What is C1E?

[Dawn1113]

I read somewhere that disabling C1E can increase SSD performance a bit. I googled and it, and -- from what I understand -- C1E seems to be a power saving option for CPUs. How does it relate to hard disk performance?

I tried running with it disabled for a while and saw no difference at all in terms of the temps and voltages reported by HWMonitor. I can't say I saw any increase in performance, either. Maybe my PC responded just a tad faster, but not much. Does disabling this feature shorten the lifespan of the CPU or any other system components?

Please pardon the noob question. I try to learn as much as I can about this stuff on my own, but sometimes I'm just not sure I understand things correctly.

 

[Doctor John]

You're quite right that C1E is basically a power saving system, but as it achieves this by slowing the speed of several system components, it could be argued that disabling it could (marginally) increase the performance of the whole system.
I'm not convinced, but you could give it a go, the worst it'll do is slightly warm your chips up and/or increase the electric bill by an iota. (y)

 

[Dawn1113]

Thanks, Doctor John. Maybe I'll give it a try and see if it adds to framerates. I found a number of interesting threads and a good article online about the subject -- not just C1E, but how power saving options in general impact SSD performance.

I don't know. If these power saving options reduce power consumption and slow the speed of your system when idle, then pops the frequencies up again once needed, wouldn't the reduced latency of having them off mean a slight boost in CPU performance? Could that account for what appears to be an increase in SSD performance? Wouldn't a fast SSD need a fast CPU to perform at its peak?

From what I can see, the power saving options on my mobo work pretty well, though. Honestly can't tell the difference without further testing. If there is any performance boost, perhaps it's the kind that can only be appreciated through benchmark results.

 

[TekGun]

C1E is a power saving feature for the CPU, when your PC is idle it will drop the frequency and voltage, reducing power usage and heat. I keep mine on, and can't say as I notice any drop in performance, I don't think it has any effect on storage devices though.

 

[Dawn1113]

[FONT=Arial]Thanks for the info, TekGun. I tried playing a number of games with C1E disabled and saw no discernible impact at all. I guess one has to disable all the power saving options (not just C1E) to see improvements, if any. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial]Anyways, Here's a link to an article on the subject: [/FONT]http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-hdd-power,2170.html.[FONT=Arial] It was written three years ago, though, so I'm not sure it still holds water.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]Here's a link to a newer related thread for Crucial SSDs: [/FONT][FONT=Arial]http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/C1E-Feature-and-SSD-performance-4k-tests/td-p/69401[/FONT][FONT=Arial].[/FONT]

Thanks again, guys.


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