with anything but Intel chipsets.

So it's research time, unless someone out there knows whether or not Intel drivers will work with this chipset.

Question: Basically I would ask, will the RST/iaStor driver work with this chipset to improve the performance of mitnick's SSD?

I wonder if when attempting to install that driver, the Intel installation program would detect a non-compatible chipset and stop the installation. I've seen behavior like that in the past.

Sorry, I don't know whether or not you can use the Intel driver with your chipset. Let me think about your options and hopefully someone else knows more about this than I do.

Otherwise, that is a nice laptop. I noticed the BIOS is from 2005, I guess BIOS updates are not common in the Apple orchard??

Seems to be a higher performance gaming laptop. So, the chipset used was chosen to work well with NVIDIA video cards.

As I have said before, it is more likely that people that own MACs will know what works best with them rather than non-MAC people like myself. Or are you finding that your use of Windows 7 is not accepted by the MAC community? Just wondering...

So does anyone out there have an answer to the question?

idata
Esteemed Contributor III

so i am not familiar with ssd and other things as well.This is my first ssd so i dont have any xp on it.On

APPLE computers we dont have bios

i installed windows using boot camp so we dont use and we dont have any bioses on mac books,imacs and etc.

normally we use only mac os x but i need some windows things for my college i know about virtual machines vm ware etc but they consume lots of energy and i use batteries so its not an option for me.......

yes normally mac guys use only MAC OS X 10.5 or 10.6 soon lion no one use windows exept few exeptions............. i really hope some will help.

idata
Esteemed Contributor III

Is this applicable to you?

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL853 http://support.apple.com/kb/DL853

"MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.7 addresses an issue using drives based on the SATA 3Gbps specification with the MacBook Pro introduced in June 2009. This update allows drives to use transfer rates greater than 1.5Gbps, however Apple has not qualified or offered these drives for Mac portable computers, and their use remains unsupported. All previous and current Apple portables with a SATA drive interface include a SATA 1.5Gbps hard drive".

idata
Esteemed Contributor III

Hi i am with 10.6.4 when i try to install this update i get u dont need this update... So i cant install it may be i have it i am not sure i install only os and all updates from apple when my mac check for them my model is mis 2009 15" mac book pro

idata
Esteemed Contributor III

What am I thinking, Macs use EFI, never mind... I see that some Intel mother boards have some kind of support for EFI (UEFI), the one I own has a setting in the BIOS (Ha!) to enable it, I need to study that and see what that is all about.

@redux: Very interesting info on the SATA I and SATA II thing on the MacBook Pro's, that sums up the reason why mitnick is here seeking help. OMGosh, does Apple ever keep their equipment under wraps, and the value of that could be argued either way... or is that just the way they force Mac owners to purchase things only from them? Nice work finding that, you were correct in your very first reply to mitnick.

@mitnick: It is important that you understand (if you do not, but I have a feeling you basically do understand) what the information that redux posted means to MacBook owners.

According to the statement describing an update from Apple (posted by redux), the MacBook is designed to run at SATA I speeds, 1.5Gb/s. That explains your low benchmark scores with the Intel SSD.

Apple seemed to offer an EFI update to allow SATA II speeds, 3.0Gb/s. You said it would not let you install it, you "didn't need it". Apple further states that SATA II speed drives are not qualified, offered or supported on Mac portable PCs. So to use a SATA II HDD or SSD in your MacBook, you are on your own.

I checked on NVIDIA's web site, and searched on your chipset name, MCP79/7A. I found very little about it. One thing I did learn is that NVIDIA does not publish a data sheet for this chipset. Intel publishes multiple, comprehensive data sheets on their chipsets.

The only suggestions I have for you are these:

1. Go to NVIDIA's web site, go to the motherboard section and look through each model until you find one (hopefully) that uses your chipset. Once found, see what drivers they have for SATA II use, or AHCI. Those drivers might work for you.

2. On Intel's web site, search for the RST driver. It is also used for RAID, but you do not need to have a RAID setup to use the driver. It is the best AHCI driver that Intel provides. If you do install it, it may not work and cause you to have problems, hopefully you can rollback the driver once it is installed. DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! The same goes for the NVIDIA drivers!!

The more I think about this, the more I believe you cannot do anything about it. Windows 7 has an AHCI driver (msahci) but if you can't enable AHCI mode in the EFI it won't make a difference.

Then there is the SATA I issue, which is actually FAR more important than any driver or operation mode.

If you are stuck with that then nothing else matters. I did a quick calculation, and your Intel SSD is doing the best it can at SATA I speeds from what the AS SSD benchmark is showing.

I noticed Apple has a 512GB SSD for use with the MacPro for $1399.99, who knows who actually makes it.

Sorry, but I am done with this...