X58A-UD3R Win 7 build very slow

[Dan7890]

About 9 months ago, I built a PC around the following:

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor
CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
Thermaltake Black Widow W0319RU 850W ATX 12V v2.3, EPS 12V v2.91 CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive

All of the above were new, except the HDD.

I built the machine to replace one I had build in 2006 around an ASUS P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard & a Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775, running XP home, 32 bit.   Even though the Gigabyte machine is 5 years newer, has 3 times the RAM and twice the cores, it seems much slower & more trouble prone (programs lock MUCH more than the did in the older XP rig).  For example, just prior to writing this post, I attempted to open Notepad from a shortcut on the desktop.  It took at least 5 seconds to open just the empty program (i.e., no document).  In addition to the 320 gig drive (which I also used for the OS in my last PC with no difficulty), the Giga machine has 5 additional drives (as did the ASUS), from 500 GB to 2 TB in size.  When I go to one of the non-OS HDD's in WE and click a folder, the Giga machine will take nearly 10 seconds to display the content of the folder.  Once I have done this the 1st time with a given drive, other folders open much faster.  I have read this MOBO has trouble with the Marvel SATA driver.  Could this explain the speed issues?  What else might be going on here?  I have not updated the BIOS.  What should I try to get this new machine to AT LEAST perform as well as the 5 year old one?  Any suggestions would be really appreciated.

Dan

[Gloup_Gloup]

Hi Dan,  

What is your motherboard Revision? 1.0 or 2.0 ?

I assume, by exemple, you have a 1.0 Revison...
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3305#ov

I suggest then you connect your OS HDD on SATA_x ICH10R SouthBridge (SATA2_0, SATA2_1, SATA2_2, SATA2_3, SATA2_4, SATA2_5).
This chip is more speedly than Marvel and JMicron.

So before change a connection : (And after, ReCheck if you find a trace of removed all drivers Marvel ...)
Remove all Marvell drivers.

Driver notes : before install new driver,
Please completely remove older version driver first with :
Drivers sweeper : http://phyxion.net/Driver-Sweeper/Driver-Sweeper/Version-3-2-0/

and soft for  Windows Registry :
Ccleaner http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download
jv16 PowerTools 2011 http://www.macecraft.com/downloads/jv16pt_setup_hb.exe
Wise Registry Cleaner Pro http://www.wisecleaner.com/soft/WRCPro.exe

and restart the computer.

ReCheck if you have clean all drivers...

And after Close your computer.
Disconnect Main Power Cable.
Change for Sata_xx
Reconnect Main Power Cable
Reboot
Go to bios
Check Hard Disk Boot Priority
Check First, Second, Third Boot Device

Check Sata Raid AHCI Mode : AHCI
Check Onboard Sata IDE Ctrl Mode : Enabled

EDIT:

Welcome to forum... of course...

If you have a pagefile.sys... Keep it..  but adjust its size to 512MB.

Come again here ,  for comments...

Gloup_Gloup

[Dark Mantis]

Hi

I would tend to agree with Gloup_Gloup's answer in general.

If you are using the Marvell 9128 controller then don't. Only use it for backup drives or optical drives. Use the Intel ICH10R (Southbridge) controller for all you fast drives and SATA2_0 for your boot drive.  Make sure that it is set to AHCI mode (may need a registry hack) and use NCQ.  Use HPET 64bit.

Any problems just post back.

[Dan7890]

I believe I have the revision 2 MOBO (see pic, below). 

Thanks for the in depth replies.  I'm afraid though that I'm not clear on most of what has been said.  The SATA with the OS has always been in SATA 2_0.  I did have one 6 Gb, 2 terabyte drive attached to GSATA2_9, I have moved it to SATA2_5. 

Am I correct that only the Marvell connectors (GSATA3_7 & GSATA3_6) support 6 Gb/sec?  So if this driver is junk, the board is limited to 8 SATA connections (not 10) and 3 Gb/sec SATA connections???  How disappointing, considering the cost of the MOBO    Is there no way to get the Marvell connections to work properly?


Dark Mantis, you said "Make sure that it is set to AHCI mode (may need a registry hack) and use NCQ.  Use HPET 64bit."  Can you elaborate on that a bit?

Thanks again for your help,

Dan

[Gloup_Gloup]

I believe I have the revision 2 MOBO (see pic, below).  

Thanks for the in depth replies.
...
Dark Mantis, you said "Make sure that it is set to AHCI mode (may need a registry hack) and use NCQ.  Use HPET 64bit."  Can you elaborate on that a bit?

Thanks again for your help,

Dan

Hi Dan,  

Ok about AHCI mode...

See this FAQ:
How can I switch to AHCI Mode after installing Windows in IDE Mode?
http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,6721.0.html

EDIT01:

Tanks for infos and picture about Rev. Motherboard. 
The clearest evidence.

Gloup_Gloup

[Dan7890]

Gloup_Gloup - Thanks for that, I set the BIOS to AHCI (it was set to IDE, and was when I installed the OS, so yes, I got repeated reboot!), so I am now reading about the registry tweak. 

I have set to HPET 64 (was 32).  Will NCQ be automatically in place once I get AHCI operational, or do I need to do something first?

Although I have been using computers for about 20 years, this is only my 2nd build, and there is still a TON of BIOS settings I'm not clear on.  Are there any other defaults I should adjust for a 64 bit OS?  Or settings to improve performance?

Thanks again, I really appreciate the help!

Dan

[Dan7890]

Gloup_Gloup - I just checked the registry as per the link you posted, and the value mentioned is already set  to "0", and yet I did get the reboot issue when I changed to AHCI.

?

Dan

[Gloup_Gloup]

Hi Dan, 

Maybe ReRead FAQ... about AHCI... ( why not...)

But, If you are sure ...  about change into Register Windows...

Maybe just go to Bios,

Check Hard Disk Boot Priority
Check First, Second, Third Boot Device

Check Sata Raid AHCI Mode : AHCI
Check Onboard Sata IDE Ctrl Mode : Enabled

If you have a problem again, choose in Main page Bios :
Optimize Defaults...
and after ReCheck parameters... in Bios...

Gloup_Gloup

[Dan7890]

After seeing that the registry was already set as suggested, I went back into BIOS & reset to AHCI, and on the PC restarted normally.  I'll check your other suggestions now, thanks!

Dan

[Gloup_Gloup]

Hi again,  

Pfiew... your computer reBoot normaly... wow...

Gloup_Gloup

[Dark Mantis]

Glad to see that you have managed to get the mode swapped to AHCI because that will certainly make a difference to drive performance.

The Optimised BIOS Defaults that I suggested loading first are the best way to start the BIOS settings off.

By the sounds of things you are more or less there now then. I would just suggest using your system now and see if there are any little tweaks that may appear to be needed later.