Intel vs AMD 64 Support for SATA/AHCI

Acer Extensa notebooks usually come with SATA drives. However, my impression is that models with Intel Core 2 Duo CPU's have built-in SATA/AHCI support in Vista, while AMD Athlon 64 X2 models do not:

- Device Manager shows the drive and controller as IDE/ATA, not SATA, even when the drive is SATA;

- there is no option in BIOS (even latest version) for switching from ATA compatibility to SATA/AHCI

It looks like AMD does not support SATA/AHCI, while AMD does not.
I researched this issue, including Acer tech support, but have not been able to confirm one way or the other.

Does anybody know for sure?

Thanks.

 

I am not sure if AMD supports SATA or not, but I think it does, and the drivers are visible in the device manager (but I don't know where).

Acer changed the default drive mode to IDE in most of their notebook's BIOSs. It has something to do with crashes and compatibility. Almost every Sata Acer notebook has the default drive mode of IDE in the BIOS with the AHCI toggle and the Advanced Menu hidden.
What is your notebook's model no. ??

And checkout this post.

 

That's what I thought too, but i have not been able to find ANY info on this either on the net or from acer.

What does it mean hidden? That once I install the SATA drivers, the BIOS will switch to AHCI? And where is the AMD AHCI driver? I've seen versions of the ATI catalyst that have SMB drivers which include AHCI drivers, but I don't want to install the catalyst, only the ATI driver. It's not clear how I can do that. And there is no info from AMD/ATI on this.

I had a 4420-6193 (I think) with Vista. As far as I could tell the drive showed as IDE/ATAPI in Device Manager. But Vista has built-in support so it should have shown it as SATA. I returned the laptop, but now I want to clarify this before I get another one.

And checkout this post.[/QUOTE]

Hhhhmmm, that would be weird. As far as I know the Intel Acers show at IDE not SCSI. Perhaps an AMD owner can check and let us know?

 

The EX4420 BIOS 1.17 gives the history of all the earlier BIOS updates, and found this ^, which may have disabled SATA and caused the HDD to go into IDE mode/legacy mode. It does not cause any problems, but the HDD functions a bit slower (by about 5-10%), and you don't need SATA drivers to install XP .

Some of the BIOSs have their advanced menu hidden, which deprives the user of toggling the AHCI.

This has been the case with almost all the Acer notebook's BIOSs (mine too), except some have their advanced menu or AHCI toggling feature still working or unhidden (one I know is the Acer Aspire 5315).

If you are some other problems, it might be OS-related....

 

so in other words, most acers don't have support for SATA? not even in Vista which supposedly have built-in support for it?

since most of the cases of unhidden BIOS switch and controllers/drives showing up as SATA in device manager are Intel, not AMD, my sense that Intel does support and AMD not may be correct.

 

Both AMD and Intel support SATA. It depends upon the manufacturer if it is enabled in the BIOS or not.

Acer have set the default HDD mode to IDE, and then hidden the option in the BIOS. So, if it is set to IDE in the BIOS, neither Vista nor XP, can do anything about it. Vista and XP - then see it as a SATA HDD in Legacy Mode (and not in Native/AHCI Mode).

^ It is the same case with both AMD and Intel.

Do you have an Intel notebook now..?? What do you see in Device Manager, IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers..??

To be sure about it download PC Wizard 2008. Click on Drives, and on the Left Hand side page, click on Number of Disk Controller. Then see in the Bottom Left Page, what is displayed about the HDD.

 

I understand.

But if Acer decided to not support AHCI in BIOS for AMD because of stability reasons, but support it for Intel, then for all practical reasons it's AMD and Intel that make the difference. And my impression is that it's only the AMD models that have the BIOS hidden.

Somebody just showed me a 4605 where it's not hidden and it's an Intel. And while I noticed Intel owners who installed AHCI support in XP, I have not heard from any AMD owner who did it--they keep saying they don't have the BIOS switch.

 

As for the Hidden Intel stuff, the Acer Aspire 3680, 5570, 5580, and the Travelmate 2480, do not show the AHCI toggle. As well as the Extensa 5620, TM 5720, and many more. It is not AMD or Intel specific. You can write to Acer and ask them the reason behind hiding the AHCI toggle but they would just say, even if you do enable it - what will be the benefit..??
(There were some S3 hangups and stuff like that, due to which they disabled SATA on most notebook models, and also they installed XP on most models, and they could not modify the OEM XP discs, as it was against the MS EULA to do so, so they changed the BIOS settings, hence an XP install never needed any SATA drivers. The new models with Vista pre-installed had the AHCI toggle unhidden, but were being disabled in later BIOS updates....)

