How to Enable & Configure SATA3 RAID on the Rampage III Black Edition Marvell 9182

[TrickMasterPC]

How to Enable and Configure SATA III RAID0 on the ASUS Rampage III Black Edition Marvell 88SE9182 SATA III Controller.

Pre-install Instructions:
1) Ensure you do not have a CD/DVD Drive hooked up to the Marvell Controller
2) DO NOT use an ICYDOCK or any other 2.5 to 3.5 HDD Converter device. Hook your SSD directly to the Marvell Port using a SATA III 6Gb/s cable of 18" or less. If you already have a SATA III cable, and you've been having issues I recommended that you swap it out.
3) Check your power & SATA III connections to ensure they are solid on both ends.
4) Update the firmware for your SSD drives. You must have the drives hooked up to an Intel SATA Controller to flash. Updating is critical especially if your drives have the SandForce 3 Controller in them. Click Here for Corsair Force GT Firmware Updates. I do not recommend any OCZ 3 series drive. Corsair Force GT or Intel SSD's only. OCZ firmware is no good. If you don't believe me go to their user forums for their 3 series drives. They have about a 54% BSOD rate among their users.

Note* If your SSD drives don't show up in BIOS check your firmware version again and follow the flash, secure erase clear CMOS steps as outlined by the drive manufacturer.

1) Download the Rampage III Black Edition BIOS 0602 from the Asus Website: http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?SLanguage=en&p=1&s=29&m=Rampage+III+Black+Edition&os=&hashedid...
2) Drop the BIOS file onto a secondary HDD or USB memory stick
3) Flash your BIOS using ASUS eZ Flash (located in your BIOS menu)
4) Reboot and re-enter the BIOS
5) Under Onboard Devices Enable and set the Marvell SATA III controller operating mode to RAID. Set the Intel SATA II, and Jmicron eSATA controllers to AHCI. (If you're also running RAID on the Intel controller that's fine)
6) Reboot again and after POST, press CTRL + M to access the Marvell Configuration Utility.
7) Create the desired array. The RAID options on the Marvell 88SE9182 controller include: RAID 0,1 ** Stripe Sizes of: 32KB, 64KB, 128KB ** (recommend 128KB for 2-4% better overall performance) Write Back Cache On/Off (recommend On for 5-10% higher performance).
😎 Reboot and re-enter the BIOS. Under Hard Disk Drives re-order the drives so that the newly created array is the first disk in the list.
9) Download the Marvell RAID/AHCI Drivers WHQL 1.2.0.1032 . Extract the folder and copy it to a USB memory stick. I do not recommend using oder version as your Read/Write performance will suffer.
10) Initiate Windows install
11) The install will not see the "disk" just created, click on "Load Driver" and browse the memory stick for the appropriate driver. During Windows install load the driver from this directory: \driver\SCSI storport driver\amd64
12) After the RAID0 is recognized by Windows, click on "Drive options (advanced)". Then click on "New" to create your new system partition. It should make a 100MB partition and the rest will be allocated for your system C drive. The system reserved 100MB partition must exist or Windows will fail install every time.



I performed all of the steps as outline above and was able to install Windows 7 Professional an all updates without any problems. I ran the Intel Burning Test and passed with flying colors. I also ran the ATTO Disk Benchmark application and was pretty happy with the results. Basically I was able to achieve 780MB/s Synchronous Read and 600 MB/s Synchronous Write using two Corsair Force GT SATA III 120GB SSDs in RAID 0. A huge improvement in RAID0 speeds over the 9128 controller and over using Intel's onboard SATA II controller which maxed out at 550MB/s Read and Write. I was expecting to achieve near 1000MB/s Read/Write, but I don't think that's possible with only a 2 Lane PCIe Bus which is the max PCIe Lane Utilization of the Marvell 9182 controller.

Note: The Windows TRIM command for SSD Optimization is not supported in RAID mode. After windows installation and all windows updates. Download and install Diskeeper 2012 Professional with Hyperfast. Right click on you C drive and select "SSD Volumes" indicate which drives are SSDs. The program can't tell if the drives are in RAID mode. After that right click on the C drive and select "Optimize". This is the best SSD optimizer program I was able to find. Run it once per week. Or if you install or remove large programs or files run it afterwards. It maintains drive performance and clears up lots of space.

[Retired]

I still use the SATA3_allOS_1.2.0.1003_PV\SATA3_allOS_1.2.0.1003_PV\storport\amd64\, on a intel i7 260 3.2ghz system? so you know this will be my first raid set up. It is vary posable im making a mistake some where, i'm at work now and won't be about the try anything until i'm off. how do i find the frimware of the 2 drive. How do i get on the Intel SATA controller flash these drives?

