Performance - Storage Subsystem - USB 3.1 & SSD SATA3
USB 3.1 performance
One interesting fact about Ryzen 3, 5 and 7 is that a lot of features have been embedded into the actual processor. USB 3.1 for example and two SATA3 ports are coming directly from your Ryzen CPU IO. A Ryzen processor as such functions as an IO hub as well. For USB this means 3.1 Gen 1 compatibility and from the X370 chipset USB 3.1 Gen 2 connections can be made. 3.1 Gen 2 is a properly fast 10 Gbps link.
- USB 3.0 is now called USB 3.1 Gen 1 (Speed up to 5 Gbps)
- USB 3.1 is now called USB 3.1 Gen 2 (Speed up to 10 Gbps)
The SATA ports are full SATA3 offering a 6 Gbps connection. There are two of them coming from the processor, and an additional four of them coming from the chipset. And then your motherboard manufacturer could add even more by using 3rd party controllers from, say, ASMedia.
Above, you are looking at a Plextor EX1 USB 3.1 (= 3.1 Gen 1) flash drive with today's tested motherboard. It is one of the faster sticks available on the market and makes USB 2.0 at 25~30 MB/sec look rather pale in comparison. That is maximum performance for the USB stick right there.
SATA3 (6 Gbps) performance
Below, we show SATA3 6 Gbps (BIOS at AHCI mode) performance with a SATA3 SSD. Here we are using a SATA3 connection directly to the processor.
The SATA3 based SSD is connected to the SATA3 (6Gbps) Ryzen chipset controller. AHCI mode is enabled in the BIOS, especially with SSDs that helps a little on peak performance. These native SATA3 (6 Gbps controllers) from both AMD and Intel are the fastest your money can get you really. The SATA3 ports coming from the X370 chipset show similar performance. Some motherboard partners will add 3rd party SATA3 controllers which often are a little limited in performance overall. Still, you'd see 300 to 400 MB/sec on such ports, plenty for an average SSD, HDD or optical unit of course.
