Hello Futurepower,
you cannot use any Intel RST driver of the v12.x.x.xxxx series, because they do not support Windows XP.
What I recommend to install is the Intel RST driver v11.2.0.1006 WHQL. This driver definitively supports Windows XP and the Southbridge of your mainboard. According to my experience you will get the best performance with this RAID driver.
Futurepower(R) schrieb:
1) Is it necessary to un-install the Matrix Storage Manager before installing the RST software?
2) Does installing the RST software update the RAID driver? If not, what is the latest driver and where can it be found?
3) Is it true that the latest hard drives cannot be used with the old Matrix Storage Manager software?
Here are my answers:
1) It is recommended to uninstall the currently installed Intel MSM Software from within the Control Pael > "Add/Remove Software", before you are going to install any Intel Rapid Storage Technology package. The currently running Intel RAID driver should be untouched..It will be updated automaticly by the Intel RST installer.
2) Yes. the Intel RAID driver will be updated, if you run the installer (= EXE file) of the Intel RST package.
3) Yes, the actual Intel chipsets are not supported by the Intel Matrix Storage Manager drivers and software.