SATA question, and HSF installation question...

[tomstevens26]

As I sit here and wait for my stuff to be delivered (see previous post here for details if necessary) I figured it wouldn't hurt to browse through the mobo manual. I have some questions if anyone can help...

Which connector do I use for my one drive that I'm getting? Do I plug it into GSATAII0 or the SATAII0? According to the manual, the GSATA is controlled by Gigabyte SATA2 and the SATA is controlled by Intel ICH8. Apparently they are both 3Gb/s, so the xfer speed appears to be the same.

My next concern is the XP install. Since I'm building the PC without a floppy, am I going to hit a problem during the F6 portion of the install? The mobo manual indicates a driver disk is required if installing to a drive in RAID or AHCI mode. Should I do the following:

- Connect the drive to the GSATA port
- Set it to IDE mode (default value)
- Install XP (it will not need a SATA drive disk now, correct?)

If these are the correct steps, can I change the mode to AHCI once Windows is installed? Or does it matter? Is there any performance difference between IDE and AHCI?

Regarding the HSF installation...I'm finding conflicting info on the install. The mobo manual seems to have you installing the HSF with the mobo outside of the case, as it has you flipping the mobo over to make sure the 4 pins "popped" through. The install manual and video at Intel's site clearly states to have the mobo installed in the case. Any comments on the "preferred" way to do it?

Thanks for any help!
Tom

 

[dfuze]

If you are not installing your hard drives in a RAID, you don't need to worry about the F6 at the start of the XP install.

I can't say anything about the HSF installation as I have a socket 939.

 

[tomstevens26]

Thanks for the reply. Apparently, I can set the SATA ports on this mobo to NATIVE IDE or LEGACY IDE (Default) mode. Am I correct in assuming that I would want to change the default from LEGACY to NATIVE, and if so, would I still not require the drivers during the XP install?

Tom

 

[tomstevens26]

Well, after some more Googling, it appears as though I assumed incorrectly above. What Gigabyte calls "NATIVE IDE" mode in their manual seems to really be AHCI mode, which would require a driver during the XP installation. Would I be losing much or any performance if I stuck with the legacy IDE mode? Also, since this mobo only has 1 IDE controller, will having the HD in IDE mode and the DVDRW drive as an IDE device be a problem?

Tom