Same virtual machine slower in a SSD than in a HDD

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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sutilo
Posts: 6
Joined: 8. Jun 2017, 12:19

Same virtual machine slower in a SSD than in a HDD

Post by sutilo »

Hi there,

We have the same virtual machine (Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Enterprise) with the same configuration is an Asus R510V and in a Dell Inspirion 15 7000 (see attached screenshots for more specs).
The point is, the Asus with an Intel I7 6700HQ and a hard disk is 33% faster than the Dell with I7-7700HQ and a M2 SSD. Is there something we are missing?
Due to the Dell laptop has a better processor and a M2 SSD we expect it to be faster than the Asus, and not the other way around?

Could you please help us out with that?

Thanks in advance!

Regards.

Virtual machine - Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Enterprise:
Virtual machine - Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Enterprise
Virtual machine - Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Enterprise
Virtual Machine - Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise.png (41.47 KiB) Viewed 9107 times
Dell Inspirion 15 7000 Gaming:
dell
dell
Dell Inspirion 15 7000 Gaming.png (28.2 KiB) Viewed 9101 times
Asus R510V:
Asus R510V
Asus R510V
Asus R510V specs.png (19.71 KiB) Viewed 9101 times
Last edited by sutilo on 8. Jun 2017, 14:01, edited 1 time in total.
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: Same virtual machine slower in a SSD than in a HDD

Post by socratis »

Pictures are hard to search and impossible to translate, so please try to use text when possible. Plus, at this point they're not telling us everything. What will help, is if you post a VBox.log (zipped) for both the hosts.

Follow a "start the VM from cold-boot" / "observe behavior" / "shutdown the VM" cycle. With the VM shut down completely (not paused or saved), right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager and select "Show Log". Save only the first "VBox.log", ZIP it and attach it to your response (see the "Upload attachment" tab below the reply form).

Do that for both hosts as I mentioned.

Oh, and if you post a screenshot from a HiDPI screen, please shrink it by at least 50%. And crop it to the area of interest. I don't really want to see whole desktops ;)
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
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scottgus1
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Re: Same virtual machine slower in a SSD than in a HDD

Post by scottgus1 »

How do you figure the "faster" guest is 33% faster? With benchmark software, or a stopwatch? Benchmarks are known to not run accurately in a virtual machine, because all the timers the benchmarks depend on are virtual, not real.

The best way to test timing on a virtual machine is to do something that requires a hand-stopwatch-measurable amount of time, like encoding a video or building an open-source project from source code, and comparing the times. Run the test several times on each VM, to get an average that will reduce spikes from the OS's running other background programs while the test is going on.
sutilo
Posts: 6
Joined: 8. Jun 2017, 12:19

Re: Same virtual machine slower in a SSD than in a HDD

Post by sutilo »

Attached the VM configuration on VB:
config 1.png
config 1.png (37.69 KiB) Viewed 9100 times
config 2.png
config 2.png (27.9 KiB) Viewed 9100 times
config 3+4.png
config 3+4.png (61.75 KiB) Viewed 9100 times
Last edited by sutilo on 8. Jun 2017, 14:03, edited 1 time in total.
sutilo
Posts: 6
Joined: 8. Jun 2017, 12:19

Re: Same virtual machine slower in a SSD than in a HDD

Post by sutilo »

We know that the Asus is faster than the Dell due to we have an a Java Application, the time used to start it up is 4 minutes for the Asus and 6 for the Dell.

Regards
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
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Location: Greece

Re: Same virtual machine slower in a SSD than in a HDD

Post by socratis »

@sutilo
I asked for the VBox.log.zip from both hosts. I did not ask for more screenshots. Please provide what's asked for, because I really don't like deleting attachments which do nothing more than take space on the server. Thanks...
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
sutilo
Posts: 6
Joined: 8. Jun 2017, 12:19

Re: Same virtual machine slower in a SSD than in a HDD

Post by sutilo »

Hi @Socratis,

Here the logs.

Dell laptop:
Dell.log
(127.88 KiB) Downloaded 18 times
Asus laptop:
asus.rar
(23.47 KiB) Downloaded 9 times
Thanks in advance!
socratis
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Re: Same virtual machine slower in a SSD than in a HDD

Post by socratis »

sutilo wrote:Asus with an Intel I7 6700HQ and a hard disk is 33% faster than the Dell with I7-7700HQ and a M2 SSD.
Your issues sound really close to another recent thread: Slow Windows 10 x32 guest on Windows 10 x64 host.

