optimized BIOS setup GA-Z77P-D3 v1.1

[rio]

Hi guys,

New poster here, looking for help setting up my new machine: ga-z77p-d3 v1.1, i7-3770, 16GB, GTX660, Intel 520 SSD 120GB + 2TB HDD.

I have ran into problems installing win7 and getting my SSD to be on SATA3 and AHCI.  It doesn't matter what I set in the BIOS, I always get the SSD to an IDE mode!  BIOS is the latest F8e (if I remember the spelling correctly).  Since visiting your site I have found this very confusing webpage http://www.station-drivers.com/page/gigabyte/ga-z77p-d3.htm.  Assuming these are the latest drivers I'm planning to try them later tonight.

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated, especially about BIOS setting up a fast and stable machine (I would like to avoid overclocking).  I'm looking for things like" disable onboard video, because...".  I'm really confused about "legacy" and "UEFI", and since I'm not using win8 which one is better?

rio

[8 Pack]

With this board the best ports to Install your boot drives on are the white SATA 3 ports.

Go into Bios before you install Windows and set these ports to AHCI there default setting is IDE. Make sure you press F10 and then enter to save this setting.

If your using an Graphics card in one of the PCI X slots the onboard graphics will be disabled by default so I would not worry about this.

UEFI is just the term used for the type of Bios interface on the board. Your bios is UEFI and this is easier to navigate than the older less advanced GUI's.

[rio]

With this board the best ports to Install your boot drives on are the white SATA 3 ports.

Go into Bios before you install Windows and set these ports to AHCI there default setting is IDE. Make sure you press F10 and then enter to save this setting.

If your using an Graphics card in one of the PCI X slots the onboard graphics will be disabled by default so I would not worry about this.

UEFI is just the term used for the type of Bios interface on the board. Your bios is UEFI and this is easier to navigate than the older less advanced GUI's.

Thanks,

But here lies the problem, I did connect both my drives to the white SATA 3 ports.  Enabled AHCI and installed Win7 3 times!

And the SSD is still recognized by the OS as a SATA 2 and IDE... I have also tried to modify the Win7 drivers and no luck.  So is there anything else required?

rio