Gigabyte+SSD issues

[Saldir]

I have a Gigabyte Z68A-D3-B3,as basic a Z68 board you can get,literally. It doesn't even have a video out for my 2500k lol. I use discrete video cards as I'm a gamer,so its not an issue. It also has an OCZ 60g Agi 3 SSD,which I have had zero issues with other than the described below,and I've seen it with multiple SSD controllers.Not just Sandforce.

So anyway,the current stable bios SSD wise for this particular motherboard is called "F5". F6 and their newer beta bios F8(its not beta for some of their boards) cut the write speeds in half.It doesn't matter what you do. You can short the bios,you can do a totally clean install of Win 7 on a SE'ed drive,you can use or not use Intel drivers. It doesn't matter, write speed will be cut in half with the 2 newer bios's. The issue is,starting with the "F6" bios,Intel Ivy Bridge chips are enabled,which i plan on buying when they become available. I don't want an Ivy Bridge chip,with a SSD whose write speeds have been cut in half.

As it turns out, this can be fixed. All it takes is disabling C3/C6 states on the Intel CPU.After speaking with with Gigabyte personally,they told me this is Intel's fault and tough luck lol? Seriously? All your bios work till the last couple and now its Intel's fault that your new bios cut the write speeds in half? Arghhhh.

So..my question is,would anyone have any guess as to why disabling C3/C6 states is fixing the issue? Or is it just some totally random bug in their firmware that's too difficult to guess at? Here is the post on the Gigabyte forums where a user found the fix....

Another update. The lower write speed issues caused by the F6 and above bios's is SOLVED by disabling disabling C3/C6 State Support.

[URL]http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,6292.0.html[/URL]

In mean time I loaded and tested bios F5, F6 and F7A to investigate why F5 had no problems with the write speed and F6, F7A did.

My routine to load a new bios:
- Download the bios from gigabyte and put it on a memory stick
- Boot to bios and load the bios with Q-Flash from the memory stick: keep DMI data [Disable], Load CMOS default [Enable], reset
- Load fail-safe defaults [y], F10 Save & Exit setup [y]
- Load optimized defaults [y], F10 Save & Exit setup [y]
- Manually check and set if needed all but the MIT-settings
- M.I.T. setting: X.M.P. [Profile1] 1600MHz
- M.I.T. setting: C3/C6 State Support [Auto/Enabled/disabled], F10 Save & Exit setup [y]
-> This is the variable to play with
- In Windows 7: run WEI and reboot again
- Done.

For bios F5, F6, F7A the default setting for C3/C6 State Support is [Auto]

TESTS concerning write bottleneck with sata 3 SSD and ATTO Disk benchmark:

M.I.T. -> Advanced frequency settings -> Advanced CPU core features -> C3/C6 State Support [AUTO]
F5 : OK, no write bottleneck
F6 : Not OK, write bottleneck
F7A : Not OK, write bottleneck

M.I.T. -> Advanced frequency settings -> Advanced CPU core features -> C3/C6 State Support [Enabled]
F5 : Not OK, write bottleneck
F6 : Not OK, write bottleneck
F7A : Not OK, write bottleneck

M.I.T. -> Advanced frequency settings -> Advanced CPU core features -> C3/C6 State Support [Disabled]
F5 : OK, no write bottleneck
F6 : OK, no write bottleneck
F7A : OK, no write bottleneck

Conclusions:
- C3/C6 State Support should always be set to Disabled (thanks TAFB)
- It's not clear why [Auto] works for the F5 bios and don't for F6 and F7A.
Only Gigabyte could probably know the answer.

Is it just me or is it completely asinine for Gigabyte to blame this issue on Intel when its clearly a an issue with their newer bios's ?

Frustrating.

 

[andrewyu77]

Since disable it then SSD performs fine......I dun know why are u still complaining?
If you want it for best performance, of course you have to disable the C-state.

 

[bankster55]

First thing is that what was set as "auto" has been changed due to input from endusers, for dif bios. Its a moving target. NEVER EVER set auto - always disabled or enabled.
IMHO the three offenders here are OCZ (firmware), Sandforce (controller) and Intel (Oprom in RST).
I dont think the mobo makers have any resposibility here.
However one could spend many many hours researching this stuff.
Like here
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/f...upport-Disabled-in-BIOS-Ultra-SSD-Performance..

 

[Saldir]

Since disable it then SSD performs fine......I dun know why are u still complaining?
If you want it for best performance, of course you have to disable the C-state.[/QUOTE

When you disable the C3/C6 the 4 cores never down clock during light usage.They run at full speed.

A user should totally have to deal with increased heat and power when not necessary shouldn't they ?

I don't know where your getting you have to disable C-states for best performance.You should never have to do that unless your OC'ing on the bleeding edge and sometimes that can get it a little more stable,which I'm not.

 

[andrewyu77]

You can not eat your cake and have it.....
You can not have C3/C6 and have high SSD transfer rate.....
please google "C3/C6 SSD" and read a few posts,
might help you to get in to the situation.

 

[Fatbird]

Since disable it then SSD performs fine......I dun know why are u still complaining?
If you want it for best performance, of course you have to disable the C-state.[/QUOTE

When you disable the C3/C6 the 4 cores never down clock during light usage.They run at full speed.

A user should totally have to deal with increased heat and power when not necessary shouldn't they ?

I don't know where your getting you have to disable C-states for best performance.You should never have to do that unless your OC'ing on the bleeding edge and sometimes that can get it a little more stable,which I'm not.

C3/C6 has to do with TurboBoost... if u wanna clock to go down in light usage, keep the EIST enabled...

Asking for high performance on SSD access but not willing to disable C3/C6 is a joke to me.
It's like you r driving on the highway but not willing to kick the gas.

 

[Fatbird]

<quote>
M.I.T. -> Advanced frequency settings -> Advanced CPU core features -> C3/C6 State Support [AUTO]
F5 : OK, no write bottleneck
F6 : Not OK, write bottleneck
F7A : Not OK, write bottleneck
<quote-end>

When u left the option in "AUTO" which means u don't care what BIOS rule gave for it.
F5's AUTO = disabled but somehow F6's AUTO = enabled for particular concerns.
If you don't like the BIOS rule in F6 (and the following), simply make ur decision just like bankster55 said "NEVER EVER set auto - always disabled or enabled.".

 

[Saldir]

Some of you are 100% missing the point. PRIOR to the F6 and later bios,SSD's on this board ran full write speed.In this case a OCZ Agi 3.F5 is the last bios where write speeds are stable. Therefore,the later bios are buggy.Let me state this again,anyone thinking you need to disable C3/C6 states to have a SSD to have the rated write speeds(correctly) is smoking crack rock,or you find that acceptable as that's what your willing to put up with on your own rig. If you think I'm wrong ask Anand to chime in on it.