Official GIGABYTE Forum
Questions about GIGABYTE products => Motherboards with Intel processors => Topic started by: KyrreS on October 25, 2011, 08:19:56 pm
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I'm trying to set up raid 0 with two Intel 510 120 GB SSD's on the UD3R REV 2.0 MoBo.
I've created a raid array between the two SSD's using the Marvell 9128 SATA controller (GSATA 6_7 ports).
The array shows up just fine, and I've installed Win7 64 bit on it. Everything seems to work just fine. The amount of disc-space is double (2x120GB)
But: When I run Atto benchmark there are no speed-incease. The benchmark only tells me I'm at about 450/210 MB/s Read/Write. This wud be OK if i ran 1 SSD, but I have two ...
Now, I've set up Raid on alot of SSD's and they always give me twice the speed when running Atto.
Is there something I've done wrong? Or doesn't this MoBO support Raid between two SSD's that require SATA 3 (6 gbit/s) ??
Any tip wud be nice ....
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Hmm ...
I've found a lot of posts on different forums that say the UDR3 Marvell SATA 3-controller is F.U.B.A.R.
#!#"¤"!"!!!"%¤¤%
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Hi,
I could be wrong but I think using the SATA_2 ports will be better. A Moderator may confirm this or suggest another option.
http://uk.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3449#sp
The storage information suggests they will support RAID.
teknology9
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I can only relate to the X58A but... the Marvell chip will not give you SATA 3. You will need PCIe 6gb/s add on card. Sent mine back for refund.
Regards tinker.
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You cannot use the SSDs reliably with the Marvell 9128 controller. Bad things will happen especially if you try and RAID them too. The fastest and most reliable ports on the board are the Intel ICH10R southbridge controlled oneseven though they are officially SATA2.
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Thanks guys.
I think I'll buy a raid PCI-e addon card that supports SATA 3.
Why does Gigabyte put this s***ty Marvell controller on their board? They can't sell a motherboard and claim it supports SATA 3, when it dosn't. It's false advertisement ... I think I'm gonna demand my re-seller give me the PCI-e addon card for free :-)
Thanks again guys!
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I know it is a dodgy area regarding the SATA3 spec on this board but to be fair to Gigabyte they were far from the only manufacturer to get duped by Marvell into putting these chips onto their motherboards. I guess that it was done because at the time there was no alternative on the market and everone wanted to be able to offer SATA3 on their boards.
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Welcome to the Forum KyrreS
The Marvell controller on this board (88SE9128) has been posted to death.......all resulting in #!#"¤"!"!!!"%¤¤% Performance ......there is only one fix that you already worked out.........."Raid Card"
You can pay a little.......up to taking out a second mortgage.
The cheapest option I currently know of that will work at speed on this board.....is the HighPoint Rocket Raid 640 PCI-E card......these will come in at about 100 to £120.......and yes there bootable out of the box.....6Gb/s compliant and will support JBOD,0,1,5,10 and carry two Raid controller chips
The only problem with these cards is it will add about 25-30secs to your boot time......some people rate this point to be a very important factor....some not (like me) ..........explanation!
if someone came up to me while fine tuning my F1 McLaren out on the front lawn and said.........."My car start faster then yours" .......
I'd ask him to turn around to see where his second head was ;)
Aussie Allan
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Aussie Allan:
Any difference between the HighPoint RocketRAID 620 and the HighPoint RocketRAID 640 you mention? I only need two ports ...
regards,
Kyrre
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The 620 has 1 controller the 640 has 2 controllers because it has 4 ports. Aussie Allan may correct me on this but you could connect on SSD to one controller and the other to the remaining controller to get a better performance.
