Worth upgrading to SATA HD for my Abit AB9?

[mdg900]

I'll be building my new PC tomorrow, but I read on a forum that with the AB9 you can't boot from an IDE harddisk. This seems strange to me, but I thought I better check as I don't have any SATA drives.

Is it worth me buying a SATA drive for ease of windows install or extra performance?

Core 2 Duo E6400
Abit AB9
1x160GB and 1x250GB Maxtor IDE hard disks
IDE 4xDVD-RW
2GB RAM
X1950XT 256MB
X-Mystique sound card
P180 with 580W Hipher PSU
Win XP Pro

Also, what's the best way to run the third IDE device? PCI IDE card, SATA-IDE convertor, or just get a usb/firewire external drive caddy?

[BUFF]

I'm sure that you can boot from an IDE drive on the AB9 but the best place to go & ask would be the abit-usa forum.
http://forum.abit-usa.com/forumdisplay.php?f=48

SATA drives are really no quicker than an equivalent PATA drive as it's the mechanics & not the interface that is the limiting factor.

[Blitzen]

SATA drives are really no quicker than an equivalent PATA drive as it's the mechanics & not the interface that is the limiting factor.

SATA drives are quicker than other drives so dont let anyone tell you differently.

BTW...I used to use the ABIT forums and they are riddled with bad advice. YOu would be MUCH better off waiting for your answer here or using extremeoverclocking or hardforums for the answer.

Dont get me wrong...i have ALWAYS used ABIT and i find their mobos excellent

[dave87]

SATA drives are quicker than other drives so dont let anyone tell you differently.

They are only faster in transfers from Cache (max of about 16M). Otherwise, as Buff said, they are no different to IDE drives of the same generation. The spindle speed and cache make more difference than the connection - ie SCSI drives are only quicker due to a higher spindle speed allowing reduced seek times (funnily enough 15k RPM is higher than 10k, or the 7200rpm you get on desktop drives) and enhanced sustained transfer rates.

mdg900 - You could always look for IDE to SATA adapters, which make your drive look, for all intents and purposes, like a SATA drive to the Bios.

Dave

[DratUK]

The only significan advantage is the thiness of the sata cable to provide better airflow, case dependent of course. If you go for the SATA then go for the Plextor, more money I know but it is very reliable and quiet.

[BUFF]

BTW...I used to use the ABIT forums and they are riddled with bad advice.

so is any forum of that size - there are a load of inaccurate posts on hardforums, XS etc. etc. but it's heavily outweighed by the correct posts.
If you are an English speaking abit mobo owner the abit-USA forum is without a doubt the best specific forum.