{"id":861,"date":"2014-04-09T04:13:59","date_gmt":"2014-04-09T04:13:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/poojanwagh.opalstacked.com\/techblog\/?p=861"},"modified":"2014-04-10T03:29:14","modified_gmt":"2014-04-10T03:29:14","slug":"crucial-m500-120gb-benchmarks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tech.poojanblog.com\/blog\/unix-linux\/crucial-m500-120gb-benchmarks\/","title":{"rendered":"Crucial m500 120GB benchmarks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest in my obsession with SSD’s. I jumped on a $70 deal at NewEgg. I bought it to use as a SLOG (ZIL) in my ZFS server<\/a>, because of its write speeds and because of its power loss protection.<\/p>\n

I immediately updated the MU03 firmware to MU05.<\/p>\n

This may be with a SATA II (3 Gbps) cable:<\/p>\n

\r\n-----------------------------------------------------------------------\r\nCrystalDiskMark 3.0.2 x64 (C) 2007-2013 hiyohiyo\r\n                           Crystal Dew World : http:\/\/crystalmark.info\/\r\n-----------------------------------------------------------------------\r\n* MB\/s = 1,000,000 byte\/s [SATA\/300 = 300,000,000 byte\/s]\r\n\r\n           Sequential Read :   268.487 MB\/s\r\n          Sequential Write :   144.591 MB\/s\r\n         Random Read 512KB :   252.690 MB\/s\r\n        Random Write 512KB :   144.619 MB\/s\r\n    Random Read 4KB (QD=1) :    23.558 MB\/s [  5751.4 IOPS]\r\n   Random Write 4KB (QD=1) :    60.558 MB\/s [ 14784.8 IOPS]\r\n   Random Read 4KB (QD=32) :   202.598 MB\/s [ 49462.4 IOPS]\r\n  Random Write 4KB (QD=32) :   122.029 MB\/s [ 29792.2 IOPS]\r\n\r\n  Test : 1000 MB [F: 0.1% (0.1\/111.7 GB)] (x5)\r\n  Date : 2014\/04\/08 22:45:00\r\n    OS : Windows 7 Ultimate Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)\r\n<\/pre>\n
Wha? The 4K random write is quite low. Let’s repeat:<\/p>\n
\r\n-----------------------------------------------------------------------\r\nCrystalDiskMark 3.0.2 x64 (C) 2007-2013 hiyohiyo\r\n                           Crystal Dew World : http:\/\/crystalmark.info\/\r\n-----------------------------------------------------------------------\r\n* MB\/s = 1,000,000 byte\/s [SATA\/300 = 300,000,000 byte\/s]\r\n\r\n           Sequential Read :   268.109 MB\/s\r\n          Sequential Write :   146.449 MB\/s\r\n         Random Read 512KB :   248.750 MB\/s\r\n        Random Write 512KB :   145.732 MB\/s\r\n    Random Read 4KB (QD=1) :    23.962 MB\/s [  5850.1 IOPS]\r\n   Random Write 4KB (QD=1) :    76.037 MB\/s [ 18563.8 IOPS]\r\n   Random Read 4KB (QD=32) :   202.476 MB\/s [ 49432.7 IOPS]\r\n  Random Write 4KB (QD=32) :   119.411 MB\/s [ 29153.0 IOPS]\r\n\r\n  Test : 1000 MB [F: 0.1% (0.1\/111.7 GB)] (x5)\r\n  Date : 2014\/04\/08 22:50:44\r\n    OS : Windows 7 Ultimate Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)\r\n<\/pre>\n
Little better at 76 MB\/s random 4k write, but not the 120 MB\/s that I expected<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Let’s try the native SATA III port and a shorter cable:<\/p>\n
\r\n-----------------------------------------------------------------------\r\nCrystalDiskMark 3.0.2 x64 (C) 2007-2013 hiyohiyo\r\n                           Crystal Dew World : http:\/\/crystalmark.info\/\r\n-----------------------------------------------------------------------\r\n* MB\/s = 1,000,000 byte\/s [SATA\/300 = 300,000,000 byte\/s]\r\n\r\n           Sequential Read :   477.494 MB\/s\r\n          Sequential Write :   143.072 MB\/s\r\n         Random Read 512KB :   434.218 MB\/s\r\n        Random Write 512KB :   143.168 MB\/s\r\n    Random Read 4KB (QD=1) :    24.571 MB\/s [  5998.7 IOPS]\r\n   Random Write 4KB (QD=1) :    76.281 MB\/s [ 18623.2 IOPS]\r\n   Random Read 4KB (QD=32) :   232.590 MB\/s [ 56784.6 IOPS]\r\n  Random Write 4KB (QD=32) :   131.644 MB\/s [ 32139.6 IOPS]\r\n\r\n  Test : 1000 MB [F: 0.1% (0.1\/111.7 GB)] (x5)\r\n  Date : 2014\/04\/08 23:08:12\r\n    OS : Windows 7 Ultimate Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)\r\n  <\/pre>\n
Wow! that sequential read is fast. But, the random write (QD=1) is still disappointing. What gives?<\/p>\n
Post Script<\/h2>\n
Looks like someone else gets similar results<\/a>, which don’t line up with what TweakTown measured.<\/p>\n
Oh, well. The power loss protection is important, and it really only matters how the drive performs in the ZIL. Hopefully, I’ll see closer to 140MB\/s rather than 65 MB\/s.<\/p>\n
Update 2014-04-09<\/h2>\n
Tried re-running with Intel’s RST driver:<\/p>\n
\r\n-----------------------------------------------------------------------\r\nCrystalDiskMark 3.0.2 x64 (C) 2007-2013 hiyohiyo\r\n                           Crystal Dew World : http:\/\/crystalmark.info\/\r\n-----------------------------------------------------------------------\r\n* MB\/s = 1,000,000 byte\/s [SATA\/300 = 300,000,000 byte\/s]\r\n\r\n           Sequential Read :   481.219 MB\/s\r\n          Sequential Write :   142.877 MB\/s\r\n         Random Read 512KB :   430.158 MB\/s\r\n        Random Write 512KB :   144.619 MB\/s\r\n    Random Read 4KB (QD=1) :    27.370 MB\/s [  6682.2 IOPS]\r\n   Random Write 4KB (QD=1) :    77.415 MB\/s [ 18900.1 IOPS]\r\n   Random Read 4KB (QD=32) :   271.697 MB\/s [ 66332.2 IOPS]\r\n  Random Write 4KB (QD=32) :   142.077 MB\/s [ 34686.8 IOPS]\r\n\r\n  Test : 1000 MB [F: 0.1% (0.1\/111.7 GB)] (x5)\r\n  Date : 2014\/04\/09 22:28:03\r\n    OS : Windows 7 Ultimate Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)\r\n<\/pre>\n
Slightly better, but still no 120 MB\/s. I have a feeling that something changed with the latest firmware. Wish I had run this before I upgraded.<\/p>\n