Tom's Hardware > Forum > Storage > Hard Disks > SATA Drive Set-Up Question
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Ebon_Praetor   10-05-2007 at 09:23:17 PM

I have the components ordered for a new system build. I've built home systems before, but not for awhile now, and this is my first build with a SATA drive so I have a question about set-up. For reference, here is what I'm putting together:
BIOSTAR TF560 A2+ AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 560 ATX Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Windsor 2.8GHz Socket AM2 Processor
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

I'll be running Windows XP, but I will not be using RAID. My motherboard gives two other options for SATA set-up: AHCI Mode or IDE Mode. I understand that if I want to use the AHCI driver for SATA, I need to install the the driver with a floppy during the F6 option during XP setup. If I set the BIOS to IDE Mode, windows will install the generic XP driver which I can replace with the NVidia IDE enhanced driver for SATA after windows has finished installing. Here's my question-

Which is the best way to go?? Will AHCI offer better performance? I've read that some people have had trouble when trying to use the AHCI driver, and that IDE Mode is easier to set-up, but is the performance as good? I'd like to go the route that will give me the best performance. Thanks to anyone for your input!

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SomeJoe7777   10-06-2007 at 02:08:24 AM
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Performance is going to be about the same for a desktop. AHCI enables two features that the standard IDE mode does not: hot swap, and NCQ. NCQ can improve performance in certain circumstances (simultaneous requests, such as what servers do), but on the desktop the performance gain is minimal, if at all.

------------------------------ - SomeJoe7777

"Did he dazzle you with his extensive knowledge of mineral water? Or was it his in-depth analysis of, uh, uh, Marky Mark that finally reeled you in?" - Troy Dyer (Ethan Hawke), Reality Bites, 1994
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favoritetort   10-06-2007 at 09:39:23 AM
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Go for it! You might not notice the difference, but it won't perform worse. I've heard people notice windows starts up faster.. I would forget about the floppy and slipstream the drivers.

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snyderm   10-09-2007 at 03:08:24 PM
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I am in having the same problem as you, Ebon_praetor. I was unaware that I would have problems installing XP pro with an AHCI driver. Windows XP would not even recognize the drive when I tried to install the OS.

My computer will not be uses as a server, so is it true that my performance will be nearly identical to what it would be in AHCI mode? That would mean that I could avoid a big headache.

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vogabi   03-24-2009 at 10:56:22 AM
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From my experience I found a big improvement after reinstalling Windows XP SP3 with AHCI drivers.
Wihh HDD in IDE mode, my computer (Athlon 64X2 4200+, 2GB RAM, 250 SATA HDD) used to start very slow, it took 3-4 minutes to load all the programs at startup, and I decided to try reinstalling Windows with AHCI enabled and the Nvidia AHCI drivers, without formatting.
Surprisingly, the boot time was reduced with at least 30%, and all the concurrent applications run much faster.
I think it's worth installing or reinstalling Windows with AHCI enabled.

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