[geeks] Whee! SATA 1.0 controller in P3 system...

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: Chad McAuley <chizad at gmail.com>
>Date: 2007/07/27 Fri PM 02:33:22 CDT
>To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: Re: [geeks] Whee! SATA 1.0 controller in P3 system...

>On 7/27/07, Lionel Peterson <lionel4287 at verizon.net> wrote:
>> Hello all,
>>
>> I just threw a very inexpensive PIC SATA 1.0 (150 MB/sec) 2 channel controller (1 internal, 1 external eSATA), and the performance of this little 1 GHz P3 system with 512 Meg RAM really improved. Nothing measurable (yet), but it seems "snappier" than with the 20 Gig 6 year old WD IDE drive.
>>
>> Anyone have pointers to HD performance benchmark tests? I'd prefer something that runs under WinXP (what is currently on the system, but I'm happy to try something under Solaris/Ubuntu if that appeals to anyone).
>>
>> As an aside, this is on a Dell Optiplex GX150 SFF, like the ones I'm trying to get rid of - hint, hint ;^)
>>
>> Lionel
>
>
>HDTach[0] is what I usually use for HD benchmarking on Windows.
>
>[0]: http://www.simplisoftware.com/Public/index.php?request=HdTach

Quick HD stats:

built-in IDE controller and 20 Gig WD HD (circa 2001) - 31 MB/sec

Add-in SATA controller and 160 Gig Seagate SATA drive - 65 MB/sec

Card is Rosewill RC-210 [1], cost was about $20

Notes on adding SAT controller as bootable controller on older PCs:

 - turn off IDE controller not in use, or you will stall on power up if set to "auto detect" HD that isn't there

 - I used a floppy to install drivers when installing WinXP Pro SP2, but I might not have had to - not sure

 - You can't update the BIOS via the HD, it seems the BIOS on the SATA controller prevents it from updating (I had to cut a floppy and boot from that)

All in all, it just works well - puts some new "kick" in an older system.

Lionel

[1]: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132007