X58A-UD5 Rev 2 - Marvell 9128 Sata3 420 MB/s

[markatneerim]

I have good results running a Intel s520 SSD on the Marvell 9128 SATA3 controller (Up to 420 MB/sec) . 

 I have set the firmware option in the BIOS setup to Auto.   I believe this allows the BIOS to use updated the firmware for the chip.   

However I have found that I can't use the SATA 6 port with this configuration,  the post Bios just hangs when it gets to displaying the devices attached to Port 6 & 7.   If I plug the SSD into port 7 the post BIOS proceeds normally.

Post BIOS proceeds normally if I have the BIOS setup for this chip (SATA3) set to OnChip to use the firmware on the chip.   The drive performs well with this config when testing with ATTO Bench.

My question is,  does this signal a fault or  should I change over to the station-drvers firmware and driver at:
                          http://www.station-drivers.com/page/marvell.htm

and has anyone had any success using these drivers and the firmware update.
 

[Lsdmeasap]

You have to set Force after each BIOS update to update the included Marvell firmware from within each BIOS, you'll see it updating on the top of the screen on the next reboot after you set that to Force.  Then next time you are in the BIOS it will be back to onchip or auto automatically.

Please also be sure you are using the latest motherboard BIOS, use Qflash or DOS to update.

Those ports are not suggested for OS SSD's, you will only get faster sequential read speeds, that is it.  The intel ports are far better, higher 4K speed which are what matters, and way more stable for your OS drive.

[markatneerim]

Thanks,  Lsdmeasap.

I have selected force and updated the firmware as suggested.

I checked the S520 SSD using ATTO Benchmark and have found that you are indeed correct.   The 4k read write speeds on SATA3 are about 10% slower on the SATA 3 port.

[Dark Mantis]

As you have now found with the help of Lsdmeasap, the Marvell ports are not as good as they were supposed to be and that the Intrel ICH10R chip is the fastest controller on your motherboard.  I would suggest keeping the Marvell ports for ruinning optical drives etc and use the Southbridge ports for the boot drive and other hard drives.