IDE or AHCI

[AntiHeroUK]

Generally I never looked near what the HDD was set up as it had never crossed my mind until recently. It had been default on IDE which upon further research some users find is generally quicker than AHCI. However on the other hand there is also a number of people who claim AHCI brings speed boosts on Vista.

I decided I would try AHCI mode and let Vista install the required drivers, but I have noticed that occasionally my system will hang at post and I'm assuming it is down to this as nothing else has been changed. I think it is something to do with the AHCI bios that comes up at the start.

The difference in speeds isn't going to be night and day, however I do want to get the most out of my hard drive. I am going to install in IDE mode tonight to see if the hanging at post persists, then I can take it from there.

So basically after all that what I would like to know is what mode have you installed your hard drive under and what is the performance like?

 

[Rastalovich]

Which mobo u doing this on m8 ?

(I'm semi-thinking that the chipset AHCI drivers may be better than the Vista automagic ones IF Vista didn't already find them)

 

[AntiHeroUK]

Gigabyte X38-DQ6. Installed Vista using IDE mode and everything is running great atm, so the non posting issues were definitely down to AHCI mode. I'll stick with IDE until I do a bit more research into the topic..

Thanks for your reply

 

[Rastalovich]

I've got a vague memory in the back of my mind about changing to AHCI for changing a games harddrive (not the OS) to a raid0 setup.

There is an issue, but I can't for the life of me remember what the problem was. I know it wouldn't boot normally, had to jump in and physically change some .sys file(s) and something in the registry to get it to boot fully - then install the drivers.

Heck the thread is probably on here somewhere.

 

[tonpal]

I have heard of AMD SB600s having problems with AHCI but not heard about any problems with Intel chipsets. I am running AHCI on my rather archaic ICH6R with no problems at all.

 

[Rastalovich]

Is that an install transitioned from being in IDE mode tho ?

 

[tonpal]

Yes it was. HDDs were set up as IDE. Originally went to AHCI to add a RAID array and am currently running AHCI (no RAID). I am running XP though.

 

[mrbios]

I've just been looking into the same thing as i've been using IDE mode without realising before now

Only today switched over to AHCI mode, currently using vistas own driver and from what ive noticed in HDtune tests is that the only realy difference is the burst speed is lower, average and maximum are both pretty much identical, does burst speed count for much?

I assume the only difference is that the drive can use NCQ under AHCI mode where it can't under IDE?

EDIT: just installed the intel driver in place of the vista one, that improved the burst speed back up to its usual, doesn't appear to be any performance difference that benchmarks display now