Silverstone DS380 / ASRock C2550D4I Build


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Build list:

 

Motherboard/Processor: ASRock C2550D4I Intel Avoton C2550

Case: Silverstone DS380

 

gP5gB31.jpg

 

I'm just waiting on the motherboard to arrive. It should be going together this next weekend!  ;D

 

I'll update with pictures and info as it starts going together.

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Make sure you update the bios and turn off Aggressive Link Power Management on all the controllers in the bios and maybe hot swap too. Or you WILL get red balls/data corruption.  Also that board seems more sensitive to emi on sata cables. I replaced all mine with better shielded cables. Just trying to save you from a few days of fun ????.

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Make sure you update the bios and turn off Aggressive Link Power Management on all the controllers in the bios and maybe hot swap too. Or you WILL get red balls/data corruption.  Also that board seems more sensitive to emi on sata cables. I replaced all mine with better shielded cables. Just trying to save you from a few days of fun ????.

 

Thanks for the tips, the power management/hot swap changes in bios were on my list, since I already read your earlier posts. As long as you don't stick a sata controller card in, the motherboard seems to be plenty speedy. I love the idea of a low power, silent, ecc, ipmi motherboard with 12 sata ports. It got delivered a few hours ago!

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These were the type of sata errors I was getting on some drives.

Mar 21 10:07:20 Server kernel: ata4: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4090000 action 0xe frozen
Mar 21 10:07:20 Server kernel: ata4: irq_stat 0x00400040, connection status changed
Mar 21 10:07:20 Server kernel: ata4: SError: { PHYRdyChg 10B8B DevExch }
Mar 21 10:07:20 Server kernel: ata4: hard resetting link
Mar 21 10:07:21 Server kernel: ata4: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
Mar 21 10:07:21 Server kernel: ata4.00: configured for UDMA/133
Mar 21 10:07:21 Server kernel: ata4: EH complete

At first I was using my Lian Li Q08 and some nice looking black ASUS cables with black/white tips from my previous board.  I then switched to the Asrock cables which worked well but some were 90 degree calbles.  I got rid of all the errors by swapping out the cables. I did have one WD 2TB EADS sata II drive that didn't like the sata II controller, so I moved it. When I switched to the DS380 I bought all new 180 sata cables at Microcenter.  They only had a few 12" Bytecc and 18" 2 packs of some Delux Infinity brand all with latches.  I'm not sure if would recommend them to anyone but they worked. No errors after extensive testing the past couple days.

 

I bought the same Silverstone power supply as Jomp but Bronze. Silverstone has some nice cables too but they are all 18"

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These were the type of sata errors I was getting on some drives.

Mar 21 10:07:20 Server kernel: ata4: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4090000 action 0xe frozen
Mar 21 10:07:20 Server kernel: ata4: irq_stat 0x00400040, connection status changed
Mar 21 10:07:20 Server kernel: ata4: SError: { PHYRdyChg 10B8B DevExch }
Mar 21 10:07:20 Server kernel: ata4: hard resetting link
Mar 21 10:07:21 Server kernel: ata4: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
Mar 21 10:07:21 Server kernel: ata4.00: configured for UDMA/133
Mar 21 10:07:21 Server kernel: ata4: EH complete

At first I was using my Lian Li Q08 and some nice looking black ASUS cables with black/white tips from my previous board.  I then switched to the Asrock cables which worked well but some were 90 degree calbles.  I got rid of all the errors by swapping out the cables. I did have one WD 2TB EADS sata II drive that didn't like the sata II controller, so I moved it. When I switched to the DS380 I bought all new 180 sata cables at Microcenter.  They only had a few 12" Bytecc and 18" 2 packs of some Delux Infinity brand all with latches.  I'm not sure if would recommend them to anyone but they worked. No errors after extensive testing the past couple days.

 

I bought the same Silverstone power supply as Jomp but Bronze. Silverstone has some nice cables too but they are all 18"

 

 

I really, really appreciate the detailed info, and I'm sure other forum members do as well.  I'm glad the board is working out for you.  On paper it is simply unbeatable.

 

I must say, with all due respect to AsRock, that I have been building computers for nearly 30 years, and I have never, ever had a mb/cable/drive combo that was that finicky.  Maybe I've just been lucky, but if a board (or its controller) can't work with any drive, and any quality cable, then its a one-off.  I've worked with $200 PCs and $500,000 servers and everything in between, and none exhibited the preference for drive/cable combo you detail.  I am thrilled that you found a combo that works, but I can't risk my data to a board like that.  Maybe AsRock reads this forum.  Hopefully they build a little more "give" into future BIOS revisions.  Their feature set is beyond compare, easily the best in its class, but not if I can expect data corruption because their board decides it doesn't like a drive or cable.  I accept that "server class" hardware may be a little more discerning than your average $50 Newegg deal of the day, but wow, I am shocked this product would make it to market with these sorts of issues.  Perhaps AsRock was simply trying to lead the market with a board with these features and the issues will be fixed in subsequent BIOS revisions.

 

In the meantime, my hope is that I can spend $250 on an "acceptable" mb/cpu combo now, and AsRock encourages competition among other big names, and more (stable) boards with these features become available in the future.

 

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The Silverstone DS380 is pretty darn solid feeling in both weight and sturdiness for the price. It feels pretty roomy when you have the 3.5" hard drive cage out, but things get really, really tight in a hurry when you put it back in. I used 10" sata cables, 18" cables would get pretty clogged up without some management. Having a modular power supply helped reduce the clutter too. The hot swap trays are pretty cheesy, but functional. The fans are louder then they need to be, so I might switch them out. That being said, they aren't screamers by any stretch of the imagination. Overall, a really great, compact case for 8 hot swapped 3.5" hard drives!

