New GA-965P build; SATA drivers question...

[gorgerax]

I've built relatively new systems lately with SATA drives and NOT done the "Press F6 if you need to install..." thing and all seemed to go well. My new Gigabyte mobo arrived today and in looking through the manual, there are instructions for doing this if you are using the Gigabyte controller but none for the ICH8 Intel controller...plus, I cannot find a driver in the "bootdrv" folder that looks like an Intel driver (there is a Promise driver...)

So, my questions:

1. Is it better to use the Intel vs. the Gigabyte controller?
2. Do I need to preinstall a driver for the Intel?
3. If so, which one?
4. What is AHCI? Should I use that?

I have a new cSeagate Barracuda Sata 3.0 250GB I want to use as the Primary/boot drive.

Thanks!!!

 

[sruane]

I've built relatively new systems lately with SATA drives and NOT done the "Press F6 if you need to install..." thing and all seemed to go well. My new Gigabyte mobo arrived today and in looking through the manual, there are instructions for doing this if you are using the Gigabyte controller but none for the ICH8 Intel controller...plus, I cannot find a driver in the "bootdrv" folder that looks like an Intel driver (there is a Promise driver...)

So, my questions:

1. Is it better to use the Intel vs. the Gigabyte controller?
2. Do I need to preinstall a driver for the Intel?
3. If so, which one?
4. What is AHCI? Should I use that?

I have a new cSeagate Barracuda Sata 3.0 250GB I want to use as the Primary/boot drive.

Thanks!!!

That F 6 thing is only if you're installing the RAID drivers. The SATA drivers are included with Windows. I would use the Intel controller (The ICH8 ) - its designed to work with the 965. On mine, I'm using the Gigabyte controller for the eSATA ports, leaving the Intel ports available for my drive array. You can only use the RAID drivers if you have the ICH8R chipset, The ICH8 doesn't support RAID. But, if you do, use the Intel Matrix Raid Drivers. You can get them from either the Gigabyte or the Intel website. You will need to create a driver floppy for that F 6 install.

You can use Advanced Host Control Interface (provides NCQ, etc) if you're not using RAID. When in doubt, just take the defaults.

 

[exenia]

SATA drivers are not included with Windows!

The way it works around the driver disk is that by default the SATA ports act like IDE. The 'Native mode' setting in the bios is for the ICH8 controller. The G-RAID/PATA controller is the same way, its choices are IDE (emulation), RAID (needs a driver obviously), or AHCI (non-raid SATA, also needs a driver). I think AHCI mode is needed if you want to enable NCQ or any of the advanced SATA options, the drive should run at full speed either way.

The fact that new boards default to IDE emulation is just a sign that manufacturers are sick of complaints that their hardware is broken, so they made the default to not require a floppy during a Windows install (which *is* stupidly inflexible).

 

[gorgerax]

SATA drivers are not included with Windows!

The way it works around the driver disk is that by default the SATA ports act like IDE. The 'Native mode' setting in the bios is for the ICH8 controller. The G-RAID/PATA controller is the same way, its choices are IDE (emulation), RAID (needs a driver obviously), or AHCI (non-raid SATA, also needs a driver). I think AHCI mode is needed if you want to enable NCQ or any of the advanced SATA options, the drive should run at full speed either way.

The fact that new boards default to IDE emulation is just a sign that manufacturers are sick of complaints that their hardware is broken, so they made the default to not require a floppy during a Windows install (which *is* stupidly inflexible).

So if you build a system from scratch w/o the F6 drivers-thing, the Hard disk is performing slowly? Can you build it this way, them install the correct drivers for AHCI/NCQ afterwards?

Thanks!

 

[selvenz]

Yes you can install drivers later but its a nightmare if you are not patient. Better off installing the software now then later. F6 is the way to go, you can also review the stcky at hardware> harddisk . There is a guide to follw if you want to do it after windows is installed.

 

[exenia]

Yep, definitely better to do the F6/drivers when installing Windows even if you don't expect to need them, that way it's in place if you ever change the way the it handles drives (or a later bios update does!)

Oddly enough, in my case it seems like the system is *more* stable when using the IDE emulation. I've got a kind of weird problem so I won't get into that here, but switching to IDE mode seems to have fixed some serious problems with drive corruption.

There should be no speed difference either way, HDTach still measures my drive right around 300mb/s, correct for a SATA-2 drive.

 

[sruane]

Once again - the drivers that get installed in this way are for RAID - it has nothing to do with SATA. If you're not using RAID, skip this step.

 

[sruane]

Here's the Word from Intel:

http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/sb/cs-015001.htm

The SATA driver for the 965P chipset is the Matrix Storage Manager, which you won't be using if you're not using RAID. SATA I/O is handled by your ICH8, which knows how to do SATA. In fact, there's no PATA support in the ICH8, so SATA is the ONLY thing it knows how to do.