GA-X58A-UD3R and SSD

[srbarry]

OK, the holiday sales are upcoming and I'm thinking of adding an SSD to my GA-X58A-UD3R r1 build. It's a pretty straight forward build so far with a i7 930, 6gb corsair dominator mem, a samsung f4 1tb hd, and a asus 5850.

I'm not planning on doing raid, I just want a nice sized ssd to boot from and run some core programs.

I've seen some posts mentioning problems with ssd's with this board, but other folks seem to have had no problems with non raid installs.

So, if I just get a 64gb sdd and use it to boot, what do I need to know?

Should I go sata 2 or 3? Does it really matter? Again, I'm looking for ease of install and to avoid problems.

Do I need to update my bios, I'd rather not unless I need to? 6.00 PG

Do brands matter? Are there any to avoid?

How should I attach the ssd and the existing hd. Which extact ports should I use?

Anything else I should know? Any bios settings that need to change?

Thanks for the help folks!

Steve

 

[jaquith]

The problem with the GA-X58A-UD3R is power and H/W implementations of the GA MOBO; you probably saw one of my posts. You do NOT want to use a Dual channel RAM kit on a Tri Channel MOBO; Q will it work A yes, but it's still not a good solution.

As far as a 64GB SSD - the problem is spreading your Apps to a second HDD vs a reasonable sized SSD of ~128GB where you can store BOTH OS + Apps which is indeed very nice. Small SSD's are a pain!

If it were 'me' I would add (4) Samsung 1TB HDD {they have TLER} as a RAID 10 -- you will achieve faster speeds R/W, 2TB of storage, much faster Writes and have redundancy of a mirroring.

Brands do matter, I recommend Crucial, Kingston, Intel and Corsair SSD.
SSD Reviews - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/windows-7-ssd-trim,2705.html

 

[srbarry]

I was hoping for someone to help me out here with some specific info. I've heard there are issues with using ssd's and sata 6 on this baord.

I would really appreciate any input from someone who has actually attached a ssd to this board.

My latest think is to use the:

Crucial Real SSD C300 CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

which seems to be the best ssd out there, but again I've heard some people have had problems with Crucial ssd's and this board.

The big question is whether I can attach the ssd to the sata 6 drive, or if it will at least work with the sata 2 ports.

Thanks!

 

[jaquith]

I would really appreciate any input from someone who has actually attached a ssd to this board.

Duh, I was the first to confirm the 'problem' -> http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/276715-30-x58a-ud3r-raid-bsod-disk-boot-failure

It's NOT the SSDs or the HDDs it's the MOBO! Get a ASUS P6X58D-E.

 

[srbarry]

Duh, I was the first to confirm the 'problem' -> http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/276715-30-x58a-ud3r-raid-bsod-disk-boot-failure

It's NOT the SSDs or the HDDs it's the MOBO! Get a ASUS P6X58D-E.

Very not helpful dude.

I already have this motherboard, getting a new mobo is no an option.

Again, I would love to hear from someone with this board who has successfully attached a ssd.

 

[jaquith]

Pull the HDDs and keep only the SSD and it'll work fine!

Otherwise, purchase a Dedicated RAID Card and too it will work fine with SSD + HDDs; that what it took for me. I kept (1) for a Hackintosh.

 

[srbarry]

Listen, I never said I wanted to do any raid. I think you keep thinking this is a raid question. I just want to use the ssd for os and 1 hd for data.

I just want to know if anyone can walk me through adding the ssd, i.e. what I might need to do with in the bios, what port to use etc.

Again, it would seem logical to use the sata 3 port, but I've heard there are issues and I should use the sata 2, just wanted to confirm this.

 

[jaquith]

No, it's a bandwidth + Hardware issue on the controllers; the RAID simply takes the 'load' off the SATA -> moves to -> PCIe. Has nothing to do with 'RAID' it's an aggravating trial by error. I tried everything {incl countless permutations in the BIOS} next with the SATA's {SSD + RAID, -> SSD + 1 HDD, -> SSD - which worked fine, SSD + RAID Card and eureka.}

In my case of having 10 identical rigs it's kinda hard for Gigabyte to argue 'coincidental' problem. I've lost count how many SSD + Combinations = Problems with GA-X58A-UD3R.

Try http://forums.tweaktown.com/ ask for Lsdmeasap he's the GA Guru.

 

[srbarry]

I been doing some research around the web and:

1. There are certainty people who have successfully hooked up an ssd to this board, but it's usually not possible to confirm their configuration.

2. There seems/may be an issue with using ssd's (crucial c300 sata 3) and the marvel sata 3 ports.

3. To be safe, I may go with a ocz sata 2 ssd and hook it up to the intel controller / sata 2 ports. No raid, no raid card, just a ssd and a data drive (sata 2 also)

Anyone else with experience / comments on this?

Thanks

 

[jaquith]

I've Tried BOTH SATA2 Kingston 128GB SSD and SATA3 Crucial C300 256GB SSD with the same results, so OCZ don't know.

