ga-x58a-ud5 + Crucial c400 m4 SDD question

[Lighty]

Re: ga-x58a-ud5 + Crucial c400 m4 SDD question

Hey ACE

x58 version 2.

I'm just locking at you Corsair GT 120 bench on a x58 board... WOW your reads are awesome!

[Lighty]

Re: ga-x58a-ud5 + Crucial c400 m4 SDD question

Bios udate is done the usual way? Off a flash drive q-flash?

[Acebmxer]

Re: ga-x58a-ud5 + Crucial c400 m4 SDD question

Those speeds are from the newer marvell controller on the X58A-OC board. If you plan to use your SSD as a OS drive it would be better on the intel sata2 ports as they have better 4k speeds. Also you will see that using the MSahci drivers vs the marvell drives there is no difference.

You could do a test before and after bios/firmware update to see if the firmware helps with speeds.

Yes bios update is done the same way with q-flash.

[Lighty]

Re: ga-x58a-ud5 + Crucial c400 m4 SDD question

the drive will be used as an OS drive with a one game on it and a few small programs like after burner and teamspeak etc, when I get the OCZ back the game swill go on that.

[Acebmxer]

Re: ga-x58a-ud5 + Crucial c400 m4 SDD question

You can try the drive on both intel and marvell ports and test. You will not see FULL sata3 speeds on your marvell sata3 controller. You should see better 4k reads (better for OS start up and small files)from the intel controller but overall the marvell will be faster then the intel controller.

The X58A-UD5 rev 2.0 has the marvell 9128 controller which only has pci-e 1x where as the X58A-OC has the Marvell 9182 controller which has pci-e 2x and it allows for FULL Sata3 speeds.

[Lighty]

Re: ga-x58a-ud5 + Crucial c400 m4 SDD question

Looking forward to the Bios update tonight.

So by changing the setting to FOrce it'll update to the right marvel drivers? No more Marvel console driver?

[Acebmxer]

Re: ga-x58a-ud5 + Crucial c400 m4 SDD question

No... Setting to Force will force the firmware in the bios to update the firmware in the controller.


Installing a driver in the OS is up to you. If you do not install a driver it will use the MSAHCI driver built into windows 7. Or you can install the Marvell driver. It should not matter as far as speed is concerned. Both MSAHCI or Marvell driver should operate the same.

[Lighty]

Re: ga-x58a-ud5 + Crucial c400 m4 SDD question

Cool

I'll leave windows on it and update the bios to the one you suggested, I'll follow the instructions as stated for that bios.
I sincerly appreciate your valuable time in assisting me.

cheers

[Acebmxer]

Re: ga-x58a-ud5 + Crucial c400 m4 SDD question

Your welcome let us know how you make out.

[Lighty]

Re: ga-x58a-ud5 + Crucial c400 m4 SDD question

Hey Ace

I cannot updatet to your bios, it says its the incorrect size press enter. How can I get around this?


Nevermind I just found the answer to my question, I have to update @Bios.
cheers

[Lighty]

Re: ga-x58a-ud5 + Crucial c400 m4 SDD question

Well I really thought this was going to improve my writes...

it didn't change a thing, dammit I had my hopes up.

Oh well my results sit at Write 232000 and Read 40000

cheers

[Acebmxer]

Re: ga-x58a-ud5 + Crucial c400 m4 SDD question

Hey Ace

I cannot updatet to your bios, it says its the incorrect size press enter. How can I get around this?


Nevermind I just found the answer to my question, I have to update @Bios.
cheers

Was q-flashing barking because old bios was 1mb and new bios was 2mb? Then yes @bios was needed. From now on any newer bios you can use q-flash. If you wanted to go back to the older bios you would need to use @bios again.

Well I really thought this was going to improve my writes...

it didn't change a thing, dammit I had my hopes up.

Oh well my results sit at Write 232000 and Read 40000

cheers

Yeah I didnt think it would help a whole lot maybe a little. Did you make sure to set firmware to force to update the marvell controller?

[Lighty]

Re: ga-x58a-ud5 + Crucial c400 m4 SDD question

Yea set to force and still is. I then installed the latest Marvel Console driver which lowered my reads to 348000. So I uninstalled it and run the standard resulting in reads to 410000, but writes are still at 238000.

[Lighty]

Re: ga-x58a-ud5 + Crucial c400 m4 SDD question

I didn't format the drive at all when I installed the new ssd, does that matter?

[Acebmxer]

Re: ga-x58a-ud5 + Crucial c400 m4 SDD question

I didn't format the drive at all when I installed the new ssd, does that matter?

??? windows is installed on the SSD or a hdd? If a drive has not be partitioned or formatted when installing win7 it will automatically partition and format it, it self.

If you want to reformat your ssd for what ever reason I used this guide How to securely erase an SSD drive | How To - CNET

Another thing if you want to partition and format the drive your self so you dont get the 100mb hidden partition created by win7 you can follow these steps

Boot to CD, choose repair, then advanced, then command prompt:

Diskpart commands to align and create a partition

Diskpart >List Disk

(Here note the Disk # you want to align and create on based on size of drive, if only one drive then you are fine disk 0 will be the one you need)

Diskpart > Select Disk 0
(Or other disk number if need be)

Diskpart > List Partition
(Just to ensure you have the correct disk listed and no partitions are found)

Diskpart > Clean
(Removes any previous partition table information, and or MBR's)

Diskpart > Create Partition Primary Align=1024
(To create and align your partition)

Diskpart> Format Quick FS=NTFS
(To Quick format-NTFS)

Diskpart > List Partition
(To check partition was created properly and aligned)

Diskpart > Active
(To set partition Active for OS Install)

Diskpart > Exit

Done!

Clean and simple for those who have only one disk connected and need no explanations

Diskpart > Select Disk 0
Diskpart > Clean
Diskpart > Create Partition Primary Align=1024
Diskpart > Format Quick FS=NTFS
Diskpart > List Partition
Diskpart > Active
Diskpart > Exit