Need Help for my First Build

[Mudassir]

I was planning to buy i5 2300 and Asus P8P67 Pro for my build when I came to know about Cougar Point SATA II problem. I know the issue would be fixed by April may be but I cant wait till then & I wont be able to Replace my Motherboard once I buy it for some reasons. I can still buy these components So there is no question of not being able to buy them as you might think the sales have been halted.

I would be running 2 HDDs & 1 ODD off SATA for now & aiming for SSD in near future. The Board has 2 x SATA III & 2 x SATA off Marvell controller (in addition to 4 x SATA II that could degrade over time) . I want your advice on following points:

1. Should I buy i5 2300 Or revert to i5 760 or some other 1156/1366 CPU ?

2. If I buy i5 2300 & P8P67 Pro then would I be able to run mentioned Components on the mentioned Ports or should I go with some other solution ?

3. If I run any component off Marvell Controller like ODD then would it effect the performance of component or would it perform alright ?

 

[WR2]

1. Your choice. Either one would result in an excellent system. As would an AMD build.
1156/1366/AM3 are all at a dead end - as in future CPUs will need either a 1155/1201/AM3+ motherboard.
2. The 3GB/s ports DO work. And they're unlikely to fail before your board is replaced through the recall program. It's a 'fail over time' probably, not an 'instant death' scenario.
3. It would perform fine. Otherwise they would have used something else there.

 

[Mudassir]

1. Your choice. Either one would result in an excellent system. As would an AMD build.
1156/1366/AM3 are all at a dead end - as in future CPUs will need either a 1155/1201/AM3+ motherboard.
2. The 3GB/s ports DO work. And they're unlikely to fail before your board is replaced through the recall program. It's a 'fail over time' probably, not an 'instant death' scenario.
3. It would perform fine. Otherwise they would have used something else there.

Thanks for your reply. But the point is I wont be able to get my Board replaced through the recall program because of the country I live in. So am I safe using those 4 x 6GB/s Ports for 2-3 years from now on.

 

[erickoch]

Yes Mudassir,

The timeframe for degradation is in years. Besides, there are PCI add-in sata cards that you can always resort to if failure of one or more sata2 ports disrupts your usage.

In fact, I believe that by contacting the manufacturer you can ask to have an add-in card instead of exchanging your motherboard - however you mentioned that for whatever reason, you are excluded from this option.

basically, if it were me, I would use the Sata3 ports for my harddrive(s) and optical drive. If you are looking at RAID, then maybe you'd have to squeeze your optical drive onto a sata2 port, however I can imagine that degradation would be VERY slow, given that most people don't use their optical drives often at all. In fact, I also believe that the ports controlled by a marvell controller aren't known to degrade - just the intel controlled ports. In this case, I would say put your 2 HDD's on sata 3, your optical on marvell sata2 - and in the future you still have the option of adding another sata device before you would have to resort to the intel sata2 ports.

 

[Mudassir]

Yes Mudassir,

The timeframe for degradation is in years. Besides, there are PCI add-in sata cards that you can always resort to if failure of one or more sata2 ports disrupts your usage.

In fact, I believe that by contacting the manufacturer you can ask to have an add-in card instead of exchanging your motherboard - however you mentioned that for whatever reason, you are excluded from this option.

basically, if it were me, I would use the Sata3 ports for my harddrive(s) and optical drive. If you are looking at RAID, then maybe you'd have to squeeze your optical drive onto a sata2 port, however I can imagine that degradation would be VERY slow, given that most people don't use their optical drives often at all. In fact, I also believe that the ports controlled by a marvell controller aren't known to degrade - just the intel controlled ports. In this case, I would say put your 2 HDD's on sata 3, your optical on marvell sata2 - and in the future you still have the option of adding another sata device before you would have to resort to the intel sata2 ports.

Thanks erickoch.

 

[Mudassir]

Best answer selected by Mudassir.