Observing varying SSD performance across different SATA ports
Observing varying SSD performance across different SATA ports
You're experiencing slower-than-expected performance with your new SSD despite its specifications. It seems the drive might be functioning correctly, but there could be an issue with the connection or driver settings. Trying different SATA ports can help identify if the port itself is the problem.
These two ports might belong to separate controllers. Review your motherboard's manual for more information. Apart from that, a) there could be a faulty port, although b) the gap isn't substantial. Previously, when a port failed, the speed difference was around 100 MB/s versus 500 MB/s...
Review the manual to identify which ports supply power from the Asmedia controller and avoid that one. Leave it for devices like a SATA CD-ROM or mechanical drive. Right now seems like a suitable moment to explain how SATA ports function. The ones connected to the chipset operate independently of the Asmedia, feeding their own bandwidth into the internal 4x PCIe lanes. The Asmedia controller likely draws from just one lane and may also manage your front USB 3.0 ports. You often find Asmedia controllers acting as USB bridges in docking stations, and this behavior repeats. If you're using SSDs, look for NVMe drives if your board supports them—they'll be at least twice as fast.
I rely solely on my ASMedia ports for the Blu-ray drive about once a hundred times. MSI offers the most affordable entry-level X570 boards, but these aren't from MSI.
Besides MSI being a questionable brand, the AMD chipset actually accommodates 12 SATA ports. But as mentioned, only four are physically connected to it through a single link. To achieve eight SATA ports you’d need to remove either an M2 slot or a PCIe slot. The Asmedia in this scenario provides two additional ports, probably for the front panel and a 1x connection.