Continuing the RAID saga ... it now confirms that either the DFI implementation of the ICH9R RAID Controller is flawed (BIOS) or has a Design limit or my particular DFI board is faulty (a high possibility) as when using the same Hard Drives and Device Drivers on the Abit IP35-Pro it is possible to have all 6 ports available for RAID configuration.

The DFI appears to have a max of 4 ports when setting the BIOS to RAID - ports 4/5 become disabled...or at least not visible when CTRL-I is selected to configure the RAID Arrays.

If this is a BIOS/Desgin issue on the DFI then it is clearly a fundamental issue which should have been tested within the Factory (RAID 101) and not out in the market by fee paying customers ... even the Sponsered field users could have caught this prior to the product going to market.

Abit IP35-Pro ICH9R Controller - complete with CrossFire in operation