Motherboard Question regarding IDE *noob question*

[DanK414]

Hey guys I just purchased Gigabyte P965-DS3 and with my dumbfoundness I just realized I have HD and DVD rom on IDE. Big problem is that I have only one IDE port. My question and concern is can I put my HD as master and DVD Rom as slave all in one? I am assuming no but please help on clearing naive mind in place.

 

[Aluvus]

Yes you can. Just make sure to configure the jumpers on the drives accordingly.

 

[gramboh]

I'm pretty sure you will take a big performance hit on your HD if it is on the same channel as a DVD drive. Something about a limit on the speed the HD can run (UDMA mode). I can't remember exactly how it works, but I remember there being a penalty for that type of configuration. I could be wrong, someone else will correct me hopefully.

 

[AstroDogg]

gramboh brought up the right point. This is not always an issue but happens often. This example would be better if we knew the Hard Disc Drive(hdd) DanK414 was using. Lets assume it's an ata-100 hdd the Ultra DMA mode would be 5. An optical drive(cd/dvd) has a speed of ata-33 or UDMA mode-2 or possibly Multi-Word mode-2. Putting both devices on the same ribbon can make them both run at the lower speed. You should know this within several seconds of Windows starting to load after booting. It will be slow and the drive will make more noise with longer read/writes than normal.
You can comfirm what mode the drives are running in by going to System Properties by right clicking "My Computer" in the start menu, then click the hardware tab, then click device manager, expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers by double clicking it, double click the Primary IDE Channel, Click the Advanced Settings tab. You will see the speed in the Current Tansfer Mode field of each device. "DMA if available" should be selected in both the Trasfer Mode fields.
If the fields are not correct there really isn't much you can do resolve this if you have the jumpers set correct and using the right IDE ribbon. You can switch the drive on the ribbon making the oppisite drive the slave. I have no Idea why some systems select the correct speeds and some don't. I guess it has to do with compatiblity of the componets and/or chipset.
If that doesn't improve things your option at this point is to buy a Sata to IDE adaptor/converter and use one of the Sata channels. I have three of them they work well and do improve performace no matter what someone may tell you. I can't remember in my case but there is a chance you may have to reinstall XP. I honestly can't remember.
Depending on the controller the board runs the Sata from will determine if you have to do a Repaire from the XP disc and install the third party boot device drivers. It would be wise to copy the Sata drivers to the root drive(C:\) before installing the adaptor. Someone that owns the board may know a little more about the Sata drivers. If Sata is ran from the chipset then the drivers are probley included in service pack2 of Windows XP.

 

[Aluvus]

Originally posted by: AstroDogg
Putting both devices on the same ribbon can make them both run at the lower speed.

Only if the controller is doing something very wrong. In which case, replace it with something that complies with the spec.

 

[Frintin]

New motherboards or at almost any with an ATA 100 or better IDE controller will make the old "devices run as slow as the slowest device in the chain" problems go away.

If you still want those things on separate channels then buy an add in IDE controller or a SATA hard drive I guess.

 

[AstroDogg]

I wouldn't say that I have 4 out of 7 computers with ata100 in this house that won't run the speeds independently