see below:
http://highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/product_SATA_6Gb.htm
Teknology9
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teknology9 is correct
Best performance is with two physical drives over the four ported Card as it does have 2 controllers and will future proof you if you want to add more drives later.....as an example.....I have 4 Spin points (HD502s) and get a tidy 525 and 540Mb/s read and write on Raid0.......not bad for plattered drives
The performance of the 620 card I can't comment on with experience.....I own a 640 but what I have stated was gleaned for several scorces re performance of the 640 over the 620.......you get what you pay for
these cards are a generation or two down now which gives it it's better price point.......get the latest card and you'll be paying 3 times + for maybe 5% increase in performance........not worth it in my books just for bragging rights ;)
Aussie Allan
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teknology9 is correct
Credit where credit is due, Aussie Allan informed me about this a good while back because I asked the same question and this how I knew.......there's honesty for you!!!!! ;)
The Samsung Spinpoints are quite reasonably price also but if you have SSD's try them.
Teknology9
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Nice, thanks again guys!
I called my MoBo re-seller and said the Marvell SATA 3 is crap. He gave me a HighPoint RocketRAID 640 for about 78 euro (600 NOK), so I'm happy with that.
Finally I can get good use of the speed of my new SSD's .... ;D
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We will expect pictures of the performance tests don't forget! ;)
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Oh, sure! :D
I will cook up some nice benchmarks. Give me some days ...
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Your from my camp.......My wife still is amazed that if you ask......generally you come out better off......what's the worst that can happen....NO!......Oh Well .....I had to ask!...........78!.......Bargain!
You will not be disappointed.......Any free slot should be fine......I have mine in second from the bottom......enjoy!
Please as DM said.......post the results up for us......But more importantly.....the difference in performance over the Marvell to convince the masses
Aussie Allan
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Please as DM said.......post the results up for us......But more importantly.....the difference in performance over the Marvell to convince the masses
Exactly, couldn't have put it better myself.
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10-4
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10-4=6 ;D
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10-65
AA
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I have been trying for weeks to obtain near to the advertised speed for my SSD (Kingston HyperX 120GB) with a UD3R. Does this post (which I found while searching for a solution) explain why?
I take it that I can do nothing without spending more money!!
Derekc
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What the advertised speed ?......What speed are you getting......what Ports are you using ?..........How much do you have connected to the board?
Aussie Allan
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Max read 555 max write 510
Getting 382 135 from CrystalMark 3.01 x64. Atto benchmark agrees.
4 other internal drives plugged including another SATA iii.
Using GSATA 6/7. Radeon 6970 connected to board.
Thanks for your interest in my inquiry
Derek.
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GSATA is controlled By Marvell.....on this board.....only good enough for DVD......Intel ICH10R port you will find is the fastest on-board port you can attach too!.......this should get you to low to mid 400s
Aussie Allan
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Thanks for reply.
I was thinking of trying a Startech 2-Port SATA III 6Gbps PCI-Express Controller Card, and plugging the SSD into it.
Would this work? The downside seems to be that it has a Marvell chipset!! and I'm not 100% sure that the system will boot from it.
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The only 6G compliant Raid card that I know of that is bootable and under 120 Pounds is the High point Rocket Raid 640 PCI-E card......(I have one) this carries not one but 2 raid controllers over the 620 which carries only one (Lower performance with 2 drives).......funnily enough......they carry the Marvell Monica (88SE9128) but they seem to work rather well on this PCB
Startech 2-Port SATA III 6Gbps PCI-Express Controller Card.......Don't know anything about them .... you have to be sure wether there bootable, have Raid 0,1,5, 10 and JBOD ......that's what the 640 will give you.........as well as 25-30seconds extra boot time......but once there up.........they fly!
Aussie Allan
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Thanks!! We'll find out the hard way!!!
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It also sounds like you may have the port in question set to IDE mode. If that is the case you are going to need to change it over to AHCI before getting anything like full speed.
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Thanks.
As far as I know we have the port set to AHCI. Are you referring to the GSATA 3 6/7?
