Intel 925XCV board--> 2 IDE channels?

[Evenkeel]

I built my system w/this mobo in Jan. In Win XP Device manager, under "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers", this is what I see:

Intel 82801FB/FBM Ultra ATA Storage Controllers-266F
Primary IDE Channel
Secondary IDE Channel

I have two DVD burners hooked up to the Primary IDE Channel, and clicking on "Advanced Properties" indeed tells me that there are two devices on that channel. Properties for the Secondary IDE Channel show the two slots as available and unused.

My question: I know I'm not a complete idiot, but I swear I cannot see a second IDE port on the mobo! 😱 I found the primary okay, and it's right next to the floppy port. I also found the SATA ports just fine, which is good because I have three SATA hard drives hooked up to them.

So is there actually a secondary IDE port somewhere on this mobo? If so, where is it? I'd like to add at least one more DVD burner to my system, and want to save the last SATA port for the inevitable hard drive expansion. Thanks for your help.

 

[MDE]

There's only one channel on the 9xx series chipsets.

 

[Evenkeel]

Originally posted by: MDE
There's only one channel on the 9xx series chipsets.

Okay, thanks for letting me know I'm not insane. (At least, not about this.)

So why on earth does Device Manager show two IDE channels? It must be getting the info from somewhere.

 

[AristoV300]

Yeah the newer boards are almost exclusive SATA now, since you can get both opticals and HDD in that flavor now.

 

[Evenkeel]

Originally posted by: AristoV300
Yeah the newer boards are almost exclusive SATA now, since you can get both opticals and HDD in that flavor now.

Unfortunately, there are only 4 SATA ports on this board, and only 2 IDE ports. How on earth am I supposed to get along w/only 6 drives???😀