It makes sense to buy a drive that uses the interface the system supports.
Nope, not when its replacement has poor support
for that interface and hard drives are often moved
to the next system by that level of system builder.
If we are considering that NEXT system,
And thats the only thing to do when the
current system is getting pretty obsolete now.
at that point in the future the best performance
won't come from a drive bought today either,
Doesnt matter if he wants to buy a barebones system and move
the new drive to that and use it as the boot drive on that system.
it will come from this future drive technology,
Bet it wont when he does come to upgrade.
or actually, a combination of two drives.
And that in spades. Modern single hard drives provide
all the performance most need in a personal system.
Further we have not established that the drive bought today
will actually need a PCI PATA card on that next system...
We do know that quite a few of the current systems only have
a single PATA channel and that its undesirable to be limiting
your choices to new motherboards that have more than one
PATA channel or quite a few card slots, particularly if you
intend to buy a value for money motherboard. And that is very
likely given what he previously chose to buy motherboard wise.
it was just a random speculation
Nope, nothing even remotely resembling anything like random speculation.
as a justification to buy something the user may
never need- any kind of PCI controller card.
Its a reason for getting a SATA drive instead of a PATA
drive because that approach clearly limits your future less.
For the low cost of a decent PCI SATA card off ebay.
Fraid so.
One would think there isn't a lot of demand for PCI
PATA cards since all boards had them for years,
They're almost entirely RAID cards which can
be used in a non RAID config if you want to.
and yet they are in the market at $15. There is no
reason to believe they won't be price conpetitive as
they are not an inherantly expensive product to make.
Sure, but there is unlikely to be much of a market for
PCI Express cards that can only accept PATA drives,
given that most modern motherboards are available
with RAID built in, and even the cabling alone is
a hassle with a PCI Express PATA RAID card.
Yes it does, but if you don't buy a board with a fair # of slots,
the functionality of the system may likewise be radically reduced,
Nope, because so much is builtin now.
especially for some of us here who already have myriad PCI cards.
Most of which wont be any use on a new modern motherboard.
There might just be a reason why PCI NICs are now worth peanuts.
Things come standard but not necessarily
with the features or performance one will want.
Thats what picking an appropriate motherboard is about.
Many don't buy or upgrade a system merely to get another
few % performance increase on CPU/etc but they want to
raise or at least retain the other positive system attributes
they'd previously enjoyed such as video capture, high
quality (not just paper spec) sound, eSATA ports.
There's plenty of motherboards around with the last two built in.
... or you just buy the PCI PATA card as already mentioned, just
not a RAID card if the particular specimen won't support ATAPI.
Makes a lot more sense to buy a SATA drive and a PCI SATA card.
Why would you bother with eBay when everyone
and their brother sells low cost SATA cards?
Because the ebay retail sellers are better value.
Seems like an unnecessary risk to me,
There's no risk.
especially when the # of sellers stocking them is SO great
that the purchase can be combined with some other parts
order to reduce if not eliminate the shipping cost (which
would tend to be about 1/4 the cost of the card).
Still better value.
If he has these drives already, all the more reason to
have the PATA card in the new system to reuse them.
You dont know that the drives are
worth moving except with the new one.
If he needs MORE drives in the next system,
the obvious choice once he HAS the new system
is the SATA as it is then natively supported.
So it makes more sense to have the new drive
SATA too so he isnt crippled with a motherboard
that only has a single PATA channel.
Actually for common tasks his system is plenty fast
enough to make the HDDs performance a bottleneck.
BUT NOT THE PCI BUS.
Once you go over a few hundred MHz CPU, HDD is the primary
bottleneck for web surfing, email, many office tasks... essentially
all the more common uses of a PC, even loading the OS.
BUT NOT THE PCI BUS.
His system could end up faster if properly set up
than a brand new one that was crippled to the PCI
limits of the Via chipset and a PCI controller card.
Irrelevant, his new system wont be.
That is, at most common tasks. We could surely come
up with some hypothetical use that stressed the CPU or
other subsystem more, but most common tasks won't.
BUT NOT THE PCI BUS with a single SATA drive on the card.
If it is only used for supplimental storage and there are no
large files being used, such as video editing, that is likely
true. It's still a waste of money for the SATA card though.
Nope, that small cost gives much more future in the new system.
He may well be able to save much more than that on the new
system by not needing to care how many PATA channels it
has, or now many card slots it has. He can pick one that
is very good value and which has no known downsides.
No maybe about it.
We will have to assume he's installing
the drive to actually use it somehow...
Yes, but you dont know that he is planning to boot off it.
And from his other comments, that appears to be unlikely.
so ultimately that use will dictate whether it's significant.
And its unlikely.
It's significantly slower...
You dont know that it is with the particular chipset he has.
and at additional cost,
Peanuts.
and having to add the PCI card.
Hardly rocket science with a non boot drive.
Worst possible solution all "just in case"
he'll want to reuse the drive
He clear does want to reuse the drive, he said so.
AND "IF" he manages to use up all
the next systems PATA positions,
He isnt as limited in his choice of motherboards
if the ones with only one PATA channel are fine.
AND "IF" there weren't any better PCI Express
card alternatives at this point in the future.
Stupid to be doing that with the boot drive in a new system.
So many "IFS" that it becomes a shot in the
dark whether there will ever be a realized benefit,
Nope. We know for a fact that a SATA drive doesnt
restrict what he can choose in a new system.
but already there are clear detractions from the SATA card.
Nope, none. The only downside is that a PCI card is needed to use it.
Actually it's not so slow for most uses,
except the primary bottleneck- the hard drive.
And a SATA drive wont have that problem.
... if by mediocre you really mean "the most significant
performance limit to a modern HDD possible" then perhaps so.
That doesnt make it VERY BAD.
Putting a SATA card or ATA133 card on the
PCI bus of that Via chipset will be slower than
an ATA66 southbridge controller in actual use.
And I bet he wont even notice when its not the boot drive.
IF there were some gain in going the SATA route
There is, it doesnt limit your choices on the new system.
we could weigh the pros and cons but there is no actual gain,
Wrong, it doesnt limit your choices with the new system.
only a theory that some day in a certain situation
it "might" have the potential to be a gain.
No MIGHT about it with your choices with the new system.
Thats an absolute certainty, it does limit your choices if you
are stupid enough to get a PATA drive.
That is such a stretch it isn't even reasonable.
Wrong.
