RAID and AHCI vs standard IDE

Z

ZippZopp

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 30, 2007
Messages
380
I just got a new system, specs are

Maximus Formula motherboard
QX9650
8 gb G.Skill DDR 2 PC8000
WD Raptor X 150gb
WD 250 gb SATA 3 drive
WD 500 gb SATA 3 drive
Windows XP x64

so, in my bios I can set the SATA controller to either emulate the drives as IDE, I can set it to AHCI or RAID. I was reading if I set RAID, but keep the drives as standalone I get the benefits of AHCI as well.

now I tried to install windows with the F6 drives, but i've run into some problems with it set to RAID. windows will install, but when it goes to load i get a quick blue screen and it resets which leads me to believe its a driver issue.

I'm gonna keep working it, but I guess the main question here is should I even bother setting RAID in the bios, or should the IDE emulation work fine? is there that much of a performance gain with AHCI or am I just spinning my wheels for nothing?
 
set to AHCI and you can configure raid if you need to.

Use the same F6 driver. You should be fine. :) Good luck!
 
Did you get the proper intel matrix storage drivers to install during windows installation?

And honestly, the performance difference is negligible between AHCI and IDE emulation. The main feature AHCI adds is native command queuing, which is a bit controversial when it comes to performance benefits.
 
Sniper|3d-R| said:
set to AHCI and you can configure raid if you need to.

Use the same F6 driver. You should be fine. :) Good luck!
Click to expand...

It's best to set it as RAID even if you're not going to be using a RAID setup, due to the fact that it will be much easier when deciding to go RAID in the future.
 
yeah, i want to set it as raid with standalone drives because i get all the benefits of AHCI as well as going to RAID later on if I want. I just downloaded the Intel Matrix Storage driver and floppy disk creator. So i'm making a floppy now and am going to attempt to install xp x64 in a few. hopefully it'll work and i won't get any hitches.
 
ok, so I got it up and running. used the F6 drivers off Intel's site. the only weird thing was that setting RAID in the BIOS wouldn't allow me to boot off my SATA DVD drive. I had to connect an older IDE DVD drive so I could install windows. is that just the way it is, or was there some setting I missed to get it to boot off the SATA DVD drive?
 
ZippZopp said:
ok, so I got it up and running. used the F6 drivers off Intel's site. the only weird thing was that setting RAID in the BIOS wouldn't allow me to boot off my SATA DVD drive. I had to connect an older IDE DVD drive so I could install windows. is that just the way it is, or was there some setting I missed to get it to boot off the SATA DVD drive?
Click to expand...

I've had a similar issue with my SATA DVD drive. Had to set it back to IDE mode instead of a SATA mode to get it to boot a CD. This was on my older Gigabyte P965 board.
 
No issues with my Lite-On SATA DVD burner.

My Raptor, and my 500gb Maxtor also run great.

However; my pair of 160gig sata Maxtors don't. They take like 30-40 seconds each to be detected before boot can continue. I figure it's because they are first generation sata, and are really pata drives with a sata bridge. No NCQ for example. But once booted, works fine.
 
i think the RAID or IDE setting is a global setting, so if set to RAID my SATA DVD drive won't work for windows install...it shows up fine in windows, but i had to use that IDE drive to get windows installed. is there a way to specifically set it to run in IDE for just that port...is that possible?
 
its a shame! just when i thought i could get rid of the IDE cables, I still need to have the IDE dvd drive in there for situations like that....
 
so basically there is no way to get the SATA DVD drive to install windows when set to RAID in the BIOS?
 
ZippZopp said:
so basically there is no way to get the SATA DVD drive to install windows when set to RAID in the BIOS?
Click to expand...
Nope.

Though, many SATA DVD drives do work. I've not run into any yet that don't work. Yours is the exception.
 
My Samsung 20x SATA DVD loaded Vx64 up fine with my ICH9R set to RAID.

NewEgg's usually got 'em for $28 shipped free.
 
ZippZopp said:
ok, so I got it up and running. used the F6 drivers off Intel's site. the only weird thing was that setting RAID in the BIOS wouldn't allow me to boot off my SATA DVD drive. I had to connect an older IDE DVD drive so I could install windows. is that just the way it is, or was there some setting I missed to get it to boot off the SATA DVD drive?
Click to expand...

In the boot devices setting in the BIOS, there should most likely be two options for the SATA optical drive. One should be SATA something and the other should have some weird name, which depends on the drive you have.

When I try to boot from SATA drive when it's set to SATA CDROM (or something like that) , it wont work. I have to set it to TSSCORP (*bunch of numbers I dont remember*)... Then it works.
 
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