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The Marvell controlled ports are not a lot of use at all to be honest. It won't help by making them AHCI. Just as well leave them in IDE mode and use for optical drives etc.
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Thanks for reply.
Searching the Internet confirms this over and over again!!
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I've received the RocketRAID 640 ;D
Before I begin I would like to point out that I upgraded to the latest MoBo BIOS and made sure both SSD's had the same, and latest, firmware. Also, I tried alot of different settings in the BIOS (Integrated Peripherals -- > GSATA 6_7 settings), just to see if any of these could help (In example: Made sure the SATA III firmware was updatet). None of this made any difference: It all pretty much gave the same result.
Bottom line is, this is what the onboard Marvell 9128 SATA III controller could do:
(http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/294/attobenchmarkudr3.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/408/attobenchmarkudr3.jpg/)
I really dont get these numbers at all! Both of these disc's have a 400/210 MB/s read/write spec. So what are we gonna read out of these numbers? Well, first of all, the controller is no good. That conclution is easy, but not very informative ... The raid array is working, because the two discs have merged and the amount of space (GB) is double. So what then??
Maybe the controller support raid but the controller is so crappy, it only give about 210/130 MB/s read/write per SSD?? If this is the case, then for the love of god use ICH10R!!
I have no idea what these numbers are about.... Anyone care to give me their POV?
Anyway, I made a new raid array on the RocketRAID 640. After a fresh Win7 install I upgraded the drivers for the card, and had another go.
This is what the RocketRAID 640 addon-card could do:
(http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/9238/attobenchmarkrocketraid.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/411/attobenchmarkrocketraid.jpg/)
Now, this is better! I'm not 100% happy, I would like to see about 80 MB/s more on the read ... The write is fine!
Give me some tips on how to get the read up a notch, plz...
Conclusion from me is: Gigabyte UD3R Rev 2.0 onboard Marvell 9128 SATA III controller is not working ... >:(
EDIT: The Intel 510 120 GB should actually give 450 MB/s read ... hmmmm .... Then I would like to see even more, not the 80 i just said!
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Well nothing like doubling the SSD performance in one afternoon..... as I stated before......the 640 card has four port and 2 controllers across those four port.
Have you connected the drives so you have one controller dedicated for each drive ? .....start here.......also read this.....
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?63273-*-Windows-7-Ultimate-Tweaks-Utilities-*&p=442159&viewfull=1#post442159
There's about 10 things in here to kill for re SSD performance and optimization.....Enjoy... ;)
Aussie Allan P.S Thanks for posting for prosperity. 8)
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The best I got with X58A, PCIe x1 add on card (Marvell) single drive with OCZ Vertex 3 max iops was 300 write 425 read
that was set at IDE at time. Just trying LSI card at present & won't work with SSD.
Still, a lot better speed now KyrreS.
Regards tinker.
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Yes, I think I'm using one SSD on one controller, and the other SSD on the other controller. I didn't bother to check the manual regarding which ports are driven by which controller, so I just used common logic. The card has 4 ports, lets say 2 ports are on the side of the card (port 1 & 2), and 2 ports are on the end of the card (port 3 & 4). I guessed that the 2 ports that sit together, on the same side of the card, is driven by the same controller. So I've got 1 SSD on port 1 and 1 SSD on port 3.
I'll play around with some more settings, and run through the tips u refer to Aussie Allan.
But: Yes, I agree, the speeds are lot better now, and it only cost me 78 euro to double my SSD performance ;D ;D
If I get more speed out of the disc's over the next days I will post the results.
Thanks a lot for your help. :)
Hmmm ... Wonder how this controller would deal with 4 Kingston HyperX SSD's .... Tempting!
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May I just ask into which PCIx you would put a Rocketraid 640, since it's not a full width connector.
Does it matter?
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KyrreS You might well get better performance by using a different size of stripe.
derekc It should work in any slot it will physically fit into. (By the way PCIx is a different spec so be careful when typing that)
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Thanks for reply.
I've actually got a Startech 2-Port SATA III 6Gbps PCI-Express Controller Card, which I put into the PCIEX1_1. I've now discovered that this, and the PCIEX1_2 are both version 1 with a max speed of 2.5
Does the reply mean that I can put it in, for example, the lefthand end of the PCIEX8_2?
Thanks for your continued patience with someone who knows little about these things!!
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Yes that is exactly what I meant. If it fits in the PCIE slot (obviously the left hand side) then it should work fine.
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Thanks.
I'll give it a try!!
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If your quoting the 640 card......manufacture recommends 4x slot as minimum .... I think this would flow to other cards.
Aussie Allan
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Hi Allan
I don't think it would physically fit in a PCIE x1 slot would it ?
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It's the Startech 2-Port SATA III 6Gbps PCI-Express Controller Card.
http://intrl.startech.com/Cards-Adapters/HDD-Controllers/SATA-Cards/2-Port-SATA-6-Gbps-PCI-Express-SATA-Controller-Card~PEXSAT32
(I would imagine a poor man's Rocketraid! Supports RAID 0 and 1 but compliant with PCI Express 2.0 standards).
I only want to essentially use it just for my System Drive (Kingston HyperX 120GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Drive) so I assume that the raid settings are irrelevant.
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I have just checked with your card and it would indeed fit in a single slot but you would lose some performance then. You need to have it in a x4 slot at least for full bandwidth.
The maximum throughput of this card is limited by the bus interface. If used with PCI Express Gen 1.0 enabled computers, the max throughput is 2.5 Gbps. If used with PCI Express Gen 2.0 enabled computers, the max throughput is 5 Gbps.
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Thanks.
In the correct slot, and with one drive, would it be as good (as regards speed) as the RocketRaid 640, which seems the favoured choice of the forum?
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If you have deeper pockets there always better .... the 640 is popular for it's price against performance ratio
Aussie Allan
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OK.
I'll try what I've got and report any performance increases. I'm willing to go for the 640 if this is a disaster.
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The only thing I am not sure of is it's ability to use as a boot device. I couldn't see anywhere on the specs where it actually mentioned anything other than storage but that might not mean anything. :-\
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Overclockers.com have them for £30.....and they reckon there bootable although I can't find any reference as to bootability anywhere else.....Ring before buying..
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18201018
Aussie Allan
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I've already got it in the computer and it does boot. But the speed is appalling in the short PCIEX1_1. Hence my question about which slot.
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It's a compound of reasons......although it's a single 9128 Marvell controller, the 640 carries 2 such chips.
Aussie Allan
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Is it not the Marvell 9128 chip that's the downfall of the mobo in the first place??
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Yes well spotted! It is in fact the same chip but it actually works in this board. I guess that it has been altered in some way since the first outings of it. There are many boards that use this chip and no problem now.
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Yup! Go figure! :D ...... many manufactures are still putting them on there PCBs.......But They do seem to work in a dual configuration somewhat well.
The only thing I can attribute to there continued use is the CEO of Marvell negotiated the most amazing , indemnity proof contract in history ........or she's the best looking woman on the planet. 8)
If some of there later, up and coming controller chips work, half as good as what there designed to do......in three yrs time.....all will be forgiven
Aussie Allan
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I have swapped the Stargate card to PCIEX16_2. The drive is now showing as faster than when in GSATA 3. It's not dramatic, but it's an improvement.
The write speeds seem to have gained more then the reads.
My only dilemma now is whether to go all the way to the Rocketraid 640 (£100 as compared to £30)
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I suppose it depends on how much you value that little bit of extra speed. :-\
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Well after a battle on EX58 which is slightly slower than X58A have finally upped my scores. Have used the LSI SAS 9211-4i.
