RAID 0 ISSUE

[gmwal]

Hi, I just bought two 120Gb OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS SDD' and am having problems with them in a RAID 0 array.  After I install the OS, drivers, programs etc. the system just freezes and then one of two things have been observed: the first time a blue screen appeared; the second time a black screen appeared showing an error message (did not write it down unfortuntatley).  The freeze happens at random times after the installation of the OS. One thing is that both times the freeze occured i was running a three monitor eyefinity setup ( i have three dell u2410 monitors running off of a HD5970 ati radeon graphics card with 6GB of system memory).   I have upgraded BIOS to F7, all my drivers are current etc.  I am wondering if anyone has set up a RAID 0 on the GB X58A UD3R mobo and if so, has anyone encountered any problems ?   Dont know if its the marvel controller on the SATA3 ports (ports 6,7) or the hard drives. Right now testing each drive individually by installing OS onto each and running for a few days.  Will update when finished with this.   The SSD's are connected to the above ports.



 

[Dark Mantis]

I can more or less categorically state that your problem lies with trying to use the Marvell 9128 SATA3 (yeah right!) controller ports. These controller chips just don't work and will actually perform less than the Intel ICH10R SATA2 southbridge ports. I would advise using the SATA2_0 and SATA2_1 ports for your boot drives.

If you want more information on this problem just do a search of the forum of Marvell.

[Aussie Allan]

  Ditto, ditto-ditto-ditto.....that does it!.........I'm making a "Marvell" form letter

  Aussie Allan

[gmwal]

so i have been doing some research on this problem.  I found the article by HARDOCP that talks about this issue:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/02/20/sata_6gbs_on_your_new_motherboard/2

To summarize the article for RAID users: "In a RAID 0 2 disk array situation we see that Intel's SATA 3Gb/s ICH10R controller bested the Marvell's SATA 6Gb/s 9128 controller. We triple checked this data and then went and then asked motherboard builders to confirm our results and all had seen the same thing."

Hopefully this helps others out.  However this article was written in February 20th 2010. I am not a PC enthusiast so you guys will know way more than me BUT SURELY things have changed since.  It seems gigabyte has tried to address the issue with their F6 BIOS update but it did not work for me. I bought my computer at the time the article was written and are you guys telling me the performance issues still remain?

http://ca.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3305&dl=1#bios

  Do u guys know of any other developments with regard to Marvell and what it is trying to do to address the performance issue.  I would even be interested to hear your thoughts regarding intel developments regarding RAID controllers. ooh yea, i tested the one drive and no issues so looks like ur right Mantis. I will try ur suggestion of using the INTEL ICH10 ports.
Cheers

[Dark Mantis]

Yes that is basically the same as I said. I did some protracted testing myself when it first came out and came to the same conclusions. There are many threads and posts on this forum about it.

You are quite correct nothing has changed really, it was cheaper for the motherboard manufacturers to bury their heads than fix the issue. They did try with BIOS updates etc but of course this issue was beyond that sort of fix. I have the X58A-UD7 and of course have the Marvell chip in all it's glory just sat there laughing at me! It is only any good for single low performance drives and optical drives etc.

The new motherboards are fine and Intel has it's own SATA3 solution now so it doesn't make a lot of difference to the later boards.

[gmwal]

So i guess what ur saying in short (but in a nice way) is that im screwed barring a miracle.

If i am to use a RAID 0 the best i could acheive is using the INTEL ICH10 ports?  If that is the case it does not make sense to keep both 120GB SATA3 drives since i wont be able to utilize the RAID array to its full potential on a SATA 2 interface?

I just ran HDTUNE on my computer.  Getting read times of about 275MB/s using the Marvell Port.  Not much fluctuation.  So muich for the 550mb/s read times (did not expect to reach the theoretical capacity anyways but thought maybe around 400MB/s would be nice).  Do you know if this is common read spead for one drive or is it underperforming?

Also, the temperature of  my SSD is reading 128 degrees Celsius.  What is going on there?

[Aussie Allan]

So i guess what ur saying in short (but in a nice way) is that im screwed barring a miracle.

