SSD and HDD storage This section covers storage hardware like SSDs HDDs, RAID chatter and everything related
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Don Vito Corleone
Videocard: AMD | NVIDIA
Processor: Core i7 4770K
Mainboard: Z77
Memory: 8GB
Soundcard: X-Fi - GigaWorks 7.1
PSU: 1200 Watt
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GUIDE - Enabling AHCI mode AFTER Windows 7 Installation -
01-19-2010, 11:30
| posts: 21,306 | Location: Guru3D testlab
A little guide:
I am receiving a lot of emails from users who bought a SSD drive, installed Windows 7 in IDE mode and then realize they need AHCI mode for faster SSD performance. Once you enable that in the BIOS during Windows 7 boot up, the OS will crash.
The common question is, is there a solve for this ?
To answer that question (and I do this safely with all Intel ICHR9/10 chipsets) there is a way to safely enable AHCI mode. Here we go:
1. Startup "Regedit
2. Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SYSTEM / CurrentControlset / Services
3. Open msahci
4. In the right field left click on "start" and go to Modify
5. In the value Data field enter "0" and click "ok"
6. exit "Regedit"
7. Reboot Rig and enter BIOS (hold "Delete" key while Booting
In your BIOS select "Integrated Peripherals" and OnChip PATA/SATA Devices. Now change SATA Mode to AHCI from IDE.
You now boot into windows 7, the OS will recognize AHCI and install the devices. Now the system needs one more reboot and voilla .. enjoy the improved SSD performance.
We have not tested this on Vista though.
Update -- we tested and this tweak works in Vista 100% the same.
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Banned
Videocard: HD5770/BenQ G2220HD
Processor: E6300 @ 4Ghz
Mainboard: Gigabyte - GA-EP43T-UD3L
Memory: Sector Five @ 1333CAS7
Soundcard: Realtek 81xx
PSU: Silverstone 500w
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01-19-2010, 11:37
| posts: 17,954 | Location: Coldwells,UK
Ok so would there be any advantage doing this with normal HDDs?
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Ancient Guru
Videocard: ZOTAC GTX 680 @ 27" SA950
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PSU: Coolermaster something
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01-19-2010, 11:42
| posts: 18,500 | Location: Turkey
Quote:
Originally Posted by kylzer
Ok so would there be any advantage doing this with normal HDDs?
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yeah seeking for same answer..
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Ancient Guru
Videocard: EVGA 780GTX ACX
Processor: i7-2600k HT @ 4.5 +H70 PP
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PSU: Corsair 1000 watt
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01-19-2010, 12:33
| posts: 23,432 | Location: Hoek van Holland, Netherlands
Thanks for the share hilbert 
hilbert do you know if this would cause a blue screen on windows boot, when i only changed it in the bios, and not the registry ?
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Banned
Videocard: HD5770/BenQ G2220HD
Processor: E6300 @ 4Ghz
Mainboard: Gigabyte - GA-EP43T-UD3L
Memory: Sector Five @ 1333CAS7
Soundcard: Realtek 81xx
PSU: Silverstone 500w
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01-19-2010, 12:37
| posts: 17,954 | Location: Coldwells,UK
...................am gonna try this i think.
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Ancient Guru
Videocard: 6950 Unlocked 900/1250
Processor: i5 750 @ 4209Mhz on H50
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PSU: OCZ ModXStream 700W
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01-19-2010, 12:46
| posts: 5,993 | Location: Middlesbrough, England
Any chance of some before and after benches Kylzer, before you do this?
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Banned
Videocard: HD5770/BenQ G2220HD
Processor: E6300 @ 4Ghz
Mainboard: Gigabyte - GA-EP43T-UD3L
Memory: Sector Five @ 1333CAS7
Soundcard: Realtek 81xx
PSU: Silverstone 500w
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01-19-2010, 12:47
| posts: 17,954 | Location: Coldwells,UK
yeah sure..
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Don Vito Corleone
Videocard: AMD | NVIDIA
Processor: Core i7 4770K
Mainboard: Z77
Memory: 8GB
Soundcard: X-Fi - GigaWorks 7.1
PSU: 1200 Watt
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01-19-2010, 12:49
| posts: 21,306 | Location: Guru3D testlab
Quote:
Originally Posted by WhiteLightning
Thanks for the share hilbert
hilbert do you know if this would cause a blue screen on windows boot, when i only changed it in the bios, and not the registry ?
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That is correct - if you only change (enable) AHCI in BIOS while the OS was installed with regular SATA then you'll end up with a BSOD during OS bootup.
The method above describes how to divert that.
For normal HDDs do not expect any real perf difference.
