FYI: adding AHCI and NCQ to Vista (hard drive stuff)

K

Kris773

n00b
Joined
Jun 9, 2008
Messages
10
(copied from my post to vista.general nntp)

AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface)
NCQ ( Native Command Queuing) (puts commands to HD in order)

Got a new drive (Seagate ST3 750 330 AS), and thought I'd try this NCQ stuff.

Set BIOS to AHCI and AHCI BIOS.
The BIOS did pick up all my SATA drives on the AHCI BIOS.
However, Vista started up (progress bar) but about 5-10 secs later, a BSOD flashed and it re-booted.

I looked up AHCI on MSKB and found this: (that is, I reset BIOS to IDE, re-booted, and then looked it up)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976/en-us
I could sorta remember that BSOD flashing by as a STOP, so I tried it .

Voila - reboot after setting BIOS to AHCI and AHCI BIOS on, Vista booted up as normal and then went into a long sequence of now finding the correct AHCI controller drivers and applying them - auto - takes 5-10 minutes. (I have 6 SATA ports) reboot and all is well.

Sisoft Sandra and HD Tune both now say that NCQ is there. For some Nvidia chipsets, the NCQ checkbox apparently appears in the Device properties, but it does not on my Intel ICH9R.

So, contrary to what I was finding on the web, you CAN set up AHCI and NCQ AFTER you have installed Vista - it doesn't take a re-install. And, yes, I had to re-activate my OEM Vista, Though, odly, it waited a day to tell me that I had a day to do it. I used Acronis TI 11 to clone my Hitachi 160gb to the new drive (10 min or so), power off, unplug the Hitachi and test the new drive for a bit.

Pretty easy, all in all, but only when I thought to check MSKB for AHCI.
 
This procedure was posted in one of my threads, in response to my question about going back to IDE once you had the drives setup in AHCI mode. I don't think there was much argument on this website that you could switch to AHCI without doing a full re-install.

What I would like to see, however, is if there is actually a benefit to using AHCI and then even NCQ on a typical desktop workstation. Nothing I've read suggested so, and in the storage forums, some have commented that NCQ can actually degrade performance on a non-server, single-user environment. I'd like to see more tests to see if there is any actual increase or decrease in performance. My gut says no...but that might just be hunger pains.
 
Certainly didn't mean to imply originality - just something I discovered on my own - glad you found it and posted it.

To prove it's of benefit, one would have to drive the HD moderately hard, and not sequentially, such that the need for NCQ might arise. Perhaps something like a defragger? but of course it would be extremely difficult to create a repeatable test base. It could be done, but, alas, I have a life. :D I feel that it didn't hurt things and may have slightly improved HD Tach, but then that is so largely dependent on, again, a repeatable test base, which, of course, you don't have in an NT type opsys.

Thanks for looking in!
 
Thanks for this information. I've been considering ACHI and NCQ for a while but hadn't heard of a particular benefit. Now that I know it isn't hard to make Vista cooperate, I'll tinker with it and see if I can determine anything.
 
The nice thing, at least with Intel chipset boards, is that Vista doesn't need any drivers loaded manually to install when using AHCI mode. Just set the BIOS, install Vista and then load the Intel chipset drivers.
 
and one of the awesome things you can do with AHCI enabled is hotswap eSATA drives (at least most of them... )
 
Can you disable hotswap SATA while keeping NCQ? I don't want my board thinking my drives are removable all day. It would be awesome if there were a way to selectively flag drives as removable or fixed.
 
DeaconFrost said:
The nice thing, at least with Intel chipset boards, is that Vista doesn't need any drivers loaded manually to install when using AHCI mode. Just set the BIOS, install Vista and then load the Intel chipset drivers.
Click to expand...

it had not occurred to me to re-install the chipset drivers. I just now did so but did not notice any difference anywhere. But good idea anyway! Thanks for mentioning it.
 
Gigas-VII said:
Can you disable hotswap SATA while keeping NCQ? I don't want my board thinking my drives are removable all day. It would be awesome if there were a way to selectively flag drives as removable or fixed.
Click to expand...

They still dont show up as removable devices, even with AHCI enabled...so dont worry about it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top