In both threads you have the same i7-7700HQ CPU in the newer model, both have an SSD in the newer model, and both have a higher resolution in the newer model. In both threads there is a complain about perceived lower speeds in the newer model. See if some of the recommendations and the solution from the other thread can help you.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
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sutilo
Posts: 6
Joined: 8. Jun 2017, 12:19

Re: Same virtual machine slower in a SSD than in a HDD

Post by sutilo »

Hi Socratis,

Thanks for that. I will take a look and try your suggestions of the other thread, I will get back to you.

Regards
sutilo
Posts: 6
Joined: 8. Jun 2017, 12:19

Re: Same virtual machine slower in a SSD than in a HDD

Post by sutilo »

Hi Socratis,
Following the steps in the other thread I have reduced the number of processor to 2 instead of 3, still slowly.
I have tried to change the CPU to i7 7700K but it was recognized by VB so I have successfully changed to i7 6700K, same result, still slowly.

Any other idea?
As in the other thread could be related to the storage drive due to I also have a M2 PCIe NVME SSD?

Regards
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
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Location: Greece

Re: Same virtual machine slower in a SSD than in a HDD

Post by socratis »

sutilo wrote:As in the other thread could be related to the storage drive due to I also have a M2 PCIe NVME SSD?
As in the other relevant thread, the suggestions (my suggestions) didn't make a difference. The problem was at the host level and that's where user 'Fedo' focused on and found a solution. I was steering you towards a similar solution, i.e the problem not being with VirtualBox, but with the host itself...
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Fedo
Posts: 8
Joined: 3. Jun 2017, 20:28

Re: Same virtual machine slower in a SSD than in a HDD

Post by Fedo »

Hi Socratis,
I am not sure I found a solution. I only know that my issue is very likely related to storage controllers. When I use SATA controller on the host NVME SSD drive then this controller cannot leverage speed of the host NVME drive and the performance of the guest drive is very bad. Unfortunately when I try to use NVME storage controller then my guest does not even start. So this looks to me like a defect in the VirtualBox storage controllers. Please correct me if I missed or misconfigured something.
Thanks,
Fedo
scottgus1
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Re: Same virtual machine slower in a SSD than in a HDD

Post by scottgus1 »

Don't panic. The storage controller setting in the guest is almost but not quite entirely unrelated* to the physical disk & controller the guest's disk file is on. (* see HGTTG)

The guest's disk file can be on a platter drive attached to IDE, and you can set the guest to think it's disk is attached to a SATA port, or theoretically an NVME. The guest OS needs to know how to run the kind of controller the guest settings are set for. Does 2008 know how to use an NVME? If not, your 2008 guest won't boot when it is told the guest disk is attached to the virtual motherboard's NVME port.
socratis
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Posts: 27330
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Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
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Location: Greece

Re: Same virtual machine slower in a SSD than in a HDD

Post by socratis »

Fedo wrote:when I try to use NVME storage controller then my guest does not even start. So this looks to me like a defect in the VirtualBox storage controllers.
From the User Manual Ch. 5.1 Hard disk controllers: IDE, SATA (AHCI), SCSI, SAS, USB MSD, NVMe <1>:
Booting from drives attached via NVMe is only supported when EFI is used as the BIOS lacks the appropriate driver.
So, were you using EFI? No you weren't, not according to the logs.

And just to make clearer what Scott said: unless you run tests that prove otherwise, changing the disk controller for the VM, has no performance losses or gains. The VDI is a file in your host. How you access that file depends on your host's capabilities, not what's reported on the guest. It could be reported as MFM, RLL, IDE, SCSI, SATA, RAID or NVMe, as long as there is a virtual controller written and the boot mechanism supports it <2>.


<1>: You guys should get a searchable PDF version of the User Manual, compared to the CHM that is the default under Windows. It's a lifesaver. BTW, you have the UserManual.pdf under "/doc"...

<2>: You got to be careful with SCSI. It's not well known, but it requires sacrificing a goat to the gods![/size]
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
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