| Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 Motherboard |
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Reviews -
Featured Reviews: Motherboards
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| Written by Olin Coles |
| Thursday, 25 February 2010 |
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Page 6 of 17
eXtreme Hard Drive (X.H.D)
With GIGABYTE eXtreme Hard Drive (X.H.D)(Note 1), users can quickly configure a RAID-ready system for RAID 0 when a new SATA drive is added. For a RAID 0 array that already exists, users also can use X.H.D to easily add a hard drive into the array to expand its capacity. All with a simple click of a button, X.H.D helps to enhance your hard drive read/write performance without the need for complex and time-consuming configurations. The following procedure details the steps to set up a RAID-ready system and configure it for RAID 0.
Setting Up a RAID-Ready System
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Configure the system BIOS
Enter the system BIOS Setup program, set eXtreme Hard Drive (X.H.D) under the Integrated Peripherals menu to Enabled to enable RAID for the Intel SATA controllers.
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Install the RAID driver and Operating System
The X.H.D utility supports Windows 7/Vista/XP. Before installing the operating system, you have to load the SATA controller driver first. Without the driver, the hard drive may not be recognized during the Windows setup process.
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Install the motherboard drivers and the X.H.D utility
After installing the operating system, insert the motherboard driver disk. You can click the Xpress Install All button to automatically install all motherboard drivers, including the X.H.D utility. Or you can go to the Application
Software screen to individually install the X.H.D utility later.
Using GIGABYTE eXtreme Hard Drive (X.H.D)
Before launching X.H.D, make sure the newly added drive has equal or greater capacity than the RAID-ready system drive. (To add a new hard drive into a RAID 0 array that's been created earlier, make sure the new drive is greater than or equal to the biggest drive in the array. )
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To automatically set up a RAID 0 array:
Click Auto to automatically and quickly set up a RAID 0 array.
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To manually set up a RAID array: (Note 3):
Click Manual to access the Intel Matrix Storage Console, with which you can build a RAID 0, RAID 1, or other supported RAID array depending on your needs and hardware components.
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Click Cancel to exit the X.H.D utility.
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The X.H.D utility only supports the SATA controllers integrated in the Intel Chipset.
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It is recommended that before you run the X.H.D utility, back up all of your data to avoid risk of hardware damage or lost of data.
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If you manually build a non-RAID 0 array, you'll not be able to automatically set up a RAID 0 array later using the Auto function.
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Comments
Any clues anyone?
(2) Either way, will the respective SATA controller support Raid 0 for two SATA-II SSD storage devices ?
iaw. I can connect my hdd on SATA 0 and the DVD-rom on SATA 1? Won't make a difference, cause I also don't run any RAID configuration..
My i7-930 cpu is at 60*C temperature in idle with no OC and box cooler, what can i do ?
second - i didnt made my question exactly correct - yes i can read there its possible and 'no problem ' but i cant find any real time test with high end crossfire/sli configurations + sata 3 HDD ,thats why i asked
I have to tell you though, SSDs aren't HDDs. You don't need RAID-0, and you'll notice no real-world difference like you would with a HDD.
AHCI performance is, however, affected by the IRSD. You will get a noticable increase in performance with AHCI on AND using the updated IRSD. There is currently no way to make TRIM work with RAIDed drive members.
Would you really know the difference between 250 and 500 MB/sec when you're opening IE, Word, or any day-to-day application? Probably not. For applications that benefit from multiplication of throughput rates... yes, you would. Again, TRIM would be out the window in that configuration.
Main use: cpu-intensive, computational. memory or HDD i/o is not an issue.
My constraints:
1. cpu = i7 950
2. stable motherboard--no overclocking, no fancy features, must be reliable and durable with most kinks ironed out, good thermal features.
3. 6 memory slots: prefer to start with 12GB (3 x 4GB)--again speed is not a constraint--with a max of 24GB.
4. Summers are hot--45C
5. Prefer one eSATA port and USB 3.0 Do not care about SATA 3. Perhaps you can recommend one MB wihout eSATA, USB 3.0 being a constraint and one MB with eSATA and USB 3.0.
Thanks
My PC
Core I7 930 O.C. ar 3.4 ghz
Gigabyte X58 A UD7
Hitachi 250gb HDD
2x 250 GTS SLI
Gigabyte Odin Pro 550 PSU
I was very disappointed with this board. Stalls and makes allot of hard drive noise So i shut off paging helped a little
Then i shut off power saving features and it seems to really help
I think the default starves the CPU
If you have good cooling do it