P4P800-E Dlx -- 32Bit data transfer y/n?

[John Blaustein]

P4P800-E Deluxe, P4/3.0c, 2GB RAM, WD SATA HD (C, WD IDE HD (D, XP Home.

I see that the default BIOS setting for 32Bit data transfer (Main>IDE setup)
is "disabled." I'm curious why one would not use 32Bit data transfer. I've
tried both settings and the system works in both modes. Wouldn't data
transfer be faster with 32Bit enabled?

John

 

[Egil Solberg]

P4P800-E Deluxe, P4/3.0c, 2GB RAM, WD SATA HD (C, WD IDE HD (D,
XP Home.
I see that the default BIOS setting for 32Bit data transfer (Main>IDE
setup) is "disabled." I'm curious why one would not use 32Bit data
transfer. I've tried both settings and the system works in both
modes. Wouldn't data transfer be faster with 32Bit enabled?

32bit is more efficient, but since all in all physical disc reading/writing
is the current limitation, your computing experience will not be changed by
changing this, just as you describe. Leave at 32 bit.

http://www.rojakpot.com/showFreeBOG.aspx?Lang=0&bogno=3

 

[Michael S.]

I wonder why Asus defaulted this BIOS setting to NO--OR if DMA is used, does
it matter??

MikeSp
--------------------------------

 

[Egil Solberg]

I wonder why Asus defaulted this BIOS setting to NO--OR if DMA is
used, does it matter??

I don't think DMA or not should matter, but it will probably free up some
space on the bus enabling 32bit transfers. Practical when the bus is already
loaded, which happens not regularly.

 

[Alex]

Yes. Info from ARP

http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx?location=8&var1=0&var2=214

32-bit Transfer Mode
Quick Review

This BIOS feature allows you to command the IDE controller to combine two
16-bit hard disk reads into a single 32-bit data transfer to the processor.
This greatly improves the performance of the IDE controller as well as the
PCI bus.

Therefore, it is highly advisable to enable 32-bit Transfer Mode. If you
disable it, data transfers from the IDE controller to the processor will
only occur in 16-bits chunks.

 

[Roger Hamlett]

P4P800-E Deluxe, P4/3.0c, 2GB RAM, WD SATA HD (C, WD IDE HD (D, XP Home.

I see that the default BIOS setting for 32Bit data transfer (Main>IDE setup)
is "disabled." I'm curious why one would not use 32Bit data transfer. I've
tried both settings and the system works in both modes. Wouldn't data
transfer be faster with 32Bit enabled?

John

The setting only affects operation during the very first stage of boot,
when the BIOS i still controlling the disk drive. Once XP is loaded, a
full '32bit' driver takes over. The 32bit designation in this case,
doesn't have any effect on the speed that data is actually transferred,
but the 'memory map' used for the transfers. A '32bit' driver, can
transfer the data anywhere into the memory space addressed by a 32bit
address (4GB). The 16bit driver, is limited to doing the transfer into the
low memory area, and if data needs to go to a higher part of memory, then
performing a second memory-memory transfer to complete the transaction.
The boot section of W2K/XP, largely only transfers data into the lower
area of memory anyway, till it's own IDE driver is loaded. Hence the
little/no change in speed that is seen.

Best Wishes

 

[John Blaustein]

Roger,

Thank you.

John

The setting only affects operation during the very first stage of boot,
when the BIOS i still controlling the disk drive. Once XP is loaded, a
full '32bit' driver takes over. The 32bit designation in this case,
doesn't have any effect on the speed that data is actually transferred,
but the 'memory map' used for the transfers. A '32bit' driver, can
transfer the data anywhere into the memory space addressed by a 32bit
address (4GB). The 16bit driver, is limited to doing the transfer into the
low memory area, and if data needs to go to a higher part of memory, then
performing a second memory-memory transfer to complete the transaction.
The boot section of W2K/XP, largely only transfers data into the lower
area of memory anyway, till it's own IDE driver is loaded. Hence the
little/no change in speed that is seen.

Best Wishes