GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3P RAID: Use the SB or Gigabyte's cntroler

Sainty · Post by **Sainty** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 4:15 pm

The GA-P35-DS3P from gigabyte has several SATA connectors.

Product homepage: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Moth ... uctID=2533

Manual: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Moth ... leID=17958

On page of the PDF you'll notice that some of the SATA slots are powered by the Intel ICH9R southbridge and some of the SATA slots are powered by the GIGABYTE SATA2 chip.

If there any distinct advantage or disadvantage to using one over the other? The setup that will be used is a simple two-drive RAID 0 array. The southbridge has a heatsink on it whereas the GIGABYTE SATA2 chip does not. Will using the SB over the GIGABYTE SATA2 create more heat, or does it really matter? Does one offer better throughput?

mr_plow_king · Post by **mr_plow_king** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 5:32 pm

I ran HD Tach on both controllers with 2 RAID0 hard drives. the one on the ICH9R is a lot faster than the Gigabyte SATA2

angelkiller · Post by **angelkiller** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 5:34 pm

Ok, I have a Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3. My board does not use the RAID capabilities in the ICH8R. I have no clue why, but Gigabyte but a separate RAID chip on the board so you won't use the RAID functionality in the SB.

The ICH8R's SATA ports do not offer RAID on my mobo. Just the Gigabyte Sata II chip. (Which is made my Jmicron) I doubt that you can use ICH9R's RAID on your mobo. Why else would Gigabyte provide a separate controller?

I hope this makes sense. (It was confusing when I wrote it

)

And the Gigabyte Sata II chip does run quite hot. I opted to put a couple of mosfet heatsinks on it. (It would burn my finger.) (I am running a RAID 0 array)

mr_plow_king wrote:I ran HD Tach on both controllers with 2 RAID0 hard drives.

Edit: Wait. So you can use the SB's RAID functionality? (You can't on my mobo) Why would Gigabyte bother to include a separate controller then.

Sainty · Post by **Sainty** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 5:41 pm

I saw another guide on the on how to chop up an old CPU HS and make it for the smaller chips with a dremmel. That seems like a lot of work though. Are you worried about mobo failure for that component, or are you just the cautious type that always takes these steps?

Last but not least, did you purchase HS's for these little puppies or did you fabricate them yourself?

angelkiller · Post by **angelkiller** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 5:53 pm

Sainty wrote:I saw another guide on the on how to chop up an old CPU HS and make it for the smaller chips with a dremmel. That seems like a lot of work though. Are you worried about mobo failure for that component, or are you just the cautious type that always takes these steps? Smile

Last but not least, did you purchase HS's for these little puppies or did you fabricate them yourself?

Can you post a link about making your own heatsinks? Thanks.

I seriously doubt the chip needs cooling. I bought some heatsinks for my mosfets and had some extra, so I decided to put them on the chip. Can't hurt!

So I'm not saying it needs to be cooled. If I hadn't gotten the heatsinks for my mosfets, I wouldn't have put some on this chip.

Sainty · Post by **Sainty** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:13 pm

Here's the guide I found:

http://www.fury-tech.com/en/Guides/Inst ... -Heatsinks

The guy just mentions that he dremmeled an old CPU HS and made this for his smaller chips.

Just out of curiosity, could you please post the link to the HS's you used for your MOSFET's? Thanks!

johnniecache7 · Post by **johnniecache7** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:53 pm

You can buy MOSFET heatsinks from Performance-Pcs.com ( http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/ ... ts_id=4291).

mr_plow_king · Post by **mr_plow_king** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 8:50 pm

The Gigabyte controller is there to provide an IDE connector because the newest Intel southbridges don't have one. It's only an added value if they also support RAID. I have the GA-P35-DS3R and RAID works on both the Gigabyte and the ICH9R.

I think angelkiller's board comes with the ICH8 southbridge, not the ICH8R. Only the "R" southbridges have RAID

http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Products/Mo ... A-965P-DS3

The same thing goes with P35 boards, the ICH9 can't do RAID but the ICH9R can. The GA-P35-DS3P has the ICH9R southbridge so it will support RAID0 arrays and I suggest you use it because according to my benchmarks, if I remember correctly, it's about 20% faster than the Gigabyte.

About the cooling, I think if there's no heatsink on the chip, it doesn't need one

angelkiller · Post by **angelkiller** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 5:57 am

mr_plow_king wrote:The Gigabyte controller is there to provide an IDE connector because the newest Intel southbridges don't have one.

Ok, that makes explains it.

mr_plow_king wrote:I think angelkiller's board comes with the ICH8 southbridge, not the ICH8R

You're right, that's my mistake.

I thought I had a ICH8R. So the Gigabyte chip adds RAID functinality. I also think my IDE port is run through this chip also. Any reason why? Doesn't the ICH8 support IDE?

Sainty wrote:Just out of curiosity, could you please post the link to the HS's you used for your MOSFET's? Thanks!

NP. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835108094

mr_plow_king · Post by **mr_plow_king** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 6:08 am

angelkiller wrote: Any reason why? Doesn't the ICH8 support IDE?

You'll have to ask that question to Intel. In my opinion, they were too quick to get rid of that " old " technology