Now please excuse any errors ... i just decided to do some research into Serial ATA chips or at least 2 of them so here is what I found ... please feel free to correct me if I say something wrong .. im kinda new to the whole hardware scene anyhow ..... ok here goes ...
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THere are 2 SERIAL ATA chips i found out there (that are integrated into the mobo)
1) Silicon Image 3112A SATAlink chip
2) Marvell's 88i8030 Serial ATA Bridge
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Here is a comparison of them ...
1) On Silicon's site there is this quote about the chip ""Featuring a 32-bit 33/66 MHz PCI interface, the SiI 3112 supports two independent Serial ATA devices and can be incorporated in a motherboard design or a PCI add-in card." -- ( Location of the quote on their site )
So, Silicon Image's chip runs on the PCI bus.
PROBLEM:
PCI32 33MHz = 133MB/s <== on most mobos
PCI32 66MHz = 266MB/s
PCI64 33MHz = 266MB/s
PCI64 66MHz = 533MB/s
PCI-X 133MHz = 1066MB/s
If you have some PCI slots filled then not only are you limited to 133MB/s but you are also dealing with traffic jams on the bus. Possible re-sends of data from the Serial ATA hard drive can hurt performance.
ADVANTAGE:
The good thing about the Silicon Image chip is that it offers 2 serial ata ports so you can have a RAID serial ATA setup, etc.
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2) Marvell's 88i8030 Serial ATA Bridge
A quote from Marvell's site "By converting Parallel ATA (PATA) to Serial ATA (SATA), the Marvell® 88i8030 SATA bridge product allows hard disk drive....to use their current PATA electronics for fast time-to-market. The 88i8030 device interfaces to traditional PATA hard disk drive (HDD) controllers..." -- ( Quote location )
So marvell's chip just uses a normal UltraATA slot and converts it into a SERIAL ATA one
PROBLEM :
Since basically it just bridges a parallel port into a serial ATA port that means only 1 port AND that it is limited to 133MB/s
Advantage:
The Marvell chip (unlike the Silicon chip), being on an UltraATA port, has it's own pipe to the southbridge. That means no more re-sends and you don't need to worry about keeping your PCI bus clear.
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Some boards that use SILICON's chip :
ASUS A7N8X Deluxe
ABIT NF7-S
Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro
Some boards that use MARVELL'S chip :
DFI NFII Lanparty
(and others i can't remember)
+++++++++++++++++
Basically from what I have concluded I think that Marvell's SERIAL ATA chip is superior
Sure they are both limited to 133MB/s but a traffic jammed PCI bus as opposed to a clear UltraATA is IN MY OPINION a fairly big deal
+++++++++++++++++++
ANyhow I hope this is informative .... if I made any errors just let me know .. i'll gladly change it .. like i said im sorta of a n00b ... anyhow ... enjoy ^_^
+++++++++++++
THere are 2 SERIAL ATA chips i found out there (that are integrated into the mobo)
1) Silicon Image 3112A SATAlink chip
2) Marvell's 88i8030 Serial ATA Bridge
+++++++++++++
Here is a comparison of them ...
1) On Silicon's site there is this quote about the chip ""Featuring a 32-bit 33/66 MHz PCI interface, the SiI 3112 supports two independent Serial ATA devices and can be incorporated in a motherboard design or a PCI add-in card." -- ( Location of the quote on their site )
So, Silicon Image's chip runs on the PCI bus.
PROBLEM:
PCI32 33MHz = 133MB/s <== on most mobos
PCI32 66MHz = 266MB/s
PCI64 33MHz = 266MB/s
PCI64 66MHz = 533MB/s
PCI-X 133MHz = 1066MB/s
If you have some PCI slots filled then not only are you limited to 133MB/s but you are also dealing with traffic jams on the bus. Possible re-sends of data from the Serial ATA hard drive can hurt performance.
ADVANTAGE:
The good thing about the Silicon Image chip is that it offers 2 serial ata ports so you can have a RAID serial ATA setup, etc.
+++++++++++++++++
2) Marvell's 88i8030 Serial ATA Bridge
A quote from Marvell's site "By converting Parallel ATA (PATA) to Serial ATA (SATA), the Marvell® 88i8030 SATA bridge product allows hard disk drive....to use their current PATA electronics for fast time-to-market. The 88i8030 device interfaces to traditional PATA hard disk drive (HDD) controllers..." -- ( Quote location )
So marvell's chip just uses a normal UltraATA slot and converts it into a SERIAL ATA one
PROBLEM :
Since basically it just bridges a parallel port into a serial ATA port that means only 1 port AND that it is limited to 133MB/s
Advantage:
The Marvell chip (unlike the Silicon chip), being on an UltraATA port, has it's own pipe to the southbridge. That means no more re-sends and you don't need to worry about keeping your PCI bus clear.
++++++++++++++++++
Some boards that use SILICON's chip :
ASUS A7N8X Deluxe
ABIT NF7-S
Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro
Some boards that use MARVELL'S chip :
DFI NFII Lanparty
(and others i can't remember)
+++++++++++++++++
Basically from what I have concluded I think that Marvell's SERIAL ATA chip is superior
Sure they are both limited to 133MB/s but a traffic jammed PCI bus as opposed to a clear UltraATA is IN MY OPINION a fairly big deal
+++++++++++++++++++
ANyhow I hope this is informative .... if I made any errors just let me know .. i'll gladly change it .. like i said im sorta of a n00b ... anyhow ... enjoy ^_^
