SSD SATA AHCI controller...which is best for me?

I installed a samsung 840 evo on my win 8.1 asus laptop. I just kinda took the old one out, threw the new one in, and did some tweaking with the Magician software. I've been spending time reading up on ssd's in general and I'm looking to get the best performance out of my ssd/system that I can.

I've seen some people online talking about using the Intel Rapid Storage controller or AMD controller for best performance, but that opinion seems to vary. Others think Microsoft's is best.

The graphics controller and processor in my pc is AMD, but that's about all I know. So can anyone give me some advice? If switching controllers is a relatively painless and easy process then I'd like to see which one works best for my system.

Thanks!

 

W8/8.1 knows how to work and set itself up with SSDs - as do modern motherboards and chipsets. I leave the settings alone. The defaults work just fine.

BTW, keep on eye on Samsung Magician. I found it did more harm than good. For example, when you set it to "performance", it changed security settings and power mode settings I did not want changed. I ALWAYS set my computers to require a password when coming out of sleep modes. Magician changed that to not required so boot times would be faster! Not cool!

Faster boot times does NOT mean better "performance" once the computer is fully booted.

It also changed my drive sleep settings so my drives never power off. Again - Not cool! As again, faster boot (or return from sleep) have NOTHING to do with performance once fully booted/awake.

More importantly, by changing my Power Options settings, Magician prevented my computers from going to sleep - which I want it to do at the end of every day, and when I walk away from my computer for 20 minutes.

Finally, I didn't notice ANY performance gains with Magician running anyway, so why waste system resources with a program that provides no noticeable improvements?

So I don't allow Magician to run at boot - no regrets or problems.

 

I don't believe in any desktop tweaking. It's all placebo.
Disk drivers/controllers, same thing. Any one will do.
Install defaults, move on.
Mrk

 

I am about 99.9% in agreement with that. Microsoft has all sorts of PhDs and other geniuses with super computers, and 20 years experience with W95 through Vista to tweak Windows. And they got it right with W7, and W8 too - at least under the hood where it counts (unless you like the new UI - which many do - but most don't - stay tuned for W8.1.1).

There are some special (and often single) purpose computers that require special tweaking - so the remaining .1%. Otherwise, all or most of the tweaking stuff came out of XP days. Sadly, there are many who think W7/W8 is XP or the other way around. W7/W8 are not XP and don't need the tweaking to work at peak performance levels like XP did.

Any one? Not sure what you mean there but since this is a new OS install, I recommend the latest drivers provided on the computer's website for that OS, or the motherboard's website (if the computer were self or custom built - not likely since it is a notebook).

Exactly. Except for passwords and wireless passphrases. Oh, and run Windows Update and setup your security before surfing.

 

Thanks for your thoughts! I'll be checking back periodically in case someone else wants to weigh in.

 

Given those options... If you are buying a mobo with a storage controller, Intel is the best thing you can get in that class. I would avoid AMD. Microsoft does not make controllers but provides generic drivers. You can use their drivers, they are usually very stable, but I have never had any stability problems with Intel drivers and they are usually faster. A dedicated hardware RAID controller would probably be your highest option, but most expensive and probably overkill.

Ok, I just reread that and see you have a laptop. A separate controller is not an option. Microsoft drivers are fine, but if you have an AMD or Intel chipset is the question that will allow you to explore other options. If you get that information post it and we'll take a look.

 

Jack,

After running dxdiag in windows, it says:

AMD A8 4500M APU with Radeon HD Graphics

Under Display tab and Chip type, it says: AMD Radeon HD 7640G (0x9903)

Does that help?

Thanks for your response!

 

This won't tell us what chipset you have. Graphics and SATA controller brands are very likely unrelated. Can you find the "System Information" utility and run that, and tell us what CPU is listed? Or, if you could post the exact model of you laptop we could look it up and see the specs.

 

https://www.asus.com/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/K55N/#specifications

 

I have the exact opposite experience with Samsung Magician. My SSD is the 830 Series 128GB. I've found a couple times with WU & driver updates changed my SSD settings. I check my Magician settings every once in a while. And if they're changed then I change them back.

 

Well no, it is what they consider to be the best. They do not produce a gaming OS nor OS for desktop users, they produce OS, that fits needs of everyone.
Imagine it like a car, there is nothing like the best car, some prefer car, that runs fast, other a car, that can go everywhere or just a heavy bulletproof one.
Just take superfetch, it is a great feature, that lets applications start faster, but people like me prefer to have more RAM rather than to start some apps faster.
I remember 7 telling me, that a game can not run, because of insufficient RAM, Cleanmem fixed it, it manages it better, so called experts told me to buy more RAM.
I can tell, that after tweaking my OS runs much better than after a clean install and I do not need you to take my word for it, benchmark scores speak for them self.

 

No, that is not the same (or opposite of) Magician changing sleep mode settings - which was my complaint. You are talking about other updates changing SSD settings - which has nothing to do with Magician.

Huh? Sorry, but that makes no sense whatsoever - unless, perhaps, you are running with 2Gb of RAM or less. And SuperFetch settings are based on YOUR normal use habits - not what some MS programmer thinks you might use. And besides, the "pre-loaders" these fetch routines use are tiny - a few Mb of RAM - not Gb or even 100s of Mb. If you feel the fetch routines degrade your performance, you have other issues.

And besides all that - this topic is about SSDs. W7 automatically disables SuperFetch on SSDs when an SSD is detected. W8 does not disable it (or defragging) - it simply ignores any SSD it finds when using SuperFetch or defragging.

