Will serial ATA actually enable faster hard drives?

[bupkus]

Will serial ATA actually enable faster hard drives?

Is it worth waiting for if I'm in the market soon for a new pc?

How soon is it likely to be and how soon is it likely to be competitively priced?

 

[QuestionsandAnsweres]

WEll i dont know mcuh about it. And i dont keep up so i could be totally wrong. But i hear its suppose to be OUT around first half next year

 

[sparks]

Serial ATA is just the drive interface, it alone will not enable faster drives, as no IDE drive today even comes close to taxing ATA100 let alone ATA133. Serial ATA drives will just be whichever popular flavor of hard drive with a serial ATA interface. You have to remember, its all just product to the hard drive manufacturers, they will not jeopordize profit to release bleeding edge devices if its not in their best interest.

 

[Pariah]

Depending on who you ask, it will be available anywhere from June to early next year. Cost should be no higher than current ATA tech. Unless you really want smaller cables, there is no reason to wait for it as performance won't be any different than current ATA. Any speed increase will come from the improvments in drive performance, not the interface. It should be a cheap and simple upgrade when released leaving even fewer reasons to hold out until release.

 

[ElFenix]

smaller cables so less mess and tangle in cases, might have better airflow (though no one has proved that rounded cables are any better than regular ones for that, so maybe not). less cross-talk in theory. cables should cost less so instead of $15 each for 2 cables might be $2 each for 4 or whatever. should also take up less space on the mobo so you won't have IDE ports blocking cards if the board is well-designed.

 

[CZroe]

No more Master/Slave crap equals much better performance without a faster drive for most situations (Currently, most systems have drives sharing IDE connectors).