It's not an 'Uncle Sai Chong' special. It's actually a reputable brand. But anyway, I checked the BIOS, and it's running PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2. You sound like you know what you're talking about, so any more suggestions? The system is WinXP SP1, Intel mainboard, P4 3.0 Ghz, Ati 9800 Pro. Rock solid in all other programs.