# Crucial M500 480GB SSD seems very slow



## Adonis72 (Feb 19, 2015)

Hello. I recently bought a 2nd hand laptop (An Asus UX32VD) with a Crucial M500 480GB SSD in it which the previous user had installed to replace the original drive. I blitzed the drive and installed Windows 8.1 from scratch but my drive seems to be very slow, which is backed up by the AS SSD benchmark results.


Particularly for the 4k and acc. time stats, which are much lower than I would expect when looking at the benchmarks for that drive.









As far as I can tell, I'm on the latest firmware (the windows firmware updater says I am) so I'm not sure what else to try next.


Does anyone have any advice?


Many thanks


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 19, 2015)

Is it in AHCI? What are the specs of the laptop


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## jsfitz54 (Feb 19, 2015)

Just to confirm, current firmware is MU05.

Try crystal disk info, (custom install and uncheck 2 boxes)  look at smart data post screenshot.  http://crystalmark.info/?lang=en

Bios on laptop is version 214?  http://www.asus.com/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/ASUS_ZENBOOK_UX32VD/HelpDesk_Download/

Is Intel RST installed?  https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=23496

Try version 12.9.0.1001 first.  https://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?lang=eng&ProdId=2101

ASUS help link:  http://www.asus.com/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/ASUS_ZENBOOK_UX32VD/HelpDesk_Knowledge/


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## Adonis72 (Feb 19, 2015)

eidairaman1 said:


> Is it in AHCI? What are the specs of the laptop



Hi there. Yes, it is in AHCI.

The specs for the laptop are,

Intel HM76 Express Chipset
Intel i7-3517U processor
10GB RAM
Integrated Intel® HD Graphics 4000 with additional NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 620M
Crucial M500 480GB SSD as the main drive
24GB Sandisk SSD i100 built in drive. Originally used as hybrid drive but which I am now using as a scratch disc


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## Caring1 (Feb 19, 2015)

Don't bother installing Intel RST, it wont work with an SSD.
Also what speed is the smaller 24Gb drive showing, that may be the issue.


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## rtwjunkie (Feb 19, 2015)

Adonis72 said:


> As far as I can tell, I'm on the latest firmware (the windows firmware updater says I am) so I'm not sure what else to try next.


 
Can you confirm you actually have MU05 firmware?  The label will say which firmware you have installed, not windows, unless Windows is specifically stating MU05.  windows is notorious in Device Manager for saying you have the newest driver installed, when you just downloaded a newer drivier from a manufacturer site, so you KNOW windows' response is false.  Chances are, if you haven't updated, and you got it used, it very well could be MU03.


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## Adonis72 (Feb 19, 2015)

jsfitz54 said:


> Just to confirm, current firmware is MU05.
> 
> Try crystal disk info, (custom install and uncheck 2 boxes)  look at smart data post screenshot.  http://crystalmark.info/?lang=en
> 
> ...




Hi there jsfitz54.

Yes, the firmware is MU05 and the laptop bios is version 214

Here is the crystal disk info smart data,


Thanks!


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## jsfitz54 (Feb 19, 2015)

Not sure about thermal throttling with those temps as high of 63 and 52.

Mine, 256GB, in laptop as I'm writing this is 56 and 45.


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## CJCerny (Feb 19, 2015)

Those sequential read and write speeds are pretty much identical to what Crucial says they should be for that drive. I don't think there is anything wrong with your drive.


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## jsfitz54 (Feb 19, 2015)

CJCerny said:


> Those sequential read and write speeds are pretty much identical to what Crucial says they should be for that drive. I don't think there is anything wrong with your drive.



^ +1

Here are my stats using same benchmark on old sata1 amd gateway NV53:


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## newtekie1 (Feb 19, 2015)

Your benchmark numbers will be lower than reviews because your drive is being used by Windows at the same time you are running the benchmark.


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## Adonis72 (Feb 19, 2015)

newtekie1 said:


> Your benchmark numbers will be lower than reviews because your drive is being used by Windows at the same time you are running the benchmark.



