Which Internal Connections do I use?

[ksha]

Dear All,

I would like to know what are the optimum internal connections to use with the following hardware.

The Motherboard that I have is a Gigabyte x58A-UD5 Rev 2.0.

The devices that I need to connect to this MoBo are:

1. Western Digital VelociRaptor 600GB 10000RPM SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache

2. Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x BluRay ROM DVDRW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATAII Optical Drive

Looking at the schematic layout of the Mobo I am trying to understand what are the best connectors to use for the above devices mentioned. I will not be doing any hot-swapping of hard drives. There are the SATA2 3Gb/s ICH10R connectors, GSATA Gigabyte 3Gb/s connectors and SATA 6Gb/s Marvell 9128 connectors).

Manual found here:

http://download.gigabyte.eu/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-x58a-ud5_v2.0_e.pdf (see Page 29)

Also, should I use AHCI or just stick to IDE? From what I have read on fiorums there are different schools of thought on this.

Any help on this will be HUGELY appreciated!

Cheers
ks

 

[Ubrales]

Welcome to Tom's Hardware!

Impressive setup! Connect the HDD containing the OS and the Blu Ray to these ports: Marvell 9128 chip:
- 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (GSATA3_6, GSATA3_7) supporting up to
2 SATA 6Gb/s devices

I set my option to IDE on my computer.

 

[ksha]

Thanks for your reply! I heard that a lot of people say that the ICH10R is faster? Is that true?

 

[Ubrales]

Unless you are transferring very large files day in and day out, the speed differences are not noticeable. Try different setups and do a time study on backup times. I tried to compare eSATA to USB3 for my monthly backups. In most instances, I started the backup and then walked away. By the time I got back to the computer, the backup was complete. I quit worrying about the backup times.

Read posts on different forums about ICH10R. That may give you a clearer picture.