GA-X58A-UD3R : Marvell SATA3 ports NOT working well !?

[scjet]

GA-X58A-UD3R  (with Bios rev. "F5" -  latest)
OS: Windows 7 Professional (64 bit)

 I have (2) Caviar Black (1TB) SATA3 drives.

At first I connected both in a Raid 0 configurations using the Intel Sata 2 ports:
 I raided(striped) them using  2 of the Intel SATA2 ports, and created a "RAID 0")
 Write -> 200 MB/s
 Read -> 200 MB/s

I thought ok, thats is good.
-------------------------------

 BUT, since they are SATA3 drives I decided to connect them to the 2 "Marvell 9128" GSATA/6/7 "SATA3"  ports
 ( I selected AHCI mode and then created a "RAID 0" again).
 Instead of getting "better" results it spewed out a paltry:
 Write -> 200 MB/s
 Read ->100 MB/s   !!!!!!!!!!

---------------------------------------------
 I used the exact same tests,... for both the above.
anyway, apparently when using Marvel GSATA Raid configurator in bios its has only 2 options, "AHCI" or "IDE".
 Should I have used "IDE" ?
 Or is this the same "Marvell"  compnay that makes those gawd-awful NIC stuff ?

 Anyone else had any issues with these so-called SATA 3  ports??
 

[skiigor]

There is article about this
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/02/20/sata_6gbs_on_your_new_motherboard/2


Perhaps future versions of drivers for the Marvell SATA3 controller will improve the RAID-0 speed  

[scjet]

 hi thanks for reply,
 either way, I tried the sata3 raid stripe in ahci, and ide mode,...,  it's all just crappy Marvell.
 It definitely ain't the sata3 drives since they worked faster using the Intel Raid0 (sata2) ports...

 Marvell were always JUNK !!! -It took Marvell years to get their NIC drivers in any manageable order, so being typical Marvell crap, I won't hold my breath on any "future" drivers' from Marvell either, now that they think they are in the Disk I/O business- Gigabyte couldn't have picked a WORSE 3rd-supplier co.

 Intel's ICH10R sata2 blows marvell's sata3 out of the water. !? -ahh well, so much for the upgrade path sata3-wise on this MB.
 Still, for the money, this Gig-MB was worth it for everything else.

[Jazz]

sigh....I should shold check this forum before I go hardware shopping............yesterday I bought this MB as well, and found the same problem as you mentioned.......now I just switched back to SATA 2 port for RAID 0 instead of SATA 3.

 

[scjet]

 Well, the only somewhat good news is the sata3 ports appear to atleast work faster in Ubuntu 64-bit:
 I deleted the crappy Marvell(Gsata) Raid0 configurator in BIOS, but kept the Marvell 9128 "onchip" controller enabled.
-then just set both drives connected on the SATA3 ports to AHCI mode, in bios.
finally in Ubuntu, just use "mdadm" software Raid manager to create a "Raid0" xfs.

-the colums may be a little mashed below but atleast now I'm hitting ~265MB/sec steady write transfers. But this is still along way off from the "5 Gb/sec" (500Mb/sec) capacity of Sata3, as mentioned by gigabyte.
-And of course, to really find out ?, I would need 8 more of these SATA3 drives and ports-which of course this board doesn't have.
 Or, a couple of Intel SSD's. -which of course, I cannot afford.


 Bottom-line is Linux "mdadm" raid manager is BETTER than Marvell fake-hardware-raid in BIOS !!!
MARVELL, was, and will probably always be a junk-semiconductor maker.
-------------------------------------------
Device:         rrqm/s   wrqm/s     r/s     w/s    rkB/s    wkB/s avgrq-sz avgqu-sz   await  svctm  %util
sda               0.00     0.00    0.00    2.67     0.00    16.00    12.00     0.01    5.00   1.25   0.33
sdb               0.00  1817.33    0.00  246.67     0.00 126161.33  1022.93   130.48  505.04   4.05 100.00
sdc               0.00  1815.00    0.00  249.33     0.00 127658.67  1024.00    73.92  286.40   4.01 100.00
md0               0.00     0.00    0.00 4150.67     0.00 265313.33   127.84     0.00    0.00   0.00   0.00
------------------------------------------

 I'm happy with "10" Sata2 ports.
 I may have expected too much with this sata3/usb3 marketing ploy by Gigabyte, but for the money the X58A-UDR3 is still well wrth it.
 Again,  to me,  this MB is very stable and feels quality-built all around.
It OC's like a champ and Ubuntu 64-bit screams on this board.

[scjet]

... my last little test was just with Win7-64, I had my two sata3 drives setup on the Marvell(sata3) ports in ahci-mode,
 used the Win raid-manager and striped the disks (raid0) and got:
 Write -> 220 MB/s
 Read -> 250 MB/s
 - even Windows software Raid had much better perf than Marvells' own crappy hardware driver.
 comon' Gigabyte, kick their ____'s to get this fixed will ya ?

[skiigor]

... my last little test was just with Win7-64, I had my two sata3 drives setup on the Marvell(sata3) ports in ahci-mode,
 used the Win raid-manager and striped the disks (raid0) and got:
 Write -> 220 MB/s
 Read -> 250 MB/s
 - even Windows software Raid had much better perf than Marvells' own crappy hardware driver.
 comon' Gigabyte, kick their ____'s to get this fixed will ya ?