AHCI (advanced Host Controller Interface) allows hot-swapping, improves performance allows functions like NCQ, TRIM and so on. It's more flexible and is definitely a notch faster with SSDs seeking high perf in terms of peak performance.
See below, image 1 has SATA install (left img) - Image 2 AHCI (right img).
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Banned
Videocard: HD5770/BenQ G2220HD
Processor: E6300 @ 4Ghz
Mainboard: Gigabyte - GA-EP43T-UD3L
Memory: Sector Five @ 1333CAS7
Soundcard: Realtek 81xx
PSU: Silverstone 500w
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01-19-2010, 13:10
| posts: 17,954 | Location: Coldwells,UK
Quote:
Originally Posted by Passion Fruit
Any chance of some before and after benches Kylzer, before you do this?
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I don't recommend on normal drivers lol
Before

After
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Ancient Guru
Videocard: Evga 780 Dual 1202/3305
Processor: I5 3570k @4.5Ghz SA SB-E
Mainboard: Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H
Memory: 30nm 2x 4GB DDR3-1600
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PSU: Cosair 850watt RM850
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01-19-2010, 13:25
| posts: 5,433 | Location: Michigan,usa
For me it was the other way around kylzer when I install win7 in achi from IDE on my 500Gb seagate barracuda. I notice the different.
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Maha Guru
Videocard: PowerColor HD7870
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PSU: Rosewill HIVE 650W
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01-19-2010, 13:51
| posts: 1,549 | Location: Oz, across from the Wizard
I've used ACHI mode with a Toshiba and some Seagates, i usually get a small boost (about 5-8 MB/s) or it stays the same. I've never had it hurt any. But i don't usually see WD drives.
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Ancient Guru
Videocard: GIGABYTE Radeon R9 280
Processor: Intel Core i5 3570K @4.5
Mainboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H
Memory: Patriot 4 x 4GB DDR3-1600
Soundcard: Auzentech X-Raider 7.1
PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W
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02-07-2010, 06:11
| posts: 19,054 | Location: Toronto, Canada
I notice a speed increase with AHCI on all my drives. On real world transfer speeds instead of benchmark tests.
Plus, having NCQ makes it even better.
deltatux
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Maha Guru
Videocard: Sapphire R9 290 Acel XIII
Processor: Intel i7 2600K @ 4.5Ghz
Mainboard: ASUS P8Z68-V Pro
Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHZ CL8
Soundcard: ASUS Xonar DX
PSU: Corsair TX 850W
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02-07-2010, 06:24
| posts: 807 | Location: South Africa
So who else tested this in regular HDDs?
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Banned
Videocard: MSi N570GTX TFIII [OC|PE]
Processor: Intel C2Q 9450 @ 3.576GHZ
Mainboard: Gigabyte GA-X48-DS5 [F8H]
Memory: Corsair D. 2x2GB @1073MHZ
Soundcard: XFi Fatality Pro [SB046A]
PSU: Tagan Piperock 600W [48A]
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02-07-2010, 10:53
| posts: 13,425 | Location: √╥²
i tried it once, but i keep seeing this AHCI installing driver in dos every time i restarted pc, i had to wait extra 20sec longer..
can i use it if i have dual boot? I have win xp and win7, dont want to mess up WinXP..
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Ancient Guru
Videocard: GIGABYTE Radeon R9 280
Processor: Intel Core i5 3570K @4.5
Mainboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H
Memory: Patriot 4 x 4GB DDR3-1600
Soundcard: Auzentech X-Raider 7.1
PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W
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02-07-2010, 18:40
| posts: 19,054 | Location: Toronto, Canada
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheHunter
i tried it once, but i keep seeing this AHCI installing driver in dos every time i restarted pc, i had to wait extra 20sec longer..
can i use it if i have dual boot? I have win xp and win7, dont want to mess up WinXP..
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It's not actually DOS, it's part of your BIOS. I guess GIGABYTE's BIOS doesn't include a native implementation of AHCI so it loads either AMD, Intel or NVIDIA's implementation of AHCI during bootup. It actually allows a bit more functionality if you play with it. It's not DOS and you can use it to install any OS like you do normally.
I know ASUS doesn't have this issue as I have both ASUS and GIGABYTE boards in my house.
deltatux
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Maha Guru
Videocard: Sapphire 7970
Processor: Core i7 2600K @ 4.4GHz
Mainboard: ASUS Sabertooth Z77
Memory: 16GB Corsair Vengeance
Soundcard: ASUS Xonar DX
PSU: Corsair 750
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02-07-2010, 22:43
| posts: 2,665 | Location: Ohio
Performance depends on your drive controller and drives. In my case enabling AHCI introduces awful stuttering with all of my drives and essentially makes the machine unusable. Disabling it ends the stuttering and gives me higher read/write rates and lower access times.
