Intel x58 and jerky game disk access

Hi Folks,

I was playing Tomb Raider Underworld on a machine with these specs:

     * Core i7
     * Intel DX58SO motherboard with x58 chipset
     * Windows Vista 64 Ultimate
     * 650 GB 7200 RPM drive
     * Dual Radeon 4870 X2 (quad GPU)

The framerate was amazing, but I noticed the game would stumble a bit whenever it accessed the hard drive. There was a noticeable lag every 15 seconds or so as Lara uncovered new parts of the level. Loading new levels was also very jerky.

For comparison purposes I tried the game on a year-old Mac Pro with a single 260 GTX video card. The framerate was obviously lower because of the single video card, but the jerky disk access problem was gone. Loading levels was smooth, and there was no hickup every 15 or 20 seconds because of disk access.

Both machines were running Vista 64-bit, and both machines have medium-size 7200 RPM drives. This makes me think that the Intel x58 chipset might have some disk performance issues. It seems like disk access is more synchronous. Has anyone else noticed this while playing games on that motherboard?

To do a test, just load a level of Tomb Raider Underworld. There is a large circle that slowly rotates during loading. Does the circle move smoothly, or is it jerky most of the time.

Thanks for your help folks. I'm about to buy a new system, and this Tomb Raider problem is making me think I might stick with the 790i motherboards for now.

JamesAstro

Originally posted by skyR maybe it's a CrossfireX issue. have you tried playing the game without CrossfireX.

Unfortunately I didn't think to disable crossfire, and I no longer have access to the system.