SATA Drives/Motherboard

[leonardmp92]

Hello,

I have this type of motherboard: Newegg.com - ASUS P4P800SE 478 Intel 865PE ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

Says there are 2 SATA ports, (1.5 GB/s), but the internal harddrive I want to buy has 3.0 GB/s capability...assume the most I will get will be 1.5 GB/s from this new harddrive since that is what is limited to the motherboard?

Since there are only 2 SATA ports on my motherboard, does this mean that I cannot connect any more SATA drives after I have used up these 2 ports?

Thank you.

 

[hikaricloud]

The 3.0Gb/s standard is backwards compatible. It won't run any faster than the ports will let it though, just like USB 2.0 in a 1.1 port. I will say though, I noticed a decent difference going from my old SATA150 200gb Seagate to my new 1.5tb SATA 3.0Gb/s Seagate in my old machine...maybe it had something to do with the cache, who knows.

And yes, you can only use two SATA devices.

 

[snowsurfer]

You won't really find any HDs that will saturate the SATA150 interface, except the top of the line SSDs from OCZ and Intel. I've done extensive testing with all of my HDs along with some of the ones we have in the office. Hikaricloud, I think in your case it is clearly due to the density of the platters and the size of the cache.

Leonard, don't worry about this unless you are splashing huge money on a top-notch SSD, really. Not even a 10k rpm raptor/velociraptor will saturate SATA150.

 

[ribonzz]

you could buy an extra port so you can use another SATA

 

[hikaricloud]

^^ I think what he means is you can buy a SATA controller card, which you can.

Snowsurfer: I'm pretty sure you're right. I also did notice a slight boost in HDD speed when I installed my new motherboard in comparison to my old one, but nothing crazy noticeable.

I'm really hoping the new SATA standard will actually take advantage of the theoretical speed.

 

[H4x3r]

i really need to upgrade my hdd.....mine is just not cutting the mustard anymore :-D