Is there a preferred way to use the SATA ports?
Printed From: ASRock.com
Category: Technical Support
Forum Name: Intel Motherboards
Forum Description: Question about ASRock Intel Motherboards
URL: https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=2328
Printed Date: 19 Jul 2025 at 10:56am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.04 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Is there a preferred way to use the SATA ports?
Posted By: thegreywizard
Subject: Is there a preferred way to use the SATA ports?
Date Posted: 29 Mar 2016 at 12:09pm
|
Is there a preferred way to use the SATA ports to get the best/fastest setup? I have an x99m Extreme4 I'll be running 3 SSDs and a DVD burner/player Also, what's the difference between the SATA & S_Sata ports? |
Replies:
Posted By: parsec
Date Posted: 29 Mar 2016 at 12:45pm
|
All X99 boards have 10 SATA III ports. The six SATA3_0 through SATA3_5 ports support RAID. The four S_SATA3_0 through S_SATA3_3 ports do not support RAID. That is the only real difference between the two sets. The S_SATA ports are shared with the Ultra M.2 port and eSATA port. Always use AHCI mode with SSDs and any other SATA drives. You can use RAID mode with SSDs too, since it provides all the features of AHCI, whether or not the drives are in a RAID array or not. There is really no preferred way to use the SATA ports for better performance, excluding RAID mode. The board will likely POST faster if you put the OS drive on the SATA3_0 port. I would put your SSDs on the SATA3 ports, and the optical drive on one of the S_SATA3 ports. ------------- http://valid.x86.fr/48rujh" rel="nofollow"> 
|
Posted By: thegreywizard
Date Posted: 29 Mar 2016 at 2:18pm
|
Thanks for the info & clarification. I have no want/need/use for RAID, so it's not a configuration I'm planning on. Having the system post faster sounds like a great idea (I may even disable the post startup all together so the system flies, but I also plan on running a dual boot system with Ubnutu 16.04 as my primary OS - I want to get away from windows as much as possible.) I haven't gotten to this step yet since I installed Ubuntu first and then Win7 and it overwrote my boot manager and I haven't had a change to fix it so I have an option as to what OS to loa. Is there any other particular reason why you suggested Putting SSDs on SATA & opcital drive on S_Sata? Thanks again for the indepth info!
|