NCQ possible with ICH9 & Vista ?

[NoobyDoo]

I was going thru the Gigabyte P35-DS3L manual when I saw this :

BIOS->Integrated Peripherals->SATA AHCI Mode (Intel ICH9 SB)

ACHI - Configures the SATA controllers ... to enable advanced SATA features such as NCQ and hot plug


Note : Supported on Windows Vista only.

Does this mean if I'm using Vista64 & the P35-DS3L, I can use NCQ ? I always thought that to use NCQ one needed ICH9R.

Please confirm.

 

[vailr]

I'm pretty sure that there is never an AHCI bios option when the SATA ports are on the non-raid Intel chipset.
I have both type of boards: ICH9 & ICH9R.
So, I think the manual is in error.
And: if you don't have AHCI, you also don't have NCQ support.
The JMicron controller MAY support AHCI, however. If there exists SATA ports for the JMicron controller,
then there should also be AHCI & NCQ support (only on the JMicron SATA ports).

 

[Old Hippie]

Does this mean if I'm using Vista64 & the P35-DS3L, I can use NCQ ?

Here it says..........

To enable hot plug capability for the SATA connectors controlled by the ICH9 South Bridge, you must install Windows Vista (on ICH9, hot plug is supported in Windows Vista only) and configure the SATA connectors for AHCI mode. (Refer to manual Chapter 2, "BIOS Setup," "Integrated Peripherals," for details on enabling AHCI.)

Sounds like it to me.

 

[DaddyRabbit]

Originally posted by: NoobyDoo
I was going thru the Gigabyte P35-DS3L manual when I saw this :

BIOS->Integrated Peripherals->SATA AHCI Mode (Intel ICH9 SB)

ACHI - Configures the SATA controllers ... to enable advanced SATA features such as NCQ and hot plug


Note : Supported on Windows Vista only.

Does this mean if I'm using Vista64 & the P35-DS3L, I can use NCQ ? I always thought that to use NCQ one needed ICH9R.

Please confirm.

AHCI on the ICH9 should enable both hot plug and NCQ if the disk supports it. Note that you have to install Vista with the controller set to AHCI. I have successfuly updated from IDE mode to AHCI on a BX2 with an existing XP Pro SP2 install but haven't tried to do it on Vista32 or 64. NCQ (and hot plug for that matter) are not RAID specific functions they are AHCI functions.

 

[NoobyDoo]

Thanks, all.

Will try it out once I get my processor - might wait for Wolfdale.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: vailr
I'm pretty sure that there is never an AHCI bios option when the SATA ports are on the non-raid Intel chipset.

Manufacturer option. Vanilla ICH7~9 non-R supports AHCI, its just that Intel's Matrix Storage drivers won't support AHCI on the base-ICH chips. If the OS natively supports AHCI, thus not dependent on vendor drivers for it, then all that is needed is for the BIOS to [properly] enable it.

ASUS has opted not to support AHCI on motherboards using base-ICH chips. Gigabyte has opted to support it for operating systems with native AHCI support.

 

[Old Hippie]

Originally posted by: tcsenter

Originally posted by: vailr
I'm pretty sure that there is never an AHCI bios option when the SATA ports are on the non-raid Intel chipset.

Manufacturer option. Vanilla ICH7~9 non-R supports AHCI, its just that Intel's Matrix Storage drivers won't support AHCI on the base-ICH chips. If the OS natively supports AHCI, thus not dependent on vendor drivers for it, then all that is needed is for the BIOS to [properly] enable it.

ASUS has opted not to support AHCI on motherboards using base-ICH chips. Gigabyte has opted to support it for operating systems with native AHCI support.

This type of background, intelligence and comprehension, is exactly why I keep coming back here.

I'm still waiting for it to rub off on me. :laugh:

Thanks Tcsenter!

 

[XBoxLPU]

Originally posted by: tcsenter

Originally posted by: vailr
I'm pretty sure that there is never an AHCI bios option when the SATA ports are on the non-raid Intel chipset.

Manufacturer option. Vanilla ICH7~9 non-R supports AHCI, its just that Intel's Matrix Storage drivers won't support AHCI on the base-ICH chips. If the OS natively supports AHCI, thus not dependent on vendor drivers for it, then all that is needed is for the BIOS to [properly] enable it.

ASUS has opted not to support AHCI on motherboards using base-ICH chips. Gigabyte has opted to support it for operating systems with native AHCI support.

So is that why the Intel Matrix Storage driver will not install via the setup ? I was able to extract the drivers and install them manually... should I go back to the native Vista provided driver?