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Newbie
Videocard: PowerColor ATI
Processor: AMD
Mainboard:
Memory:
Soundcard:
PSU: 650w
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02-20-2010, 00:39
| posts: 28
Is there any way to do this for XP ?
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Master Guru
Videocard: Sli 480
Processor: i7 2600k
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Memory: G.Skill 1600 CL9 Ripjaws
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PSU: Corsair HX850
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03-04-2010, 04:05
| posts: 288 | Location: Finland
Thank you Hilbert, a ton.
My AS SSD bench score went from 204 up to 303 ^^
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Ancient Guru
Videocard: EVGA GTX 690
Processor: Intel® i7 2600
Mainboard: Asus P67 Evo
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PSU: Enermax Galaxy 850W
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03-12-2010, 11:05
| posts: 11,696 | Location: ♫
i've always ran my drives in IDE Mode
tried the AHCI trick, it worked but i'm not seeing any performance increase, i do not raid so i don't need it.
good trick nonetheless that might come in handy someday, worked fine in W7.
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Master Guru
Videocard: Sapphire 7870 ghz edition
Processor: AMD fx 8320
Mainboard: ASUS
Memory: 4gb DDR3 1600 Corsair
Soundcard: Asus Xonar DS
PSU: Corsair 650w
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New to SSD's -
03-23-2010, 00:05
| posts: 694 | Location: Tn.
So I read this post and became more confused than I already was. I am adding an SSD to my computer. Fresh install of Win 7.
Do I somehow set my motherboard to AHCI mode, then Windows 7 will automatically install in this mode?
Where do I find the AHCI mode in my bios? Foxconn A79A-S
Any help would be much appreciated.
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Master Guru
Videocard: SLI XFX GTX285 Black Ed.
Processor: Q9650 3.6 + Freezer 7 Pro
Mainboard: RampageFormula + Acer24"
Memory: 4GB OCZ2N1066SR2GK + OCZ
Soundcard: Sennheiser PC-150
PSU: BeQuiet DarkPower PRO 850
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03-23-2010, 00:26
| posts: 598 | Location: Zurich
I'm skeptical about NCQ, I like to have it disabled and what I've seen (Please DO correct me if I'm being a total noob) is that with AHCI mode there is no way to disable NCQ.
My setup is as follow :
2x separate Hitachi HDT725032VLA360 320GB SATA : One is C: with Win 7, the other D: with paging file and some temporary download.
1x Corsair CMFSSD-128GBG2D : I gave it the letter S:, it has games installed.
1x Samsung HD103UJ 1TB : This is F: for backup/storage and various file purposes.
Now the controller is in IDE mode (via BIOS of my Asus Rampage Formula) and with HD Tach (Quick bench) I get a Burst Speed result of :
on the 2x Hitachi around 210 MB/s
on the Samsung around 235 MB/s
on the SSD around 247 MB/s
I remember seeing in Win XP and the 780i (yeah I know, different OS different controller) a far better speed with the NCQ disabled, therefore my settings for all HDD in Win 7 are :

And I get a better performance as with the write-cache buffer flushing enabled.
Now, everyone says that SSD should go together with AHCI mode, but still I hate to see performance taken away by NCQ, in my case useless and counterproductive.
Any take on this one ?
(damn i wrote too much..)
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Master Guru
Videocard: Sapphire 7870 ghz edition
Processor: AMD fx 8320
Mainboard: ASUS
Memory: 4gb DDR3 1600 Corsair
Soundcard: Asus Xonar DS
PSU: Corsair 650w
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Question -
03-23-2010, 00:29
| posts: 694 | Location: Tn.
What is NCQ ?
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Master Guru
Videocard: SLI XFX GTX285 Black Ed.
Processor: Q9650 3.6 + Freezer 7 Pro
Mainboard: RampageFormula + Acer24"
Memory: 4GB OCZ2N1066SR2GK + OCZ
Soundcard: Sennheiser PC-150
PSU: BeQuiet DarkPower PRO 850
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03-23-2010, 00:32
| posts: 598 | Location: Zurich
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Master Guru
Videocard: Sapphire 7870 ghz edition
Processor: AMD fx 8320
Mainboard: ASUS
Memory: 4gb DDR3 1600 Corsair
Soundcard: Asus Xonar DS
PSU: Corsair 650w
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Ah -
03-23-2010, 00:36
| posts: 694 | Location: Tn.
Seems it's most effective when traditional drives or very high end SSD's with the feature implemented. Not sure mine supportst his. It's the X25-M.
I believe teh X25-E does however.
Wouldn't this only come in handy if the CPU reaches full load and is unable to send commands to the SDD?
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