SB750 vs. ICH9/10

[Kurotetsu]

Has anyone done a performance comparison between these two Southbridges? I seem to vaguely recall one was done between SB600 and ICH9, but I think SB600 had a few problems that hamstrung it.

If a comparison between 750 and 9/10 has been done, a link would be very appreciative.

[Usacomp2k3]

Well considering that the SB750 is for AMD cpu's and ICH is for Intel cpu's, It's almost impossible to find a true apples-to-apples comparison. Most people choose the CPU they want to use first, and then choose a motherboard after that fact.

That said, TR reviewed the 790gx chipset, which includes the SB750 southbridge:
http://techreport.com/articles.x/15256

[Kurotetsu]

http://techreport.com/articles.x/15256

Thanks very much for the link.

Unfortunately, AMD's longstanding issues with AHCI Serial ATA controller configurations persist in the SB750, all but forcing users to run the south bridge in plain old IDE mode. That's not the end of the world, but IDE mode doesn't support Serial ATA perks like hot swapping and Native Command Queuing.

Given AMD's unresolved AHCI issues, we've tested the 790GX with the south bridge's Serial ATA controller running in IDE mode. The nForce 750a has no problems running in AHCI mode, which is how we tested it. Both platforms were run using their integrated graphics as the primary output.

Were they not able to install Vista on their test system with AHCI enabled or something?

[shank15217]

I dont suggest using the SB750 in AHCI mode in any OS. Linux also has similar issues with these drives in this mode. Results are usually the disappearance of the drive from the OS or kernel panics on boot up. It could have serious implications for software raid setups where the raid monitor would panic when a drive disappears causing headaches for any user.

[Zoomastigophora]

I dont suggest using the SB750 in AHCI mode in any OS. Linux also has similar issues with these drives in this mode. Results are usually the disappearance of the drive from the OS or kernel panics on boot up. It could have serious implications for software raid setups where the raid monitor would panic when a drive disappears causing headaches for any user.

This is interesting. I'm currently running the Asus M3A79-T Deluxe, which is a 790FX/SB750 board, in AHCI mode and I have not run into any issues thus far. Of course, I'm not running a RAID setup, but I'm curious as to what sort of problems running AHCI is supposed to result in with the SB750, aside from the ones you've already mentioned. Also, do the problems occur in specific configurations or should they be occuring if you just switch to AHCI?

[shank15217]

I dont suggest using the SB750 in AHCI mode in any OS. Linux also has similar issues with these drives in this mode. Results are usually the disappearance of the drive from the OS or kernel panics on boot up. It could have serious implications for software raid setups where the raid monitor would panic when a drive disappears causing headaches for any user.

This is interesting. I'm currently running the Asus M3A79-T Deluxe, which is a 790FX/SB750 board, in AHCI mode and I have not run into any issues thus far. Of course, I'm not running a RAID setup, but I'm curious as to what sort of problems running AHCI is supposed to result in with the SB750, aside from the ones you've already mentioned. Also, do the problems occur in specific configurations or should they be occuring if you just switch to AHCI?

It occurs with AHCI mode enabled in the bios with Ubuntu 8.04 server and SB750/SB700/SB600 south bridges. The issue with Linux raid is more of a problem with the mdmonitor trying to recover when a drive disappears unexpectedly, it will try to recover with a hot spare if you have one or run in some degraded mode or just fail all together.

[jhm]

It occurs with AHCI mode enabled in the bios with Ubuntu 8.04 server and SB750/SB700/SB600 south bridges. The issue with Linux raid is more of a problem with the mdmonitor trying to recover when a drive disappears unexpectedly, it will try to recover with a hot spare if you have one or run in some degraded mode or just fail all together.[/quote]

Running both vista and ubuntu 8.04, I have had zero problems with AHCI being enabled on an J&W MINIX 780G-SP128MB. Hell, it was easier to get AHCI running than the last time I tried after the fact with an ich9 board.

[swaaye]

I've had trouble with ICH9 and SB700 with AHCI. Strange things like system pauses, drive detection troubles. I think trouble is caused by many factors, including chipset, cables, drives, OS and drivers. So it's a bitch to nail it down if you do have trouble. What I have found though is that SATA in legacy mode is much less troublesome overall.

Vista's support of hotplug is pretty bad anyway. That's all I care about with AHCI....