SATA or IDE for a Gaming Rig

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Valkerie

Originally posted by: w00t
SATA

I don't know what these folks are telling you, but if you don't get SATA, you pretty much rule out the idea of even having SATA on your motherboard. Firstly, it's much faster than IDE. I can install Starcraft in two minutes whereas it would take double the time with an IDE drive.

you are an idiot. i don't care if there was a sata10GB/s connection, the actual hdds mechanics are the bottleneck, hell even 1 15k u320 newest gen scsi has a str of 80GB/s, dumba$$

get whatever drive is cheaper, pata will be around for quite some time, like floppies and serial/paralle ports.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: JSt0rm01
I made a mistake a couple fo years ago installing my os on a 36gig raptor and leaving a ide hard drive connected at the same time. The windows install placed some files on the ide drive just by default. When I pulled that drive (ide) later on, the system was corrupted and it took a lot of troubleshooting to figure out the problem. When you do your os install on the sata drive make sure no other drive is connected.

newb, you probably needed to install other drivers at the beginning of the os install. the os asks you where you want to install the o/s...read the manual next time

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Kensai
It all depends on the drive mechanics.
Some SATA drives are of newer generation than their IDE counterparts, like Maxtor's MaxLine compared to their DiamondMax. Their DiamondMax series uses a bridge to get onto SATA while the MaxLine's are native SATA.

Generally, you want a drive which is native SATA so you won't be slowed down by the bridge.

but still the differences are small, please give benches showing true "native sata" vs bridged sata and pata and you will see there is not much of a difference, considering they all be the newest gen of drive.

 

[Starbuck1975]

get whatever drive is cheaper, pata will be around for quite some time, like floppies and serial/paralle ports.

So for the time being, the performance difference between IDE and SATA is negligeable?

 

[oogabooga]

Unless you're getting raptors, i dont think there isa performance gain betweed ide/sata atm. Still : get whatever you know will work (if your board supports SATA why not) and what you will feel comfortable with. I wou ld probally go SATA just to start getting on the next gen, my next HD purchase will most likely be SATA.

 

[Hacp]

Yes, the performance won't matter that much. I would suggest that you get those discounted IDE drives in the hotdeals section. 37 dollars after shipping is pretty hot for a 120GB Hard drive. Also, as for cabling, most modern motherboard providers offer sleaved rounded IDE cables. Although they aren't as pretty and slick as SATA cables, they still are better than just having the IDE cables laying flat.

 

[EvilRage]

SATA.

 

[anarchyreigns]

Despite some of the things you've already read, here are the actual differences:

There are two main types of SATA drives. SATA 1.5G and SATA 3G. The difference between the two are the interface speeds. No drive comes close to either one of those speeds, so it doesn't make any difference whether a drive is SATA 1.5G or SATA 3G at this point in time.

SATA II is just a set of extensions that can be added to either a SATA 1.5G or SATA 3G drive, providing features such as Native Command Queuing, staggered spin up, etc., etc.

A SATA drive can have some, all, or none of the SATA II extensions.

SATA II, however, does not mean a 3Gb/s transfer rate...amongst other things.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: EvilRage
SATA.

just trying to get your post count up?

 

[Starbuck1975]

All have provided good comments, and definitely given me something to consider.

I am familiar and comfortable with configuring an IDE system...I use rounded IDE capables, and run them under and around the chassis, so airflow is not a restriction in this regard.

I might go SATA just so that I become familiar with the technology and how to build a system based on a SATA drive.

I guess my only concern is that several years ago, home PC builders started to gravitate towards RAID configurations, but it never took off on the PC market with the exception of perhaps servers.

If SATA is here to stay, and does become the new standard for PCs, it certainly wouldnt hurt to become familiar with it...given that the price point for a SATA and comperable IDE drive is negligeable, there really isnt a barrier to entry with the exception of teaching myself how to install a SATA drive.

Any good references out there for SATA newbies, or do the manuals that come with SATA capable motherboards have sufficient instructions?

 

[crizzar]

It's just bios switches.

About the only thing you'll need to worry about is if you're getting a board that has two different SATA controllers (ex. nforce) that has the nforce controller and a Silicon Image controller and even then this is only a concern if you're setting up raid.

Read the motherboard manual, it's no more difficult than an IDE setup

 

[JJ650]

Nothing wrong with going with either setup. I went from IDE to SATA for my own reasons. For one, I like the slimmer cables. Better airflow is always a good thing. The price difference is negligible and there is some better performance. Nothing earth shattering. If you want you can even get a SATA CDRW drive as well. Don't know how well they work, but I know Plextor has a couple to choose from.

Won't hurt to go either way.

 

[Starbuck1975]

In reading through the various reviews on different SATA drives, I found one where it mentions that for a clean OS install onto a SATA drive, you need Windows XP service pack 2 for the install. Is this true. My Windows XP installation disk is several years old, so I expect that I will have to run all of the service pack updates once the system is up and running...will this pose a problem?

 

[Matt2]

Originally posted by: Starbuck1975
In reading through the various reviews on different SATA drives, I found one where it mentions that for a clean OS install onto a SATA drive, you need Windows XP service pack 2 for the install. Is this true. My Windows XP installation disk is several years old, so I expect that I will have to run all of the service pack updates once the system is up and running...will this pose a problem?

No it is not true.

Also, I dont understand what all these problmes with getting SATA to run properly are all about. The rig in my sig was my first venture into SATA and I had no problems what so ever. Just plug it in and go. In fact isntallation was much easier than IDE because the cables are so damn easy to plug in.

SiSoft Sandra says my SATA drive kicks ATA150's butt, since SATA and IDE are the same price, that's good enough for me.

 

[Hacp]

The price difference is not negligable right now, with all the hard drive companies looking to get rid of their IDE Hard drives. Look at the hot deals section. There are like dozens of good hard drive deals. A 120 gig hard drive UATA-100 for 37 bucks shipped? Thats pretty hot, and i'd be hardpressed to find a SATA hard drive with 120Gigs for 50 dollars.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Matt2
SiSoft Sandra says my SATA drive kicks ATA150's butt, since SATA and IDE are the same price, that's good enough for me.

what do you mean it kicks ATA150's butt? that is the sata "reference"

 

[anarchyreigns]

Not to mention, everyone keeps saying SATA vs. IDE, when they should be saying SATA vs. PATA, as a SATA drive is an IDE drive.