Have wasted a lot of time as it wouldn't run with SSD. LSI give you a mass of information but not how to do things. The Firmware
& Bios have to be updated via DOS that should update in OS DOS window. Gave up on that & worked out how to update via Floppy
with DOS commands. Still no SSD , which worked OK from MOBO & Marvell add on card. This afternoon updated OCZ Firmware
which was easier than expected providing you use as slave. Finally it booted, it's just a raw OS, Win 7 x64 so no tweaks or drivers
yet.
Am getting just below 550mb/s read & 450mb/s write on single SSD & hopefully can be improved on once setup properly.
A lot better than Marvell chipped Card, 150mb/s faster on read. No great improvement on standard SATA 3 HDD though.
Regards tinker.
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May I just ask which benchmark software and settings you used to obtain those results. They're the kind of speeds that I'm after!!
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Generally we tend to use ATTO especially for SSDs. It seems reliable and obviously has the benefit that more people run it for tersting.
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Thanks. At the moment I've used the same, and found very different results from CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1.
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Some seem to give better and more reliable results for one type of drive like SSDs compared to another that might be better for magnetic drives for instance.
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May I just ask which benchmark software and settings you used to obtain those results. They're the kind of speeds that I'm after!!
Using ATTO, AHCI, ram set at 1333 at present though will run at 1600. OCZ Vertex 3 max iops 120gb. Should get a bit
more speed once fully set up ( I hope ! ) Pity I can't use raid but not suitable for swopping drives. Rest of bios is at stock.
Downside of AHCI + LSI card is slow boot up time.
Regards tinker.
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Thanks, Tinker.
Is it possible to just put up a screenshot of the ATTO setup do that I can compare with mine.
Thanks.
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Downside of AHCI + LSI card is slow boot up time.
Every time you install an add on card or a similar piece of hardware the boot time seems to increase. That is the downside to all these performance tricks. What you have to keep in sight though is that it probably only happens once a day so does a few more seconds really make that much difference when you machine will be running faster all the time. ;)
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Thanks, Tinker.
Is it possible to just put up a screenshot of the ATTO setup do that I can compare with mine.
Thanks.
At present am on Win update & MOBO is mocked up on Desktop. Will try & add later. To give you a rough
idea on Marvell PCIe card with ATTO just under 300mb/s read & 425mb/s write so a strong improvement
on write with LSI card. I also found with Marvell chip better off without driver, just plug n play.
Regards tinker.
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Thanks.
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Hi derekc, 1st try no tweaks.
Regards tinker.
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Thanks for reply.
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I just had to test how the ICH10R would stack up against the Marvell 9128 SATA III on-board controller, and the RocketRAID 640 addon-card SATA III controller ...
This is what the onboard ICH10R could do with the two Intel 510 120 GB SSD's ...
(http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/9391/attobenchmarkich10r.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/198/attobenchmarkich10r.jpg/).
Funny s***! :-) Compare it to the other charts (http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,7165.30.html).
Anyway, the RocketRaid gives a nice 180 MB/s read-increase over the onboard ICH10R. So overall I'm happy with my investment, and I'm glad for your help and tips!
Regards
Kyrre
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How odd is this, just tested Corsair Force 3 120gb as Slave ( a cheaper one for another PC ) Master OCZ Vertex 3 max iops 120gb.
Well that was a blunder !!! Drive letter changed. Hope you can't format Ram ? !! Picture removed, you were correct Allan, quite a fast
Ramdisk pity drives don't run as fast. :-[
Regards tinker.
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Tinker!
double check your drive letter!..... I think you just benched your Memory (Ramdisk).....your writes averaged out to 1521Mb/s which fits the memory speeds ;)
Aussie Allan
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Hi KyrreS
Pretty much what I would have expected from the ICH10R controller and opposed to the Marvell 9128 it shows one reason why we advise it's use.
Having fun with Ramdisks boys ? ;)
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Having fun with Ramdisks boys ? ;)
Thought I had found the Holy Grail :o ;D
Regards Tinker.