I don't know anything about AHCI mode. Please explain/help?

[Sean_actually]

I have not even received my computer parts yet, they will be here Wednesday, but I am trying to do as much research as I can about the absolute fine-tuning I need to do to my PC for top notch performance. Apparently one of the many things I need to do is run my SSD in AHCI mode.

Except that I have no idea what this is or what it even does. I am a sheep, a damn sheep. I've heard that you really need to set the SSD into this mode BEFORE installing Windows 7. Confirm?

So uh.. what's everything I need to know about this particular aspect of computer building?

[obake1]

I have not even received my computer parts yet, they will be here Wednesday, but I am trying to do as much research as I can about the absolute fine-tuning I need to do to my PC for top notch performance. Apparently one of the many things I need to do is run my SSD in AHCI mode.

Except that I have no idea what this is or what it even does. I am a sheep, a damn sheep. I've heard that you really need to set the SSD into this mode BEFORE installing Windows 7. Confirm?

So uh.. what's everything I need to know about this particular aspect of computer building?

You can read about it here:

http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-St...-vs/td-p/57078

You will need to set it in the BIOS before installing the OS otherwise you will need to do some registry editing to enable it in win7.

[Biernot]

1)
Yes, you need to set your SATA controller into AHCI mode before installing windows. While there is a way, you can alter this afterwards, it doesn't work 100% of the time and it would be stupid not to do it before.

2)
The AHCI protocol provides some features, which enhance the speed and lifetime of your SSD / HDD. The two most notable things are:

a) NCQ (Native Command Queuing)
This is mainly intended for HDDs. Basically it allows your HDD to sort the incoming instructions in a way that optimizes and minimizes the path of the read/write head.

b) Trim
This is the internal "defrag" of SSDs. It enhances speed and lifetime of the SSD, by distributing writing procedures evenly among all the cells. (one cell only lasts for a limited amount of writing procedures)

Both these things only work in AHCI mode and only on Vista/7. (Not in XP!)

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Some of the Z77 motherboards come with AHCI enabled as default.

[obake1]

Some of the Z77 motherboards come with AHCI enabled as default.

Yeah, the ASUS P8Z77V-PRO I bought supposedly has AHCI on by default. Just waiting for my processor/case/psu to come in and I'll have my new build sometime next week