Does ACHI inprove performance?

I recently purchased a Mtron SSD and was surprised when I benchmarked it that
it didn't perform as advertised. (they claim 80mb/sec I got 72mb/sec).
Someone who saw my benchmark said that if I switch the bios to ACHI it would
boost it by about 20gb/sec. I tried and kept getting an error screen (Blue
screen). Is this true about the improved performance and if so how do I
enable the ACHI?
--
Asus P5W DH , Q6600 Quad core 2.4ghz @3.12, thermalake V1 heatsink, 4gb
Crucial ballistix 800mhz , 16gb Mtron 6000 SSD, 150gb Raptor X, Nvidia
8800gt , 700 watt OCZ GameXStream power s , XP Pro X64

Tony
Tue Mar 25 17:57:13 PDT 2008

Can't say if this applies, but here's a short review that mentions sort of a
bottleneck in Intel Chipsets that affects HD-Tach and HD-Tune, but with
little real life impact - if I got it right?

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3167


Tony. . .


"Power Obsessed" <screenedemail@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:2868787B-DFE1-4BA8-B807-3B7646F49164@microsoft.com...
> I recently purchased a Mtron SSD and was surprised when I benchmarked it
that
> it didn't perform as advertised. (they claim 80mb/sec I got 72mb/sec).
> Someone who saw my benchmark said that if I switch the bios to ACHI it
would
> boost it by about 20gb/sec. I tried and kept getting an error screen (Blue
> screen). Is this true about the improved performance and if so how do I
> enable the ACHI?
> --
> Asus P5W DH , Q6600 Quad core 2.4ghz @3.12, thermalake V1 heatsink, 4gb
> Crucial ballistix 800mhz , 16gb Mtron 6000 SSD, 150gb Raptor X, Nvidia
> 8800gt , 700 watt OCZ GameXStream power s , XP Pro X64

John
Tue Mar 25 18:06:12 PDT 2008

You probably can't just enable AHCI after Windows is already installed.

You may have to do a repair install (don't know for sure on this), or a
complete reinstall to get it to work.

I'm using AHCI on my system, but I set it up before I installed Windows.

- John

"Power Obsessed" <screenedemail@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:2868787B-DFE1-4BA8-B807-3B7646F49164@microsoft.com...
> I recently purchased a Mtron SSD and was surprised when I benchmarked it
> that
> it didn't perform as advertised. (they claim 80mb/sec I got 72mb/sec).
> Someone who saw my benchmark said that if I switch the bios to ACHI it
> would
> boost it by about 20gb/sec. I tried and kept getting an error screen (Blue
> screen). Is this true about the improved performance and if so how do I
> enable the ACHI?
> --
> Asus P5W DH , Q6600 Quad core 2.4ghz @3.12, thermalake V1 heatsink, 4gb
> Crucial ballistix 800mhz , 16gb Mtron 6000 SSD, 150gb Raptor X, Nvidia
> 8800gt , 700 watt OCZ GameXStream power s , XP Pro X64

Carlos
Tue Mar 25 18:23:05 PDT 2008

John,
I actually did it that way (after Windows was installed) in my notebook.
I "updated" the driver with the AHCI one via Device Manager and the "Have
Disk..." thing, and disregarding Windows complaints.
I then rebooted, went to BIOS setup, activated the AHCI feature, saved
changes, and let Vista "see" the new hardware and install the proper driver.
Carlos

"John Adams" wrote:

