Asus rampage formula iii - installing an ssd advice

[srt]

Hi all,
ADMIN - Not sure this is the right forum for this so apologies and please move to correct thanks
I have been running my present asus board for some time with WD Raptors 600gb main and 300gb storage.
I saw some very good price drops on Crucial m4 256 gb ssd at Amazon and had a gift certificate that was burning a hole so I took the plunge and ordered
I was wondering if any experienced friends might have some guidance regarding setting up
I had some odd stuff in my earlier install but that was tied in with an external storage hdd I had hooked up at the time
Although I still get the "no drives found" message at boot alls ok up to now and I do have sata 6 initiated along with AHCI.
My general use is towards gaming and surf stuff and awaiting a GTX 680 which is delayed
I intend to retain photos etc on the Raptor and use the ssd for general stuff n gaming
Thanks for any pointers etc.
Regards.

[DragonFury]

Ok you setting the SSD as the main os and game install drive? Now in my experiences on the Marvel controlled SATA 6 controller hasn't been a pleasant one. If it was me, I would put the SSD as the main os/game installer and run the other drives as back ups for other programs. And, run it off the Intel ICH10r southbridge, as this is a lot better then that craptasitc marvel controller. Now keep in mind if you run AHCI mode on the SSD (which is ok) if you need to use the drives in another computer and they are running IDE/RAID mode on that computer they will not see your drive. There is a work around but I find it better to run the drives in RAID (even tho they single) this way If i need to stick the drive(s) in another computer it will read em.

[srt]

And, run it off the Intel ICH10r southbridge, as this is a lot better then that craptasitc marvel controller..

Thanks.
Can you explain how I do that - - can I still use sata 6gb then

[DragonFury]

Try out the SATA 6Gb/s controller and see if it works on your system. I just havnt had much luck using the marvel controller. The other standard SATA 3Gb/s ports are native to the souhbridge.

[Major_A]

If you want to clone your Velociraptor then grab the Acronis WD Edition off of their website. Don't know if this is a moot point now or not.
http://support.wdc.com/product/download ... p?swid=119

[srt]

Ok - I have just gone with the 6gb sata on the board and as you will prly know it shows up as 5gb on boot
Oh well I can live with it for a while I guess but I feel pretty disapointed with Asus over this
Now I am back to the "What next" motherboard syndrome and CPU
Thanks again folks.

[Apoptosis]

Be sure to upate the firmware on the SSD while you are doing all this.

As for the mobo... Look into a Z77 or Z68 board with an Ivy Bridge or Sandy Bridge processor.

I personally updated from a Socket LGA1366 Bloomfield system (Core i7-965 Extreme) to a Socket LGA1155 Ivy Bridge system (Core i7-3770K) and I can tell a difference. The one that makes me smile is I went from ~175W idle to ~40W idle. Should save me about $130 a year on electric, which is over $10 a month.

If you are still running the rig in your signiture you'll see the same gains.

[DragonFury]

I jumped from a 970 1366 to a 2600k set up, and the jump to a full on sata 6Gb/s controller and USB 3.0 makes it completely worth it.