See the F7f BIOS {Beta BIOS\Improve SSD compatibility} -> http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3305#bios

 

[bonanza2000]

I have your board but V2.o and hooked up a 60 GB OCZ SSD and a 1 TB WD HDD. No RAID. Seems to be working so far but only have it up for a week or two. I don't remember which port I hooked it up to but I can check when I get back from vacation.

 

[Teufelshunde]

I have the GA-X58A-UD3R. Just bought it last year, and I had raid, but not any more I guess. I bought a OCZ Agility 2 SATA II 2.5" SSD recently. What a freaking nightmare. I officially hate Gigabyte. I'm going to flash with that F7f bios. It's worth a shot. I've been at it for hours trying a million different things like jaquith did. At least I know that all my methods aren't screwed up. Almost lost my confidence there. J/k. I will try to report back after I flash to let everyone know if it helped or not.

 

[srbarry]

I have the GA-X58A-UD3R. Just bought it last year, and I had raid, but not any more I guess. I bought a OCZ Agility 2 SATA II 2.5" SSD recently. What a freaking nightmare. I officially hate Gigabyte. I'm going to flash with that F7f bios. It's worth a shot. I've been at it for hours trying a million different things like jaquith did. At least I know that all my methods aren't screwed up. Almost lost my confidence there. J/k. I will try to report back after I flash to let everyone know if it helped or not.

What port are you using? The marvel or the intel?

 

[Guest]

Just wanted to give you a plainly stated report on my own trouble-free experience using an SSD with this motherboard:

-I've been using an OCZ Vertex 2 SSD with my GA-X58A-UDR3 rev 1.0 for a couple of months. No issues, works perfectly.
-Prior to that I had an OCZ Vertex 1 for six months, also without any problems whatsoever.
-They were both plugged into Port 2, which is a Sata 2 port on the Intel controller.
-I didn't bother with a RAID setup since SSD's are fast enough for what I do without it.
-I also didn't bother buying a SATA 3 drive for the same reason. I doubt anyone using a drive with 128GB or less space is going to be moving large files on and off of it often enough to warrant the extra bandwidth anyway.
-I'm still using the F5 BIOS because I have a rock-solid overclock of 4.05ghz on an I7-930 that I don't want to mess with.
-As far as which drive to get, I've had great luck with OCZ, but as long as the drive uses the SandForce controller it should be fine. Here's a list of SandForce drives: http://www.sandforce.com/index.php?id=163&parentId=2&top=1

I'm not sure why some people are having trouble using an SSD with this board, but some of the "advice" you've received isn't relevant to what you originally said you want to do, so the problems those people are having most likely won't apply in your case. Hopefully what I posted above will be more helpful, or at least show that this particular motherboard isn't hopeless when it comes to installing an SSD.

 

[srbarry]

Thanks Anomie.

I've been over at the Gigabyte forums and it's clear that many folks are using ssd's with this board with no problems.

The only real issue I've been able to identify is that the only sata 6gb ssd's out there, namely the Crucial c300's, do seem to have an issue with TRIM when they are hooked up to the marvel controller. Hence, a full (w/ TRIM) implementation of a sata 6gb ssd hooked up to the marvel sata 6gb controller does not appear doable at this time. However, to be fair, the Crucial c300 can be hooked up to the marvel controller and that configuration is the fastest ssd configuration available at this time (you just can't have TRIM.) Also, the marvel controller does not seem able to support ssd raid configurations.

That said, it seems that using a sata 2 (3gb) ssd hooked up to the Intel sata 2 ports seems to be no problem for most people.

I was able to pick up a 120gb Intel ssd at Newegg yesterday for $165. While not the fastest ssd out there, especially concerning seq writes, the Intel makes a great boot disk, is very reliable, and comes with some very useful Intel utilities. And the Black Friday price was irresistible.

I'll post again after installation.

 

[jaquith]

^ Did you try the Beta BIOS that addresses the SSD issue?

 

[smuckola]

I have a GA-X58A-UD3R v1 with F6 BIOS and I've had an OCZ Vertex2 90GB SSD boot drive for a week or two with no problems. I have no idea why a motherboard would have a problem with an SSD!

Anomie, I got my OCZ Vertex2 90G SSD on a one-day pre-Black-Friday sale for $169.99 and a $20 MIR. So please don't make me jealous, and tell me your Intel is a lot slower j/k

 

[jaquith]

The reason is the GA-X58A-UD3R is dynamite on paper, but GA blew it when they designed the H/W implementation. This is NOT an isolated issue, and a 'boot' SSD is a useless and in my opinion and more of a headache than help. If you cannot fit, 90 you cannot, fit all of your Apps + OS then why bother with an SSD? -makes zero sense. I see people replacing them all of the time. Even the 128GB is 'pushing' the small, but in an office situation is adequate.

 

[the-ninth]

Hi,

I run the board with a boot SSD (OCZ Vertex 2 Extended 120GB) and a RAID-0 and run into problems when I connect everything to the Intel SATA controller. I get a blue screen when waking up from sleep in Windows 7.

Yesterday I moved the SSD to the Marvell controller and the problem disappeared.

I am not really happy with the solution because the Marvell is slower, but I don't really want to go for a new board either.