Thanks for info and tests!

Try contacting the GIGABYTE support with a description of the problem - perhaps they will fix or send a request to Marvell. It will be interesting to read that they will answer about this problem

There is Western Digital SATA 6Gb/sec 1TB Caviar Black (WD1002FAEX) Review on  PC Perspective. You can compare your performance with these speed tests.
http://pcper.com/article.php?aid=870&type=expert&pid=1

[Gigalee]

My X58A-UD7 won't allow me to undertake a clean install of Windows 7 Ultimate x64 using the Marvell SATA 3 Controller to manage a RAID 0 Array using 2-off WD Caviar Black 1TB 6GBit/S Drives......which negates most of my reasons for buying this board in the first place.

It would appear that the MV91XX.SYS pre-install Driver File is pretty flawed/feeble!

[scjet]

Thanks for info and tests!

Try contacting the GIGABYTE support with a description of the problem - perhaps they will fix or send a request to Marvell. It will be interesting to read that they will answer about this problem

There is Western Digital SATA 6Gb/sec 1TB Caviar Black (WD1002FAEX) Review on  PC Perspective. You can compare your performance with these speed tests.
http://pcper.com/article.php?aid=870&type=expert&pid=1
[/quote]
--------------------
Thx for the review link skiigor, the 1TB sata3 Blacks aren't bad at all, and the $99/each was good too

[scjet]

My X58A-UD7 won't allow me to undertake a clean install of Windows 7 Ultimate x64 using the Marvell SATA 3 Controller to manage a RAID 0 Array using 2-off WD Caviar Black 1TB 6GBit/S Drives......which negates most of my reasons for buying this board in the first place.

It would appear that the MV91XX.SYS pre-install Driver File is pretty flawed/feeble!

-------------------------------



Hi,
 I haven't tried installing Win7-64 specifically using those sata3's as Raided "boot" disks yet, for reasons everyone else has mentioned,"flakey Marvell...?", but mostly because I wanted them for "striped"  multimedia storage.
 But, on the ich10r, or gsata (sata2) ports I had no probs installing Win7-64, using my other "boot/OS" sata2 drives.
 However, I use ahci mode on "ALL" these controllers (ich10R(sata2), gsata(sata2), as well as the marvell (sata3) ports-where I have the sata3 "Blacks" installed.
  Win7-64 should have all the necessary ahci drivers built in to get you started.
 But probably on the Marvell sata3 ports, you may need to "pre-install" (F6-floopy)/USB-stick the Marvell drivers ?

 I guess that didn't help you much, I'm kinda learning about my new Giga-board myself. Let us know how it goes.
GL
 

[Gigalee]

 But probably on the Marvell sata3 ports, you may need to "pre-install" (F6-floopy)/USB-stick the Marvell drivers ?
 

I've tried but it doesn't seem to work!

[scjet]

 But probably on the Marvell sata3 ports, you may need to "pre-install" (F6-floopy)/USB-stick the Marvell drivers ?
 

I've tried but it doesn't seem to work!

-----------------------------------------


 ok, sry, I stand corrected,  according to the manual (page 108) it basically says "...you are NOT required to load the sata/ahci driver first, when installing Vista/Win7 onto the "Raided" drives that you attached to your Marvell9128 controller....."
 So, it should work right ? that is, I've had no probs seeing my raided Sata3's on the Marvell controller in either hardware(bios)raid, or just using a software raid.. .

Also, check out http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,1558.0.html
-it may be pertinent ?
On a side note, becuase of the crappy driver issue with Marvell's 9128 controller I've emaield Gigabyte:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/ServiceCenter.aspx
-everyone's wishlist here is that Gigabyte go after Marvell's accountability to FIX their "outdated" driver issues.
 If that would just happen these would be the perfect MB's for now .
 

[skiigor]

There is a new interesting article on a respected resource AnandTech

6Gbps SATA Performance: AMD 890GX vs. Intel X58/P55
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3778

There are several tests with the GA-X58A-UDR3 Marvell SATA3

[scjet]

There is a new interesting article on a respected resource AnandTech

6Gbps SATA Performance: AMD 890GX vs. Intel X58/P55
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3778

There are several tests with the GA-X58A-UDR3 Marvell SATA3

ahhh yes,  AMD, my first love. -but ya, nice comparison where do you find all these test-reviews? I use google.
 Alas, I've always been an AMD-fanboy, (BECAUSE they are SO AFFORDABLY CHEAP !) but my Gig,,,UD3R is my 2nd venture into the Intel-(wannabe)-monoply world, its been a long time.
 Right now Intel cpu's rock,
 AMD has to come up with another "saber-rattler" CPU again !, one more PUSH, maybe AMD-Fusion will do it, then watch Intel drop those prices on their $1500.00 extreme 9** whatever.
 ...keeps them both honest. On the other hand, I'm whining again.  haha

 
cheers.
 

[scjet]

There is a new interesting article on a respected resource AnandTech

6Gbps SATA Performance: AMD 890GX vs. Intel X58/P55
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3778

There are several tests with the GA-X58A-UDR3 Marvell SATA3

--------------------

 Hi  "skiigor" :
 just to mention to you, I received a reply from Gigabyte in regards to the Sata3 performance issues, it's over here:
http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,1617.0.html

thx again,
Rick.