If i am to use a RAID 0 the best i could acheive is using the INTEL ICH10 ports?  If that is the case it does not make sense to keep both 120GB SATA3 drives since i wont be able to utilize the RAID array to its full potential on a SATA 2 interface?

I just ran HDTUNE on my computer.  Getting read times of about 275MB/s using the Marvell Port.  Not much fluctuation.  So muich for the 550mb/s read times (did not expect to reach the theoretical capacity anyways but thought maybe around 400MB/s would be nice).  Do you know if this is common read spead for one drive or is it underperforming?

Also, the temperature of  my SSD is reading 128 degrees Celsius.  What is going on there?

  Hear is your miracle but the screw is about £110 .... you didn't think it was gunna cost you nothing did you!

  6GB/s PCI-E cards are the work around .... the only one I have experience with and will recommend is Highpoint's Rocket Raid series ..... 2 port and 4 port ..... internal or external porting (620/622 or 640/644)..... this is the only way to date to get your SATA3 gear running at speed.

 Aussie Allan

[gmwal]

I think that PCIe card uses the same marvel 9128 controller?

here is what i am looking at:
http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/product_SATA.htm

[Aussie Allan]

 Yup! but it works...... I have the 640 card which has two 9128 chips embedded in the PCB..........some of the newer boards 67/78 have the 9128 and they seem to finally actually work..... Don,t ask me how.... Ive tried,....getting an NDA out of Marvell is like getting a Kilo of Plutonium off Obama for a school project.

  Plenty of reviews out there........there are reputed other, cheaper alternatives out there...... we hear about them all the time........Highpoint 620 and up are the cheapest that work..........

  http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/series_rr600.htm  .... to be more specific

 Aussie Allan

[gmwal]

I am wondering why on the gigabyte motherboard driver page there is no preinstall driver listed like there is for SATA 2 ports.  When i set up my Raid i use the driver from the installation disc that came with the mobo.  Should they not update this.  They show a console driver but i cant use it to preinstall.  Maybe that is the problem.  what do u think?

[Aussie Allan]

  gmwal   

 I/we have tried everything....If you pull apart the Gigabyte Marvell install package, ... there isn't even a Marvell driver in there!..... for a straight fix.....the 67/58s are nailed.....Ive even been trying to beg,borrow ,steal 88SE9182/99SE30/20s/25s and 27 chips to reball onto boards.......they just don't want to deal with small people....no matter how good the intentions for the wider IT community.

  If it could be cracked, it would be the support coup of the decade.... why do you think Ive been trying

  Aussie Allan

[gmwal]

Just wondering, do u run a Raid 0 array with SSd's and if so can you give me ur performance specs.  This is the first time i am setting up an array and not sure what to expect. 

As of now my performance looks low.  I am running HD Tune.  Using the benchmark tool and the read file tool i have the following stats attached. 

[Dark Mantis]

You are still running your RAID on the Marvell controller according to HDTune that you posted so no wonder you aren't getting brilliant figures!!!

Also, the temperature of  my SSD is reading 128 degrees Celsius.  What is going on there?

Whatever is telling you that is just not reporting it right. Either the sensor is faulty or the program is just not reading it correctly.

[gmwal]

So i think i figured it out. asking around i found that the marvell chip works fine its the fact it uses a PCIe x1 lane that limits its speeds.  Assuie ALlan, i think the reason why your highpoint 640 rocket raid works well even though it uses the same marvel 9128 controller is because that card uses a PCIex4.  So i think that quadruples the the data through put allowing the sata 3 ssds to reach its potential.  I think this is right?

[Aussie Allan]

  Possible!..... But who cares! .... we finally got something to work  WoooooHooooo!

  Your theory is sound tough.....it'll work on any PCI-E slot but the 620 can only utilize 1 lane regardless and it's non raid.... the 640 or 644 is a different kettle of fish..........http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1301&Itemid=47

.........................http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2011/01/04/high-point-rocketraid-640-review/1

  These are bot good reads and if you soak them up , it'll answer all the question to date about possible performance.....Enjoy

    I especially liked and did not expect the JBOB to Raid0 benchmark comparison.

 Aussie Allan