> You probably can't just enable AHCI after Windows is already installed.
>
> You may have to do a repair install (don't know for sure on this), or a
> complete reinstall to get it to work.
>
> I'm using AHCI on my system, but I set it up before I installed Windows.
>
> - John
>
> "Power Obsessed" <screenedemail@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:2868787B-DFE1-4BA8-B807-3B7646F49164@microsoft.com...
> > I recently purchased a Mtron SSD and was surprised when I benchmarked it
> > that
> > it didn't perform as advertised. (they claim 80mb/sec I got 72mb/sec).
> > Someone who saw my benchmark said that if I switch the bios to ACHI it
> > would
> > boost it by about 20gb/sec. I tried and kept getting an error screen (Blue
> > screen). Is this true about the improved performance and if so how do I
> > enable the ACHI?
> > --
> > Asus P5W DH , Q6600 Quad core 2.4ghz @3.12, thermalake V1 heatsink, 4gb
> > Crucial ballistix 800mhz , 16gb Mtron 6000 SSD, 150gb Raptor X, Nvidia
> > 8800gt , 700 watt OCZ GameXStream power s , XP Pro X64
>

screenedemail
Tue Mar 25 18:35:04 PDT 2008

Well at least there is good news (that the benchmark software is at fault0.
thanks for your reply
--
Asus P5W DH , Q6600 Quad core 2.4ghz @3.12, thermalake V1 heatsink, 4gb
Crucial ballistix 800mhz , 16gb Mtron 6000 SSD, 150gb Raptor X, Nvidia
8800gt , 700 watt OCZ GameXStream power s , XP Pro X64


"Tony Sperling" wrote:

> Can't say if this applies, but here's a short review that mentions sort of a
> bottleneck in Intel Chipsets that affects HD-Tach and HD-Tune, but with
> little real life impact - if I got it right?
>
> http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3167
>
>
> Tony. . .
>
>
> "Power Obsessed" <screenedemail@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:2868787B-DFE1-4BA8-B807-3B7646F49164@microsoft.com...
> > I recently purchased a Mtron SSD and was surprised when I benchmarked it
> that
> > it didn't perform as advertised. (they claim 80mb/sec I got 72mb/sec).
> > Someone who saw my benchmark said that if I switch the bios to ACHI it
> would
> > boost it by about 20gb/sec. I tried and kept getting an error screen (Blue
> > screen). Is this true about the improved performance and if so how do I
> > enable the ACHI?
> > --
> > Asus P5W DH , Q6600 Quad core 2.4ghz @3.12, thermalake V1 heatsink, 4gb
> > Crucial ballistix 800mhz , 16gb Mtron 6000 SSD, 150gb Raptor X, Nvidia
> > 8800gt , 700 watt OCZ GameXStream power s , XP Pro X64
>
>
>

screenedemail
Tue Mar 25 18:38:01 PDT 2008

I am prepared to do that, I heard of different ways of doing it without but,
the one way I tried didn't work. It makes things more difficult that I am
running X64. the solution was for XP pro, I tried it anyway. Needless to say
it didn't work. thanks for your input.
--
Asus P5W DH , Q6600 Quad core 2.4ghz @3.12, thermalake V1 heatsink, 4gb
Crucial ballistix 800mhz , 16gb Mtron 6000 SSD, 150gb Raptor X, Nvidia
8800gt , 700 watt OCZ GameXStream power s , XP Pro X64


"John Adams" wrote:

> You probably can't just enable AHCI after Windows is already installed.
>
> You may have to do a repair install (don't know for sure on this), or a
> complete reinstall to get it to work.
>
> I'm using AHCI on my system, but I set it up before I installed Windows.
>
> - John
>
> "Power Obsessed" <screenedemail@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:2868787B-DFE1-4BA8-B807-3B7646F49164@microsoft.com...
> > I recently purchased a Mtron SSD and was surprised when I benchmarked it
> > that
> > it didn't perform as advertised. (they claim 80mb/sec I got 72mb/sec).
> > Someone who saw my benchmark said that if I switch the bios to ACHI it
> > would
> > boost it by about 20gb/sec. I tried and kept getting an error screen (Blue
> > screen). Is this true about the improved performance and if so how do I
> > enable the ACHI?
> > --
> > Asus P5W DH , Q6600 Quad core 2.4ghz @3.12, thermalake V1 heatsink, 4gb
> > Crucial ballistix 800mhz , 16gb Mtron 6000 SSD, 150gb Raptor X, Nvidia
> > 8800gt , 700 watt OCZ GameXStream power s , XP Pro X64
>

screenedemail
Tue Mar 25 18:46:00 PDT 2008

How did you do that? Do you copy the file from the O.S. CD? where is it at? I
tried to do it through device manager and it said it cannot update because
the one I have is newer or better.
--
Asus P5W DH , Q6600 Quad core 2.4ghz @3.12, thermalake V1 heatsink, 4gb
Crucial ballistix 800mhz , 16gb Mtron 6000 SSD, 150gb Raptor X, Nvidia
8800gt , 700 watt OCZ GameXStream power s , XP Pro X64


"Carlos" wrote:

> John,
> I actually did it that way (after Windows was installed) in my notebook.
> I "updated" the driver with the AHCI one via Device Manager and the "Have
> Disk..." thing, and disregarding Windows complaints.
> I then rebooted, went to BIOS setup, activated the AHCI feature, saved
> changes, and let Vista "see" the new hardware and install the proper driver.
> Carlos
>
> "John Adams" wrote:
>
> > You probably can't just enable AHCI after Windows is already installed.
> >
> > You may have to do a repair install (don't know for sure on this), or a
> > complete reinstall to get it to work.
> >
> > I'm using AHCI on my system, but I set it up before I installed Windows.
> >
> > - John
> >
> > "Power Obsessed" <screenedemail@comcast.net> wrote in message
> > news:2868787B-DFE1-4BA8-B807-3B7646F49164@microsoft.com...
> > > I recently purchased a Mtron SSD and was surprised when I benchmarked it
> > > that
> > > it didn't perform as advertised. (they claim 80mb/sec I got 72mb/sec).
> > > Someone who saw my benchmark said that if I switch the bios to ACHI it
> > > would
> > > boost it by about 20gb/sec. I tried and kept getting an error screen (Blue
> > > screen). Is this true about the improved performance and if so how do I
> > > enable the ACHI?
> > > --
> > > Asus P5W DH , Q6600 Quad core 2.4ghz @3.12, thermalake V1 heatsink, 4gb
> > > Crucial ballistix 800mhz , 16gb Mtron 6000 SSD, 150gb Raptor X, Nvidia
> > > 8800gt , 700 watt OCZ GameXStream power s , XP Pro X64
> >

Tony
Tue Mar 25 19:28:15 PDT 2008

Here's what the Wiki has to say - this should be usefull:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Host_Controller_Interface


Tony. . .


"Power Obsessed" <screenedemail@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:05CB3A65-BE1D-49C8-A9BE-831E2E332FDB@microsoft.com...
> I am prepared to do that, I heard of different ways of doing it without
but,
> the one way I tried didn't work. It makes things more difficult that I am
> running X64. the solution was for XP pro, I tried it anyway. Needless to
say
> it didn't work. thanks for your input.
> --
> Asus P5W DH , Q6600 Quad core 2.4ghz @3.12, thermalake V1 heatsink, 4gb
> Crucial ballistix 800mhz , 16gb Mtron 6000 SSD, 150gb Raptor X, Nvidia
> 8800gt , 700 watt OCZ GameXStream power s , XP Pro X64
>
>
> "John Adams" wrote:
>
> > You probably can't just enable AHCI after Windows is already installed.
> >
> > You may have to do a repair install (don't know for sure on this), or a
> > complete reinstall to get it to work.
> >
> > I'm using AHCI on my system, but I set it up before I installed Windows.
> >
> > - John
> >
> > "Power Obsessed" <screenedemail@comcast.net> wrote in message
> > news:2868787B-DFE1-4BA8-B807-3B7646F49164@microsoft.com...
> > > I recently purchased a Mtron SSD and was surprised when I benchmarked
it
> > > that
> > > it didn't perform as advertised. (they claim 80mb/sec I got 72mb/sec).
> > > Someone who saw my benchmark said that if I switch the bios to ACHI it
> > > would
> > > boost it by about 20gb/sec. I tried and kept getting an error screen
(Blue
> > > screen). Is this true about the improved performance and if so how do
I
> > > enable the ACHI?
> > > --
> > > Asus P5W DH , Q6600 Quad core 2.4ghz @3.12, thermalake V1 heatsink,
4gb
> > > Crucial ballistix 800mhz , 16gb Mtron 6000 SSD, 150gb Raptor X,
Nvidia
> > > 8800gt , 700 watt OCZ GameXStream power s , XP Pro X64
> >

screenedemail
Tue Mar 25 20:17:00 PDT 2008

I saw that somewhere else, looked in my registry it doesn't have the last
part---HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci---(from
the knowledge base article). I see that is for vista and more importantly it
probably is the 32bit version. Thanks,
Jim P.S. maybe I should check out the server knowledge
based articles XP X64 is based on that O.S.
--
Asus P5W DH , Q6600 Quad core 2.4ghz @3.12, thermalake V1 heatsink, 4gb
Crucial ballistix 800mhz , 16gb Mtron 6000 SSD, 150gb Raptor X, Nvidia
8800gt , 700 watt OCZ GameXStream power s , XP Pro X64


"Tony Sperling" wrote:

> Here's what the Wiki has to say - this should be usefull:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Host_Controller_Interface
>
>
> Tony. . .
>
>
> "Power Obsessed" <screenedemail@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:05CB3A65-BE1D-49C8-A9BE-831E2E332FDB@microsoft.com...
> > I am prepared to do that, I heard of different ways of doing it without
> but,
> > the one way I tried didn't work. It makes things more difficult that I am
> > running X64. the solution was for XP pro, I tried it anyway. Needless to
> say
> > it didn't work. thanks for your input.
> > --
> > Asus P5W DH , Q6600 Quad core 2.4ghz @3.12, thermalake V1 heatsink, 4gb
> > Crucial ballistix 800mhz , 16gb Mtron 6000 SSD, 150gb Raptor X, Nvidia
> > 8800gt , 700 watt OCZ GameXStream power s , XP Pro X64
> >
> >
> > "John Adams" wrote:
> >
> > > You probably can't just enable AHCI after Windows is already installed.
> > >
> > > You may have to do a repair install (don't know for sure on this), or a
> > > complete reinstall to get it to work.
> > >
> > > I'm using AHCI on my system, but I set it up before I installed Windows.
> > >
> > > - John
> > >
> > > "Power Obsessed" <screenedemail@comcast.net> wrote in message
> > > news:2868787B-DFE1-4BA8-B807-3B7646F49164@microsoft.com...
> > > > I recently purchased a Mtron SSD and was surprised when I benchmarked
> it
> > > > that
> > > > it didn't perform as advertised. (they claim 80mb/sec I got 72mb/sec).
> > > > Someone who saw my benchmark said that if I switch the bios to ACHI it
> > > > would
> > > > boost it by about 20gb/sec. I tried and kept getting an error screen
> (Blue
> > > > screen). Is this true about the improved performance and if so how do
> I
> > > > enable the ACHI?
> > > > --
> > > > Asus P5W DH , Q6600 Quad core 2.4ghz @3.12, thermalake V1 heatsink,
> 4gb
> > > > Crucial ballistix 800mhz , 16gb Mtron 6000 SSD, 150gb Raptor X,
> Nvidia
> > > > 8800gt , 700 watt OCZ GameXStream power s , XP Pro X64
> > >
>
>
>

Carlos
Wed Mar 26 03:25:00 PDT 2008

I used intel AHCI driver for my laptop motherboard chipset.
After clicking on "Have disk" I pointed to the *.inf file and forced the
install in spite of what Vista was telling me.
Carlos

"Power Obsessed" wrote:

