I now need pc help - fancy that

[Paulst30]

Hi guys I recently realised that my Asus P4C800 Deluxe motherboard has only a 100 ATA IDE connector for my HDD (Maxtor DiamondMax 9 160Gb 12Mb Cache) My dissapointment didn't end there when i found that the ATA 133 connector is for a Promise Raid set up only. I'm baffled that i can only use a 100Mbps IDE Connection and surely i can use this 133 connection without Raid??? Anyway i do have SATA connectors and wondered if i should just go SATA. Now i dunno, need some pros n cons.

[HWKE]

You could use a SATA to IDE convertor. There are several advertised on Ebay and they don't cost very much.
If you're ready for an upgrade in HDD size, you could just buy a SATA drive.
I have one computer with SATA and two with ATA and to be honest, I can't detect any advantage with the SATA (the one I'm using now).
I have read a few reviews on this motherboard (I've pasted a couple below), which suggest you will have support for 2 x UDMA 133 without raid,. 4 x IDE 4 SATA, etc. altogether supporting 10 IDE drives. Seems like a good board. http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=181 4&p=2
http://www.tbreak.com/reviews/article.php?id=1 98

[Paulst30]

Yeah sadly its a great board but with no SATA II or PCI-E support its quickly loosing its appeal.

Socket 478 too so not even as up to date as intels latest. I'm thinking about just saving for a core duo system so i at least can experience what all the fuss is about.

Maybe just make an external drive from bits n bobs for backing up.

[ACtheTROLL]

In real life few SATA drives are any faster than PATA.
and the Diamond max 9 isn't one of them (it is a good solid HDD though ... it should last a few years longer)

I think you misunderstood the specs
Maxtor DiamondMax 9 160Gb
Performance
Drive Transfer Rate: 133 MBps (external)
Seek Time: 9.3 ms (average)
Average Latency: 4.2 ms
Spindle Speed: 7200 rpm

The 100ata bus is for CD/DVD drives ...
the 133 uata is backwards compatible and CAN be used for RAID (but not HAS to be) - and will be enabled/disabled in your BIOS. As will SATA as Primary options.
MotherBoard
http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2 &model=175&l1=3&l2=12&l3=30&l4=0
South Bridge:
-2 x UltraDMA 100
-2 x Serial ATA, RAID 0, 1
Promise 20378 RAID controller:
-1 x UltraDMA 133 support two hard drives
-2 x Serial ATA -RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, Multiple RAID

Generally CD/DVD use 40 wire (ata) ribbon connectors ... your HDD should be connected to the 133 using a 80way ribbon (uata)

CDs and hdd should not be connected on the same bus as the slowest device sets the overall speed.

Also 40 way ata does not support cable select ... so on the 100 bus you'd need to config master and slave (Csel is the default out-of-the-box) to get things going.

buy a 80way ribbon ... and give it a go

Sata is the new standard ... so when you eventually upgrade it will probably fit your new machine
other than that I'd be surprised if you could see any difference

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