GA-Z68x-UD4-B3 Questions re LAN, Video and boot times

[rluna68]

Hello - I just built the following rig:
MB-GA-Z68x-UD4-B3
CPU - Intel 2500k
VC-Gigabyte GTX-550Ti
Memory-Corsair Vengeance 8GB CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B
HD1-OCZ Agility 3 - 60GB
HD2-OCZ Vertex2 120 GB

Lan Question - my connection seems slower than my old p5n board? For example, when downloading a large file, my browser is really slow or can't connect. Is this an issue with the Realtek chip? I have the latest drivers. Regardless, just purchased an Intel PCIex card (hopefully, it fits next to the video card) and is faster
Video - the GPU meter I'm using shows PCI Express8x - should the 550ti be running at 16x? I don't have any drives connected to the Marvel chip and have disabled it. Is this a false reading or is 8x the best the board/card combo can do? I figured getting a Gigabyte board and card would take care of any issues.
Boot times - my boot time is certainly slower than my old rig which had Sata1 one with a Corsair P120 SSD; I'm running SATAIII now - shouldn't my boot times be faster?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

[Aussie Allan]

 First off ,... please Oh please fix one thing at a time!..... this way you can keep track of what your doing and what effect the changes you make.

  The Z68 board, generally run the updated 88SE9182 Marvell chip.....this is the chip and connectors you need to us for SATAIII (6Gb/s) connectivity

 2) this board has 2 Graphics slots 1 is x16 the other is x8.........which one are you in ?

 3) Did you load the Marvell Drivers during OS install ?

 Update:   Almost forgot about Realtek issue  !   The first place I would be looking is a hard reset of the router..........second!  Realtek can be sensitive to updating, You must uninstall all instances of the old package before installing the new.

 The best one for me to make sure I get everything even right down to the registry level is Revouninstaller ... this (Free one) will clean out any install better then anything I've used

 Aussie Allan

[rluna68]

Hello-

Thanks for the reply:

1. Sata - I have my OS Drive (OCZ Agility3) plugged into the SATA3_0 (white connectors) which use the Z68 chip- the manual reads that they support upto 2 SATA 6GB devices. I'll try the Marvell ones to see if they're faster.

2. Yes, I installed the video card into the 16x slot - the one closest to the CPU and labeled 16x on the layout diagram in the manual.

3. LAN - I had installed the driver off the CD then updated with the driver off the Gigabyte web site - I did not power off the router or perform a clean install. (un)fortunately, I just installed the Intel card and I can now download large files and browse at the same time. I"ll make a note of the process and know better next time. I read on a different forum that the Intel cards were faster out of the box than most motherboard lan chips. I'll know to be more patient nex time.

Thanks again!