Hi guys, I have just upgraded to a Crucial M4 256gb SSD from the Intel 80gb in my sig, and have enabled the Marvell 9128 sata controller on my gigabyte gax58aud7 motherboard in the hope to gain some extra performance from the SATA 6GB controller... I have hooked the drive up to the correct 6gb port (as far as the manual suggests) GSATA3_6 However, it seems that performance is even worse than on the standard intel 3gb chipset? I have managed to find the most up to date drivers for the controller here: http://www.station-drivers.com/page/marvell.htm and managed to get them installed and the controller recognised, but this has just made the performance even worse (as you can see from the screenshots below) I just wanted to check that I am not going mad - and that this controller is simply not working properly. Has anyone else had a similar experience with this board or controller failing to do SATA 6gb? I am tempted just to give up and enjoy the extra space, but then that would make this purchase rather annoying!
Be an idea to update the Firmware for starters... http://www.crucial.com/support/firmware.aspx The latest yield good results by all accounts.
I am on that right now just realised is 00002. Who knows, might even leave it in port 0 and IDE mode for a laugh to see how it performs. The more I dig into this, the more it seems that this marvell controller is a pile of crap...: http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php?topic=4236.0 Great, my score is now 300 after the 0009 firmware update, I think I am just going to go back to intel!
It's a quality piece of kit just don't run excessive benchmarks! I found my Vertex 3 rips along after leaving it the hell alone!
yeah, sorry, i meant go back to intel ICH10R chipset rather than the intel SSD! I also read that the Marvell controller does not do TRIM properly, which would be horrible after a while!
Uninstall the Marvell drivers - they are complete junk. Use the ones that Windows installs by default (msahci) and you will get far better performance and TRIM will actually work.
OK, what is the difference between the msahci and the istor drivers? I understand that the microsoft ones are as standard (what i was originally using), why, having installed then removed the marvell drivers, is my ssd now running off the intel istor drivers?
The Marvell 9128 sata 3 are know for being rubbish/slow, ur better off using the sata 2 iIntel's ICH10 controller. http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.p...sk=view&id=413&Itemid=38&limit=1&limitstart=3
I was under the impression you can only use the intel istor (iastor?) with the Intel SATA chipsets. Have you plugged in the SSD to the Intel controller again, or have I just learnt something? I have heard however that the Intel drivers do as good a job as (if not better than) msachi, though. The Marvell controller's performance can vary greatly depending on the actual implementation on the motherboard, as well as drivers in use. I wouldn't agree with a blanket statements suggesting that the ICH10R is better overall, but the marvell controller can certainly vary from terrible to merely acceptable. Best to test for yourself.
Its strange, it was in the intel sata port on msachi, then i plugged it into the marvell (supposedly 6gb, HA!) port, then installed/uninstalled the drivers, plugged it back into the intel sata port, and now it is running off the istor drivers. Ah well, glad to hear they are just as good. Loving the speed, seems much faster than my old intel m25 even if only operating at 3gb.
