Help me pick a cheap IDE Controller Card

[ParatoOptimal]

Are these pretty much the same cards?
If not, which is better?

http://www.compgeeks.com/detai...vtid=A-142&cat=CCD
$16.99
$ 7.00 Shipping

http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=15-124-001&depa=0
$14.50
$ 5.00 Shipping

I'm thinking the one at Newegg is a true Syba product and the one at Computer geeks is an OEM version from Syba.

The Koutec at Newegg also looks like a Syba OEM.
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=15-104-214&depa=0
$17.00
$ 5.00 Shipping

The two at Newegg have upward facing IDE connectors whereas the one at Compgeeks has sideways facing IDE connectors.

The two at Newegg come with one cable whereas the one at Compgeeks comes with two cables.

The pics of the two at Newegg have similar pics of CD, Cable and box.
Of course these pics may not reflect current product.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Cerb]

They are different cards (the Koutech and Syba are exactly the same, generic compgeeks another), but they've all got your basic SI controller, so I doubt there will be a functional difference. At most, differently styled BIOSes.

On a side note, I know Syba makes extremely little nowadays...I wonder of Koutech is the same way (is the Syba a Koutech card, or are they both from another generic manufacturer?).

I would go with the compgeeks one for the same reason you noted: an easy way to get another 80-pin IDE cable. If that will not be an issue, then go Newegg and save a couple bucks.

 

[ParatoOptimal]

I think I did a search on Newegg and it turned-up the Koutech card along with the Syba.

I found many others that look the same and claim to be Syba based on Pricewatch for $12-$15 or a little more. The $12 card included shipping. Another store had a $15 card with free shipping.

The extra cable is a plus.

I don't have twin ATA133 drives. I have various size ATA100 and ATA133 drives.

I hear it can be nice to see all your drives as ONE big drive.
I just want to at least take the work load off my MOBO's (Asus UDSL2) chipset.
It began to have problems after 3-years without any IDE problems.

I heard from a friend that Syba makes many MOBO controller chipsets.

I read on AT that ITE was a better chipset to conrol HDs.
That had me leaning towards the ITE.

Someone on AT posted a link to a review that included the ITE chipset.
The poster seemed to think that the chipset was panned by the review.
I thought it preferred the ITE for a specific type of RAID and rated it a good pick for a cheap home (non-server) card.

I'm now leaning towards the Syba.