Sata or non sata ?

[DouginSpain]

Hi all,

If you wanted a system, just for the latest games, would you go for a sata hard drive or non sata ?

It won't be used for raid or overclocking.

The mobo is Asus P4C800-E Deluxe.

Any ideas appreciated.

 

[Algere]

There's practically no performance difference between using Serial ATA to using Parallel ATA. Only benefit over a normal PATA interface would be the power requirements, thinner cables, and the ability to hook up a Western Digital SATA Raptor as there isn't a PATA version of the Raptor.

As for SATA over PATA I'd get a PATA hard drive(s) w/ rebates via Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. if you plan to keep your MB for a good while i.e. couple or so years.

 

[drag]

Doesn't matter for speed.

I personally would get sata if I could for a few reasons

1. Sata wires are smaller, and it's a more reliable protocol (the harddrives are physically the same so mechanical reliablity is a non-issue.)

2. Sata is newer and P-ata is going to be fazed out over the next couple years so if you want to use the HD in future computers you'd want SATA.

3. No need to srew around with slave/master relationships.

4. Ability to run more devices then the normal 4 IDE devices.


Those reasons aren't worth more then a 15-20 dollar difference in price to me, though. If you have to buy a new controller card just to use sata or the sata drives are substantially more expensive then the pata drives your looking at, then it's not worth it to me.

 

[DouginSpain]

Many thanks for the very quick ideas.

It looks though if there's no difference in performance, I might as well save the money and buy a pata.

Unless anyone else has any other info ?

Which pata hard drives do you lot go for, in terms of reliablity ? (the pc is only for playing the latest games).

 

[Algere]

The big 3 are usually recommended i.e. Maxtor, Seagate, Western Digital

For PATA I'd say Western Digital for Performance or Seagate for quietness.

 

[DouginSpain]

Sorry people, just thinking through, if I did go the sata route, which drives would you go for, for reliablity and quietness ?

I've never had a sata before, is it possible to have a sata and pata on the same mobo ? Any issues ?

I've had many patas before, but never any satas - is there anything to watch out for when buying satas ?

The mobo is P4C800 Deluxe-E

 

[Jeff H]

DouginSpain. don't rule out the Samsung PATA 8MB cache drives. I've been a Seagate Barracuda user for a while now, mainly due to their quiet nature. Last year I picked up a 40GB Samsung drive (PATA, 2MB cache) after getting one for a neighbor. The Samsung was faster and quieter than the Seagate (Barracuda IV 40GB).

A couple weeks ago I went through the same thought process you're going through, re PATA vs. SATA, and settled on a Samsung PATA 160GB 8MB cache drive. Microcenter had it for $109 after rebate. I was a little concerned about it maybe not running as quiet as the 40GB drive, owing to its two platter design. My worries were assuaged, as this 160GB drive is stone quiet. I haven't benchmarked it, but it feels faster than the 40GB drive.

The icing on the cake - the Samsung drives carry a three year warranty.

 

[Algere]

As drag mentioned earlier no need to mess around with master/slave jumpers if you go the SATA route.

If you go for SATA only thing I can think of software wise is that you'll have to install SATA drivers during a clean windows install either via a floppy disk(F6) or a slipstreamed Windows disc.

I don't really know perse on which hard drive maker has the best reliabiliy or quietness on SATA drives. I assume the Western Digital Raptors since their enterprise level drives and they have the longest warranty to date for SATA drives(5 years). Hopefully someone can shine some light into this.

Personal experience when choosing SATA drives I went for the Hitachi's since it's said to be the fastest 7200 RPM drive out. So far it's quieter than my old Maxtor PATA drive and I haven't had any problems with it yet.

Oh yea, yes it's possible to have both PATA and SATA drives on the same system as that's what I have myself presently and you may want to look out for warranty periods. I checked over @ NewEgg and Western Digital now has a 3 year warranty period on their desktop level SATA drives. Last I remember some SATA hard drives come with only 1 year on the warranty.

EDIT I've also heard the Samsungs were real quiet as well, I guess it slipped my mind.

 

[DouginSpain]

Many thanks for all your help here - its very much appreciated.

 

[Zepper]

I agree, don't overlook the new Samsungs...
.bh.

 

[SUOrangeman]

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