Abit IP35 Pro, onboard SATA controller

[rosi]

I plan on purchasing the Abit IP35 Pro motherboard after the holidays and have a few questions.

I don't plan on setting up a raid array in the near future, but would like to use the six SATA ports as such:
SATA 1: an internal hard drive with the Windows XP operating system
SATA 2: an internal hard drive with data files
SATA 3-SATA 6: these four SATA cables will run to a multichannel SATA connector on the back of the case to connect to an external enclosure with four more SATA drives in it. With these four drives set up this way it's easy to kill the power on the external case to power them down when not in use and fire them up on the fly when necessary.

Right now I am making a slipstream Windows XP CD and I am wondering what SATA drivers I would need to include on the CD if I were working with this motherboard. I'm familiar with making the CD as I've made them in the past with drivers for my Promise and SI non-RAID controllers because I refuse to install a floppy drive on my computer. By making a slipstream Windows XP CD I like not being bothered by having to press F6 and having the SATA drivers on hand on a floppy disk. I downloaded some JMicron drivers off from the Abit website for this motherboard which has a folder named "floppy32" and contains some Windows XP drivers for the onboard controller. They show up as the following:
JMicron JMB 360 AHCI Controller (Windows 2K/XP/2003)
JMicron JMB 361 AHCI Controller (Windows 2K/XP/2003)
JMicron JMB 361 RAID Controller (Windows 2K/XP/2003)
JMicron JMB 362 AHCI Controller (Windows 2K/XP/2003)
JMicron JMB 362 RAID Controller (Windows 2K/XP/2003)
JMicron JMB 363 AHCI Controller (Windows 2K/XP/2003)
JMicron JMB 363 RAID Controller (Windows 2K/XP/2003)
JMicron JMB 366 AHCI Controller (Windows 2K/XP/2003)
JMicron JMB 366 RAID Controller (Windows 2K/XP/2003)
I'm assuming I would use one of the AHCI controller drivers so the installation can see my drives, but which one? I'm assuming this is all I will need. I'm wondering if I'd just use the first driver, will that work so I could at least install the operating system and update those drivers with Windows choosing the best match after I'm at the desktop? I downloaded the motherboard manual off from their site and have never heard of AHCI mode before seeing it as an option on the BIOS pages. What is the difference between IDE and AHCI mode, and are all SATA drives capable of AHCI mode?

Thanks.

 

[chaoscentral]

Actually, if your Windows XP CD is Service Pack 2, you do not need to slipstream drivers at all, you will however need to load drivers if you are using IDE, by default, the motherboard runs each SATA as a sort of IDE, and should not require any drivers. The Intel raid drivers are the ones for the sata ports, the JMicron ones are for IDE. The Abit IP35 Pro is an awesome motherboard, I've had mine since August.

 

[disastinator]

You don't need to slipstream the JMicron drivers to be able to install XP.
The 6 black SATA ports up front are all delivered by the ICH9R.
The JMicron JMB363 chip supports the two eSATA ports at the back as well as the PATA port.

 

[gba]

I have just ordered an IP35 after long consideration and comparisons.. I am starting to get pretty psyched...

 

[Brutus04]

IP35 is a great board.