Oh, ok, thanks guys. So it seems my problem isn't the SSD. Sorry for being a bit dim about the benchmark numbers.

(FWIW, it is on MU05)

Now to try and work out why the laptop seems slow compared to my old desktop...


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## CJCerny (Feb 19, 2015)

Adonis72 said:


> Oh, ok, thanks guys. So it seems my problem isn't the SSD. Sorry for being a bit dim about the benchmark numbers.
> 
> (FWIW, it is on MU05)
> 
> Now to try and work out why the laptop seems slow compared to my old desktop...


 
That would be because it is a laptop. Problem solved. 

Keep in mind that there is a huge difference in the horsepower of a desktop CPU when compared to a laptop CPU. An i3 desktop CPU is going to be much faster than something like an i5 or i7 laptop CPU.


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## newtekie1 (Feb 19, 2015)

CJCerny said:


> An i3 desktop CPU is going to be much faster than something like an i5 or i7 laptop CPU.



Not entirely accurate, but not that far off either.  The i5/i7 that comes in the OP's laptop are about equivalent to a desktop i3.  Maybe slightly slower, but not much.

The slowness also might be cause by the memory configuration.  I'm not 100% on this model, but if it is  like some of the other Zenbook models, ASUS soldered half the memory on the motherboard, and gives a single DIMM to upgrade.  The problem with this is that from the factory the memory is only running single channel, which does have a pretty noticeable affect on performance.  You have to add a second DIMM into the open socket to enable dual-channel.


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## xorbe (Feb 19, 2015)

Adonis72 said:


> Now to try and work out why the laptop seems slow compared to my old desktop...



Just one suggestion, are both ram slots populated for dual channel memory?  That right there hurts a lot if only one stick is installed, or mis-matched sizes (ie, you said 10GB ram, so I am suspicious you have this issue.)


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## Caring1 (Feb 20, 2015)

newtekie1 said:


> Not entirely accurate, but not that far off either.  The i5/i7 that comes in the OP's laptop are about equivalent to a desktop i3.  Maybe slightly slower, but not much.
> 
> The slowness also might be cause by the memory configuration.  I'm not 100% on this model, but if it is  like some of the other Zenbook models, ASUS soldered half the memory on the motherboard, and gives a single DIMM to upgrade.  The problem with this is that from the factory the memory is only running single channel, which does have a pretty noticeable affect on performance.  You have to add a second DIMM into the open socket to enable dual-channel.


If it's a Zenbook they usually have low voltage Processors and Ram, so run a little bit slower.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Feb 20, 2015)

Caring1 said:


> Don't bother installing Intel RST, it wont work with an SSD.
> Also what speed is the smaller 24Gb drive showing, that may be the issue.



what are you talking about. Of course RST works with SSDs.


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## Adonis72 (Feb 20, 2015)

Ok, thanks guys, I will check out the memory configuration. Sounds like that could be an issue.


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## jsfitz54 (Feb 20, 2015)

Install the Intel Rapid Start like I indicated previously in post #3 and see if it makes a difference.


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## Adonis72 (Feb 21, 2015)

jsfitz54 said:


> Install the Intel Rapid Start like I indicated previously in post #3 and see if it makes a difference.


Hi jsfitz. For some reason when I saw your original post, I only saw the first 2 points.

I will definitely try Rapid Start like you suggested at some point over the weekend and report back. Thanks!


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## Adonis72 (Feb 24, 2015)

So I installed Rapid Start and it does seem to have helped a bit. Thanks!


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## Aquinus (Feb 24, 2015)

Adonis72 said:


> So I installed Rapid Start and it does seem to have helped a bit. Thanks!


While I think RST should be installed, I think it's laughable to think that it will improve performance. What people might be trying to get to is that more often than not the RST utility comes with Intel's latest RST drivers. I highly recommend manually installing the AHCI driver from the latest RST package on Intel's website.


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