Serial ATA 1.5Gbs vs Serial ATA 3.0Gbs cables

[Euclid]

Is there a difference between SATA 1.5Gbs and SATA 3.0Gbs cables?

I can't seem to find any references to any differences?

Also, I'm looking for Shielded Internal SATA cables. Anyone know a good
place to get some?

Thanks.

 

[Twsmit]

There is no diference, but some newer "3Gbs" cables have better more secure connectors, but electrically they are the same thing.

 

[alimoalem]

not sure where you can get your shielded cables (i'd search on newegg or dealsea.pricegrabber.com for that) but for your other questions, same answer as twsmit, they're the same thing

 

[joanknn]

To add to the Sata part, is Sata 2 backward compatible?

 

[Bobthelost]

Yes it is.

 

[evilsaint]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
Yes it is.

The caveats to the backwards compatibility are that NCQ/TCQ on the newer drives isn't available on SATA 1.0 controllers, and that you won't get the same burst speeds, though they'll still be super-quick on an older controller with an SATA2 drive.

I tried out my SATA2 drive on my onboard SATA1 controller vs. the PCI SATA2 one that I bought, and there was only a negligible difference in the benchmarks (%2-3).

 

[Bobthelost]

You don't want NCQ/TCQ enabled for desktop drive useage. As to burst speed, meh.

 

[evilsaint]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
You don't want NCQ/TCQ enabled for desktop drive useage. As to burst speed, meh.

Is there just not a lot of performance to be gained from NCQ/TCQ in non-server/DB/etc... applications of the HD's?

 

[Bobthelost]

Originally posted by: evilsaint

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
You don't want NCQ/TCQ enabled for desktop drive useage. As to burst speed, meh.

Is there just not a lot of performance to be gained from NCQ/TCQ in non-server/DB/etc... applications of the HD's?

Nope, pretty much every benchmark and test shows NCQ causing a performance hit for any non server useage. That's including gaming and heavy multitasking.

One exception being in at least some maxtor drives, which are just slow across the board but don't seem to suffer from NCQ as much as some other brands

 

[evilsaint]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost

Originally posted by: evilsaint

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
You don't want NCQ/TCQ enabled for desktop drive useage. As to burst speed, meh.

Is there just not a lot of performance to be gained from NCQ/TCQ in non-server/DB/etc... applications of the HD's?

Nope, pretty much every benchmark and test shows NCQ causing a performance hit for any non server useage. That's including gaming and heavy multitasking.

One exception being in at least some maxtor drives, which are just slow across the board but don't seem to suffer from NCQ as much as some other brands

Amen to that

 

[Euclid]

Well, the non-shielded Serial ATA cables make me nervous (that's 99% of all SATA cables out there).
I've found a few that are shielded with the SATA-I style connectors (not the e-SATA connectors), but they are all 1 M long! (ugh).

Still hunting for them though

 

[evilsaint]

What sort of interference could really do any harm to the signals passing through them?

 

[imported_Gibbon]

Originally posted by: Euclid
Well, the non-shielded Serial ATA cables make me nervous (that's 99% of all SATA cables out there).
I've found a few that are shielded with the SATA-I style connectors (not the e-SATA connectors), but they are all 1 M long! (ugh).

Still hunting for them though

If you find some, please let me know .... I want to strap my cables together to route them a bit better, but I'm a bit nervous about doing it with standard cables (8 cables from an Areca 1220 RAID controller).

If I can ask, where were the 1m long ones?

 

[markkleb]

[
http://www.satagear.com/221302C_SATA_Cable.html
Here is sheilded cables.

 

[Euclid]

Thanks Markkleb.

I did see those. They have the SATA-II (read e-SATA) connector.

They have a version with the internal "L" connector, but they are a Meter Long! (that's a lot for inside a case!).

As for interference, my friends in the "Large" OEM market tell me that they have far more fallout to data corruption on their SATA drives than IDE drives. They suspect that the problem has to do with unshielded SATA cables (which EVERYONE uses). Problems can come from cable tieing the sata cables in a "snake shape" for flow, or routing them too close to other SATA cables or routing them next to a "noise maker", say the PSU. In any event, I'm a paranoid person so I'm trying to go over the top for stability here

 

[markkleb]

On newegg i was looking at powersupplys and I remember seeing one (close to $100) that had emi filters on ALL the cables. That might help too.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817101208

 

[Euclid]

I thought I'd update this post for the benefit of others ...

I found some .5m (roughtly 1.5ft) cables at cpustuff.com (here)

They were pretty cheap ($4.50) and were delivered quickly.

The cables are much much stiffer than I expected. Perhaps so much so that it may be a problem in the future. I managed to twist them into the right positions for my drives but the stiff cables put just a tad more pressure on the board and drive connectors than I am comfortable with. The L-shaped connectors do work though and I haven't had any functional problems so far.

Thanks for everyone's help and suggestions.