17 replies to this topic

[Nemo]

Gigabyte is offering an upgraded X58 chipset board including USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/sec support. Check out our review on the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R - http://www.overclock...e_ga_x58a_ud3r/

[slugbug]

Nice to see they added two ram memory slots. I always thought it strange how the first version only had four.

[Minime 939]

I used this board for my first build (three weeks ago) and I may have made some errors in bios, setting it up. I left the ICH sata controller set to IDE rather than ACHI. Now all of the sata ports are set to work in IDE mode. Will this affect the overall performance or speed of my computer? Also, I have an e-sata port on my Haf922, where do I plug the sata connecter in for it? The esata controller is set at ACHI. Also, will I have compatability issues between the esata port and my HDD which is set to run in IDE? Next, Sata port 0-3 Native was automatically set at disabled, so rather than work at the Native IDE mode it works at the Legacy IDE mode. What does this mean-is it good or bad. Can I change these settings after the OS has been installed, does it matter, or do I have to do a reinstall of the OS? Also I already tried to switch from IDE mode to ACHI, I made changes in regedit, and in the bios. Everything booted and seemed to work, but my HD and DVD burner were not recognized in the bios (they didn't appear- as they had when things were set in IDE) so I reset everything to where they had been. The settings I have in my bios are the same as what appeared in the OC reviews pictures. I was suprised that OCC had set everything to be controlled by IDE, but relieved at the same time. This is my first post on this forum, I hope I didn't go on too long. Thanks

[R1P5AW]

Great review-looks like another great board from Gigabyte. Unfortunately, it's as aesthetically pleasing as a seafood dumpster. I'm tempted to write an open letter to Gigabyte pleaded for better looking boards.

[ccokeman]

The color scheme is great when you compare it to past boards

[R1P5AW]

The color scheme is great when you compare it to past boards

Lol I usually agree with you but I'm just not feeling the light blue. I like black components.

To each his own :thumbs-up:

[ccokeman]

When you go from the what looks like a bag of Skittles to this I will take it any day. Much improved! Red and black components look great but not everyone has a side window showing off their bling! Most of my cases dont but one day I will have my mountain mods case with 3 windows setup........One of these days!

[Compxpert]

Most of my cases dont but one day I will have my mountain mods case with 3 windows setup........One of these days!

One of these days.... I will have a mountain mods case.... sigh.

Edited by Compxpert, 21 March 2010 - 07:48 AM.

[RHKCommander959]

its a nice contrast since the i7 market already has nice black and red mobos (foxconn). I do love red and black though. if I went with bluje watercooling it might look funny with a bloodrage though

I'll try to break the questions down and answer them as best I can -I am tired so sorry for any errors.

I left the ICH sata controller set to IDE rather than ACHI. Now all of the sata ports are set to work in IDE mode. Will this affect the overall performance or speed of my computer? it might, depends on the HDD you have for the boot drive

Also, I have an e-sata port on my Haf922, where do I plug the sata connecter in for it? The esata controller is set at ACHI. any mobo sata port.

Also, will I have compatability issues between the esata port and my HDD which is set to run in IDE? if you dont have drivers for the SATA AHCI then the hdd hooked to esata wont be detected by windows...

Next, Sata port 0-3 Native was automatically set at disabled, so rather than work at the Native IDE mode it works at the Legacy IDE mode. What does this mean-is it good or bad. native is better.. set it for native

Can I change these settings after the OS has been installed, does it matter, or do I have to do a reinstall of the OS? if you dont have drivers for AHCI mode then you will bsod

Also I already tried to switch from IDE mode to ACHI, I made changes in regedit, and in the bios. Everything booted and seemed to work, but my HD and DVD burner were not recognized in the bios (they didn't appear- as they had when things were set in IDE) so I reset everything to where they had been. Not sure what you changed in regedit. AHCI can be difficult to setup and you may want to read into it more before playing with it. IDE is simple for you and the OS

Also, I am making my own mountain mods style-case. The thermaltake mozart tx is nice too, gotta finish my mods for it though...

Edited by RHKCommander959, 22 March 2010 - 03:17 PM.

