Motherboard Configuration Question.

[Astral Fridge Magnet]

Could someone please explain what the best configuration is for my motherboard?

My desktop PC is a 3.0GHz Pentium 4 , ASUS P4P800DELUXE motherboard, two hard drives (80 GB +200GB).

I've recently discovered in the BIOS that my motherboard has several options and I don't know which is best.

They are: [P-ATA + S+ATA], [P-ATA], and finally [S-ATA].

I can have serial, parallel. or both. But which is best and what does it all mean?

Thanks

[Astral Fridge Magnet]

The PC was built about 4 years ago, so from memory I think I have the IDE type with a flatband cable (if you mean the flat cable with lots of little ridges). If that is the case, does that mean then I use P-ATA and that S-ATA has no value for me?

[Astral Fridge Magnet]

Thanks for the reply. So just to be absolutely clear, I choose :

[P-ATA] in the IDE configuration and ignore [P-ATA + S+ATA] or [S-ATA]. seeing I have everything connected by PATA cables?

[Astral Fridge Magnet]

I have come across this:

P4P800Deluxe User's Manual wrote:
Enhanced Mode Support On [defalut: S-ATA]

The default setting S-ATA allows you to use native OS (read:XP) on Serial ATA and Parallel ATA ports. We recommend that you do not change the dafault setting for better OS compatibility. In this setting, you may use legacy OS (read: Windows 95, 98, ME, etc) on the Parallel ATA ports only if you did not install any Serial ATA Device.

The P-ATA+S-ATA and P-ATA options are for advanced users only. If you set to any of these options and encounter problems, revert to the default setting S-ATA.

So now I am confused. I know my drives are connected with PATA cables.

[emphazer]

i had a asus P4P800 mobo too
i changed it with an intel board after one year because i had a lot of problems with scope software midi drivers.
i had sometimes bluescreens, latency/jitter problems etc
just a tip for you
if you get problems like this too
then it could be the motherboard