Serial ATA HDD worth considering?

[FunkyT]

Hi,

I've recently purchased an Abit NF7-S v2.0 motherboard. Should I be considering serial ATA for my next hard drive?

To be honest, I don't know what the benefits of this are! I'd probably be looking for something around the 80 gig mark and would appreciate a make/model/supplier recommendation (assuming it's the way to go!).

Many thanks in advance.

--
Richard

[Nox]

depends how much cash you're willing to part with The only SATA drives that are vastly superior to ATA ones are the raptors, and they are around £100 for 36GB... Now raiding them and they are very fast! Bootvis is telling me it takes just under 9 secs for windows to load completely with a pair

and WD are planning on releasing a 70GB model at some point i heard, much closer to what you're after, may be worth waiting and getting hold of one of those depending on price.

Nox

[FunkyT]

Thanks for the reply!

I think I'll stick with a regular drive for the time being though. Would you care to recommend a make/model/supplier for 7200 80 gig?

Many thanks.

--
Rich

[KAIN]

I would buy SATA cause their cable's look so much nicer

No question on the 80gig option, Western Digital Caviar SE 80gb WD800JB I think is the code, something along those lines

Very good site for hard drive info http://www.storagereview.com/

[louis]

maxtor 8mb and 7200 rpm 120gb

[Austin]

Undoubtedly Maxtor. They are the only ones AFAIK that have tried to enhance the drive's perf rather than just porting their current one to a SATA interface. The Maxtor's other plus point is that it comes with an extra std IDE power input so you don't need to fork out on a SATA power lead. However don't bother with SATA at all, esp on SIL3112 as found on Abit NF7-S v2.0 as the implimentation is poor and speed gains seem non-existent. Simply go for a 7200 or 7200-8 ATA100/133 HD and don't look back. I would rec Maxtor not only because it's a good compromise between Seagate's quiet and cool running (but slowish) and WD's speed (but with excessive noise) but because RMA is known to be good and you can easily use Acoustic Management sw if you fond the HD is a little too noisy. BTW I have been through 5400, 7200, 7200-8 and SATA and can tell you the diffs are far smaller than any reviewer would care to admit.

[suki_uk]

Trust me I have 2 x Diamond Maxtors on Raid 0 they are very very fast.

[Agent]

The SIL3112's performace has been hugely increased with the latest BIOS for the NF7-S (BIOS version 1.9 for rev 2 owners).
Also try to get one with 8meg cache - they are not that much more, and offer a nice boost.

[Austin]

Just checked all 3 English Abit sites (Global, US & UK) and all of them list JULY's v1.8 as the latest BIOS release for NF7-S v2.0, has 1.9 been released to the public yet?

[Knoxville]

might be the beta version so official sites may not have it, try google

[Austin]

Ahhh ... thanks now I get it. Unfortunately I'm far too boring to risk a beta/unofficial BIOS, I'll wait for the official one ... can't be far off, right?

[Knoxville]

nah i was just saying that Agent has in the past had beta's of the bios's and they wouldn't be on Abits official site

[Agent]

Originally posted by Austin
Ahhh ... thanks now I get it. Unfortunately I'm far too boring to risk a beta/unofficial BIOS, I'll wait for the official one ... can't be far off, right?

Its offical.
Its not on Abits site because they are lazy.
Use Abits flashmenu and it'll connect to the server and update it.

Ive just thought though, im not sure if this includes the new sil BIOS in it, or if you have to reinsert it into the BIOS itself (you can get it from the Abit forums where people have allready done it and tested it).
Anyway, no matter what board its on, people are saying it has a great improvment with the new sil BIOS

[5cupa]

are there any issues when installing O/S in dos when you just use a SATA or do u need to load SCSI drivers option first?

[Agent]

Originally posted by Scupa
are there any issues when installing O/S in dos when you just use a SATA or do u need to load SCSI drivers option first?

If using XP, just hit f6 in the setup part when it asks if you want to install any 3rd party drivers. It'll then showup fine

[SilentDeath]

id go for an sata maxtor .. its less than £15 more than the pata version and u get smaller cables, not only smaller though, they dont fall apart easyly, no chance of damaging the pins on the drive etc... they perform better, and the sata controler will do all the work so the cpu utilisation is almost none....
i havent got an sata drive yet, but i will next time (i woud know if there was a cheap 40gig one...)

i have nf7-s 1.1, think bios is 1.9 or latest.. currently use my 120gb maxtor on sata converter...
will the si3112 be good enuf for atleast small perf gains?