P5B-D and AHCI

[RAdoxx]

Helo thar.

When I've got my harddrives running in AHCI mode in BIOS everytime I restart they kinda turn themself off, just like they'd do if you turned of the computer. They start again at HDD detection in POST but it takes like 10 sec/disk and this can be quite annoying. I haven't done any overclocking and got the newest BIOS. I heard from others that they have the same problem, is there any solution?

Now I know you don't really reboot your computer that often but it can be really annoying from time to time.

[Shootist]

I have my HDD set up with AHCI and I'm not sure what you are referring to but when I do a reboot the AHCI detection routine does take a long time. If I cold boot or shut down and then restart that part of the BIOS splash screen flashes by in the wink of a eye. I'm going to change the BIOS from AHCI mode back to IDE mode and check the reboot time and do some bench on drive speed. I'll post back in a while.

[RAdoxx]

That's exactly what I was reffering to. They didn't act like this when I had them running in IDE mode though, but I guess they're faster in AHCI. But I'm not getting any hot swap support even with AHCI enabled :o

[Shootist]

That's exactly what I was reffering to. They didn't act like this when I had them running in IDE mode though, but I guess they're faster in AHCI. But I'm not getting any hot swap support even with AHCI enabled :o

Actually I did my test and set to IDE mode I get faster burst speeds and you don't have to deal with the "Detecting AHCI Device" hang on reboots. Also it seems the Windows splash screen, the one with the moving bar, goes by faster, less bars from left to right. I opened most of my programs using IDE mode and they all seem to open just as fast as they did in AHCI mode so I'm leaving it set to IDE.

This is AHCI


This is IDE

As you can see the AHCI is 247+ and IDE is 262+. Average reads are the same and so is the graph.

[RAdoxx]

Hm, guess I'll change back to IDE then.

[Truckchase!]

AHCI Enables NCQ, which isn't all that great for desktop access patterns.

[johann]

So if I am using non NCQ HDD's then it makes no difference running in IDE mode?

Mine also takes about 10 seconds per drive for the detection. Pretty annoying.

[Brahmzy]

This is very weird. These are exactly opposite of the results/experiences I've had using AHCI on my P5B-D. I enabled it on 2 WD SATA II HDDs and noticed an immediate performance increase. Everything was noticably snappier in Windows explorer and loading apps., boot, etc.

[phasechange]

AHCI Enables NCQ, which isn't all that great for desktop access patterns.

As you said NCQ benefits multiuser patterns not multitasking so it's ideal for a server but will be slower on a desktop machine. Have a look at www.storagereview.com for more information on the usage patterns if you are interested. Also when I say server, I don't mean a home media server I mean a real multiuser enterprise server with hundreds or thousands of users.

Phasechange

[sluzbenik]

That's interesting....Which port are you guys talking about? The Jmicron or INtel?

I F6 installed the Intel drivers in RAID mode because I thought, if anything, I would want to build a RAID partition someday. RAID of course includes NCQ. I don't think you can go back and forth too easily. Possibily the uninstall drivers/reboot/hope Windows finds your controller again method works...anyone changed back from AHCI to IDE on a boot drive?

[Truckchase!]

That's interesting....Which port are you guys talking about? The Jmicron or INtel?

I F6 installed the Intel drivers in RAID mode because I thought, if anything, I would want to build a RAID partition someday. RAID of course includes NCQ. I don't think you can go back and forth too easily. Possibily the uninstall drivers/reboot/hope Windows finds your controller again method works...anyone changed back from AHCI to IDE on a boot drive?

If you installed the AHCI drivers during the OS install, you can switch back and forth at will. The Microsoft drivers work fine when the system is in IDE mode.

Edit: I'm talking about Intel. I assumed the others were as well, but I could b wrong.

[Shootist]

That's interesting....Which port are you guys talking about? The Jmicron or INtel?

I F6 installed the Intel drivers in RAID mode because I thought, if anything, I would want to build a RAID partition someday. RAID of course includes NCQ. I don't think you can go back and forth too easily. Possibily the uninstall drivers/reboot/hope Windows finds your controller again method works...anyone changed back from AHCI to IDE on a boot drive?

Not sure about setting RAID at OS load but if you set it to AHCI and then install the OS you can go back and forth between AHCI and IDE modes in the BIOS without any problems. If you first set it to IDE and then load/install the OS you can not switch between the modes. You'll get a blue screen when the OS starts to load trying to use AHCI mode. With either/any setting you still need to load the Intel IAA drivers with the F6 function key when installing the OS, at least I did on my P5B Dlx using 2 Seagate 7200.10 250GB drives.
Yes I'm talking about the Intel SATA ports.
Does anyone know why Intel did NOT include a PATA interface on the P965 chipset. What does Intel do on there own boards that use the P965 chipset to get a PATA/IDE port?