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Robert Hallock
May 22, 2008 1:00 AM ET in Tech
More About SATA Drivers
The advertised features of a motherboard are shared between the northbridge and the southbridge. When Intel or NVIDIA release a new chipset, it is the northbridge to which we refer with such names as “P35″ or “780i.” While the northbridge handles speedy tasks such as the x16 PCI Express or front-side bus, of particular interest to us is the southbridge which handles SATA.
NVIDIA and Intel are very supportive when it comes to drivers for their platforms. Both firms release driver packages that clearly state what northbridges and southbridges they support, and the support inside those downloads are quite vast. This means that any NVIDIA owner can go directly to NVIDIA, and any Intel owner can go directly to Intel, bypassing the often-slow motherboard manufucturers for support.
Conversely, AMD has traditionally left it to the manufacturer to decide which southbridge is best for a northbridge. Each motherboard based on an AMD design could be using one of up to three different southbridges, each with their own method of providing SATA support. Because of this, AMD can not provide a single driver package that will cover any motherboard using one of their northbridges. To compensate for this, we have categorized our drivers for the AMD platform by southbridge. Because of the southbridge’s importance on an AMD platform, the manual or manufacturer site for your board will always indicate what is used.
We have done our best to provide a wide variety of drivers for all the manufacturers spoken of here. If you feel your specific chipset has not been accounted for in the package we’ve provided, please post a request in our storage forum and we will do our best to provide the appropriate driver to you.
As per step 2B, these provided SATA drivers will now be in the drivers folder. Within the drivers folder should be three directories labeled “AMD,” “Intel,” and “NVIDIA.” For each manufacturer’s folder, a series of drivers are contained in various directories. In the table below, you can identify the folder which contains the drivers appropriate for your platform.
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Intel SATA Drivers (Fig. 2-1)
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| Driver Version | Chipsets Supported |
| 8.3.1.1009 |
865 and Variants 910GL 915 and Variants 925 and Variants 950 and Variants 943 and Variants 945 and Variants 946and Variants 955 and Variants 963 and Variants P965 and Variants 975X and Variants G3x and Variants P35 and Variants P45 and Variants Q3x and Variants X38 X48 |
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NVIDIA SATA Drivers (Fig. 2-2)
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| Driver Version | Chipsets Supported |
| 9.64 |
nForce 790i Ultra SLI nForce 790i SLI nForce 780i SLI nForce 680i SLI nForce 680i LT SLI |
| 9.53 |
nForce 590 SLI Intel nForce 680a SLI |
| 8.43 |
nForce 750i SLI nForce 650i SLI nForce 650i Ultra |
| 16.08 |
nForce 630i nForce 610i |
| 9.35 | nForce 590 SLI AMD |
| 8.22 | nForce 570 SLI Intel |
| 9.16 |
nForce 570 SLI AMD nForce 570 AMD nForce 550 AMD |
| 18.11 |
GeForce 8300 GeForce 730a GeForce 720a nForce 710a nForce 750a SLI nForce 780a SLI |
| 14.10 | nForce 630a |
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AMD SATA Drivers (Fig. 2-3)
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| Southbridge Used | Chipsets Supported |
| SB600 |
AMD 790 and Variants AMD 780 and Variants AMD 770 and Variants AMD 740 and Variants AMD 690 and Variants AMD 580 and Variants AMD 570 and Variants AMD 480 and Variants CrossFire Xpress 3200 CrossFire Xpress 3100 CrossFire Xpress 1600 |
| SB700 | AMD 790 and Variants AMD 780 and Variants AMD 770 and Variants AMD 740 and Variants |
| SB750 |
AMD 790 and Variants AMD 780 and Variants AMD 770 and Variants AMD 740 and Variants |
| ULi-M1575 |
AMD 480 and Variants CrossFire Xpress 3100 |
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