Rampage 3 6Gb/s ports versus 3Gb/s ports and AHCI mode

[doncarriere]

I plugged my Intel X25 SSD into the 6Gb/s port on the montherboard and the rest ofmy SATA drives in the 3G/s pots. I then turned on AHCI after following the instructions. My question is, since the 6Gb/s port is being handled by a seperate Marvel contoller than the 3Gb/s ports (I see it seperate on boot up) will AHCI activate the TRIM for my SSD? or should I move my SSD off the 6Gb/s port altogether?

 

[RetiredChief]

Good question, Have you checked Marvels website?
Found this:
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-68791.html

Here is a "Dated" review, back in dec 09 comparing Marval vs intel chipsets.
Marvel, hopefully have updated their driver since then.
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=413&Itemid=38&limit=1&limitstart=7

 

[doncarriere]

NO I haven't looked at Marvel website just yet but thanks for the link, I will check it now.

 

[doncarriere]

I must admit that I am pretty sure it does but I still need to be convinced on paper.

 

[sminlal]

As long as the port is running in AHCI mode it shouldn't matter what controller you use. Trim depends on the ability to communicate with the drive using the AHCI protocol, not on the details of which controller chip you're using.

It's kind of like asking whether or not you can use e-mail over a wireless network connection vs. a wired connection. As long as you've got a connection that supports IP networking, you're good to go.

 

[doncarriere]

Hi guys and thanks to sminlal for getting me motivated.
After plenty more blogs and forums and reading he manual I found my answer.
When I followed the instructions for turning on AHCI and went to the bios to activate it, well I went to the AHC10 controller and it turned on all my HHDs except my SSD. It seems in the ASUS Rampage 3 MOBO there are two places to adjust your contoller divers. Go to ADVANCED and you will find the 6gb/s port there set to IDE. Change it to AHCI. Reboot and then according to the other forums the Marvel contrller passes TRIM to the SSD only if the Intel driver is installed (not the Marvel one) Figure that one out. So currently I am still runnin my SSD in non trim mode, I will fix that tonight. So moral of the story, SSD is great but only if you have a tech background confident enough to fiddle in your BIOS and test which mode is best for your board. Boy what a mission!

 

[doncarriere]

Best answer selected by doncarriere.