Gigabyte ga-x58a-ud3r with a Sata 3 HDD

[grenwar]

Hey Guys!

I have the mobo mentioned above and the Western Digital Sata3 6.0 gbps 1 terabyte HDD.

I have no idea if the Sata 3 is being utilized. I DO know that I plugged it into the Sata 3 slot on the motherboard though.

Could anybody help me out with figuring out whether or not Sata3 is being used, and if not how I can go about utilizing it? My Windows HDD rating is 5.9 by the way, it looks horrible with all the high 7's I have =[

Thanks!

 

[rolli59]

Drive is SATA3 Slot is SATA3 if controller for SATA3 is enabled in BIOS you are running SATA3.

 

[Pilk]

Very true the interfaces are correct, however you will not see a significant change data read and write on the hardrives, because as far as i know they are still running standard speed cycles you will need a quicker drive to really know that much of a difference i think?

Kindest Regards Rob."

 

[grenwar]

What can I look for in BIOS to see if it in enabled?

Thanks!

 

[rolli59]

It is probably under the Integrated Peripherals tab in BIOS. You will be looking for a SATA3 or 6GB controller and if it is enabled.

 

[Pilk]

Or Advanced Config Tab, Controller Settings.

 

[jonathan7007]

I have this motherboard.

Look on page 56 of the booklet that comes with the board. It IS in "Integrated Peripherals" in the BIOS, as suggested by another. The default is "Enabled".

However, I noticed while trying to get my re-install set up (I noticed too late I had installed Win7 with IDE and wanted AHCI) that I had trouble getting everything to AHCI and bunched everything on the Intel-driven connectors. That worked. When I installed Win7 bI saw that the Marvell controller was not working in Device Manager. So I installed a recent driver for that chipset from the Gigabyte web ite page for this mobo and that made it look to Windows like it's working. Next I will switch the connectors and see
1. what the boot screens show for I/O
2. If the Marvell chipset is still "working" when there are Seagate Barracuda XTs (SATA-III) hard drives attached-one each.

This is the way I had planned the rig to work: two big data drives talking to the mobo over SATA-III. The Barracudas are native SATA-III.


to the OP: I have rev 1. Do you have rev 1 or rev 2?

jonathan7007

 

[grenwar]

I have rev 2 and still have no idea how to get Sata 3 to work. I changed all the settings in integrated peripherals to ACHI, rebooted with Win7, formatted drives, installed all the drivers I could find on the gigabyte cd (had no idea what to look for so I installed it all), and then continued on installing Win7. My windows HDD scored stayed at the same 5.9 rating which I'm assuming is still Sata 2.

=[

 

[jaquith]

I have the mobo mentioned above and the Western Digital Sata3 6.0 gbps 1 terabyte HDD.
Could anybody help me out with figuring out whether or not Sata3 is being used, and if not how I can go about utilizing it? My Windows HDD rating is 5.9 by the way, it looks horrible with all the high 7's

The SATA2 vs SATA3 will NOT change your scores the SATA2 or SATA3 ONLY refers to the Controller Type. There are ONLY a very few SSD drives on the planet can go beyond the SATA2 300 Mb/s per device limit ~ Crucial C300 128/256 GB SSD.

My guess is you HDD is ~ 1/2 the 300 Mb/s range.

Good Link - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/windows-7-ssd-trim,2705.html

Just to verify, what's you HDD part-number?

 

[grenwar]

so is what you're saying that there was no point for me to spend the extra money on a Sata 3 HDD? =[

The model number: WD1002FAEX (I know there's 2 floating around with more at the end of the model number, but the one I got IS the sata 3 model)

 

[jaquith]

RE: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=792
Specs:
Transfer Rate (Buffer To Disk) 126 MB/s (Max)

You are not the first to be confused, on the bright side {64 MB Cache} is no-typical for SATA2 and does help.

Extra Money - I use WD2002FYPS {+TLER} for a RAID 1 on SATA3 because I also have a SATA3 C300 CTFDDAC256MAG-1G1, and didn't want to mix SATA2 & SATA3. So "to me" it was worth the extra money.

Make certain that you have the Marvell driver installed and reconnect to the "correct" ports - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/278015-30-mobo-ideal-sata-ports-settings-ports {GSATA3_6} closest to MOBO.
Drivers GA-X58A-UD3R (rev. 2.0) - http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3449#dl

 

[jonathan7007_95]

my mobo: Gigabyte GA-X58A-3udr Rev 1

My Windows Experience number went to 7 when I installed the Crucial 300 SSD as a boot drive. However, it is attached to an AHCI SATA-II connector (the Intel... there is another SATA-II chip on this board: a Gigabyte effort at adding SATA channels.)

I am trying to get help for what sounds related: getting the Marvell chipset to switch to AHCI so I can re-install Win7 in that state. All attempts to do so with the BIOS are failing... keeps reverting to IDE.

jonathan7007