Right, so...where does *this* wire go?

[FoxFlame]

Heh, alright, despite my forum title and the name of this thread, it's not really that bad, but in a way it is.

My system is about a year old, and I'm pleased with nearly everything, but something, somewhere, I believe, is wrong and I'm trying to narrow it down. Therefore, my question to the denizens of this forum (which I believe is in the correct forum even though I'm only speaking of one hard drive, not a system) follows this background information:

I am running an Abit AA8-3rdEye motherboard (BIOS Award v.6.00PG, date 04/18/05) to which is connected a Seagate ST3160812AS (SATA 160gig) that I assume should run SATA-150 (All the motherboard supports), even though Aida32 is telling me it's running UDMA 5 (ATA-100), and the hard drive itself supports 3Gb/sec (SATA-300/SATA II).
The BIOS are configured to have the SATA set as IDE Enhanced. I recently tried RAID. There's also AHCI, which is probably the mode I should be running it in, but I like running my system lean and was disabling everything except the SATA ports I needed.
Also connected via SATA is a PX-716A. I bought this SATA DVD-Burner when it was the only optical device I could find that supported SATA connection because I like to keep my case tidy. (and it still is)

So here is the question: Have I done something horribly, horribly wrong here? Which SATA port should these devices be connected to? What settings should the BIOS have concerning the optical disk and HDD? Is there another setting vital to the performance of my system that I might have overlooked in the BIOS? What is the absolute optimal system performance settings, both physical and software, for this setup? I'm very big on running fast and lean so advice here will help.

I ask all this because Company of Heroes takes far too long at the loading screens (slower systems than mine are loading it faster), and for as long as I've had this system, I've felt something was configured incorrectly because it always felt like the hard drive wasn't performing as well as it should. It always seems to be accessing the hard drive (the LED is on a lot) and I'm not sure if there is something wrong with my hard drive or HDD settings (why I'm here) or if there's something wrong with my RAM. (1GB DDR2-533. I've 1.5-3GB set for virtual RAM)

I just downloaded the latest BIOS updates, and am considering installing them, but hate going through all that mess, especially when it doesn't look like anything has been changed that would resolve my issue.


Thank you in advance,
--Fox
Longtime Lurker

 

[BinarySynapse]

Okay, get you another gig of RAM. It own't hurt, but can definately help.

Also, yes set your SATA prots to AHCI mode. Right now they're emulating PATA mode and running at 100MB/s instead of 150MB/s. This should give you a nice boost in performance for burst transfers.


Another things is if you've had your OS installed for a year or more (assuming XP here) then it's quite likely that it's bogged down with trash from uninstalls, file deletions, spyware remnants. Do a fresh format and reinstall after backing up important data. That'll give you a noticeable speed boost.

 

[FoxFlame]

Ah, I just formatted recently actually. Had been a long while. Yes, XP Pro. I keep the system running as lean as possible, to free system resources. I'm going to likely have to reinstall anyway, as to get to AHCI, my rig won't boot up if I switch to that. Is there a way to change the OS or repair it somehow if I switch to that? It's a single hard drive .sys file stored in the system directory and a reg setting that tells windows which file to use to access the hard drive right? To control the board? I'm fairly certain if I switch to AHCI it won't boot, but when I switch back it'll be fine. I'm gonna go test it, but I'd prefer not to have to reinstall again. Just got it where I like it.


Thanks,
--Fox

edit: Yeah, just tried switching it to AHCI. It tries to boot, but just automatically restarts. Just unchecked "Auto reboot on system failure" or whatever MS calls the BSOD these days. I can switch it back and view the blue screen code if it helps, but I'd love to be able to change that without having to reformat.

Also, IDE Bus Mastering. Does that apply to SATA as well? Or is that for PATA only?

 

[BinarySynapse]

Ah, I just formatted recently actually. Had been a long while. Yes, XP Pro. I keep the system running as lean as possible, to free system resources. I'm going to likely have to reinstall anyway, as to get to AHCI, my rig won't boot up if I switch to that. Is there a way to change the OS or repair it somehow if I switch to that? It's a single hard drive .sys file stored in the system directory and a reg setting that tells windows which file to use to access the hard drive right? To control the board? I'm fairly certain if I switch to AHCI it won't boot, but when I switch back it'll be fine. I'm gonna go test it, but I'd prefer not to have to reinstall again. Just got it where I like it.


Thanks,
--Fox

edit: Yeah, just tried switching it to AHCI. It tries to boot, but just automatically restarts. Just unchecked "Auto reboot on system failure" or whatever MS calls the BSOD these days. I can switch it back and view the blue screen code if it helps, but I'd love to be able to change that without having to reformat.

Also, IDE Bus Mastering. Does that apply to SATA as well? Or is that for PATA only?

Yeah, XP's very picky about it's hard drives location. Try installing the SATA drivers in XP, then change the setting to AHCI. It may not work since XP's configured to boot from an IDE device, and SATA is detected as a SCSI device. But ti's worth a shot.

Intel's website should have them.