Sata controller question

[Laurijan]

Hello TPU user!

I have to make a buying decision and it comes down to Sata mode.
I am wondering what the setting "SATA Configuration" in the bios of for example a ECS G33T-M2 or a P35T-A does. Possible settings are - Disabled, Compatible, Enhanced.
Is enhanced that the sata controller is in ?AHCI mode (150/300Mb/s)?, Compatible ?IDE mode (100/133Mb/s)? and Disabled ?no sata controller will be active?
And why does the more expensive P35T-A has a setting for "On Chip SATA2 Controller" which is be default on IDE Mode. Possible settings are according to the manual disabled (IDE mode?) and enabled (Sata mode?).

If both does not have AHCI mode - why is ECS covering it up by all meens - I meen the manual of the G31T-M stats I read "ICH7 (SB): Intergrated SATA 3.0 Gb/s Host controller" but the board has no AHCI mode so one buddy of mine is limited to a Sata HDD in IDE mode -I tried everything to enable it. Even wrote the tech support of ECS and was answered in unreadable english that the ICH7 is limited to IDE mode - suck kinda - manual stats "otherwise" PLOT! PLOT!

Ps. G33T-M2 manual stats: Compliant with SATA 3.0 Gb/s Host Controller and P35T-A´s: Integrated SATA 3.0 Gb/s Host Controller

Thanks for reading

[tigger]

I think it could be down to the sb,only the "R" (ich9R for example) have the full gamut of raid options.

[strick94u]

The p35 I built my borther in law is like that and would not see but 120 mb of hard drive and would not set it as c: now after the last bios upgrade he got a virus and I reinstalled and it see's all 140 mb and set it as c:.And your right the tech support was sent back to me in a non comprehensable manner. But that was gigabyte tech support.

[Laurijan]

Today i called a pc-shop and they said that sata mode for the sata controller is only required in raid solutions - ICH?R chipsets do this - because the internal read/write times of a normal sataII HDD doesnt require sata controllers to be in AHCI mode because they have internal read/write times lower than ATA 100 specification so a sata controller in ide mode is just the best solution for budged boards.

[Namslas90]

Yes only the ICHxR (ICH5R and below will not) chips will do AHCI with the Intel® Matrix Storage Technology.

http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imst/sb/CS-012304.htm

:toast: