[cablesguy]

Hi,

This is my first post here so hello to everybody, im currently running 2 x 150gb raptors on Raid 0 via the ICH8R controller on an Asus Commando board and was wondering how i do disable NCQ, cant find it under the intel Matrix Strage Mnger and neither can i find it in device manager...anybody??
Under IMSM it says NCQ supported but thats it.

Thx in advance

[WeezleXX89]

first of all what are the specs of your PC i would assume you have sata drives correct?

[cablesguy]

yup raptors are basically sata 1.5Gb, anyway what further info/specs do you require...noob here.

[Jon]

Why do you want to disable it?

[cablesguy]

hope this is not some merry go round kinda question , anyway in answer to ur question, i would like to benchmark for myself to see whether its actually true that disabling ncq does give that little bit of edge, n hopefully squeeze whataver i can frm them as theyre not exactly cheap.

[Jon]

Originally Posted by cablesguy

hope this is not some merry go round kinda question , anyway in answer to ur question, i would like to benchmark for myself to see whether its actually true that disabling ncq does give that little bit of edge, n hopefully squeeze whataver i can frm them as theyre not exactly cheap.

To disable NCQ your drives must be in AHCI (native SATA) mode. You then need to go into your BIOS, change your SATA mode to IDE. You will then need to reinstall Windows as it will no longer be bootable.

If you are already in IDE mode, you must change to AHCI mode in the BIOS, and then reinstall Windows.

It wasn't a merry-go-round question...it's a merry-go-round process :]

Basically, AHCI mode automatically has NCQ enabled. IDE mode does not.

[cablesguy]

thx Jon, i didnt realise disabling NCQ was gonna be such a lengthy process, n does seem a little daunting, n since im setup on Raid 0's, setting up on AHCI would basically mean i wont be able to run them on Raid 0's.

[shadowdr]

This can also be done through device manager. It may be in either or both locations. Expand disk drives (If more then 1) double click on the disk, click the scsi proprties tab and you should see boxes ticked, disable tagged queuing and disable synchronos transfers.
If not there expand scsi and raid controllers, double click ---serial rad controller. the properties for different arrays are different and so are the number of ticked boxes, but it will be there.

[Category 5]

[QUOTE=Jon]To disable NCQ your drives must be in AHCI (native SATA) mode. You then need to go into your BIOS, change your SATA mode to IDE. You will then need to reinstall Windows as it will no longer be bootable.

If you are already in IDE mode, you must change to AHCI mode in the BIOS, and then reinstall Windows.
[QUOTE]


You do not need to reinstall windows if your board has another HDD controller. If you have 2 SATA controllers (like the INtel and a Silicon Image) and 2 drives do the following.

Attach your secondary drive to the SI controller, leave the boot on the Intel controller set to IDE.

Boot into windows, and when prompted install the Silicon Image SATA drivers and shut down. Now, move the boot drive to the SI controller and the second drive to the intel controller. Set the Intel controller to AHCI mode in the bios and make sure the boot order is set to boot from the boot drive which is now on the SI controller.

Boot into Windows, and install the Intel AHCI SATA drivers (you can get the on the INtel website).

Shut down, and put the boot drive on the INtel controller with the second drive, and leave it set to AHCI. It will boot and all will be happy.

You will notice a speed increase for sure.

Keep in mind that if you want to use Ghost, or access the drives from DOS you will have to switch back to IDE mode on the SATA controller. You can switch back and forth as you desire with no consequences.