HP OMEN 15-dc0003na M.2 ssd slow

[agvodz]

As far as I can see I'm running with the latest updates to Windows 10 and firmware (BIOS).

I've run full anti virus and malware checks.

Running Crystaldiskmark confirmed that the m'2 SSD is quite slow  infact much slower than Samsung evo 250GB (on a different PC) 

HWINFO shows the PCI max link speed to be 8 GTS but the current is show as 2.5.

How do I get the M.2 drive to run at full speed?

[sandytechy20]

@agvodz

Welcome to HP support community.

Calculating PCIe limitations

PCIe capabilities might affect the network adapter performance. It is good to understand the bandwidth limitation introduced by the PCIe. Below are the theoretical calculation and a few examples.

The maximum possible PCIe bandwidth is calculated by multiplying the PCIe width and speed. From that number we reduce ~1Gb/s for error correction protocols and the PCIe headers overhead. The overhead is determined by both the PCIe encoding (see PCIe speed for details), and the PCIe MTU:

Maximum PCIe Bandwidth = SPEED * WIDTH * (1 - ENCODING) - 1Gb/s.

For example, a gen 3 PCIe device with x8 width will be limited to:

Maximum PCIe Bandwidth = 8G * 8 * (1 - 2/130) - 1G = 64G * 0.985 - 1G = ~62Gb/s.

Another example - a gen 2 PCIe device with x16 width will be limited to:

Maximum PCIe Bandwidth = 5G * 16 * (1 - 1/5) - 1G = 80G * 0.8 - 1G = ~63Gb/s.

(Note:- HP does not recommend using 3rd party programs for benchmark)

Let me know how it goes.

To thank me for my efforts to help you, please mark my post as an accepted solution so that it benefits several others.

Cheers.

[agvodz]

Thanks for the information.

The (Toshiba) OCZ utilityshows PCIe gen 3 (2 x 8 GT/s) 

Using the app HWINFO, it shows the following for PCI express

Max link width 8x

Current Link width 8x

Max link speed 8.0 GTs

Current link speed 2.5 GTs

So  according to your calculation the theoretical max speed is 62 Gb/s

The actual with the Toshiba M.2 is approx 16 Gb/s

The results from Crytaldiskmark are

Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) : 1240.868 MB/s
Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) : 660.519 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 8,T= 😎 : 384.095 MB/s [ 93773.2 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 8,T= 😎 : 275.158 MB/s [ 67177.2 IOPS]
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 344.983 MB/s [ 84224.4 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 168.215 MB/s [ 41068.1 IOPS]
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 42.419 MB/s [ 10356.2 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 70.647 MB/s [ 17247.8 IOPS]

Test : 1024 MiB [C: 45.4% (53.6/118.0 GiB)] (x5) [Interval=5 sec]
Date : 2019/10/22 11:42:31
OS : Windows 10 [10.0 Build 18362] (x64)

whereas my dsktop 850 EVO 256 Gb manages

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 6.0.2 x64 (C) 2007-2018 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : https://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 bytes/s [SATA/600 = 600,000,000 bytes/s]
* KB = 1000 bytes, KiB = 1024 bytes

Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) : 3636.463 MB/s
Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) : 2934.890 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 8,T= 😎 : 566.826 MB/s [ 138385.3 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 8,T= 😎 : 857.190 MB/s [ 209274.9 IOPS]
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 267.370 MB/s [ 65275.9 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 183.693 MB/s [ 44846.9 IOPS]
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 54.320 MB/s [ 13261.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 186.721 MB/s [ 45586.2 IOPS]

Test : 1024 MiB [C: 70.9% (164.4/231.8 GiB)] (x5) [Interval=5 sec]
Date : 2019/10/22 11:45:50
OS : Windows 10 [10.0 Build 18362] (x64)

Hence my original question about the M.2 Toshiba SSD (RC-100) - why is the performance so poor?

Is there some (BIOS or OP) setting that impacts the speed or is the SSD inherently slow?

Is the only way to improve the performance is to replace it with say a Samsung 970 pro?

TIA

[sandytechy20]

@agvodz

That is a quick calculation.

Follow these steps in the HP document to improve overall performance: Click here

If you wish to upgrade the hardware, you can do it at your own discretion as HP does not recommend it.

I hope that helps.

To thank me for my efforts to help you, please mark my post as an accepted solution so that it benefits several others.

Cheers.

[agvodz · Accepted solution]

I have resolved the problem myself.

Firstly, the HP maintenance and service manual states that certain components are customer serviceable, eg the SSD drive.

I replaced the 128Gb M.2 SSD by an ADATA 8200 512 Gb m.2 SSD.

HW info shows the PCEeI connection as 4x.

Crystal Disk results

Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) : 2975.762 MB/s
Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) : 2034.324 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 8,T= 😎 : 1334.815 MB/s [ 325882.6 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 8,T= 😎 : 633.196 MB/s [ 154588.9 IOPS]
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 345.772 MB/s [ 84417.0 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 187.247 MB/s [ 45714.6 IOPS]
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 55.308 MB/s [ 13502.9 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 90.767 MB/s [ 22159.9 IOPS]

So I'm satisfied with the performance now .....

..... but still in the dark as to why the original M.2 SSD only runs at x2 in the OMEN but x4 on an ASUS Prime 250 Pro.

This post is therefore closed .