 

Then it does not make sense -- why have it hidden for some and not others on an arbitrary basis. Either hide all or none.

I did. I exchanged dozens of emails and even called them and I could NEVER get any straight answer out of them. Pathetic.

The benefit is that if you want to install XP you need to first disable AHCI in BIOS, install the AHCI driver during XP install, switch back to AHCI and you're in business. When the BIOS does not support SATA, then there is no SATA even in Vista.

Now, you say SATA only brings performance up by only 10-15%. But in a laptop the hard drive (at 5400rpm) is the main bottleneck with fast processors and memory. So ANYTHING you can do to improve perf is valuable. SATA helps and it should be supported all around.

Hangups are not a good justification -- they should have been resolved by the responsible parties.

The problem is that in Vista the drive and controller show as IDE/ATA, not SATA, which I take to mean that it operates that way. They would have to show as SATA in Device Manager for me to believe that they operate in SATA mode.

Correct me if I am wrong.

 

i may be wrong but i think almost all (if not EVERY) intel GL960 or GM/PM965 chipset based laptops have the SATA or AHCI data transfer mode enabled by default... and on NEW ACERs that don't have an option to change the HARD DISK MODE, ACER has been moving away from IDE as a default in hopes of making it hard on users to DOWNGRADE thier systems to WINDOWS XP...

since VISTA contains SATA drivers built into the install, it is no problem for ACER to support these new laptops.. that is also why they claim that these new systems will not run XP which is usually false, but they don't have to support XP any more that way... and we all know how hard MICRO$OFT is pushing OEM and laptop makers are being "motivated" to focus entirely on VISTA...

well IMO removing the IDE option from the BIOS is just another attempt to prod the huddled masses toward a future some of us don't want to even visit

 

Ok, I understand how mad you are at Acer, but the SATA HDD running in IDE or Native Mode, really won't make a difference. You will probably gain an extra 2-3MB/s. I did extensive tests with my WD3200BEVT in my D630 (supports AHCI) and 3680 (in IDE). All synthetic and real-world tests were similar.
Check out this image - This BIOS is supported by more than 6 notebooks at this point, and all have SATA disabled in one of the latest BIOS upgrades.
There are many more, (but I can't go on looking for them in the numerous BIOS files) but the notebooks that get support for XP and Vista normally have their HDD turned to IDE. Almost every Service Manual I have read, shows the BIOS reading the HDD as IDE. (My notebook lost AHCI way back in 2006) It provides more compatibility for those who want to downgrade to XP, or even stay with Vista (since Vista does read IDE HDDs ). So chill, a SATA HDD running in SATA or IDE mode won't affect performance that huge, that it would make it a bottleneck for your system. Give me your specs, and I'll let you know what is the bottleneck.

 

that was my impression too.

if I combine what you say with my experience with Acer tech support, which is pathetic if not inexistent, I don't see them as a purchase option inspiring confidence.

 

andy,

sorry, with all due respect, I don't accept that.

it is not acer's business to defeat customer preferences by forcing Vista down customers' throat, particularly since they have pathetic to inexistent tech support.

it may well be that the perf gain is small, but acer should have a better reason for defeating it than prodding users to vista. as to instability, the solution is for them to have sufficient expertise to resolve the problems, not to make things easier for themselves by not supporting SATA.

if other mfgrs are capable of supporting ATA and allow downgrading to XP, so can acer.

I think I'll pass on acer laptops.

 

just fyi:

when I asked acer for an explanation of why the laptop was in IDE mode, they asked for the S/N. I sent it to them and they could not find it in their database, so they asked for the SNID. I sent it and they still could not find it. they asked me to fax the receipt for the purchase, which I neither could nor wanted to bother with. then they said that the S/N was required to identify the drive specs, so I sent them the HD specs and they still could not give me an answer.

I also told them that the DVD drive issued a weird noise and they said I should send it -- a brand new computer -- for warranty repair.

that's pure crap. unacceptable. no wonder they cant support SATA properly.