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View Full Version : Connecting Drives to Mobo and BIOS Question



cadmonster
09-07-2011, 07:51 PM
Doing my first build and would like to get the opinion of someone with more experience. I have a Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5 mobo, a Western Digital 1.5TB Caviar SATA 6 Gb/s HD, and a HP SATA DVD Writer. I also have a Cooler Master case that has an eSATA port in the front. Currently I have the three devices just mentioned plugged into the following on the mobo.

SATA2_0 (ICH10R) = None
SATA2_1 (ICH10R) = None
SATA2_2 (ICH10R) = eSATA port in front of case
SATA2_3 (ICH10R) = None
SATA2_4 (ICH10R) = None
SATA2_5 (ICH10R) = None
GSATA3_6 (Marvell 9128) = WD Hard Drive
GSATA3_7 (Marvell 9128) = None
GSATA2_8 (Gigabyte SATA2) = DVD Drive
GSATA2_9 (Gigabyte SATA2) = None

I also have the following BIOS settings (no OS installed yet).

ICH SATA Control Mode = AHCI
SATA Port0-3 Native Mode = Enabled
eSATA Controller = Enabled
eSATA Ctrl Mode = AHCI
GSATA 6_7/IDE Controller = Enabled
GSATA 6_7/IDE Ctrl Mode = AHCI
GSATA 8_9/IDE Controller = Enabled
GSATA 8_9/IDE Ctrl Mode = IDE

I found that if I set GSATA 8_9 Ctrl Mode to AHCI, the DVD drive does not show up in the Standard CMOS Features screen. My first question is, is this a big deal? Is IDE ok? Second, does it matter which port I plug in the eSATA connection from the front of the case? And finally, I read somewhere that you are better off plugging a SATA3 HD into one of the ports controlled by ICH10R. Does anyone have an opinion on this? Appreciate any help anyone can give. Great web site!