Please assist with EX58-UD3R & SSD BIOS settings

[irishbug]

Hi,

I do not have a clue on using the best BIOS settings to run a crucial SSD at it's best speeds. I also plan on running a RAID 0 with 2 WD Caviar blacks on the Intel sata ports, but I'm not going to do that until I get this problem ironed out. Does anyone know the correct settings for this type of setup? I feel like Gigabyte has good boards but the BIOS can get very confusing in a hurry.

Thanks mates!

EX58-UD3R Rev 1.0
BIOS F9
I7 920 2.6/no OC
Crucial C300 SSD 128GB
Asus U3S6 SATA 3 controller on PCIE 4 slot
Zotac 9800GTX+ on PCIE 2 slot
1000 Antec PSU
6 Gigs DDR3
Windows 7 64 bit

 

[kg4icg]

You treat it like any other sata hd, you plug it in and your set to go.

 

[John_VanKirk]

Hi there,

I am assuming you are going to use the SSD drive as your primary OS drive, and the 2 WD SATA drives for data?

Connect the SSD to your SATA 6 expansion card using PCI-E x4 which should work well. The Crucial RealSSD C300 specs are read speeds of 355MB/s and the PCI-E 2.0 x4 slot should transfer data at 2 GB/s. That gives enough bandwidth if you want to use another SATA 6 device, or the two external USB 3.0 ports.

What OS are you going to use on the SSD? Win-7 has the RAID-0 drives or you can preinstall them before the MB POST System setup F6 to make a volume across 2 physical drives. Follow the manual instructions for setting up a RAID-0 configuration and give it a volume name.

Then when you POST to the System Setup, on the Advanved BIOS page, set the SSD as first HDD, and the RAID-0 Volume as the next Drive in the HDD Boot Priority. Then temporarily set the DVD drive 1st in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd boot prioroty to initially install the OS on your SSD. Switch back to 1st boot priority = SSD when done.

128GB Crucial RealSSD C300 2.5-inch SATA 6GB/s
•Read speeds up to 355MB/s
•SATA 6Gb/s interface

Hope that is helpful.

 

[bilbat]

Several issues here:

1 - you are better off with both your SSD and RAIDs on the Intel controller; with the controller in RAID mode, and the latest drivers installed, TRIM commands, vital to the long-term health and well-being of your SSD will be passed-through from win7 to any single connection (i.e., non-RAID) SSD. The Marvell SATA3 controllers theoretically support TRIM, but as of at least mid-July, their drivers do not...

2 - we have been through this before with ASUS' predecessor card - these cards' support is, at very best, problematic. They are specified to work in only certain ASUS boards, don't even always work in those, and with any other mfg's motherboard, you're basically on your own! They, so far as I can determine (ASUS' ditzy advertising claims notwithstanding), cannot really be a real improvement on your board's built-in SATA3 (which I recommend not using anyway!), as the Marvell SATA3 and NEC USB3 controller chips' physical interface is a (single) PCIe lane, your board provides that lane per controller...

3 - due to known firmware problems with the initially shipped Crucial drives, you will want to upgrade to the late May 0002 firmware release; if you note in the firmware update guide, this "upgrade process will not work with drop-in HBAs (Host Bus Adapters) or 6.0 Gb/s ports. A native 3.0 Gb/s SATA port must be utilized." SSD's performance is hugely firmware dependent, and for the vast majority of drives out there, it takes three to four revisions before most manufacturers manage to 'get it right' - so, unless you are interested in moving your drive around from port to port each time firmware becomes available, you have another good reason to 'park it' on the Intel ports...

4 - Caviar blacks are not essentially RAIDable drives; to RAID WD's, you want the RE (RAID Edition) enterprise series drives. The problem is the lack of TLER (time-limited errror recovery) - relevant WD white paper here... Also, be aware - in RAID0, any drive problem, all your data off both drives goes bye-bye!

 

[jaquith]

You'd have to be crazy to put your Crucial C300 SSD 128GB on Intel; this SSD drive is one of the few that breaks the SATA2 limit of 300 MB/s.
Ports + Settings:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/278015-30-mobo-ideal-sata-ports-settings-ports

However, I am confused why you want to RAID 0 your WD HDDs - I "assume" these are your primary DATA drives?? Under RAID 0 if you loose 1 drive then ALL of the DATA will be corrupt and useless (a/k/a lost for good) on the remaining {0/1} stripe drive (1/2 Data = 0 Data). I would recommend a RAID 1 safe {mirrored} or purchase 2+ drives (4 total) for a RAID 10 for a fast & safe solution.

Also, I am very leery of on-board RAID from any GA UD3R MOBO, so I would recommend a RAID controller. BTW - "I" am not fond of mix-and-matching SATA controller types with SSD + HDD for primary data.

Good Luck!

 

[irishbug]

You'd have to be crazy to put your Crucial C300 SSD 128GB on Intel; this SSD drive is one of the few that breaks the SATA2 limit of 300 MB/s.
Ports + Settings:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/278015-30-mobo-ideal-sata-ports-settings-ports

However, I am confused why you want to RAID 0 your WD HDDs - I "assume" these are your primary DATA drives?? Under RAID 0 if you loose 1 drive then ALL of the DATA will be corrupt and useless (a/k/a lost for good) on the remaining {0/1} stripe drive (1/2 Data = 0 Data). I would recommend a RAID 1 safe {mirrored} or purchase 2+ drives (4 total) for a RAID 10 for a fast & safe solution.

Also, I am very leery of on-board RAID from any GA UD3R MOBO, so I would recommend a RAID controller. BTW - "I" am not fond of mix-and-matching SATA controller types with SSD + HDD for primary data.

Good Luck!

Thanks for the reply, and yes you are right! My speed dropped from 302 MB/s to around 200 MB/s on the intel ports, and even worse when I tried the GSATA Marvel ports, so I went back to the Asus controller. I am going to install the OS and the flight sim (FSX) on the SSD, and I am going to RAID 0 the 2 WD 640's purely for storage. My computer is used for flight simming and nothing else. I don't even use AV software as I don't really surf the net, let alone download anything. I'v got my laptop and VM Ware for that. Thanks to everyone for your input, I really appreciate it.

 

[irishbug]

Best answer selected by irishbug.