So I am sorry, TOMxEU, but clearly you are misinformed about SuperFetch with SSDs and W8.

No. They produce a OS that can be customized and configured for [just about] every one's needs. Big difference! Yours suggest a rigid platform. No way Windows is that because Windows EASILY detects, and configures itself for MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of different hardware devices that may be connected to that system, and MILLIONS of different software programs. You cannot say that for Mac systems, UNIX, or even Linux.

That is NOTHING like a car - which is incapable of reconfiguring itself for different purposes - except maybe to fold up or down an extra passenger seat.

Well. Good for you. Thanks for posting those benchmarks.

 

@BB I find Magician useful with easy access to settings. You find it useless to harmful.

How's that?

 

I already explained why.

1. It changed my security setting so a password is not needed when "waking from sleep" - without notifying me of that change. That is bad and could be harmful if your computer can be accessed by others when you are away from your desk.

2. It changed the sleep setting on my hard drives so they never stop spinning. That increases wear and tear on my drives needlessly. I don't need my drives spinning at 3am. Why is a SSD performance tweaker messing with our hard drives in the first place?

Sure, those changes allow me to start using my computer a few seconds (yes seconds) sooner - but big deal. And at what cost? More electricity, more wear and tear, more heat - all for a couple seconds when waking from sleep And WITHOUT providing ANY noticeable performance gains, once fully awake?

No noticeable performance gains, reduced security, and wasted resources (RAM, disk space, and CPU cycles). That, IMO, makes it useless (and harmful).

IF performance noticeably improved with Samsung Magician (once my computer fully booted/awoke) then I would consider the program useful. But since I don't notice any improvement, and I can find no published benchmarks showing Magician improves performance, I find it useless - worse than useless, it is a waste of system resources, a threat to security, and potentially increases wear and tear on hard drives. A no brainer for me - especially since modern Windows (7 & already know how to properly use a SSD.

 

I wasn't debating or arguing.

I was stating my experience & maybe erroneously but succinctly stating you find it useless to harmful.

Seems simple enough to agree we have had different if not opposite results with Magician.

 

Magician DOES provide easy access to settings. That is not the point. If all it did was let me change SSD settings, then no problem.

But it changes more than just SSD settings WITHOUT notice to the user! It changes security (password) settings and power (sleep) options. And it does so WITHOUT improving SSD performance! Once Windows is awake, booted and running normally (which is 99.999% of the time in question), those settings make absolutely no difference.

And as for providing easy access to SSD settings, that's fine. And in that sense, "useful". But is it really needed? Those are typically "set and forget" settings. Why do users need easy access to settings they will likely never need to change? ESPECIALLY when those settings are not hard to access via Windows own menu systems?

Why do I need yet another System Tray icon running that I don't need? Another service running that does not improve performance?

Don't get me wrong - I love my Samsung SSD and will likely never build another computer again (for me) that is not SSD based. But modern versions of Windows knows how to configure itself for optimal performance, without compromising security, wasting electricity, or increasing wear and tear on conventional drives. We (the vast majority of users) don't need Samsung Magician IF we have a modern OS.

 

Well we've had different Magician experiences. Never had Magician change any settings. And I have it set not to start with Windows.

 

Not sure now, but even when I set it not to start, it still loaded an unneeded service.

I actually uninstalled it completely, made sure I had the latest from Samsung, then installed it again to see if it made the same unwelcomed changes. And it did (at least when selecting the highest performance option). I note still, right now, even though it has been uninstalled, when I look under Control Panel > Power Options, it still shows "Samsung High Performance" as my "Plan" (even though I changed back the settings to require a password on wakeup, and put the computer to sleep at 20 minutes). I can fix that by creating a new plan, then deleting the Samsung plan, but the settings underneath are all I really care about.

I have to ask, what is it really doing for you that you "need"?

 

Who is this 'discussion' of yours benefiting? I just see pointless arguing entirely unrelated to the original post.

 

@Senhor_F

go to the "device manager" of windows; what do you see at the submenus of "ide ata/atapi controllers" and "storage controllers"?

Panagiotis

 

@BB Do you have the 840 like OP? I have the 830. Surmising that Magician functions differently or different versions between the 840 & 830. And I have the regular plans under Power Options - Samsung isn't anywhere. With Magician I like to very occasionally check the options under OS Optimization. I have had WU & other programs change some of these settings & in Magician it's easy to check for & fix these unwanted changes.

 

I do have the 840.

Your original post did talk about Samsung Magician. I agree the thread went a bit OT, but I don't believe the discussion was pointless or unrelated.

The very nature of forums is to allow "open" discussions and participation. That does, at times, bring in unrelated facts that we as posters just need to weed through.

It is better to get more information than we need than not enough to make an informed decision.

That said, this is YOUR thread, Senhor_F and you get to drive the direction. My apologies for my part in the sidetrack. With that in mind, I refer back to my opening statement when I joined this discussion,

 

Standard SATA AHCI Controller

 

So you get the generic version, perhaps if you look at this link -http://www.win-raid.com/f23-Intel-AHCI-RAID-Drivers.html- , you should found all you need to know.

I've it actually installed, depends of your motherboard chipset


Be very carefull.

Rules.

 

Go here:
http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/downloads.aspx
and click the AMD Chipset Drivers link. Install the chipset drivers, and possibly the RAID drivers if the chipset package does not get it done. I have no way to test them myself, I only run Intel at this point.