[Minime 939]

Thanks Commander. The problem I had was due to the Raid Plug In and the Serial ATA plugin failing to load because I had the controller set to ide when I was loading the drivers. The drivers didn't install correctly. I had to reset the controller in bios back to ACHI and download the Intel Matrix Storage Manager (Intel Drivers). Everything is OK now. I appreciate the help; things were a little tense for a while (as this was my first build). I did find out that you can make the change from IDE to ACHI & download the drivers after the OS install.

[scjet]

BTW: Great review for a really good board, as I'm already finding out:
http://forum.giga-by...pic,1579.0.html


But?, what is up with those Gsata Marvell 9128 "so-called" Sata 3 ports. ?
ok, well here goes:
GA-X58A-UDR3 (with Bios rev. "F5" - latest)
OS: Windows 7 Professional (64 bit)
I have (2) new Western-Digital Caviar Black (1TB) SATA3 drives.

At first I connected both in a Raid 0 configurations using the Intel Sata 2 ports:
I raided(striped) them using 2 of the Intel SATA2 ports, and created a "RAID 0")
Write -> 200 MB/s
Read -> 200 MB/s

I thought ok, that was good.
-------------------------------

BUT, since they are SATA3 drives I decided to connect them to the 2 "Marvell 9128" GSATA/6/7 "SATA3" ports
( I selected AHCI mode and then created a "RAID 0" again).
Instead of getting "better" results it spewed out a paltry:
Write -> 200 MB/s
Read ->100 MB/s !!!!!!!!!!

---------------------------------------------
I used the exact same tests,...no other changes, for both the above.
anyway, apparently when using Marvel GSATA Raid configurator in bios its has only 2 options, "AHCI" or "IDE".
Should I have used "IDE" ? The Raid configurator wizard doesn't seem to care however, because it "stripes" them fine, and of course, all the proper ahci/raid drivers are installed ok.
Or is this the same "Marvell" company that makes those gawd-awful NIC stuff ? -sry, but

Anyone else had any issues with these so-called SATA 3 ports??
----------------------------
Did I miss any details, just let me know.

Thankyou again.

[scjet]

BTW: Great review for a really good board, as I'm already finding out:
http://forum.giga-by...pic,1579.0.html


But?, what is up with those Gsata Marvell 9128 "so-called" Sata 3 ports. ?
ok, well here goes:
GA-X58A-UDR3 (with Bios rev. "F5" - latest)
OS: Windows 7 Professional (64 bit)
I have (2) new Western-Digital Caviar Black (1TB) SATA3 drives.

At first I connected both in a Raid 0 configurations using the Intel Sata 2 ports:
I raided(striped) them using 2 of the Intel SATA2 ports, and created a "RAID 0")
Write -> 200 MB/s
Read -> 200 MB/s

I thought ok, that was good.
-------------------------------

BUT, since they are SATA3 drives I decided to connect them to the 2 "Marvell 9128" GSATA/6/7 "SATA3" ports
( I selected AHCI mode and then created a "RAID 0" again).
Instead of getting "better" results it spewed out a paltry:
Write -> 200 MB/s
Read ->100 MB/s !!!!!!!!!!

---------------------------------------------
I used the exact same tests,...no other changes, for both the above.
anyway, apparently when using Marvel GSATA Raid configurator in bios its has only 2 options, "AHCI" or "IDE".
Should I have used "IDE" ? The Raid configurator wizard doesn't seem to care however, because it "stripes" them fine, and of course, all the proper ahci/raid drivers are installed ok.
Or is this the same "Marvell" company that makes those gawd-awful NIC stuff ? -sry, but

Anyone else had any issues with these so-called SATA 3 ports??
----------------------------
Did I miss any details, just let me know.

Thankyou again.

----------------------------
Thanks all, but

I couldn't get Marvell's 9128 sata3 ports working very well at all, this proves that SATA3 is NO GOOD on this board,(especially Marvell's CRAPPY drivers aren't ready for anything-sata3-wise), but hey, what's new with Marvell ?
Intel's ICH10R SATA2 blew the doors off of Marvell's "so-called" sata3.
"...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..."
from:
http://www.hardocp.c...w_motherboard/2

cheers.