Sluggish HDD access

[rendez2k]

Hi there, heres my system:

Gigabyte GA-X58A UD3R Rev2
Intel Core i7 930 - Quad Core & HT CPU
6Gb Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600Mhz
GTX 480 PCI-E
2 x 1TB Western Digital WD1002FAEXSATA 6Gb/s frives
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD753LJ 7200 32mb Cache SATA II
Corsair 650W PSU
Windows 7 Pro x64

Now, It might be just me but lets say I'm doing some intensive hard disc bashing (like copying files) - the PC becomes almost slow to use and even simple things like loading a web page takes noticeably longer. Surely thats not normal? Could it be incorrectly set up or a driver issue? Running in standard IDE mode and no Raid. Installed all the default recommended drivers from the MB CD and I don't see any newer ones on the Gigabyte site. Any ideas?

[Dark Mantis]

Well the first thing I noticed is that your PSU must be struggling like mad with what you are expecting it to run. It is a good qulaity one or it would have given up before now. What are your temperatures like when it happens? Post what cooler you are using too please.

[rendez2k]

Its a professionally built and tested overclocked machine (Edge one shown here: http://www.scan.co.uk/shops/3XS/bundles?_s_icmp=yH5WRg6u). Looks like its using a Prolimatech Megahalems Cooler. Which temps do you mean? CPU? Running about 50c most of the time.

[Dark Mantis]

What you purchased as an overclocked bundle didn't include the PSU or the drives etc did it?  You may have purchased them at the same time but it was not part of the design package. I stand by my original statement.
You have checked all the updates etc already so there are no options there. Which ports do you have your hard drives installed on?

[rendez2k]

The machine was built by the same company - they recommended the extra components and said the PSU was more than adequate - not sure if thats the case but unfortunately I put my trust in them! As they built it I'm not 100% sure, I think the two WD SATA III drives are on the 2x SATA 3 ports and the Samsung is on a standard SATA port.

[Dark Mantis]

To get the best speed you want to put the two SATA3(6Gbs) drives onto the Intel ICH10 ports(SATA2) they will actually get better speeds there. The other port you are using is fine as long as it isn't the GSATA ports.

Although Scan are good generally it is the same old story, somebody designs the setup and then somone else builds it and adds extras and thinks this is a nice PSU that will do. Sometimes they are not even very well trained, you don't need a lot of knowledge just to put the thing together.

[Peteruk]

they recommended the extra components and said the PSU was more than adequate

Which it is.

Now, It might be just me but lets say I'm doing some intensive hard disc bashing (like copying files) - the PC becomes almost slow to use and even simple things like loading a web page takes noticeably longer. Surely thats not normal?

It probably is you as when you copy files from one disk to another even if your programs are on the disk where a file is being written to or copied from it will affect performance and web pages get cached to disk which is why loading takes longer.      

[rendez2k]

OK, I copied a big file (few GBs) from my D drive to my E drive (which is a partition of my C). I tried to open a word document and it took that long, word timed out! Surly on a machine this powerful thats not normal? Indecently, I checked the connection on the two SATA 3 Drives (the 2 mentioned in the test here) are indeed on the 2x GSATA3_6/7 ports if that makes a difference? The only two which look free are the 2x GSATA2_8/9 ports (controlled by Gigabyte SATA2).

[Dark Mantis]

The first six ports 0-5 are controlled by the Intel ICH10 chip and are the best for your Western Digital drives. From your list you should have spare ports to utilise. The ports 6&7 are controlled by the Marvel  9128 chip and the GSATA ports 8&9 are controlled by the Gigabyte SATA2 chip.
Have you asked Scan what the problem is as they built it for you?

[rendez2k]

I've asked Scan but they seem to think its fine and normal and so I'm hoping its just a config error. What I've realised is missing from the list is 3x SATA DVD Writers and the case has a built in SATA HDD connector.

For testing purposes, are the 2x Gigabyte SATA2 ports no good? In what way are they different to the Intel ones (and why all the different controllers?).

[Dark Mantis]

I've asked Scan but they seem to think its fine and normal and so I'm hoping its just a config error. What I've realised is missing from the list is 3x SATA DVD Writers and the case has a built in SATA HDD connector.

Definitely not normal, I don't care what Scan says! They built it and they have to carry the blame for the bad configuration.

For testing purposes, are the 2x Gigabyte SATA2 ports no good? In what way are they different to the Intel ones (and why all the different controllers?).

The GSATA ports are not as good as the Intel ports by any means. They used the Marvel 9128 chip for the SATA3 6Gbs ports because there wasn't a lot of choice at the time. The Marvell chip works alright but is not very well implimented in my opinion. Why the Gigabyte chip? You tell me. The only reason I can see is for extra RAID utilisation.
 
Probably not a great deal of help to you I am afraid but I don't know what else to say.

[rendez2k]

Well thanks for your help anyway. I'll get back on the phone to them tomorrow! Should the 2xSATA 3 ports be set to IDE or AHCI? They were set to IDE.

[Dark Mantis]

Yes for the best stability I would leave them on IDE. AHCI is slightly faster but not that it is going to make a difference to you especially at the moment.