sata and ata

bardos · Dec 18, 2005

Hi folks,

I'm currently using a maxtor ata-133 8mb 160gb hard drive.

What are my real world expectations if i upgrade to the same drive but SATA? My mobo is an Asus p4p800-e. I mean will i really notice a speed increase sensorially and not just on paper, how large a difference is there between 133 and 150?

worth it?

klingens · Dec 18, 2005

there will be none cause current disks can't saturate ata133 or sata150. Also as a rule of thumb you need a 50% speed increase with computer parts to notice speedups in normal use without directly benchmarking. SATA can have other benefits tho, like command queuing which makes you think the system is more responsive

shadowdr · Dec 18, 2005

What he is saying is there is no speed difference.Same platters,same rpm's,same cache = same speed.The only difference is the interface.It would take three drives in raid0 to surpass the ata 133 bus and need the larger one of the sata interface.

K15 · Dec 18, 2005

klingens said:
there will be none cause current disks can't saturate ata133 or sata150. Also as a rule of thumb you need a 50% speed increase with computer parts to notice speedups in normal use without directly benchmarking. SATA can have other benefits tho, like command queuing which makes you think the system is more responsive

Not true for hard drives. In fact it doesn't take much performance boost to notice a difference in drive speed because a bunch of what "feels" fast is the work of the hard drive. A drive that loads word in 1 second VS 5 seconds will feel much faster but the 1 second drive isn't actually 5 times faster.
My 5 year old drive loaded XP in about 1.5 minutes. My new drive does 20-30 seconds.

bardos · Dec 19, 2005

what's the difference between sata 1 and sata 2? What i mean is, is the difference motherboard based or hard drive based? Will any sata hd run at sata 2 speeds on a a sata 2 equipped mobo? Or does the hd have to be a sata 2 hd?

thanks.

K15 · Dec 19, 2005

bardos said:
what's the difference between sata 1 and sata 2? What i mean is, is the difference motherboard based or hard drive based? Will any sata hd run at sata 2 speeds on a a sata 2 equipped mobo? Or does the hd have to be a sata 2 hd?

thanks.

Both must be equipped for SATA 2. For example, my Seagate is a SATA 2 drive, but my mobo only supports SATA 1 (aka 150) so the interface as a whole (drive + mobo) run at that slower speed. Doesn't matter though, 150 is plenty fast.
Either device (mobo or drive) can be the limiter, but it automatically clocks down to the speed of the slower thing, much like IDE/ATA did.

infini · Dec 20, 2005

Well my board takes 4 SATA drives, I was thinking of trying SATA for the hell of it and getting a big drive for back ups. What I am seeing here is basically it's just anotehr way to add more drives at MYABE a faster speed without the need for a PCI card to get the extra 4 drives. Other than that it's allot of Hype? for now?

tom10167 · Dec 20, 2005

Basically. I run strictly ATA but that's because I was buying new stuff anyways and the difference in costs between ATA and SATA is so negligible I figured it would pay for itself if the new motherboard I buy has no IDE ports and uses a strictly SATA interface.

The price difference between PATA and SATA is so small that it makes sense to BUY a SATA drive, but to upgrade is just silly.

infini · Dec 20, 2005

Well, I am using 2 80Gig drives ATA atm. It never seems to be anough, but I really will not buy a SATA drive unless I really feel I need a new drive cause it will add to an already cluttered case.

K15 · Dec 20, 2005

infini said:
Well my board takes 4 SATA drives, I was thinking of trying SATA for the hell of it and getting a big drive for back ups. What I am seeing here is basically it's just anotehr way to add more drives at MYABE a faster speed without the need for a PCI card to get the extra 4 drives. Other than that it's allot of Hype? for now?

I like how each drive gets its own cable/interface. Like someone else said, to replace a PATA drive with basically the same SATA drive is pointless. To get a NEW drive, may as well get SATA, no point in getting technology soon to be obsolete.

infini · Dec 20, 2005

ahha, yes. Good point. Good point.

Actually it's sort of a no brainer the thinking about it that way.

The problem with me is I am always looking for an excuse to spend money on my PC. So I have to go to
these places to either justify my purchase or look realistically at it get what I need, not what I want.
Probubly why I am not married yet :bang head

So my next step will be a nice SATA drive? hehe, of course

K15 · Dec 21, 2005

infini said:
ahha, yes. Good point. Good point. Actually it's sort of a no brainer the thinking about it that way.

The problem with me is I am always looking for an excuse to spend money on my PC. So I have to go to
these places to either justify my purchase or look realistically at it get what I need, not what I want.
Probubly why I am not married yet

So my next step will be a nice SATA drive? hehe, of course

Just to say you got SATA huh? LOL I know, I know...

infini · Dec 21, 2005

well, It is sort of like when I had a car. I had a Buick Regal Sport Coupe. That's a pre-Grand National. Yada, Yada, Wow look at those rimms.

IF some of use did not have these forums we would be taking our PC's with us everywhere

UV lights and all

. Probubly.

sata and ata

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K15

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bardos

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tom10167

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infini

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K15

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infini

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