Help me avoid the BSOD in my build (Intel mobo w/sata HD)

Hello,
I been reading allot about folks encountering problems with sata and installing raid drivers with a F6 and floppy during XP install resulting in BSOD's. A few people mentioned it on the neww egg reviews and there is a 4 page thread here!

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/successful-SATA-buildftopic-234594-days0-orderasc-25.html

My Mobo is a Intel D975XDX2

The Intel manual is very much encouraging the user to install the MATRIX raid drivers ; even if your starting W/ only one drive ...." for future flexibility and versitility"


Now I don't really need raid because I want to put programs apart from samples on different drives( for audio streaming).

Here is my question: I want my sata drives to reach there full speed potential and have seen differing opinions about running them in legacy or PATA modes. The chipset supports AHCI

http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imst/sb/CS-012304.htm
(The mobo uses the controller hub that's 3rd from the bottom of the linked list.)

The Bios has a setting in the Drive configuration menu that has legacy or enhanced modes.
It also has a setting to enable the raid which , after rebooting , brings up the Intel Matrix option "ROM".

Now after reading in the manual for the manager, there is a part that mentions that in order to take advantage of the AHCI and most importantly the NATIVE COMMAND QUEING you must have the chipset and the MATRIX MANAMGER! The dam manager is only envoked AFAICT by starting down the road to RAID!!!!


CAN I Utilize the full potential of the sata HD Without the RAID???

Should I just put it in enhanced mode??

To use NCQ and/or hot swap, your SATA controller must be in either AHCI or RAID mode.

In AHCI mode, you will have to install the driver during Windows setup using F6. But, you do not have to install the Intel Matrix Storage Manager. The driver alone will give you all functionality.

On Intel's site there is a download for the full Intel Matrix Storage Manager, you don't need that. You need to download the F6 floppy which has drivers on it to use during Windows XP setup.

Be aware that all drivers for various flavors of the ICH (ICH6/6R/7/7R/8/8R) in both RAID and AHCI modes are on that floppy. When you insert the floppy and bring up the driver list, make sure to choose the exact driver for your hardware. (Use the up/down arrow keys to scroll the driver list - this isn't apparent because there's no scroll bar on the Window).