GA-X58A-UD3R REV2 and Marvell SATA 3 bios settings?

[Wonderwrench]

I just built a system for my buddy using a GA-X58A-UD3R REV2 bios FA. For now he will be using a standard magnetic drive for the OS (aka win 7 64 bit) connected to the Intel SATA 2 controller. In the near future he wants to get a Crucial REAL C300 SSD and of course connect it to the Marvell SATA 3 controller. I'm under the understanding that the Marvel controller needs to be run in AHCI mode using the MSAHCI driver for trim to function. The trouble is that when the Marvell controller is in AHCI mode in the bios before installing windows 7 after the OS install  windows has no driver for the Marvell controller. Its shown in device manager as a unknown device. This looks like a catch 22 to me as  I would have no choice but to install the Marvell driver during the OS install when using a Crucial REAL C300 SSD on the Marvell controller if the controller is set to AHCI mode in the bios. So the question is how are people getting the MSAHCI driver to install with the Marvell controller set to AHCI mode in the bios? See screen shot of the bios settings in the manual.

Thanks
Bill

[Dark Mantis]

This has been discussed in the past here on the forum. The AHCI mode has to be enabled to get the best performance but with the Marvell drivers I am not sure that TRIM is working. You can check for TRIM to see if it is enabled but it doesn't actually tell you whether it is active.

[Wonderwrench]

So I take it there are no MSAHCI drivers in Windows 7 for the Marvell SATA 3 controller? During my test install I installed the Marvell drivers from within windows 7 and it would seem there is no way to install just the driver. I see no need for RAID utilities.

[Dark Mantis]

Not as far as I am aware.Even the Marvell drivers are crap. To bring up an old point once again the Marvell SATA3 is actually slower than the ICH10 SATA2 when a RAID array is installed but Gigabyte don't seem to be interested in doing anything about it. The advertising hype about getting 4x the speed of SATA2 is bullsh1t.

[Wonderwrench]

I did some searching and it looks like Gigabyte dropped the ball and does not include a driver only package for the Marvell SATA 3 controller. Asus uses the same controller on some of their boards and they have a driver only download that is less than a month old. Version V1.0.0.1036. I got it here http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=T2FxW2fXGZQgSn2V. I will give it a shot next time I'm over at my buddies house and see what happens. One more question: Is there a  PCIE 2.0 4x SATA 3 add in card that is that works correctly and has trim support? No RAID needed BTW plus it automatically breaks trim.

Thanks
Bill

[Dark Mantis]

If you do a search of the recent posts on this forum regarding SATA there was someone that was using a card of I think that type.

[F5BJR]

*
not tested with sata3 disks but i think run fine

i use with 2 * HPM enclosures with 4 * sata 1T0 disks ( speed is some 160 mo/s )

RR622 or RR620 by HighPoint ( 2 ports )

* RAID 0 , 1 , 5 , 10 with 2 * port multiplier enclosures

exist also a new models with 4 * ports RR640 or RR644


Pierre

[Wonderwrench]

*
not tested with sata3 disks but i think run fine

i use with 2 * HPM enclosures with 4 * sata 1T0 disks ( speed is some 160 mo/s )

RR622 or RR620 by HighPoint ( 2 ports )

* RAID 0 , 1 , 5 , 10 with 2 * port multiplier enclosures

exist also a new models with 4 * ports RR640 or RR644


Pierre

I took a look at the 600 series cards and they are PCIE 2.0 1x cards not 4x cards. I can't see why they even made them as x1 does not have enough bandwidth for SATA 3.

[F5BJR]

**
RR640 or RR644 are PCI-e X4 add-on cards
**
look this

http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/series_rr600.htm

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Highpoint-RocketRAID-644-(RR644)-4-channel-External-PCI-e-20-x4-to-SATA-6Gb-s-RAID-controller-card

Pierre

[Dark Mantis]

That's interesting Pierre, thanks for the update. However I notice that these cards use the same Marvell 9128 controller chip as do the Gigabyte motherboards(and in that case anyway very poorly)

[onemilimeter]

Gigabyte's version of "SATA3-gate"... still no comment on the Marvell SATA3 from Gigabyte?

[Dark Mantis]

Gigabyte's version of "SATA3-gate"... still no comment on the Marvell SATA3 from Gigabyte?

No there is an eerie silence pervading the air

[absic]

Gigabyte's version of "SATA3-gate"... still no comment on the Marvell SATA3 from Gigabyte?

No there is an eerie silence pervading the air

Look, let's just clear up this SATA3 issue once and for all. It is just like Apple's I-Phone 4, there really isn't a problem at all, it's just the way that we are using the damn thing!

[Dark Mantis]

But I have tried holding my computer the right way but my arm gets tired

[onemilimeter]

No there is an eerie silence pervading the air

That's the problem here... when customers lose their patience and make some funny posts, Gigabyte will do some funny things too. In my opinion, Gigabyte online technical support is among the worst in the world. Well, runn3R at least responded to some of our posts, although I'm sure all of us wish runn3R can respond more quickly especially regarding the Marvell SATA3 issue.