Is ATA-133 worth the $20 price difference for Abit KR7-133RAID vs. KR7-RAID?

[Epsil0n00]

I am about to purchase an Abit KR7-RAID and want to know your opinion. There are two versions of this board:
-- one with 2 ATA-100 IDE headers and 2 ATA-133 RAID headers
-- one with 2 ATA-133 IDE headers and 2 ATA-133 RAID headers.

Here is the link to these boards on NEWEGG

The later one, with all 4 IDE headers being ATA-133 is $22 more expensive. Do you think that getting the 133 version is worth the money? Will I notice any performance differences with ATA133? I plan to be using a single ATA100 IBM 60GXP HDD and a couple optical drives. What's the deal here, is there any real advantage of having native 133 support on this board? Finally, which one would you buy and why?

IT all comes down to the question of whether there will be a performance difference or not. Do you think that the ATA133 version will have a longer life span and allow greater performance in a year or two?

LMK what you think.
Thanks!
Epsil0n

 

[AndyHui]

If it matters to you, the ATA133 capable board has a VIA 8233A South Bridge, which means that you avoid problems that may be attributed to the 686B South Bridge.

 

[Shide1]

the kr7a-raid has the 8233 southbridge not 686b. The newer kr7a-133 has the 8233a southbridge. The only difference is a has ata133 support.

 

[MichaelD]

AND, the RAID board has the additional two channels that you can use as regular IDE channels even if you don't use the RAID feature.

You can then have your CDR and your CDRW each on their own IDE channels as masters and your HD(s) as master on their own channels on the raid controller.

Burning on the fly with zero errors is a really nice thing.

 

[Epsil0n00]

MichaelD,

Thanks for the tip about using the raid controllers for the HDD--in fact that was my intention. I am only trying to decide whether to get the KR7-RAID or the KR7-133RAID. What difference do you think that the ATA133 will make over ATA100, and do you think that that difference would be worth the extra $22? (btw, the prices at Newegg are $134 for the KR7-RAID and $156 for the KR7-133RAID.)

Thanks,
Epsil0n

 

[MichaelD]

The KR7A-Raid IS ATA133. The ATA133 controller is built into the Highpoint 372 controller chip.

If you get this board (or any other for that matter) with a RAID controller, get it b/c it has RAID, not b/c of the ATA133. Forgive me if you know this already, but:

1. The ATA rating is the theoretical maximum transfer rate, in megabytes, per second. I.E. ATA66=66MB/s, ATA100=100MB/s and so on.
2. Currently, 7200 RPM, IDE drives are topping out in the low 40'sMB/s. Not even close to ATA66.
3. I have a RAID 0 stripe on the Highpoint 372 controller on my Shuttle AV35GTR mobo. My transfer rate (read) is about 59MB/s. Still not exceeding the ATA66 spec.
4. Burst rates for a single drive may hit 66MB/s. Burst rates for a RAID 0 stripe can hit in the high 80sMB/s. Still not at the ATA100 spec

So, don't worry too much about "needing" ATA133. It's nice bragging rights, yes; but by the time IDE HDs are capable of hitting 133MB/s transfer rates, your system will be ancient anyway!

I almost bought the KR7AR. It was a toss-up b/t the Abit and the Shuttle. I got the Shuttle b/c it was about $30 cheaper and is essentially the same board, w/onboard sound (which I don't use.)

I swear by Abit and would buy another Abit board though. So far (4 days ) I'm very happy with the AV35GTR.

Hope this helped and good luck.

 

[Epsil0n00]

Yes, I am aware of what the ATA standard translates into in terms of MB/s. I am also aware that the original KR7-RAID does have ATA133 IDE headers only on the RAID connectors.

The ONLY difference, from what I can tell, between the KR7-RAID and the KR7-133RAID is that on the later board ALL 4 IDE connectors are ATA133.

So, my questions are these:
1. Does having ATA133 matter at all right now, when nothing will run that fast anyway?
2. Is it worth another $22 to upgrade the standard 2 IDE headers from ATA100 to 133?

 

[MichaelD]

The answers to your two questions are:

1. NO
2. NO


Take that $22 and get a faster CPU! That's what I did.

 

[Epsil0n00]

why are people hyping ATA133 so much if it makes no difference?

 

[MichaelD]

Bragging rights, mostly. It's also a neat marketing tool. "Your new ATA133 mobo is "future proof."" and things like that.

If I were you (and I'm not, but if I were!) I would not spend the extra $20. You will have CDRs on the regular IDE channels, right? They don't get anywhere NEAR ATA100, let alone 133. $20 more to spend elsewhere.

 

[Epsil0n00]

yeah, you're right... I guess since I'll always have the HDDs on the RAID controllers (which are ATA133) and the optical drives on the standard controllers that it wouldn't matter either way. Thanks for pointing that out...

I get so caught up in all the marketing crap that it becomes hard to tell what is actually useful and what is just there to look flashy and new.

Abit KR7-RAID it is!

Thanks.
Epsil0n