IDE question

[jormar23]

I'm leaning towards the Epox 8K7A motherboard and under IDE is says no. So does that mean I have to buy an IDE. What is a IDE? I thought it was a harddrive. thanks Chris

[Frenzy]

IDE stands for Integrated Drive Electronics and is a standard electronic interface used between a computer motherboard's data paths or bus and the computer's disk storage devices. The IDE interface is based on the IBM PC Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) 16-bit bus standard, but it is also used in computers that use other bus standards. Most computers sold today use an enhanced version of IDE called Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics (EIDE). IDE gets its name because the disk drive controller is built into the logic board in the disk drive.

Some motherboards have just an IDE connection. Others have the ATA/33/66/100 and the IDE connection. IDE is slower than ATA. So to answer your question, you do not need to by an IDE. Your hard drive, CD ROM, DVD Player, CDRW are all IDE compatible. Unless it is SCSI. Hope that helps.

[Psycho Logical]

Not sure what you mean by "under IDE is says no."

Epox's site lists the 8K7A here (http://www.epox.com/html/english/products/motherboard/ep-8k7a.htm)

The seventh item on the right reads:

UltraDMA-100 EIDE Controllers. (Up to 4 IDE devices).
Backwards compatible with PIO mode 3/4 & UltraDMA-33/66.

IDE, EIDE, and UltraDMA are really marketing terms originally created by Compaq and
Western Digital, among others, and then adopted by other manufacturers.

The "official" correct terms for the interface is actually ATA or ATA/ATAPI.

Sources:
Unofficial IDE/ATA Standards and Marketing Programs (http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/unstd.htm)

Official IDE/ATA Standards and Feature Sets (http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/std.htm)