Performance - Storage SSD SATA (6G) and USB 3.0

Performance - Storage SSD SATA (6G) and USB 3.0

With the new SATA3 6G controller and USB 3.0 controllers we started adding SSD performance numbers measured on such interfaces (when applicable). Putting these in nicely styled charts would be better, but with technology so new we just do not have anything out there yet to compare to, so here are some raw peak performance numbers. We use an A-DATA N002 Solid State Drive which has both a SATA2 and USB 3.0 port.

Above, you can see a N002 series A-DATA Solid State Drive running over the USB 3.0 controller on this motherboard. The implementation works well. Obviously the N002 is limited at roughly 200 MB/sec.

Above, some numbers based on the SATA3 6G controller of this motherboard, there surely is nothing to be ashamed about with that performance. We measure in AHCI mode. Again, this is SATA2 peak performance, not average. Excellent numbers here.

We recently got asked if we could show SATA3 AHCI performance with a SATA3 SSD as well. We can certainly do that, however after each run the SSD results might differ a little as NAND cells are written, so the performance you see below is a SATA3 SSD performance indication.

Above, a SandForce 2281 based SSD connected to the SATA3 (6G) controller. AHCI mode is enabled in the BIOS, especially with SSDs that helps a little on peak performance.

And here are the results over the ASMedia 1061 SATA3 6G controller. As you can see, the Intel controllers still rock, and that's why we dislike the fact that Intel only included 2 SATA 6G ports on such a high-end platform as the X79. Admittedly, the ASMedia 1061 is much better than the Marvell controller performance we have seen on other boards.