 

Some pictures:

 

v0Xzz6h.jpg

3T643Hz.jpg

83p973l.jpg

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If the initial parity sync speed is any indication, you certainly don't have any speed issues with that board !!  8)

 

Cruising!  :P

 

BmEpZt0.jpg

 

I'll update with the total party sync speed tomorrow, upload the log, test real-world transfer speeds, etc..

 

 

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As I assume you know, the parity sync speed will decrease quite a bit as it nears the inner cylinders of the drive -- but with what you're seeing now I'd expect it to still be in the 100MB/s range (with the average somewhat higher).

 

It'll be interesting to see your write speeds to the protected array.  With WD Reds, which spin a bit slower than your Seagate NAS units, I get ~ 45MB/s on the outer cylinders.  I'd expect you to get slightly better than that ... perhaps even over 50  :)

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I've attached the log. So far, everything seems to be in line and the C2550D4I is working great. The only thing I changed in BIOS was to disable Aggressive Link Power Management. I'm running one more parity sync and then I'll write some files to the protected array to check out protected speeds later today. Any requests in terms of the motherboard?

 

4x4TB parity sync: md: sync done. time=30933sec

log.txt

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Excellent parity sync time -- I assume the check time will be roughly the same.

 

Definitely interested in the write speeds to the array and, if you have a Kill-a-Watt, the power consumption figures for (a) all drives spun down;  (b)  all drives spun up and doing a parity check; and © reading from a single drive with all others spun down.

 

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These were the type of sata errors I was getting on some drives.

Mar 21 10:07:20 Server kernel: ata4: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4090000 action 0xe frozen
Mar 21 10:07:20 Server kernel: ata4: irq_stat 0x00400040, connection status changed
Mar 21 10:07:20 Server kernel: ata4: SError: { PHYRdyChg 10B8B DevExch }
Mar 21 10:07:20 Server kernel: ata4: hard resetting link
Mar 21 10:07:21 Server kernel: ata4: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
Mar 21 10:07:21 Server kernel: ata4.00: configured for UDMA/133
Mar 21 10:07:21 Server kernel: ata4: EH complete

At first I was using my Lian Li Q08 and some nice looking black ASUS cables with black/white tips from my previous board.  I then switched to the Asrock cables which worked well but some were 90 degree calbles.  I got rid of all the errors by swapping out the cables. I did have one WD 2TB EADS sata II drive that didn't like the sata II controller, so I moved it. When I switched to the DS380 I bought all new 180 sata cables at Microcenter.  They only had a few 12" Bytecc and 18" 2 packs of some Delux Infinity brand all with latches.  I'm not sure if would recommend them to anyone but they worked. No errors after extensive testing the past couple days.

 

I bought the same Silverstone power supply as Jomp but Bronze. Silverstone has some nice cables too but they are all 18"

 

I'm getting these resets too, which is causing problems, obviously.

 

I'm using these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812422635

 

Trying these monoprice cables that I have next.

 

http://www.monoprice.com/mobile/Product/Details/8778

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Are you getting them on the same drive, more than one, and which controller? I couldn't pull up the newegg link but we're they rated @ 6Mbps. Not that I buy into that but may indicate a better quality cable. Did you try the asrock oem cables, cause they worked for me.  I tried to keep all the cables away from each other too. These are the ones I bought

http://www.microcenter.com/product/388741/Two_18_SATA_III_6Gbps_Cables_with_Latch_-_Red

plus some 12" Bytecc

I had to move one drive off the sata ii controller.

 

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Are you getting them on the same drive, more than one, and which controller? I couldn't pull up the newegg link but we're they rated @ 6Mbps. Not that I buy into that but may indicate a better quality cable. Did you try the asrock oem cables, cause they worked for me.  I tried to keep all the cables away from each other too. These are the ones I bought

http://www.microcenter.com/product/388741/Two_18_SATA_III_6Gbps_Cables_with_Latch_-_Red

plus some 12" Bytecc

I had to move one drive off the sata ii controller.

 

I'm getting them on multiple drives, the Marvell 6.0G controller.

 

I'm using the OEM cables now, running a parity sync.

 

These were the newegg cables: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812422635

 

It turns out the monoprice cables are printed the same, had the same connectors, so I didn't even try them.

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Ok, so here is a weird datapoint and I think the root cause. I didn't touch anything for ~20 minutes while the parity sync is running and no sata resets (like when I let the parity sync run over night) but when I start refreshing things in the webgui during a parity sync (clicking between different tabs like settings, users, etc) boom, the webgui freezes for many seconds and sata resets. Strange.

 

*Edit after more testing: It happens in both 5.0.5 and 6.0 Beta 4. Everything is solid with no sata resets until I start clicking around the webgui during a parity sync and then like magic, sata resets. I don't think it's related to cables at all.

 

dmacias, can you click around the webgui dusting a parity sync and see if you can replicate this on your board?

 

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I just started a parity check, I have 3 VMs going also and tv running off the  mythbuntu vm in a couple rooms. I don't get any freezing when refresh or switching between tabs.  Or any more errors since I bought the latest cables. . My last reboot was April 3.  Are you just getting the frozen errors from log3 now or still those nasty looking ones from log2.  The frozen errors I believe can be remedied by move those 2 drives to different controllers or maybe different cables. Also I know you said you were going to turn off the aggressive link but did you turn it off on all controllers. I think it is in two different locations in the bios and hotswap too.  I would even try turning off s.m.a.r.t.  I don't have any cables really running on top of each other either.

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