what is an ATA Controller card?

[nikko]

I have seen people all over this board talking about ATA 66 and 100 controller cards. What are these? What do they do? I have a 7200 RPM, Ultra 66 HD. Do I need a controller card to maximize it's performance?

 

[Vegito]

ATA controls IDE drives, or ATA type of CD ROM/ZIP,etc.. many people use ATA/IDE as one term.

If you have Ultra66 you probably have a ATA/33 or /66 controller - depending on what computer you have. With ATA controller, your Ultra66 wont' work.

 

[Goi]

You do need a controller card to maximize its performance if your motherboard doesn't already support ATA66. The ATA66 specification allows for a maximum throughput of 66MB/s. Most HDDs nowadays are barely reaching 40MB/s for transfers, so you don't need to worry about ATA100. If you have an old motherboard that only supports ATA33 or even less, then you can get an ATA66 controller card to maximize its performance. Don't expect huge performance increases though, especially if your motherboard already supports ATA33. I'm currently using an ATA66 HDD with my BH6, which only supports ATA33, and its still very fast.

 

[nikko]

Ok, sorry, I'm something of a newbie. I have an ABit BF6 and I'm not sure if it supports 66 or not. If it does, does that mean I don't need to bother with a controller?