> How did you do that? Do you copy the file from the O.S. CD? where is it at? I
> tried to do it through device manager and it said it cannot update because
> the one I have is newer or better.
> --
> Asus P5W DH , Q6600 Quad core 2.4ghz @3.12, thermalake V1 heatsink, 4gb
> Crucial ballistix 800mhz , 16gb Mtron 6000 SSD, 150gb Raptor X, Nvidia
> 8800gt , 700 watt OCZ GameXStream power s , XP Pro X64
>
>
> "Carlos" wrote:
>
> > John,
> > I actually did it that way (after Windows was installed) in my notebook.
> > I "updated" the driver with the AHCI one via Device Manager and the "Have
> > Disk..." thing, and disregarding Windows complaints.
> > I then rebooted, went to BIOS setup, activated the AHCI feature, saved
> > changes, and let Vista "see" the new hardware and install the proper driver.
> > Carlos
> >
> > "John Adams" wrote:
> >
> > > You probably can't just enable AHCI after Windows is already installed.
> > >
> > > You may have to do a repair install (don't know for sure on this), or a
> > > complete reinstall to get it to work.
> > >
> > > I'm using AHCI on my system, but I set it up before I installed Windows.
> > >
> > > - John
> > >
> > > "Power Obsessed" <screenedemail@comcast.net> wrote in message
> > > news:2868787B-DFE1-4BA8-B807-3B7646F49164@microsoft.com...
> > > > I recently purchased a Mtron SSD and was surprised when I benchmarked it
> > > > that
> > > > it didn't perform as advertised. (they claim 80mb/sec I got 72mb/sec).
> > > > Someone who saw my benchmark said that if I switch the bios to ACHI it
> > > > would
> > > > boost it by about 20gb/sec. I tried and kept getting an error screen (Blue
> > > > screen). Is this true about the improved performance and if so how do I
> > > > enable the ACHI?
> > > > --
> > > > Asus P5W DH , Q6600 Quad core 2.4ghz @3.12, thermalake V1 heatsink, 4gb
> > > > Crucial ballistix 800mhz , 16gb Mtron 6000 SSD, 150gb Raptor X, Nvidia
> > > > 8800gt , 700 watt OCZ GameXStream power s , XP Pro X64
> > >

John
Wed Mar 26 08:20:36 PDT 2008

"Power Obsessed" <screenedemail@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:2868787B-DFE1-4BA8-B807-3B7646F49164@microsoft.com...
>I recently purchased a Mtron SSD and was surprised when I benchmarked it
>that
> it didn't perform as advertised. (they claim 80mb/sec I got 72mb/sec).
> Someone who saw my benchmark said that if I switch the bios to ACHI it
> would
> boost it by about 20gb/sec. I tried and kept getting an error screen (Blue
> screen). Is this true about the improved performance and if so how do I
> enable the ACHI?
> --

I'm addressing your subject line, and not the issue of how to get it to
work - where I see you have already had several responses.

I have set up my Asus (Maximus Formula) motherboard to use either AHCI
(using Intel matrix drivers) or Sata configured as IDE. I have found that
Sata configured as IDE works a lot faster - mainly because neither my
Samsung Spinpoint SATA II drive nor my older Seagate Barracuda drive will
support 'enhanced support' within the windows driver policy window. i.e.
they are not cached by windows. Benchmarking shows significantly faster disk
operations: sequential read; sequential write AND random read/write access
using Sata configured as IDE. This is even more true of Vista SP1.

It is true that AHCI supports NCQ and hot-swapping, but what I want from my
hard drives is performance, and I get better performance from Sata
configured as IDE than I do from Sata configured as AHCI.