[TrickMasterPC]

LtRorschach wrote:
I still use the SATA3_allOS_1.2.0.1003_PV\SATA3_allOS_1.2.0.1003_PV\storport\amd64\, on a intel i7 260 3.2ghz system? so you know this will be my first raid set up. It is vary posable im making a mistake some where, i'm at work now and won't be about the try anything until i'm off. how do i find the frimware of the 2 drive. How do i get on the Intel SATA controller flash these drives?

1) Use another computer (any desktop computer running windows)
2) Boot the computer, Install this AHCI Fix
3) Reboot the computer and enter the BIOS make sure the SATA Storage Controller is set to AHCI Mode
4) Power down and attach your SSD drives
5) Boot back up and enter Windows
6) Download Firmware Update instructions for Force GT 120GB (Super critical that you read the PDF with the instruction set)
7) Download the firmware update kit for the 120GB Force GT SSD
😎 In Windows right click on the Field Firmware Updater and "Run as Administrator". (refer to PDF for instructions)
9) After Firmware Update Refer back to my post for updated steps

[Retired]

Has anyone else had a problem with using both raid controllers. i have the marvel raid enabled bios and i noticed that after the update when ever i try to use the Intel raid controller it will not work. its supposed to use the same driver that it did before in ahci mode and it wont even start (error 10) iv tried any and all driver combinations that i can think of and i fear that we cannot run both controllers in raid on this bios. anyone else have any idea's ?

[Retired]

Another note is if i set the intel controller back to ahci mode then i can see / use the ports in windows. if i set to raid i get no raid splash screen for options to configure raid or has the device usable in windows.

[Retired]

and one more thing. when i took a shot in the dark and pressed Cntrl and I while it was posting. i then could create a raid set for the intel controller but i could not load into windows since the marvel boot option was not in the bios. if i unplug all the devices attached to the the intel controller then it boots back into my marvel raid. i cant stop from thinking this is just a bad bios!!!

[TrickMasterPC]

You know what I don't know anyone who is running two RAIDs one on each controller set. It should work, I mean the Gigabyte G1.Assassin board has the same set-up and you can create two RAIDs one on each controller. I have a PC at work with the Marvell 9128 Controller running RAID 0 and the Intel Controller running RAID 5. No probs.

1) Set both controllers to RAID mode in the BIOS
2) Restart and hold Control + I to enter the Intel utility. Set up your RAID and restart
3) After Post hold Control + M to enter the Marvell utility. Set up your RAID and restart
4) Enter the BIOS and go to HDD priority and boot priority. Set your Marvell RAID as the primary
5) Install Windows as I have outlined in the first post of this thread discuss

If that doesn't work Try THIS:
1) Create your Marvell RAID and install Windows
2) After you install Windows install the Intel RST Raid-set Controller Software (found on Intel's website)
3) Set your Intel Controller to RAID mode in the BIOS
4) Boot into Windows and launch the Intel RST Software. Build your RAID on the Intel Ports using this Software instead of through the Control + I method. After you build it takes some time for it to initialize.

[InnervateD]

Has anyone tried the 0505 BIOS to see if they enabled the Raid function on the Marvel controller?

[sisco]

InnervateD wrote:
Has anyone tried the 0505 BIOS to see if they enabled the Raid function on the Marvel controller?

No raid on 9182
Thank you very much for your consideration asus:mad::mad::mad:

[Retired]

thanks for the post trick, i have tried all those steps many times. as soon i set the intel to raid, then i cannot access the crt + m function. i can still bot into windows with marvel raid, but the intel raid wont start (error 10) i have tried every driver known to man from 2010 to 2011. if i disable the marvel raid then intel raid works fine. but not at the same time!! i have tried bios 505 as whell and pritty much same as factory bios. no marvel raid support at all. if you dont touch the marvel option (disabled factory setting) you can still use it. if you enable the intel raid or change settting to marvel controller, you loos marvel full functionlility. any more ideas?

[TrickMasterPC]

So you're saying that you cannot get Raid to work on the Marvell 9182 controller at all or only when you set-up a RAID on the Intel controller at the same time? After you built your Marvell RAID 0. Did you install a fresh OS or ghost an old OS to the raid? Ghosting doesn't work well at all.

I am currently running 0501 BIOS with a RAID0 on the Marvell 9182 controller without a single issue.

Rampage III Black Edition BIOS 0505 and 0404 Do NOT support RAID mode on the Marvell 88SE9182 SATA III Controller. I tested it myself. Stick with BIOS 0501 if you want RAID on the 9182 controller. It works perfectly for me without any errors or crashes of any kind.

Also, you can flash forward and backward on BIOS versions without any restrictions.