KT7 Raid or Regular KT7..That is the Question...Help pls..

[R6Veteran]

I have decided that I want to get a KT7 mobo for my T-Bird 800; however, I don't know whether I should gte the RAID or just a regular KT7. I only have one HD and don't plan running 2. Does the regular KT7 support ATA100 or not? I'm not real up on this RAID stuff but would like to have the ATA100. What do you suggest?

 

[Rawdog]

No, the non-raid version does not support ATA100. However, the raid version may not either, as I am having problems with the ATA100 ports on the board. Anytime I try to access a drive attached to IDE4, the system just freezes. I am not the only one have this problem either. I have read about others on usenet. They are suggesting the Promise card for raid, and it may support ATA100 as well. That's the route I wish I had taken. Now I guess it's RMA time.

Rawdog

 

[BigSmooth]

From Anandtech's KT7-RAID review:
<< Is there a need for Ultra ATA/100 support? The main thing to realize is that no hard drive requires Ultra ATA/100 since no hard drive can consistently transfer at speeds greater than 66MB/s, the current fastest drive transfers at just under 40MB/s. Even when bursting the fastest IDE drives barely exceed Ultra ATA/66's 66MB/s limit, so for now, there is no need for Ultra ATA/100. However, if you do plan on keeping your system as is for a decent amount of time, the HighPoint controller may come in handy as there will be a point where Ultra ATA/66's 66MB/s transfer rate limit will become a bottleneck. >>

I say save your money for now and get the regular KT7.

 

[R6Veteran]

Thank you very much for the info guys. You spoke of a controller....does that mean I have to buy a seperate controller or is there a controller on the mobo itself??

 

[billyjak]

The KT7 Raid uses the Hotpoint controller onboard, this allows you with ATA 33,66,or100 it's IDE slot 3and 4 and will support 4 devices, you also have 2 IDE ports that support ATA 33,66 bus on IDE 1 and 2 which supports 4 devices, a total of 8 can be hooked up.
The KT7 does not have onboard ATA 100 and will support 4 total Hardwares.
You'll have to buy a seprate controller card such as Promise, they come in Raid and non Raid versions.

 

[zzzz]

there is a HPT 370 controller on board for the ata-100 raid..

 

[R6Veteran]

So if I got the regular kt7 and bought a promise controller, could I still get the ATA100 or only ATA66? If that is the case, why would anyone buy the KT7 raid anyway since I hear the HP controller is junk? What do you suggest? Regular KT7 with a Promise Controller?? Thanks GUYS!!

 

[billyjak]

This is a matter of preferenc, I have the promice card and put it in an Abit KT7 and it scored very well.
I chanded to a KT7 Raid board and it benches pretty good also.
The Promise Raid card is about 99.00, so if you want to spend the extra money for a little better performance go that way., otherwise go with the onboard.

 

[Lmronby]

I have read that the Raid controller on the KT7 board pales in comparison the the performance of the Promise card. I can't seem to find the threads I was reading, but apparenlty Abit through a cheap controller on the board just to jump on the Raid bandwagon and say &quot;we got it built-in&quot;

just 2cents

 

[R6Veteran]

Something to think about for sure, thx for the info guys

 

[billyjak]

You can use Anands search to find the info. just type KT7 Raid or KT7