[18th Anniversary] Asus Black Pearl - P5k-Premium Testing Report

[IanB]

I've seen a report, I think on another forum, that the newer Samsung Spinpoint drives have firmware that is incompatible with new Asus boards. The forum member had confirmed this through extensive testing and discussion with Samsung tech support who confirmed the bug.

EDIT: Yep, here on this forum - http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=156540

I'd guess none of this is relevant if you connect the drives through a hardware RAID controller, which has the advantage of avoiding the chipset SATA issues so many seem to report and allowing full portability of the RAID arrays when you change mainboard.

[VIctorj]

I'd guess none of this is relevant if you connect the drives through a hardware RAID controller, which has the advantage of avoiding the chipset SATA issues so many seem to report and allowing full portability of the RAID arrays when you change mainboard.

Yes, but i didnt pay for a top of the line motherboard, to use an additional sata controler..it has to work OUT OF THE BOX...and is not OC problems, it has problems on STOCK...so go figure.
Im not pissed cause of the problems...im pissed because Asus doesnt say about this problem, they are ignoring their costumers...and thats bull.

At least for now, im not going with ASUS again...just like i did with BFG and their faulty 79s.

[IanB]

Yes, but i didnt pay for a top of the line motherboard, to use an additional sata controler..it has to work OUT OF THE BOX...and is not OC problems, it has problems on STOCK...so go figure.

The way I see it, most people here when they buy a new motherboard use the same RAM they used in the last one. If it's proven good, they keep it. It's an investment. Same with a good processor, if it's a good clocker. So all I'm saying is that a good offboard RAID controller is a similar sort of investment that you can carry forward from board to board.

On top of that, it has the distinct advantages (as I said) that it not only allows you to move existing RAID arrays without problems between boards, but it totally insulates you from the regular problems being reported with chipset SATA controllers on *any* board. One rarely if ever hears of problems with particular drives and RAID controllers, as known incompatabilities are generally noted in detail in the controller manual. Perhaps the controller card manufacturers feel they have more to lose by not fixing incompatability problems with popular drives, and vice versa the drive manufacturers feel they have more to lose by not making their firmware incompatible with the popular controller cards. Maybe the torrent of new mainboards is just too hard a moving target to chase for the drive manufacturers. And if there is still a problem you've clearly got a better chance of confirming it and getting a driver/firmware fix from companies whose reputation and business is built solely on mating drives with hardware, unlike mainboard companies.

Frankly, I've heard so many reports of SATA problems with on-board chipsets (and subtle ones too, that only show up when doing high-stress verifications using software like WinRAR and QuickPAR that aren't easily traced to memory problems) that I'd never trust an onboard SATA controller anyway to attach hard drives to. From that standpoint, getting a good offboard RAID controller isn't just an investment, it's solid insurance against problems later. And the best part is that you can use the board you want and take advantage of its killer features, like the PK5 Premium which has so much going for it, without having to worry about this unfortunate little wrinkle which seems to affect people randomly and inconsistently.