Intel D865PERL and SATA

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Hello all,

I will be purchasing the Intel D865PERL mainboard within the next month or
so for a new build. I have also been pondering the idea of going completely
SATA in regard to hard drives. Unfortunately, I've been seeing reports
of people using various mainboards and encountering "odd" problems.

One of these problems is a poor physical connection between the SATA cable
and the mainboard and drive interface. Some have even reported such loose
connections that it takes absolutely no effort to pull the cable off of the
pins on the mainboard. Is this a valid concern?

Secondly, others have reported that the actual pins on their mainboards have
actually -come off-, which is actually rather funny. Heh. But in all
seriousness, is this just a fluke based on a defective mainboard, or have
others actually had this type of issue?

Finally, one of the primary reasons for going SATA is the size of the cable
itself, and the hope that it would improve cooling. Is there any validity
to this?

Thank you for your time,
John.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

ATA cables have a low impact on airflow if you:
o Route an ATA cable carefully - so it doesn't obstruct airflow
---- this can be difficult in some cases due to limited ATA cable length
---- and ironically difficult if slave/master are close re excess cable length
o Use round or slotted-cables
---- round cables are simply slotted-cables in a sleeve
---- you can slot cables yourself, but done poorly it can damage conductors

SATA does have a mechanically poor connector design:
o It is a non-latching connector with low removal force
---- an IDE/ATA connector involves more pins & a tight-connector-housing
---- SATA have few pins & no real latching capability
o Cables are very slim, but the connectors are hardly minute
---- power cables in particular if roughly connected can damage the HD PCB
---- take care here, as you could render the drive unusable

There are revisions to the SATA spec for external connectors with latching,
frankly it's surprising they created a low retention force connector. I guess it
is a horse designed by a committee which ended up resembling a camel.

Would I avoid SATA because of it?
o No, because SATA & SAS (SCSI) will be the focus in the future
o Additionally Tagged-Command-Queing SATA drives will arrive soon
---- of course that needs upstream support for that useful capability
---- TCQ allows performance-optimised ordering of drive accesses = faster

I think some drives are only available in SATA, WD Raptor may be one.

As yet no drive will saturate a SATA bus - it's 1 drive per cable
remember - so the benefits in terms of bandwidth are somewhat moot.
--
Dorothy Bradbury
www.stores.ebay.co.uk/panaflofan for quiet Panaflo fans & other items
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dorothy.bradbury/panaflo.htm (Direct)