In most of the stories we write, it doesn't matter where Windows is installed. Storage testing is a bit different though, particularly when we need to turn off the PCH's SATA ports. Thus, utilizing Windows to Go makes a lot of sense. A fully-functioning image can be ported from one machine to another over USB 3.0. It's just as quick as an installation to a SATA-attached SSD, and it enables testing methodologies otherwise considered impractical.
Note also that we're using Intel's new Rapid Storage Technology 13-series driver. It doesn't have much bearing on today's story; the fancier features will get rolled into a version of the RST software later this year. But it was time to upgrade, and so I have.
| Test Hardware | |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i5-4670K (Haswell), 22 nm, 3.3 GHz, LGA 1150, 6 MB Shared L3, Turbo Boost Enabled |
| Motherboard | ASRock Z97 Extreme6 |
| Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3-1866 @ DDR3-1333, 1.5 V |
| System Drive | Muskin Ventura Ultra 240 GB USB 3.0 UASP |
| Drive(s) Under Test | Samsung MZHPU512HCGL-00000 512 GB M.2 Gen 2 x4 PCIe, AHCI |
| Power Supply | Seasonic X400 FL2, 80+ Platinum |
| Chassis | Lian Li A01-NB ATX |
| HSF | Noctua NH-L9i |
| Graphics | Intel HD Graphics 4600 |
| OS | Windows 8.1 Enterprise, Windows to Go |
| Drivers | STORAHCI.SYS (Generic AHCI), Intel RST 13.1 (SATA) |
| Comparison Drives | Plextor M6e 256 GB M.2 PCIe x2, Firmware: 1.00 |
| Plextor M6S 256 GB SATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: 1.00 | |
| Plextor M6M 256 GB mSATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: 1.00 | |
| Adata SP920 256 GB SATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: MU01 | |
| Crucial M550 512 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: MU01 | |
| Intel SSD 730 480 GB SATA 6 Gb/s, Firmware: L2010400 | |
| SanDisk X210 512 GB, Firmware X210400 | |
| Crucial M500 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: MU02 | |
| Samsung 840 EVO 250 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: EXT0AB0Q | |
| Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware DXM04B0Q | |
| Seagate 600 SSD 240 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: B660 | |
| OCZ Vector 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s, Firmware: 2.0 | |
| Plextor M5 Pro 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s Firmware: 1.02 | |
| Benchmarks | |
|---|---|
| ULINK DriveMaster 2012 | DM2012 v980, JEDEC 218A-based TRIM Test, Protocol Test Suite |
| Test Specific Hardware | SAS/SATA Power Hub, DevSlp Platform, PCIe SSD Power Adapter |
| Tom's Hardware Storage Bench v1.0 | Intel iPeak Storage Toolkit 5.2.1, Tom's Storage Bench 1.0 Trace Recording |
| Iometer 1.1.0 | # Workers = 1, 4 KB Random: LBA=16 GB, varying QDs, 128 KB Sequential, 16 GB LBA Precondition, Exponential QD Scaling |
| PCMark 8 | PCMark 8 2.0.228, Storage Consistency Test |
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Summary
- High-Performance Storage On ASRock's Z97 Extreme6
- M.2 And SATA Express, Discussed
- Z97 Express: The Same Old Bandwidth Limitations
- Testing Samsung's XP941 On Z97 Express
- Results: A PCIe SSD's Sequential Performance
- Results: A PCIe SSD's Random Performance
- Results: Tom's Hardware Storage Bench v.1.0
- Results: PCMark 8 Storage Consistency Test
- ASRock's Z97 Extreme6: Only Satisfied By Samsung's XP941
Ask a Category Expert
I mean the difference on pci express 3 with 8X V 16X is not even noticeable on all but the very fastest cards even then its only a few fps. Two 780ti for example are not bottlenecked whatsoever in that mode and if you can afford that, you'd be using a hex core.