Would you be willing to install WinXP using a floppy and driver w/ BootCamp

Question

I think Apple may be able to provide us full SATA compatibility quickly if they were willing to program the AHCI controller device in enhanced AHCI mode.
This would require us to install (reinstall) windows and use a USB floppy to install the intel AHCI drivers, since they are not a part of WinXP. This is generally what users of the server-class Intel motherboards have to do if they want full SATA performance.
Users who are not accustomed to WinXP installation may find this too difficult.
Perhaps instead of a BIOS set up, Apple can provide an OS X utility that allows configuration of certain system resources. Many WinTel manufacturers provide similar utilities, to simplify BIOS setup. Such a utility would allow more advanced users to enable enhanced-AHCI mode, while the mess experienced users can continue to work in PIO mode.
If you are interested in learning more about the Intel SATA controller in the WinTel environment, you can find more information in the following links:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/serialATA_FAQ.mspx
http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/cs-021736.htm
ftp://download.intel.com/design/chipsets/manuals/30144401.pdf (Not specific to the 5000X chipset, but AHCI is a standard across multiple intel chipsets)
Mac Pro 2.66   Mac OS X (10.4.7)  

Answer 1

The real problem with the Mac Pro and Windows right now is how it sets up the SATA controller device in the CSM, I believe.
Apple can fix this one of 2 ways:
1. Give us PATA emulation with full DMA support, but this does not give us SATA NCQ.
2. Give us Enhanced AHCI support, with NCQ, but this requires us to install an intel driver at windows install time using a USB floppy.
I believe #2 shouldn't be hard for apple to implement, but it makes Windows harder to install. That is why I called for an OS X application that lets the user choose which mode they want the SATA controller to run in.
I included the links above as background material into the full problem, from how to program the device in a BIOS (or CSM) to installing the drivers.
I am asking people, if Apple could provide a firmware update, would you be willing to install Windows again using a USB floppy and driver, or would you rather wait for PATA emulation with DMA support.
I previously wrote a posting that describes this problem:
I have spent a few days researching SATA, and how it is handled under Windows, especially Intel's implementation. Intel is pushing a standardized controller interface called AHCI. AHCI does support legacy PATA emulation. In WinTel platform, it is a requirement of the BIOS to configure the AHCI device properly. The AHCI PCI device will present different PCI subcodes depending if it is running in PATA or native mode. These PCI subcodes are used to choose the appropriate driver at boot time.
For best performance, SATA wants to run in native mode which, on the Mac Pro platform, means running the controller device in AHCI mode. AHCI fully supports DMA as well as Native Command Queuing (NCQ). Combining these two technologies give the best performance.
The PATA emulation can support DMA, depending on the actual BIOS implementation. PATA can not support NCQ.
With Boot Camp, Apple is providing a BIOS layer on top of EFI, the new standard for low-level PC firmware. This layer is called a CSM (Compatibility Support Module). I believe the CSM is not programming the device to enter AHCI mode. Also, the CSM is not providing anything other than Programmed I/O (PIO or non-DMA) in their PATA emulation support.
How do we work around this? I don't know. I am hoping to bring others into this discussion to see if we can figure something out. Considering Apple released Boot Camp 1.1 with the same flaw, I don't believe we can expect them to resolve this issue soon.
Putting the device in AHCI mode may present more difficult problems for Apple. They will have to change their CSM to support loading the boot sector using AHCI instead of PATA protocols.
There is one other thing to note, when you boot with device in AHCI mode, and then install Windows, you must install a 3rd party driver provided by Intel at installation time. Pressing the F6 key early on in the install process, inserting a floppy, which contains the driver, and then choosing the driver for installation. The CSM will have to support USB floppies (I have not tested to see if it does, yet). It also means that any user that currently has Windows installed will have to reinstall Windows once we determine how to put the device in AHCI mode.
If we were willing to give up NCQ, it might be easier for Apple to extend their CSM to include better PATA emulation. We may be limited to 100MB/s, or 133MB/s at best. This is more than enough bandwidth to support any single drive.
Various Intel Macs   Mac OS X (10.4.6)