John

screenedemail
Wed Mar 26 10:03:18 PDT 2008

Thank for filling me in because I have been going through all kinds of
problems trying to get this thing to even recognize the primary drive when I
change the bios to AHCI. Of course I am ALL about performance so I will just
leave it as is. Thanks again,
Jim
--
Asus P5W DH , Q6600 Quad core 2.4ghz @3.12, thermalake V1 heatsink, 4gb
Crucial ballistix 800mhz , 16gb Mtron 6000 SSD, 150gb Raptor X, Nvidia
8800gt , 700 watt OCZ GameXStream power s , XP Pro X64


"John E" wrote:

> "Power Obsessed" <screenedemail@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:2868787B-DFE1-4BA8-B807-3B7646F49164@microsoft.com...
> >I recently purchased a Mtron SSD and was surprised when I benchmarked it
> >that
> > it didn't perform as advertised. (they claim 80mb/sec I got 72mb/sec).
> > Someone who saw my benchmark said that if I switch the bios to ACHI it
> > would
> > boost it by about 20gb/sec. I tried and kept getting an error screen (Blue
> > screen). Is this true about the improved performance and if so how do I
> > enable the ACHI?
> > --
>
> I'm addressing your subject line, and not the issue of how to get it to
> work - where I see you have already had several responses.
>
> I have set up my Asus (Maximus Formula) motherboard to use either AHCI
> (using Intel matrix drivers) or Sata configured as IDE. I have found that
> Sata configured as IDE works a lot faster - mainly because neither my
> Samsung Spinpoint SATA II drive nor my older Seagate Barracuda drive will
> support 'enhanced support' within the windows driver policy window. i.e.
> they are not cached by windows. Benchmarking shows significantly faster disk
> operations: sequential read; sequential write AND random read/write access
> using Sata configured as IDE. This is even more true of Vista SP1.
>
> It is true that AHCI supports NCQ and hot-swapping, but what I want from my
> hard drives is performance, and I get better performance from Sata
> configured as IDE than I do from Sata configured as AHCI.
>
> John
>
>

Greg
Wed Mar 26 10:48:15 PDT 2008

Vista should have already had the drives to support AHCI natively. The OP
has Windows XP Pro 64 listed in his sig so I think that is the OS he is
trying to get it to work in. On my Windows XP computers that support AHCI
I've installed the driver after OS installation using the same method Carlos
listed for you.


"Carlos" <Carlos@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F3AD83AF-D7D0-4EAF-84AD-C79F362809D4@microsoft.com...
> John,
> I actually did it that way (after Windows was installed) in my notebook.
> I "updated" the driver with the AHCI one via Device Manager and the "Have
> Disk..." thing, and disregarding Windows complaints.
> I then rebooted, went to BIOS setup, activated the AHCI feature, saved
> changes, and let Vista "see" the new hardware and install the proper
> driver.
> Carlos
>
> "John Adams" wrote:
>
>> You probably can't just enable AHCI after Windows is already installed.
>>
>> You may have to do a repair install (don't know for sure on this), or a
>> complete reinstall to get it to work.
>>
>> I'm using AHCI on my system, but I set it up before I installed Windows.
>>
>> - John
>>
>> "Power Obsessed" <screenedemail@comcast.net> wrote in message
>> news:2868787B-DFE1-4BA8-B807-3B7646F49164@microsoft.com...
>> > I recently purchased a Mtron SSD and was surprised when I benchmarked
>> > it
>> > that
>> > it didn't perform as advertised. (they claim 80mb/sec I got 72mb/sec).
>> > Someone who saw my benchmark said that if I switch the bios to ACHI it
>> > would
>> > boost it by about 20gb/sec. I tried and kept getting an error screen
>> > (Blue
>> > screen). Is this true about the improved performance and if so how do I
>> > enable the ACHI?
>> > --
>> > Asus P5W DH , Q6600 Quad core 2.4ghz @3.12, thermalake V1 heatsink, 4gb
>> > Crucial ballistix 800mhz , 16gb Mtron 6000 SSD, 150gb Raptor X,
>> > Nvidia
>> > 8800gt , 700 watt OCZ GameXStream power s , XP Pro X64
>>