Intel D975XBX (Bad Axe)

[Dandruff]

Intel Matrix Storage Driver also got updated!

[Sandog]

Thanks ATINUT.

[ATINUT]

You're Welcome Sandog.

My soundcard and the onboard sound don't get along with the AHCI drivers, so I won't bother personally with the Intel Matrix Storage drivers.

[CK8-04]

You must be doing something wrong or there might be compatibility issues with your hardware, ATINUT. I've been using the onboard sound and AHCI since I built my system over a year ago and I haven't had any issues. AHCI is the only way to enable hot-swapping and NCQ.

[CK8-04]

edit: I just realized you are using Vista. I'm not sure if the XBX drivers for Vista have matured a whole lot since its introduction, but when I tried Vista for a week on my system, I didn't encounter any issues with AHCI and onboard sound.

[ATINUT]

The onboard sound, the IDT control panel and Dolby Surround, sounds OK, but it isn't better than my HT Omega Claro for sound quality.

When I had AHCI enabled, I got stuttering sound out the backside, with my soundcard and onboard sound.

[Supa-Fly]

Hmmm.... strange... Im using 4 drives raided on the intel matrix controller, and 4 drives raided on the marvell controller, so but enabling RAID, automatically AHCI gets enbaled on the BX2, Im using a the onboard sound, and no glitches or jumps here. My audio workds fine. Actually I find the onboard audio muxh crisper than my Audigy 2 ZS.

[ATINUT]

I made a slight boo boo, and it isn't a serious one. There's a 4 pin molex connector on my motherboard, and the manual states on page 70 that a 4 pin molex power connector from one's powersupply must be plugged in to it, to help provide stable power to the PCI Express slots.

I'm gonna get the lead out and later on tonight plug in a 4 pin Molex power cable to get stable power to the PCI Express slots.

[CK8-04]

ATINUT, taken directly from page 63 of the manual:

Auxiliary PCI Express graphics power – a 1 x 4 connector. This connector
provides the required additional power when using high power (75 W or greater)
add-in cards in either or both the Secondary PCI Express x16 (electrical x8) and
the PCI Express x16 (electrical x4) bus add-in card connectors.

I have never plugged that connector in and never had an issue with stability. It's only really necessitated when more than one high power PCIe add-in card is installed.

[ATINUT]

I've got the Radeon 3870X2 which is 2 videocards on one PCB, and that sucker draws enough power.

[CK8-04]

Yes, but that card draws power directly from the PSU via the 6 pin GPU power cables. That molex connector is only needed if an add-in card that draws more than 75 watts of power doesn't also have a direct connection to the PSU. Video card manufacturers design their cards so that all the necessary power can be delivered via the PCIe slot and the PSU cables without any need for the 4 pin molex connector found on motherboards such as the Bad Axe 2 or the DFI Lanparty series. Additionally, that molex plug delivers power only to the second and third PCIe slots on the board; my guess is your 3870 X2 is plugged into the first one.

[Dandruff]

New LAN drivers are out: Intel PRO Network Connections Driver V13.1.1

[Dandruff]

New SATA drivers: Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver V8.5.0.1032
New Chipset drivers: Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility V9.0.0.1011

[ATINUT]

Finally got my 3870X2 straightened out. Bought a 6 pin PCI Express to 8 pin PCI Express power adapter cable. Most modern videocards now days come with either 6 pin PCI Express power connectors, 8 pin PCI Express Power connectors or a combination of 6pin PCI Express and 8 pin PCI Express power connectors on them.

No need to plug in a 4 pin molex connector to my motherboard just yet, unless I feel the need for greed and want to drop another 3870X2 in, in which case it means a new power supply.

Already got the new chipset drivers, but I'm not going to install them, until Catalyst 8.8 comes out, in which case they will be installed before Catalyst 8.8.

[Sandog]