And I am not sure if the problem relates to the RAID or not, did not try without it.

Regards, Robert

 

[the-ninth]

Hi,

An update for my problem, maybe it helps you as well: I got the SSD working on the Intel controller as well now. It is stable when I put the HDDs in RAID0 on SATA0/1 and the SSD on SATA2. If I do it the other way around, SSD on SATA0 and HDDs on SATA1/2, then I get problems when waking up from sleep.

Cheers, Robert

 

[srbarry]

OK, folks, thanks for all the input. Here's what happened..........

In the end I wound up ordering an Intel x-25M 120gb ssd. Newegg ran a black friday sale and I could not resist picking up this 120gb ssd for $165 AR and a free $39 game thrown in for good measure. Amazing price for this ssd.

Now I know that the Intel x-25m is not among the leaders in write performance, but all along I wanted a boot and program drive, I have a 1tb 7200rpm Spinpoint that is quite fast for storing my documents, music and pictures.

This is a new ssd from Intel and as you can see from the following review, is a very strong performer, right up there with the latest OCZ drives with regard to read and general performance. It's a shade below the crucial c300 series, but you'll pay almost $100 more for that drive.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3682/intel_x25_m_120gb_retail_solid_state_drive/index.html

Before installing the drive I upgraded the bios on my GA-X58A-UDR3 boards to the latest (beta) bios which has been reworked for ssd compatibility. No problems upgrading the bios. I did have to reset the XMS profile to enable full 1600 MHz speed for my Corsair Dominator memory.

I then physically installed the drive, the X25-M comes with a installation tray which is nice. I connected it to port 0 on the Intel controller. I disconnected the Spinpoint HD and rebooted into the BIOS, changed to ACHI, and rebooted again with the Windows 7 install disk.

Windows installation was the same as for any other drive, I used one partition. Absolutely no problems.

After installing Windows, I installed the Intel RST driver and various hardware drivers from Gigabyte appropriate for this board. I also installed the Intel SSD optimization tool and ran it to ensure that TRIM and other ssd stuff was right.

I then did a few configuration teaks such a turning off defrag etc. I then turned off the machine, reconnected the Spinpoint, rebooted, reformatted the Spinpoint. I then set the page file to use the Spinpoint and turned it off for the ssd. I also set up a series of folders on the Spinpoint to hold my documents etc. I also set folders for downloads and other stuff I did not want on the ssd.

I then installed my core set of programs, making sure to point them to the Spinpoint to store documents etc.

Once everything was pretty much set, I created a system image and put it on the Spinpoint drive.

I might have missed a few little things in the above recap, but that's basically it.

All in all a very easy install with absolutely no problems. The drive performs awesomely, boot up is very quick, shut down take about 2 secs, many programs load almost instantaneously. (BTW- just started using Chrome, much faster than Firefox.)

WEI is now 7.5, my i7 930 is actually the laggard in the system. My ASUS 5850 scores 7.7 and the SSD scores 7.8.

I really feel now that I have a drive that can keep up with the rest of my system. I built it over the past year and the ssd was the last piece of the puzzle. At less than $200, the Gigabyte board brings me a 1366 platform (much superior to 1156, especially for running multiple graphic cards) the i7 came from Micro-center for $199, the ASUS 5850 is not the latest, but for less than $250 it was the best price/performance choice at the time, and it's a great overclocker. Corsair Dominator memory works great for this board. And I love the modular Corsair 650w PSU I used. The only build choice I (slightly) regret is the Storm Scout case I used, it's a sharp little case, the handles are awesome, but a little more room would have been nice. All in a all a very solid build with all high quality parts. I've got plenty of room to overclock the MOBO and the GPU (or add another one), but honestly the system is so fast, even running games such as Crysis on full, that I've not felt the need to even bother.

Even with all my programs and a few games installed I've only used about 28gb, so 3/4 of the ssd drive is still available. The 120gb size is great and honestly has all the room I'll ever need for a boot/program drive.

I would very much recommend the X25-M SSD, especially if you are concerned with compatibility and reliability. Intel makes a quality product and as you can see from the review, the 120gb ssd is a very solid, no fuss performer.

And it work just fine with the GA-X58A-UDR3.

 

[the-ninth]

Hi Srbarry,

Where did you get the beta BIOS? I got FE1 from support and although the newest stable on the website is FC, from what they told me I assumed that there should be a stable FD as well.

Thanks, Robert

 

[srbarry]

I have revision 1 and the Gigabyte site has the latest bios as F7F, which is indicated as a beta.

http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3305#bios

 

[the-ninth]

OK, then I understand. I have revision 2 and for that FC is still the latest they have on the website.

Cheers, Robert

 

[dwag]

Hello srbarry,

Just for the record, am using the F7F bios with this board as well, and 2 weeks ago installed the Kingston V100 128GB SSD drive 250 ms R/230 ms W. $170 total cost with a rebate from Frys. Plugged into SATA 0, 50GB of space used, and finding a boot time of 24 seconds and a shutdown of 5 sec. Pound for pound the most awesome upgrade I have found! Not sure where everyone else is running into a problem with SSDs on this board.