What problems are you having with the Force 4 RAID controller?
I have a lot of experience with these
I know some tricks.

The mobo is prolly ok.

Posted by blackhawk What problems are you having with the Force 4 RAID controller? I have a lot of experience with these I know some tricks. The mobo is prolly ok.

I can't get above 120 in transfer on bandwidth/benchmark tests. I could beat that with the SATA I drives I had before on an older P4 motherboards.

Plus I need to run two separate raid configs, and I don't think it can handle it.

That's an odd problem. Does the machine seem boot and run slow?

Replace cables. Use latest mobo bios and RAID drivers from Nvidia. Make sure the drivers load; you may have to load them manually in device manager. Check to be sure they loaded with device manager; this is a common problem that's easy to fix, try it fist. Look for errors in event viewer and device manager.

DO NOT USE the Nvidia firewall! If you loaded it, that OS is toast.

Make sure the HDs have SATA2 enabled, and disable spread spectruming if an option on the HD set-up utility. Set HD for max performance as well. Clear CMOS and reset and check all settings. Manually set up the RAM settings and make sure they're correct!


Do a Dx check on the HDs; make sure there's no issues.
Use only one type of power connector per HD; don't use both.
Make sure HDs are grounded to the case.
Make sure none of the mobo mounting points are too close to the metal mounting stand offs.
Try switching out the power supply.

Let me think some more, tell me if you spot it.

Posted by blackhawk That's an odd problem. Does the machine seem boot and run slow?

It's better than PATA, but not by much.

Replace cables. Use latest mobo bios and RAID drivers from Nvidia. Make sure the drivers load; you may have to load them manually in device manager. Check to be sure they loaded with device manager; this is a common problem that's easy to fix, try it first. Look for errors in event viewer and device manager.

Tried all of it, even tried previous bios editions. Still doesn't help.

DO NOT USE the Nvidia firewall! If you loaded it, that OS is toast.

Never have installed it, never had a reason too.

Make sure the HDs have SATA2 enabled, and disable spread spectruming if an option on the HD set-up utility. Set HD for max performance as well. Clear CMOS and reset and check all settings. Manually set up the RAM settings and make sure they're correct!

SATA 2 is enabled, firmware updated. Don't have spread spectruming, my HDs came OEM. CMOS has been cleared numerous times, RAM is set to the advertised timings.

Do a Dx check on the HDs; make sure there's no issues.

Came up with no issues, hdtune found none either.

Use only one type of power connector per HD; don't use both.

Was warned to use only 1 previously and I still do today.

Make sure HDs are grounded to the case. Make sure none of the mobo mounting points are too close to the metal mounting stand offs.

Done, all hardware was reseated as well.

Try switching out the power supply.

Tried three other PSUs neither made a difference.

Let me think some more, tell me if you spot it.

Ok, I'm just going to shop around for a raid card in the mean time, If I can find one that takes the load off of some of the other components in my system, I'll be happy enough. Thanks for the help though.

What good will the RAID card do? Usable only for storage. There should be no bandwith problems using all 4 of the SATA2 ports.

RMSing the mobo is an option, do a cross shipment. I don't think that's it though. Your missing something...

You sure you benchmark it correctly? Try again with one HD. http://www.hexus.n...?item=1315&page=10
http://techreport....8sli/index.x?pg=13

Try WD tech support escalate to their 3rd level.

Another model mobo is an option as well, but sounds like you missed something.

Check RAID driver versions in device managers, reload each one manually from the latest ones downloaded from nvidia. Download into a folder, not onto desktop; get a new download to be sure. Raid drivers will not automatically load when automatic updates are done many times. Don't get fooled like this!

Posted by blackhawk What good will the RAID card do? Usable only for storage. There should be no bandwith problems using all 4 of the SATA2 ports. RMSing the mobo is an option, do a cross shipment. I don't think that's it though. Your missing something... You sure you benchmark it correctly? Try again with one HD. http://www.hexus.n...?item=1315&page=10 http://techreport....8sli/index.x?pg=13 Try WD tech support escalate to their 3rd level. Another model mobo is an option as well, but sounds like you missed something. Check RAID driver versions in device managers, reload each one manually from the latest ones downloaded from nvidia. Download into a folder, not onto desktop; get a new download to be sure. Raid drivers will not automatically load when automatic updates are done many times. Don't get fooled like this!

Hmm, alright, I'll see what I can do. I know I can run two separate types of arrays on my nf4, but does it work the same way by configuring the drives accordingly in the RAID bios and then loading the drivers into windows? Solved that problem

I flashed my bios to empty then put the latest edition on it so that should eliminate any software issues as I am doing a complete reload of windows on top of that. I'll get back to you later. But if I end up to the point where I have to get a new mobo, I might as well just drop some $$ in a new computer and then maybe pick up another mobo once the prices on the 939 are as low as they'll ever get.

EDIT: Right now my two 80 GB drives in RAID 0 are benching at 270 burst (I think that's normal, still have to get he 400GB drives formatted. the 400GB ones are only at 190 in burst though.

Posted by Sinister Crayon EDIT: Right now my two 80 GB drives in RAID 0 are benching at 270 burst (I think that's normal, still have to get he 400GB drives formatted. the 400GB ones are only at 190 in burst though.

Those may be normal results. Two HDs striped don't run 2X faster, try four HDs if you really want to see it fly. Running normal day apps though you may see little difference.

Mu P4 runs as fast or faster on some apps with just one HD for the OS versus two HDs striped on my AMD monster. Many apps get goofed up by the dual core, they're not coded for it, and that's what slows the AMD machines down, not the chipset.

Posted by blackhawk Those may be normal results. Two HDs striped don't run 2X faster, try four HDs if you really want to see it fly. Running normal day apps though you may see little difference. Mu P4 runs as fast or faster on some apps with just one HD for the OS versus two HDs striped on my AMD monster. Many apps get goofed up by the dual core, they're not coded for it, and that's what slows the AMD machines down, not the chipset.

I'm running single core on my AMD, might pick up an FX-57 if the price drops some more though. I'm fine with the results it's pushing now since its more than twice the 120 I was getting earlier. Windows boots in a snap, still have yet to experiment with some games (in the process of reinstalling and copying data to the old drives).

Well, I may be waiting just a bit further to Nehalem. I've really pushed off going dual-core simply because not many games are optimized for it, but according to Intel, Nehalem will fix that simply because it will take a single threaded application, run it on one of the cores and overclock that core to the advertised processor speed. Since Nehalem will be more than dual core, this will even benefit dual core applications. Of course, that is if I can stand the wait.... still waiting for the 939 FX-57 price to drop some more but it's already starting to disappear from the market. the newegg price was 300$ which is outrageous as a c2d 6300 could beat it.