Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (
More info?)
In article <eeab307d.0405070120.2ca0c6ee@posting.google.com>,
veltar@despammed.com (Veltar) wrote:
> Can someone explain me what the option "IDE DRIVING NORMAL/STRONG" does
> and how it works?
> Thanks in advance.
> Max.
The following is only a guess, as there isn't an answer on the
Asus FAQ page or in an Asus manual, like the P4SDX board that
also uses a 963L Southbridge.
Driving strength on busses, is adjusted according to the load
on the bus and attempting to best match the impedance of the
line. This is done to give the best signal quality. As end
users, we aren't able to guess as to what such a setting
should be adjusted to, especially as we have no way of
observing how well the interconnect on the computer is
actually working.
I would stick with "Normal", unless you are seeing some problem
with the disk. Mixing a setting of "Strong" while using a
40 wire, instead of 80 wire IDE cable, would be asking for
trouble. (That is because the 40 wire IDE cable has inferior
transmission properties, higher crosstalk etc, and a setting
of "Strong" would only make it worse.)
The BIOS interface on the P4SDX has a setting called "IDE
Drive Strength Tuning", implying the BIOS will analyse the
situation and set the IDE interfaces to "Normal" or "Strong"
on its own. That makes more sense, as the manufacturer knows
more about the electrical properties than we do.
There are a number of BIOS parameters, that have no business
being exposed in the BIOS screens. These are the parameters
that should be set by the engineers doing the design, and
not the end user. I guess marketing must count each of these
settings as a "feature". In cases like this, use the default
defined by the BIOS.
Sorry for the waffle answer,
Paul
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